[kmeclane]

Spoke with verizon today and they want to charge me 30 extra dollars a month to tether with my blackberry.....I have a mac and want to use this feature but do not want to pay an extra charge a month...anyone have any ideas to get around this????

[JCook111]

As far as I know your data can be tracked via your phone and have heard of people getting huge bills for data for tryin to beat the system and getting caught.

[Darthkuriboh]

Spoke with verizon today and they want to charge me 30 extra dollars a month to tether with my blackberry.....I have a mac and want to use this feature but do not want to pay an extra charge a month...anyone have any ideas to get around this????

yeah. it's called "don't try, it's theft".

[rangerdavid]

Or thetherberry is available for those who want to try it, but the above posters make a good point. I disagree that it is stealing though. If I pay for unlimited data, why should it matter if that data comes straight to my BB, or if it comes through the BB to my netbook. At best it is breach of contract, not theft.

[Zencyl]

tetherberry is your answer. Just dont be stupid and bit torrent wall-e with it or something and they wont mess with you. Its not theft, i pay for the service, its theft for verizon wanting 30 bucks a month more for this.

[jjbrowne72]

Let's put it this way. What do you pay a month for internet service in your home to your local cable or phone company?? I canceled mine and gladly pay the $30 a month to verizon to tether to my laptop (I'm happy with the speed as well). And of course I have the luxury of tethering anywhere I travel. You pay for the unlimited data plan for your PHONE. Key word here is "PHONE". It doesn't mean unlimited data for your Mac...

[thedarkfinder]

The above posters are not telling the truth. It is thief. It is called theft of service.

Theft of services is the legal term for a crime which is committed when a person obtains valuable services by deception, force, threat or other unlawful means, i.e., without lawfully compensating the provider of said services.

It is a felony in some states.


They will charge you for the data. But yea you went with verizon.

oh and before try it.

Streaming video and music from the internet (ie pandora, iheartradio or youtube), with verizon, is also thief of service.

[Trilandun]

Streaming video and music from the internet (ie pandora, iheartradio or youtube), with verizon, is also thief of service.

How do you figure sports fan?

[ehlusive]

pandora, youtube theif??

[crazyrt3]

Streaming video and music from the internet (ie pandora, iheartradio or youtube), with verizon, is also thief of service.



Im gonna call bs on that.

[greatgoogly]

pandora, youtube theif??

Legally it probably could be if Verizon wanted to tightly enforce their TOS.
From the TOS...
Terms & Conditions
Under Prohibited Uses...
vii) running software or other devices that maintain continuous active Internet connections when a computer�s connection would otherwise be idle,

[rangerdavid]

The above posters are not telling the truth. It is thief. It is called theft of service.

Theft of services is the legal term for a crime which is committed when a person obtains valuable services by deception, force, threat or other unlawful means, i.e., without lawfully compensating the provider of said services.

It is a felony in some states.


They will charge you for the data. But yea you went with verizon.

oh and before try it.

Streaming video and music from the internet (ie pandora, iheartradio or youtube), with verizon, is also thief of service.

Yeah, i'm calling bs on that too..... in what states is it a felony? and what prosecutor in this world has time to prosecute any type of charge like that anyway? Most would just tell you its a civil matter and decline to prosecute. hence, breach of contract, at best.

I dont even think its a breach of the provision that greatgoogly quoted above. You are certainly entitled to your opinion and by all means, don't watch youtube on yours.

My legal opinion, and i am an attorney, is that it is not theft. At best, maybe, it's breach of contract. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying youtube and frankly doing what ever I want to do with the phone I paid for.

[Motorcycle Mama]

... snip

Streaming video and music from the internet (ie pandora, iheartradio or youtube), with verizon, is also thief of service.

Complete BS.

Using those services on the BlackBerry is in compliance with the TOS.

[swat220]

Not bashing but most Verizon stores have Pandora and Youtube running on their demos and most reps who have blackberrys also have these applications. Unless you meant that it is a breach of TOS while tethering, then I personally don't know.

[phillipsjosh2415]

Do you have to have Tether Berry (an app I have seen advertised here on Crackberry) to tether or can you do it without it? If not, what is the object of Tether Berry? Does it just keep you from being charged?

[mnms70vw]

As stated in the previous posts, you can pay Verizon $30 a month to tether or you can get Tetherberry for $50 AND BY THE WAY IS ACTUALLY 1/2 OFF TODAY..... and tether all you want.

Read about it here http://crackberry.com/get-tetherberry-50-today-only

[phillipsjosh2415]

Yes I know it is 1/2 off right now. That is what got me interested. Doing a search for Tether Berry is what brought up this thread to me. However, in another thread a guy got hit with a $3890 phone bill from Verizon after buying Tether Berry and using it to tether to his laptop. I don't have enough posts to insert links yet but here is the thread address. You'll have to copy and paste it.

forums.crackberry.com/f35/omg-help-unexpected-data-charges-tetherberry-use-190239

Everyone (well, most) in that thread are harping on the guy for stealing because he didn't just pay the $30 for tethering to Verizon. Well, does Tether Berry just help you to steal then or is it legal to use it? If it is illegal and breaching your contract or TOS with Verizon then why is it for sale in the wide open here on Crackberry? I was all fired up about getting Tether Berry until I read what happened to him. Please help me understand this. I really would like to use Tether Berry but I don't want to be stealing a service and I sure don't want to be hit with a giant, unexpected phone bill.

Thanks.
Tony

[mnms70vw]

I read the thread and really don't know what to make of it. He might not have had a data plan and that could've been his flaw. Not really sure.

[Fuzzballz]

would somebody please tell me, in technical terms, how verizon would know that you're tethering?

Not just "some guy's brother told me he once read they could."

Please stop the rumors!

[mnms70vw]

would somebody please tell me, in technical terms, how verizon would know that you're tethering?

Not just "some guy's brother told me he once read they could."

Please stop the rumors!

I agree furballz. I'm thinking that kid probably didn't have a data plan. If you have an unlimited data plan, how will they know??

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[crisd]

would somebody please tell me, in technical terms, how verizon would know that you're tethering?

Not just "some guy's brother told me he once read they could."

Please stop the rumors!

The rumors and bogeyman stories stories will never stop, sadly. A large part of our economy is built on fear.

The most likely way they can find out you are tethering is by unusually large data usage(+5-10GB/mo). That will raise a red flag and a technician can look into it and see if your BB has been connecting to any known proxy servers(which are used by tethering software). The problem with this is that they really cannot use this information without a court order. Your browsing history is private and will remain that way unless a judge or the NSA say otherwise.

Verizon has 89 million U.S. subscribers, you need to really abuse the bandwidth for them to even try to find out what you are doing.

To sum up; can you get "caught"?. Yes you can. It's highly unlikely, and the most probable course of action is a "Cease and Desist" letter. I know MANY people who are tethering, not one that has been charged any fees or even got a letter.

To be safe stay under the 5GB/mo and you will never be noticed.

BTW the kid that allegedly got charged $3800? If I remember the story(or fable) correctly, he got in trouble with his father, than a mysterious man payed his bill, because they prayed together.

[Fuzzballz]

I guess I don't understand how tethering software works. Why would it deal with proxy servers? Doesn't it just route the data that the blackberry requests over its data connection through the USB port into the computer?