1. xweb10's Avatar
    The bridge is a great option, but I need the PB apps to take advantage of the bridged Internet connection. IE: Facebook, News Feeds, sports scores, etc. I need to be able to launch them and use the bridged 3G connection. That would make the PB killer as you would never need to pay for tethering or be forced to look for WIFI.

    A quick solution to that would be for tether.com to develop a PlayBook app.

    Once a Internet connection is always available for all apps, I am all in. And I am betting so will many others, as long as this killer feature is marketed correctly.
    06-10-11 10:55 AM
  2. mcetlinski's Avatar
    On the surface it sounds like a pretty cool idea, but at the root of it all is the concept of the bridge. It was designed with security at it's root. As soon as you break the sandbox in the manner you are describing you have breached all security. The best solution would be for the bridge to just contain your additional phone apps. Just my thoughts on it.
    06-10-11 11:10 AM
  3. anthonybaker's Avatar
    if you are tethered with your phone not bridged, doesnt it work like that way ?
    06-10-11 11:16 AM
  4. mandony's Avatar
    if you are tethered with your phone not bridged, doesnt it work like that way ?
    Correct, the 'tether browser' works like a WIFI connection with regard to app availability.
    'Bridge browser' allows access to websites that are Internet browser supported. One, but not only, primary use of 'bridge' is to gain access to the web mail on your BB.
    'Bridge browser' is slower than 'tether browser'.
    So, if you have an app, like one of the weather apps, these may or may not work on bridge but will work on tether.

    Regarding to your first question about pricing: if you have an unlimited data plan, likely you will not have any charges for either bridge or tether.
    Bridge should not have any charges. Some carriers might enforce a tether charge based upon bandwidth used.
    Last edited by mandony; 06-10-11 at 11:28 AM.
    06-10-11 11:24 AM
  5. newcollector's Avatar
    Correct, the 'tether browser' works like a WIFI connection with regard to app availability.
    'Bridge browser' allows access to websites that are Internet browser supported. One, but not only, primary use of 'bridge' is to gain access to the web mail on your BB.
    'Bridge browser' is slower than 'tether browser'.
    So, if you have an app, like one of the weather apps, these may or may not work on bridge but will work on tether.

    Regarding to your first question about pricing: if you have an unlimited data plan, likely you will not have any charges for either bridge or tether.
    Bridge should not have any charges. Some carriers might enforce a tether charge based upon bandwidth used.
    Whether you have unlimited data or not, my carrier charges extra to tether as most do.
    06-10-11 12:17 PM
  6. xweb10's Avatar
    Yes, carriers charge for tethering. The ability to use your cell plan for all needed date would be a killer differentiator for the PB. Whether the carrier allow this is another story. Until then, if tether.com makes a PB app it would be worth every bit of the $50 cost.
    06-10-11 01:05 PM
  7. Mercury's Avatar
    God bless Rogers with a 6GB data plan and free tethering if your data plan is 1GB+ The only thing the Canadian cell companies have RIGHT!!!!
    06-10-11 01:48 PM
  8. HaTaX's Avatar
    It wouldn't really break any rules that the BB has to adhere to in a bridged environment. If you're connected to BIS then you don't have any restrictions on where traffic can go to and from. If you're on a BES server then your access to sites and such through the BES connection are limited by the BES server, the PB would be passing traffic through the BB so if it wasn't allowed, it wouldn't pass.

    Also, the security is for the emails and such that are never delivered to the PB, but instead displayed live through a "window" into your BB. An argument could be made though for accessing an intranet site through the BES connection and downloading content to the PB. But that can already be done with the bridge browser, so I'd guess the point is moot there.

    Anyway, I'd guess they don't want to alienate the carriers as there would be no way for them to tell if internet traffic came from the device or PB if it were to work this way. If / when Netflix makes it to the PB, could you imagine how mad the carriers would be if BB users started consuming MASSIVE amounts of data under their unlimited plans? It could also be as simple as the design of the bridge only allows structured data transfers and has no method to deal with different "pipes" of unstructured data. (Think XML file structure vs a video file with regards to what the data stream would look like)
    06-10-11 02:15 PM
  9. xweb10's Avatar
    If / when Netflix makes it to the PB, could you imagine how mad the carriers would be if BB users started consuming MASSIVE amounts of data under their unlimited plans?
    I may be wrong, but watching Netflix videos via 3G does not seem appealing. WIFI or 4G would need to be in the mix for a satisfying experience. I would not watch pixelated Netlix, but maybe others would.
    06-10-11 02:36 PM
  10. sterling_bandit's Avatar
    i wish they would permit bridging off all apps on phone too, correct marketing, android player, skype, qik and such would see rim gain market share but carriers might not be inclined to support this as they lose out on tethering charges.
    06-10-11 02:37 PM
  11. Mercury's Avatar
    Hey Sterling_bandit.... my name is Sterling... Sterling Silver = quicksilv3r lol
    06-10-11 02:50 PM
  12. ssbtech's Avatar
    God bless Rogers with a 6GB data plan and free tethering if your data plan is 1GB+ The only thing the Canadian cell companies have RIGHT!!!!
    No kidding. I managed to get my Torch on the last day of Bell's 6GB+Tethering plan for $30 deal.
    06-10-11 03:12 PM
  13. DrFrancky's Avatar
    in what country do you live so you have to pay for tethering ? Oh, wait , is this the same country where you have to pay for incoming calls too?
    06-10-11 03:19 PM
  14. ssbtech's Avatar
    Actually, I pay $15/mo for unlimited incoming calls. So I guess you could say I pay to not pay for incoming calls
    06-10-11 03:24 PM
  15. shootsscores's Avatar
    The bridge is a great option, but I need the PB apps to take advantage of the bridged Internet connection. IE: Facebook, News Feeds, sports scores, etc. I need to be able to launch them and use the bridged 3G connection. That would make the PB killer as you would never need to pay for tethering or be forced to look for WIFI.

    A quick solution to that would be for tether.com to develop a PlayBook app.

    Once a Internet connection is always available for all apps, I am all in. And I am betting so will many others, as long as this killer feature is marketed correctly.
    With the bridge browser you can directly access the full sites. Apps aren't strictly necessary.
    06-10-11 03:38 PM
  16. tharrison4815's Avatar
    Is this a US issue? I live in the UK and my phone is on a standard smartphone T-Mobile contract (�35 a month / 24 month). And it comes with free unlimited 3G data as standard and I tether my imported PB and all my apps work perfectly and I don't get charged anything on top of my normal contract. I have to admit the US phone contract system confuses me with extra charges for everything, I also find it very odd that different types of data are treated differently.
    06-10-11 04:04 PM
  17. z_scorpio_z's Avatar
    On the surface it sounds like a pretty cool idea, but at the root of it all is the concept of the bridge. It was designed with security at it's root. As soon as you break the sandbox in the manner you are describing you have breached all security. The best solution would be for the bridge to just contain your additional phone apps. Just my thoughts on it.
    The security concern might be there, however apps on the BB itself have access to use BES/BIS connection. Example, I use BBSSH and it has option to pick connection type. I choose BES and then ssh to servers behind company firewall without any issues.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    06-10-11 04:04 PM
  18. Angelo_Campher's Avatar
    Is this a US issue? I live in the UK and my phone is on a standard smartphone T-Mobile contract (�35 a month / 24 month). And it comes with free unlimited 3G data as standard and I tether my imported PB and all my apps work perfectly and I don't get charged anything on top of my normal contract. I have to admit the US phone contract system confuses me with extra charges for everything, I also find it very odd that different types of data are treated differently.
    I'm in South Africa and have to bolt on an additional data bundle in order to tether. For 2 Gigs I would pay the equivalent of your standard package. My contract which includes 400 minutes plus BIS costs about R700 which is roughly about 60 pounds.
    06-10-11 04:36 PM
  19. xweb10's Avatar
    With the bridge browser you can directly access the full sites. Apps aren't strictly necessary.
    Yes, but using the browser is not always practical. This is why there are apps. Most of them are glorified web-apps but many provide a better experience than opening a website in the browser.
    06-10-11 04:53 PM
  20. anon(823957)'s Avatar
    God bless Rogers with a 6GB data plan and free tethering if your data plan is 1GB+ The only thing the Canadian cell companies have RIGHT!!!!
    no kidding, its actually the only thing they've got right. i'm surprised its across the board too, virgin doesn't charge extra.
    06-10-11 06:35 PM
  21. xweb10's Avatar
    I knew they could do it! This makes the PB truly portable. It does not need a 3g radio if you have a Berry.
    08-24-11 10:53 PM
  22. KQ9's Avatar
    Now go buy a Playbook and glue that BB or yours on the back.
    08-24-11 11:08 PM
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