[aneftp]

I have a current grandfathered 19.99 BIS T-mobile USA data plan.

If I decide to get this, I assume I will have to upgrade to a BB Enterprise data plan plus pay extra for wifi tethering?

Is that the correct assumption? I guess RIM figures that corporations will foot the bill for the clients and will be willing to pay and arm and a leg for this device.

[Aristotles]

I doubt it. At the moment, our company has more iPhones added to our corporate network then the Blackberry. That is why we are not charging inter-departments for adding new Blackberry's to BES in licensing terms for each device as users have switched in droves from BlackBerry to iPhone (surplus in licenses). I'm pretty sure there are a few company's which are the same.

[grahamf]

Up here in Canada tethering is included in your data plan, so it will be covered.
I think at least most of Europe is the same.
No business subsidization required.
I imagine that once Verizon switches to tiered data they will experience a pull to include tethering.



not to mention that it's possible that the PlayBook's data is indistinguishable from Blackberry data, so the carrier will never know anyways.

[meske]

I'm not sure from the post... it looks like when you're paired to your phone, you're basically just showing the screen on your phone from the tablet, so therefor you're not "tethering,", but screen sharing your BB device and utilizing the existing connection. I can't see how they could charge extra for that.

[PMurray633]

I am sure that the use of WiFi is free, like at home, Starbucks, ect. But, I am sure that tethering will be a monthly fee.

[acwyau]

Tethering is included on most Canadian data plans, so it will be free here at least. Also, I get the impression that the data use on the tablet will be indistinguishable from on-device use due to the fact it mirrors your actual handset, so it may very well be free for all users.

[Stonedicator]

The next generation of BB's should include the WiFi hotspot features currently found on some of the Droids. This will eliminate the need to tether imo. However to answer the question, I am guessing it will not cost extra to tether.

[Mr Bigs]

What I don't think people understand is that the PlayBook won't get web access from the Blackberry but from WiFi. The actual bluetooth tethering is just mirroring the blackberry screen.

[IchigoMochi]

What I don't think people understand is that the PlayBook won't get web access from the Blackberry but from WiFi. The actual bluetooth tethering is just mirroring the blackberry screen.

I saw this in an article:

"Although it can access the Internet via WiFi, the PlayBook also can access the Internet from the BlackBerry's cellular signal via Bluetooth tethering. In fact, RIM emphasized that Bluetooth tethering would allow users to employ their existing BlackBerry data plan without paying extra."

Source: Internet Evolution

Can anyone verify this? I remember seeing this fact on other, more prominent blogs.

[dpeagle]

do you get charged for connecting a set of bluetooth headphones to your berry and listening to music via the internet. as the playbook does not have a radio i would surmise the only effective way the carriers will be able to get their money is by charging based on data usage as many do now. with the assumption that the owners of these things will be using more data.

[IchigoMochi]

do you get charged for connecting a set of bluetooth headphones to your berry and listening to music via the internet. as the playbook does not have a radio i would surmise the only effective way the carriers will be able to get their money is by charging based on data usage as many do now. with the assumption that the owners of these things will be using more data.

This is what I thought, but AT&T does charge for tethering to a laptop so I'm not quite sure how this will tie in to the PlayBook.

[FineWolf]

This is what I thought, but AT&T does charge for tethering to a laptop so I'm not quite sure how this will tie in to the PlayBook.

I have a feeling it will be tethering ala Tether.

ie.: You'll need to install a BlackBerry app on your phone which will then do all the tethering magic (including data usage) on your BlackBerry.

[IchigoMochi]

I have a feeling it will be tethering ala Tether.

ie.: You'll need to install a BlackBerry app on your phone which will then do all the tethering magic (including data usage) on your BlackBerry.

I was thinking about the possibility of Tether being used for the PlayBook and I hope that becomes possible. I imagine that the PlayBook is going to have its own native tethering function and I think that we would be charged monthly for that. I sincerely hope that a version of Tether is developed for it if this is true.

[belfastdispatcher]

I seriously doubt it's gonna be tethering as we know it, you don't just use the internet connection from your blackberry via bluetooh but the whole phone features can be used, more like connecting your netbook to a bigger screen.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Jo5329]

I got the impression, and Leo seems to agree, that PB will mirror the BB screen when connected via BT, but that it will also have its own ability for Wifi ...

I'm really excited about this and hope by the time I'm able to get it (ie: down to Verizon 3 years after everyone else has one) the bugs are all worked out.

[maxiang]

I m not clear on the utility of using one's phone while being tethered to the Playbook. Can someone tell me if I can still use my phone to call and receive calls while tethered/browsing to the Playbook with my BB?

On AT&T, if I'm in 3G, I can tether my laptop and talk and surf at the same time. On EDGE or a CDMA network it will interrupt your data use until the call is finished. Same as using the Berry by itself.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[slbailey1]

I m not clear on the utility of using one's phone while being tethered to the Playbook. Can someone tell me if I can still use my phone to call and receive calls while tethered/browsing to the Playbook with my BB?

The way I understand it, when the Playbook is connected to a BB phone via bluetooth, the Playbook is a dumb terminal - it only runs the apps that are on your phone including the phones access to the internet. To the carrier nothing is tethered to the phone, therefore no extra charges. Think of the Playbook connected to a BB via bluetooth as a keyboard with a screen.

If you are on a GSM carrier, you can use both data and the phone at the same time.

[taylortbb]

the Playbook is a dumb terminal - it only runs the apps that are on your phone including the phones access to the internet.

I wouldn't quite put it that way. It interfaces with the equivalent apps on your phone, but it isn't running them. There's still BBM for the PlayBook and BBM for the BlackBerry Smartphone, but BBM for the PlayBook relays messages to BBM for the BlackBerry, which actually sends them. This is different from actually running the same app, which would then have the same UI, on both devices.

I expect the web browser will not be one of these apps though. This makes sense for BBM because the PlayBook can't BBM by itself (it doesn't have a PIN). The web browser however works just fine over WiFi.

Whether you'll pay extra to use the browser (or other apps requiring a simple network connection) via your phone over Bluetooth is something we don't have an answer to. I speculate no, RIM would make sure of that, but that's only speculation. Outside of the US (including RIM's home in Canada) you generally don't pay extra for tethering though. That's because we have tiered data plans, tethering means more data use which means upgrading to a higher plan, carriers have no reason to discourage it.

[johnenglish]

Up here in Canada tethering is included in your data plan, so it will be covered.

Maybe with your plan but I know my Telus plan specifically forbids tethering and has seperate plans for tethering. You occasionally read stories about people getting insane bills from their mobile carrier because they decided to tether and got reamed on the data charges.

[grahamf]

How old is your plan?
All of Telus's current plans allow it, so unless you're grandfathered into a really good deal I can't see how you can't just change your plan.

[TheScionicMan]

IIRC, VZW has a $15 tethering add-on for the BB plans which would put it at the same cost as the iPad data deal. Not sure how that would change if they go tiered.

It would be great if RIM was able to stealth the connection to the PlayBook, but I'm not sure they would do that to the carriers who sell their BBs.

[StormJH1]

I'm kind of interested in how the interplay between two different operating systems (OS5/OS6 & QNX) will work between the tablet and phone.

I suppose you could just use the PlayBook as a blown up "monitor" for your mobile phone, but does it blow it up in the lower resolution then? Yuck.

As for whether you can use the PlayBook's native QNX browser online with a tether to your mobile phone's data plan, it sounds like that is in the works, but since it isn't "free" for laptops, I don't imagine it will be for the PlayBook either.

What's really funny about this was that I was kinda laughing at all of these cities and establishments that were installing universal WiFi...thinking that it was about 3-6 years from becoming an obsolete concept. After all, if a 3G/4G cellular network can transmit data, why do you need a WiFi router/antenna in every coffee shop? But it turns out that cellular networks in the U.S. aren't even close to supporting the amount of data you would need to support constant web browsing and streaming. So WiFi (which is still dependent on an underlying wired connection) is still very much necessary...even to the point where tablet computers released in 2010 and 2011 can ONLY connect to the internet via WiFi.

[gregerator]

Someone else in a different thread explained it something like this: when you are just using data, it runs through your BIS account. When you tether with a BB, it runs through the carrier's servers, taking up their bandwidth. That's why most US carriers charge. But, with the PB, it will be using the BIS account data, so no extra charges. Yay, RIM!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[johnenglish]

How old is your plan?
All of Telus's current plans allow it, so unless you're grandfathered into a really good deal I can't see how you can't just change your plan.

My plan is about 2 and a half years old. I've called and asked several times about tethering and have been told "absolutely not" have that seperate plans are required for tethering. Looking around they no longer seem to offer unlimited data on any smartphones so I guess it makes sense since they know people can only use a certain amount each month and after that they're going to be charged a lot for overage fees.

[taylortbb]

I suppose you could just use the PlayBook as a blown up "monitor" for your mobile phone, but does it blow it up in the lower resolution then? Yuck.

Don't worry, you'll never see that. Bluetooth doesn't have nearly enough bandwidth to stream a rendered app. As I explained above, they will be companion apps. BBM for PlayBook works with BBM for BlackBerry OS. Think of it like how Word for Windows and Word for Mac can both read and the write the same files, except in this case it's send data over bluetooth rather than files. Just because they work together doesn't mean they're the same.