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Mobile hotspot - Am I missing something?

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rooter:

--- Quote from: shmokes on April 15, 2012, 01:25:35 pm ---We just got my wife a new smartphone that comes with built-in mobile hotspot functionality. But AT&T charges $50/mo for this functionality. WTF? Am I missing something? As far as I can tell AT&T isn't DOING anything when I use my phone as a hotspot. My phone is handling all the routing and processing. I'm using capped data that I've already paid for. AT&T isn't providing any extra service whatsoever. Right?

I mean, I'd understand a douchey little nominal monthly fee, or an exorbitant/extortionate $30 one-time fee. But $50/mo and I don't get any extra data with that? I only pay $30/mo for the data package I'd be sharing with my iPad!

--- End quote ---

I have an iPhone with AT&T.  It's an extra $30 a month to let your phone be a mobile hotspot.  This also includes doubling my data allowance from 2GB to 4GB.

Green Giant:
Wow, you guys actually pay for the mobile tethering?

Well I am assuming your wife's new smartphone is android since you didn't say new iphone.  If that is the case, root it.

I rooted my incredible, and it is amazing what you can do.  There is a VERY FREE app that lets you create an encrypted mobile hotspot.  It used your phones wifi as the router and the 3G(doesn't have 4G) as the internet.  I turn it on and it sends out internet to anything that has my password.

I have to agree that it is ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- that they charge for a feature which is nothing more than an app.  A simple app at that which requires nothing more than root access on an android in order to piggyback on the data plan.

shmokes:

--- Quote from: rooter on April 16, 2012, 11:21:26 am ---I have an iPhone with AT&T.  It's an extra $30 a month to let your phone be a mobile hotspot.  This also includes doubling my data allowance from 2GB to 4GB.

--- End quote ---

That's interesting. Maybe the guy at the AT&T store misunderstood. He said that enabling the mobile hotspot functionality was $50/mo. I even clarified, "It's $50/mo on top of the $30/mo data package . . . so $80/mo for data if I want to use the phone as a hotspot?"

But after reading your post I did a google search which led to this page. The 2GB data plan doesn't exist anymore. You go straight from 300 mb for $20/mo to 3GB for $30/mo. And the 5GB plan is $50/mo.

In the fine print is the following line: 5GB data plan is required to enable mobile hotspot or tethering.

This suggests to me that maybe AT&T actually doesn't charge a monthly fee to enable hotspot, but rather only allows it on their $50/mo 5 GB plan. Which, while not ideal, is a damned site better than what the store employee said. I'm on the phone with AT&T now to clarify, but the guy I'm talking to seems borderline retarded, so we'll see if I come away with any updated info.

Edit: added quote

shmokes:

--- Quote from: Green Giant on April 16, 2012, 11:39:26 am ---
Well I am assuming your wife's new smartphone is android since you didn't say new iphone. 


--- End quote ---

It's a Windows phone 7.5 (Mango). Specifically the Lumia 900. I haven't looked that much into whether Mango can be jailbroken or rooted or whatever it's called when it's a Windows phone, nor what capabilities that would open up. But my instincts are that the Android rooting community is far more robust than its Windows counterpart.

shmokes:
Okay . . . I finally got a firm answer from AT&T. There is, in fact, no extra charge for mobile hotspot. But they only allow it on the top-tier 5 GB data plan. Hence, similar to what rooter said earlier, for $50 would give me not just mobile hot-spot functionality, but also more data. Actually, Rooter might want to have his plan re-evaluated if possible because the $50 plan today ought to be buying him 5 GB data per month rather than 4 GB.

It's still pretty lame that they arbitrarily won't let me use my phone as a mobile hot-spot with the 3 GB plan. The worst that might happen is that I'd go over my 3 GB data cap, which doesn't hurt AT&T at all . . . it just means I'd be paying overage charges. But that's just mildly annoying compared to the outrageous $50/mo surcharge for mobile hotspot on top of the regular data rates that the store employee described.

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