Ryan Bidan says: "Whether it's BlackBerry or not, if you have a smartphone that supports the bluetooth done tethering profile you can connect to the PlayBook for WAN connectivity when Wifi is not avaliable."
So.... that's pretty cool! It must mean it's not over Bridge then. (ps i hope this hasnt been covered anywhere else).
Maybe there's an "exception" for BlackBerries......otherwise, TETHER TO THE RESCUE
I'd be very surprised if carriers give blackberries a free ride and charge other platforms to do so....I agree a 3rd party app will be needed to get around the fee's
I'd be very surprised if carriers give blackberries a free ride and charge other platforms to do so....I agree a 3rd party app will be needed to get around the fee's
Maybe a discount if you already have Tether for your BlackBerry? hmmmm Tether hope you're reading
This is probably the most important factor in my decision to buy or not.
I've already decided I'm not going to pay for another data plan (I might move to a dumb phone and just have one data plan for the PB but that is unlikely), and WiFi only wouldn't be very useful for me. My office doesn't have WiFi and I'd like to use it while traveling (again no guarantee of available WiFi).
If I can't use Tether or a similar program to utilize my existing Blackberry data plan, I'll just continue to lug around my laptop and use Tether with it.
You will be able to tether your BB to your playbook with fee's from the specific carrier. There is a tether section under options. Sprint will have fee's with this, our company has free domestic tethering with blackberrys so i'm hoping it will still be free with the playbook, I don't see why it wouldn't be (for us).
I'm sure "tether" will come out with a program to by-pass the fee's at some point.
Personally, this was exactly the news I wanted to hear.
For me, on Vodafone UK, there's no charge for tethering, it just uses your regular data. Same for wifi-hotspot or anything else. I just wanted to know that you could definitely tether and get a full data connection on the PB without having its own data connection.
I do have a whole lot of sympathy for anyone who does have to pay to tether, but I can't help but be real happy that I can get a wifi PB and use it properlly. Hurrah.
i know that bluetooth tethering is a free service if you have a blackberry phone (im with tmobile and there was no extra fee for tethering to my playbook via bluetooth on my bold 9900).
i was wondering if other smartphones that have bluetooth tethering would allow my playbook to connect to the internet ie an iphone.
i know that bluetooth tethering is a free service if you have a blackberry phone (im with tmobile and there was no extra fee for tethering to my playbook via bluetooth on my bold 9900).
i was wondering if other smartphones that have bluetooth tethering would allow my playbook to connect to the internet ie an iphone.
My Playbook tethered easily to my andoid phone (android 2.2 and above) just using the system settings for bluetooth and tethering for each device. All my apps on the playbook that require data work without an issue. Keeping in mind I have an unlimited data plan with my phone. I pretty sure a few friends have done the same with Iphone (I think 3gs and above) with just using system settings.
