treo as wireless modem

[kevinmg]

This could be an interesting discussion on its own...I bet a lot of people would have some instresting additions to the convo!

[Beachbum26]

Found this comment in another online review:

"Again, like most Verizon phones, the Treo 700w doesn't support Bluetooth DUN (Dial Up Networking), though Verizon tells us they will be offering EVDO tethering for a relatively modest fee (perhaps $15/month) in the coming months, and will offer a patch for the Treo 700w when the tethering service is available."

Full Article (Mobile Tech Review.com):
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Treo-700w.htm

That comment is down under the "Bluetooth" section.

[MystaMax]

soooo 15 ontop of my 40 bucks/month. Verizon's a joke. they won't be getting that money from me. thats for sure. I thought the whole idea of evdo was to download larger items quicker (in general) well only 20% (maybe less) of websites are smartphone compatible (truly built for PDA devices), and the ones that are mostly text based? so really why am I paying all this if I can't even use the device to its fullest potential?

Regardless, rules are meant to be broken! I like what they offer, but their business model about this whole thing sux. I just wish the majority of ppl needed this, so it could be taken care of quickly!

[treythompson]

I know people won't agree with me on this, but, I'll throw this out anyway...

In 1995, I started in the Internet Service Provider business. As you may recall, things like dialup 14.4k accounts were around $19.95-$29.95/month. There were all kinds of products/variables/etc... like 28.8k cost more, business cost more than residential, etc... Well, as time passed, that all settled into one Unlimited Residential dialup 56k account for $19.95/mo, and one Commercial account for $29.95/mo. We were the first company in Dallas, TX to have 56k dialups (we had an exclusivity agreement with USRobotics for a few months.)

Anywho, we had the exact same thing. And "unlimited use" product, to be used by the individual that was purchasing the product. And the product was defined as "Internet web browsing, email, chatting, and other similar basic use programs". Now, we had some limits! Maximum call duration of 4 hours. Maximum usage of 250 hours per month, etc... Well, we got all kinds of arguments. "Why are you limiting my UNLIMITED account?!?" Here's the explanation... We would say, "Trey, you can use this product as much as YOU want to! If you want a family product, that costs more, but YOU can use it as much as you want." And anyone trying to convince us that they ACTIVELY used it more than 250 hours per month (over 8 hours per day), probably was not really sitting there the whole time, they just left their email going, chat programs, etc.. This was called "unattended use", and was prohibited... So you see, we too had to deal with the "unlimited" use term that was thrown out to the market, but deal with it.

Now, why is this an issue? Because let's not forget, it COSTs money to provide these services. Wired bandwidth costs are falling through the floor. Just check out Verizons Fios service. $35/mo gets you a 15MB FIBER connection. I mean come on! That SAME product cost companies THOUSANDS of dollars just a few years ago!!!

Well, this market is no different. It's growing, and companies are trying their best to provide the products that we whiney customers are demanding, and costs that we believe are fair. Now, let's be honest... $40 per month for a connection that's much faster than some of our customer's DSL connections, and can be used all over the country... on a cell phone... That's a pretty amazing product. I understand they use the term "unlimited" loosely. However, you can do whatever you really want to do on the Treo in an unlimited fashion. Using your Treo as a modem will quintouple the bandwidth you use at a minimum, therefore costing them possibly more money than they are charging you...

Anyway, I'm not in bed with the big boys, I'm just saying I understand BOTH sides of the issue. I think you'll see it shake out over the next couple of years as the wireless broadband services mature, just as we've seen the Internet Broadband services mature.

[kevinmg]

[quote=treythompson]However, you can do whatever you really want to do on the Treo in an unlimited fashion.
[quote]

I completely understand why they have some of these rules. I read a post somewhere of a person tethering their Treo and running up about 10GB of data transfer in a month (videos, music, etc. accounted for the majority). This to me would qualify as unreasonable usage, no questions asked. To me, I'm fine with tethering being another feature...that $15/mn still beats $59 for the PCMCIA card.

BUT...when you say "you can do whatever you reall want to do on the Treo in an unlimited fashion", that's not entirely true..which is what I was trying to point out in my previous post. The Treo has built-in streaming capabilities in Windows Media Player...I didn't have to download a third-party program ro make that work...but it's prohibited by the TOS. If we want to get technical, using the provided MSN chatting program would probably violate #4 of their TOS. That's where I start to have a problem with it...if they wanted to be strict about it, the following Treo actions could be conceived as a violation of the TOS:

-Emailing (legal) audio and/or video files
-Receiving emails with (legal) audio and/or video file attachments
-Instant Messaging of Any Sort

Like I say, I really do understand that people using extremely large amounts of network traffic will lead to degraded performance...but to me, to have a line like this: for access to the Internet, intranets or other data networks except as the device’s native applications & capabilities permit - and then prohibit: uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games - is flat out contradictory since these ARE NATIVE functions of the device applications!

[kevinmg]

PS - I'm on pace to use about 200MB of data transfer this month...hope i don't run into any issues

[treythompson]

I agree with you 100%...

However...

I would be very, very surprised if there were a problem with someone using the pre-loaded software on the Treo in an unlimited fashion. I understand the TOS says that, however, if Verizon says I can't use the preinstallsed software that THEY sold me, and that the MANUAL says I can use... Bring it on...

[kevinmg]

Exactly! Personally, I think they're just covering themselves from people who use the phone to stream music in their office, or move a LOT of data around. I honestly can't see them caring that much if your data usage is reasonable...i guess the next question is going to be what's considered "reasonable" from their eyes!

[MystaMax]

I forgot how to check usage, I know I saw it when I first got my phone. I know its high. I've stream most of my tv shows that I missed the night before to my treo. I got caught in traffic and I didnt move for about 20 minutes, so I watched another show. Just streamed it to my phone.

I had dialup, and man I used that like crazy. I never turned it off (dedicated line). I think its misleading to tell someone unlimited usage and then only allow 8 hours a day. I'd be pissed if that was the case.

Same thing w/ verizon. Especially since they charge per megabyte for some of their plans. my "unlimited" plan better be unlimited.

just for kicks:

un·lim·it·ed - Having no restrictions or controls; Having or seeming to have no boundaries; Having no ends or limits

thats the type of unlimited I expect as a consumer when I see it, anything less is unexceptable.

[TheHeffNerr]

sorry to clear up what i said about hotline

hotline is basicly when they kill your service, like if you dont pay your bill, billing hotline is put in.

VZW can just put in a data hotline, where u wont get any data service.


yes they do plan on doing the tethering, but i dont think it's going to get $15 think 5-10 a month.