[dc5dave]

my question is.. is tetherberry currently providing like a server of some sort that they need a large sum of money to maintain? or is it just a small shared hosting package that they pay 2-3$/mo?

[ls1norcal]

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

So lets get this straight. You run the type of business that generates 40K dollar orders, and you rely on a free beta piece of software as your primary internet connection?

Some on this thread have said that you can only have one device/pin active but that you can change the device...new phone, etc. you just cannot have more than one device active at any given time.

Can anyone from Tetherberry chime in on this?

Also, is it really that easy to use? I just install BB Manager on my laptop, then install Tetherberry on my laptop, finally, plug in my Storm and I'm off and away? Is it really that easy?

Staff from TB posted a few pages back saying there will be a $9.99 fee to transfer your PIN, but if you provide proof of a warranty/insurance exchange, it will be waived.

[theorangeman]

I for one believe that the $40 fee is reasonable and don't mind the other issues that have created some controversy today. The only major concern for me is having A LOT of people (including myself of course) investing in money without any kind of reassurance that there will be some kind of guarantee (or money back assurance) if a provider like Verizon is able/willing to shut this whole thing down in the next month or two (if not sooner).

I certainly don't expect TetherBerry to assure me for the life of my unit, but beyond 30 days isn't asking for too much, in my opinion. If they don't offer any kind of such assurance, then fine, people purchase what they do and that's okay. My point is that I believe a lot of people are on the fence and not willing to make the plunge when a provider (i.e. Verizon) might be able/willing to make what we pay for not usable. For those who don't agree with my stance, I will agree to disagree. However, I still don't believe I, or anyone sharing my concern, lacks a very valid point and resistance to buying.

If TB is not willing to give such a guarantee (for a limited basis at least) then they will lose out on some business.

[tricknasty]

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

Bad business decision on your part. If i had $40,000 on the line, i would have a backup plan !!

[ls1norcal]

I know there are a lot of concerns of Verizon coming in and shutting it down, but think about this. "Free" tethering has been around for a long time with Windows Mobile users, and Verizon has yet to take any action. I *think* most people are smart enough to lay low with "questionable" tethering, and not use it as their primary internet connection, but I could be wrong. I dont think Verizon would even view it as worthwhile to pursue this, as long as the network isnt suffering.

If every single beta tester bought the released version (10000 beta testers VS 56 million VZW customers as of 2007) thats .017 percent of their customer base. Furthermore, im willing to bet that maybe 10 percent of those people will use that as their primary internet connection, and of those 10 percent, even fewer will be doing stupid stuff like downloading torrents, playing xbox live, etc.

It simply doesnt make sense that Verizon is going to waste their time "coming after" people, especially since its a grey area (legally speaking) in their TOS anyways.

Just to assume the worst, play out the scenario of 100K TB downloads. Move that decimal point over, and its still a tiny percentage.

EDIT: Even more food for thought, I didnt even think about this, those numbers will be even smaller considering that not everyone has Verizon (duh). So cut that percentage in half.

[sebassardo]

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

gumgum.. Are you serious?

[bosch00]

Anyone know if the beta is still working for everyone?... i was a beta tester, purchased the full version this morning, entered the blackberry pin etc, that they require, but havn't downloaded the live version yet.. but i'm on the beta right now and it's still working.. not sure if it only works b/c my blackberry is now registered with tetherberry or if the beta is just still working.. can someone confirm. If so, beta testers don't need to install the new version once you purchase, cause the beta still works fine. I know.. probably bug fixes.. but so far so good here. Verizon users...the setup could not have been any easier.

For those on the fence about this program.. i am a former subscriber to vzw's tethering program at $30/month, and this one is noticeably faster. I have used both services at least 2 hrs / day while one the train going to work in NYC, and tetherberry is faster, no doubt about it. again this may depend on the area you are in as well. For my daily regular use, $40 vs. $30/mth to vzw is music to my ears.

[hudss]

The pricing that was released is to HIGH for a one time fee with no upgrades and if you change phones you need to purchase again!!!

Well Harleys are way over priced as well when you can get a reliable non oil leaking fast import for half the price!!!

[chrisnz]

I used the App during the beta period and found it to be very useful and simple to use.

I've tethered to my blackberry before through bluetooth and have found that the usage is displayed in AT&T's OLAM as an additional data usage. I did not get charged for it but I was concerned that it showed up as different usage so I don't tether with bluetooth unless extremely urgent.

A few days have gone by since I used Tetherberry and this is what I see in my OLAM:



The 1.84 MB under the red bar are what concern me. This is exactly how usage showed up on my account when tethered through Bluetooth.

I was reading a review at bgr and found interesting that all traffic is sent through Tetherberry's servers. I had checked the IP where my traffic was coming from but I didn't investigate further when the IP I got was one that did not belong to RIM or AT&T.

I think this is a very weak spot for the app. If AT&T or Verizon or Sprint or whoever decided to check the traffic, they could see that it's going to Tetherberry's servers and they could very well charge everyone using Tetherberry for the data usage and/or block it.

It would be great if Tetherberry used BIS instead of the APN. This would make it undetectable to the carriers. Unfortunately, this would also make it painfully slow. Just do a speed test through BIS and you'll see.

It would be even nicer if it was possible to select which connection method to use. I guess it's not very easy to pipe traffic through BIS.

Very Very interesting, if your carrier decided that using this application did infact break your T&C they could look up ALL data from this ip and just plain out BILL you.

So yes i would watch out... and I'm now not going near it.

[RobbTC]

Anyone know if the beta is still working for everyone?... i was a beta tester, purchased the full version this morning, entered the blackberry pin etc, that they require, but havn't downloaded the live version yet.. but i'm on the beta right now and it's still working.. not sure if it only works b/c my blackberry is now registered with tetherberry or if the beta is just still working.. can someone confirm. If so, beta testers don't need to install the new version once you purchase, cause the beta still works fine. I know.. probably bug fixes.. but so far so good here. Verizon users...the setup could not have been any easier.

Last beta was 1.0.6 and the gold version today was 1.0.7. The beta might be working for you because your PIN is now in the allow list.

[bigcalidave]

$40 for a piece of software on any PDA phone is out of the question. Even if it's the greatest thing in the world, we all go through so many phones, carriers, etc that its just not worth it. Sell the damn program for $10. Sell it to 50 times more people. It's that easy. ****, sell it for $10 a year, then when people keep using it you will keep making more money without paying for advertising. I'd buy it at $10.. might use it when I can't find some wifi to steal, but at $40, eh. not worth it. Not with wifi everywhere.
And this program has been beta for three weeks? we have no idea what kind of issues they may have. Is this server side based or is it just tricking the phone into sharing the data usage?
If you exceed 5gb you will be flagged, no matter what software you use, that's been the truth with every line verizon sells.

Every single phone I've had has been able to tether, for free. This is a weak option.

[tehmole]

no? I have never heard of parallels..Im a bit of a newbie when it comes to the Blackberry and software information..

Parallel is a software like vnware for mac os. You can install windows on mac.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[RobbTC]

$40 for a piece of software on any PDA phone is out of the question.

You aren't paying $40 for a piece of software. You are paying $40 for a software and SERVICE. This is about 6 weeks of service with VZW with their tethering plan. Beyond the initial software sell, the Tetherberry company still has to pay for their internet bandwidth that is being used by the software. This is the service you are paying for.

[cklasse]

There is an issue here of who is the bigger moron- you for relying on an IT product on the day of the official release or your boss who relies on someone like you to handle such a deal knowing that you are relying on your free beta application to secure a deal. I can't wrap my head around it, either way you both should be fired in my opinion. Don't waste time on the forums whining about your incompentency please.

On an important note, thanks to everyone at TB for this excellent product. Of course there is some debate as to individuals preferences over the price and other issues, but needless to say this is a business and I fully support these guys for making an excellent product. All the best to everyone at TB and thanks!

Cheers,

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

[hennesseystealth]

I wonder how many people that are "up in arms" over $40 are really just Verizon employees looking to scare people off a great product? Do an economic analysis and if it makes sense for you, do it, if not, don't...it is that simple.

[EronRackzak]

Just loaded it on my Storm running .109 . . .installed on Windows 7 (why not beta all the way ;-)), and am totally impressed! My Cisco VPN works flawlessly over tethered connection! This application is now on my must have list. Looking forward to the release!.

P.S. - I did have to delete a service book to avoid BES conflicts. . .but small price to pay. I can always undelete when done ;-). Thanks to all!

You mean you got this working with BES? Please can you elaborate a bit more on how you did it? I definitely can't. I have admin rights to BES service by the way. Thanks for your help

[gtstang462002]

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

They did not turn it off this morning. I was running the beta till a half hour before it actually went live at which point in time I bought the software because it was available.

[gtstang462002]

Bad business decision on your part. If i had $40,000 on the line, i would have a backup plan !!

If I had 40K on the line I would have a T1 satellite shot.

[paulanthonyc]

all i can say is the way this was handled was very porely,

I lost a $40,000+ order this morning because they turned the beta version off before allowing purchase of the new version.

I am staying at my home out side of Park City Utah and and had now way of getting a internet connection to beable to clsoe the deal. My home runns completely off the grid, No telephone, no electric from the electric grid, it is all solar, and and this was the answer that i was looking for.

I had to drive into town and find a computer that i could use and download the software to only after a special time half way thru my day.

They really should have allowed purchse of the software before the drop of the old beta version.

Thanks for the $40,000+ loss of income.

O...M...G!! Even if this was true, and I doubt that it is, but EVEN if it is, you should never admit to that kind of idiocy! You CLAIM to have based a $40k deal on a beta program, which the developers clearly stated would stop working on THE DAY OF YOUR DEAL...and you couldn't have a back-up plan? Let's see...should I call my wireless company and activate tethering for a DAY..no...maybe I'll actually drag my *** to the office instead of staying in the F-ing SOLAR HOME!...nah, can't do either...maybe I'll see if the boss or anyone else at the office has a wireless data card I could use for the day...nah.. I'll just stick with the beta program that shuts off some time today (and which as others have said, worked almost up till the actual switch). REALLY?...FOR REAL?!!! YOU SIR FAIL!!!!!!

[danielseverin]

So is there any way to try this for free or do you have to buy it now just to see how it works? I would like to try it before I drop $40

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[paulanthonyc]

So is there any way to try this for free or do you have to buy it now just to see how it works? I would like to try it before I drop $40

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I haven't heard about any trial period for it, but it's been free in beta form for weeks. For most of the people I've seen who used it, including myself, it worked great. I don't think there's any need to try it out at this point. If you need tethering, you want a good price, and you're not worried about issues with your carrier, you can't beat this deal. If I was sure VZW couldn't easily identify it, and cause me issues, I would have already bought it. But I don't know about that yet. Too risky right now for me. The price is great though. Even if VZW found a way to disable it after 2 months, it's still less than 2 months of their tethering.

[ls1norcal]

So is there any way to try this for free or do you have to buy it now just to see how it works? I would like to try it before I drop $40

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That's what the 30 day money back guarantee is for.

[RyBerryStorm]

So I take it that there is no discounted price for beta testers after all It was all just a ploy to rope us in

[havanahjoe]

So I take it that there is no discounted price for beta testers after all It was all just a ploy to rope us in

$39.99 IS the discounted price. The e-mail you got states this. The regular price will be higher.

[mistamista2000]

$40 for a piece of software on any PDA phone is out of the question. Even if it's the greatest thing in the world, we all go through so many phones, carriers, etc that its just not worth it. Sell the damn program for $10. Sell it to 50 times more people. It's that easy. ****, sell it for $10 a year, then when people keep using it you will keep making more money without paying for advertising. I'd buy it at $10.. might use it when I can't find some wifi to steal, but at $40, eh. not worth it. Not with wifi everywhere.
And this program has been beta for three weeks? we have no idea what kind of issues they may have. Is this server side based or is it just tricking the phone into sharing the data usage?
If you exceed 5gb you will be flagged, no matter what software you use, that's been the truth with every line verizon sells.

Every single phone I've had has been able to tether, for free. This is a weak option.

If you aren't purchasing the software why complain. If every phone you've had tethered for free why not stay with that carrier or phone. It is what it is. The price in my opinion for what you're getting is fair. Reading through the thread since the actual release it appears at the start most people were concerned with the BB replacement / upgrades. No cost to replace the software if your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged is a great policy. $10 if you upgrade your phone is also very reasonable. If you purchase TetherBerry and upgrade it once a year over 5 years it would cost you a grand total of $90. If the price were $10 you would still have people complaining that it should be free.