Google plays ball with carriers to kill tethering apps
thisismynext.com
thisismynext.com
People I know who still have 'unlimited' data plans have used this for weeks to provide internet to their whole household in the absence of working cable.
I assume this feature is removed in the US carrier-modified firmware builds?
Ultimately these actions may drive free tethering a bit out of the mainstream, but no serious user is going to be deterred by removal from the Android market.
However, we don't have unlimited data plans, we only have ones that cost 0.10 cents (yes, cents, apparently) per megabyte for overage.
See http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-... for a related horror story (Verizon and USA, but the basic point holds - you should understand what they really mean, and logic/reason holds no relevance!)
"Hello, could you tell me how much overage costs per MB?"
"The rates are very low, 0.10 eurocents."
"0.10 eurocents? Are you sure it's not 0.10 euros?"
"No, it's 0.10 eurocents."
"So 10 MB is one cent?"
"No, one euro."
"So it is 0.10 euro."
"No, 0.10 cents. Let's say 0.1 cents, for convenience."
"Okay, if it's 0.1 cents per MB, so 10 MB is 1 cent."
"No, 1 euro."
"But how can this be? 1 cent is already 0.01 euro, so 0.1 cents is 0.001 euro."
"Look, the rate is 0.10 eurocents. If you can't understand this, 10 MB is 1 euro."
"Okay, thanks. click"
I don't expect these policies to survive a merger with AT&T.
> 3G: 5GB while on network and 300 MB while off network.
http://shop2.sprint.com/en/solutions/mobile_broadband/mobile...
On my N1 the easy solution to the block was just to power down the phone, pull the SIM, then access the market over wifi. All those carrier blocked apps suddenly reappeared. I don't know if carrier locked phones still "remember" their carrier when you pull the SIM, though, and in any case I guess you're stuck with sideloading on those non-LTE Verizon devices where there's no SIM to remove.
Anyway, I don't understand what Google is supposed to do if carriers choose to disable it. Maybe customers should be looking into other carriers if they don't like the way their carriers conduct business.
And Google does have some leverage, if they choose to use it, in the Market compatibility requirements --- there are minimum requirements for both hardware and software if you want to get the Market, or Google's other proprietary apps. (Which, say, the Nook Color flunks --- no camera.) It might be a bridge too far for some of the carriers, but from the outside, it's not obvious that they're trying.
(And looking for other carriers is not a hugely practical option in an environment where there are basically four, and the one with the most generally consumer-friendly policies, T-mobile, is up for buyout by the one with the least, AT&T, which is the only one to ban sideloading altogether.)
Last month I went over 5 GB for the first time (5.5 GB) but speeds were not dropped.
The carriers have put themselves into a corner where they have to make someone unhappy. All customers are paying the same $30/mo. Given the choice what would you rather do, make 10 of them unhappy or 1000 of them? Subscriber volume is your lifeblood, it's a numbers game.
Seriously? Two lousy gigabytes a month is "overselling"? That's, say, three hours at 200KB/s. Per month.
I find that difficult to believe, except in the very most crowded areas.
Of course Gruber jumps on the course saying it's against their open nature, but please, at least most users (besides some AT&T handsets) can still go and just install the app from a website.
Using the network's bandwidth to tether (since you didn't pay extra for it or is not authorized to) is deemed as having an adverse impact on the carrier's network.
Most likely, Google has negotiated something that advances better/broader net access over the long-term - as this would also align with their own business interests. It's difficult to believe that threats alone could have forced Google's hand.
As far as tethering goes, this seems to be exactly what the spectrum auction reserve price was designed to protect. Second, tethering apps can still be installed, just not via market. While this may be a minor inconvenience, I'm not all that concerned. Big picture/long-term, ubiquitous network access will be critical enough to the global economy, individual health and national security that it will no longer make sense to keep in the hands of private corporate interests within the current regulatory structure.
Average consumers, who don't have the slightest clue what rooting is or why they'd want to do it, just use the tethering app installed by the carrier, or nothing at all.
Since Android 2.2 I've been able to use my Google Nexus One as a WiFi hotspot so that my laptops can use it's data connection.
In my case I have a N1 so not an issue as of now, but in the future rooting is the way to go...unless it is eliminated from the ASOP code.
I'm rooted, so it doesn't matter, but this is definitely happening.
OT, but that raises an interesting question. Could you have an open source god? What would a religion be like if its holy texts were a wiki, that any believer could edit?
Unitarian Universalist?
Not trying to be rude, these are merely the most obvious cases that mold themselves to the believer's opinion. Also, observe the syncretism of Buddhism in different regions.
Seriously, I think the Jews invented the wiki: consider the form and structure of the rabbinical commentary on their holy texts, very wiki-like in form and purpose. Of course ordinary believers couldn't "edit" it...
Of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite_Church_in_the_Netherl... probably would be popular; every church member writes his own confession when joining the church.