Tethering Qs - Im a bit confused :)

iamsporticus

Hi

I understand tethering and that some networks dont allow it on some contracts

But.....

My HTC phone came with an inbuilt app called "wifi hotspot" that allows me to freely tether

I use it occasionally when away with a laptop, nothing heavy and probably dont use much data, and have never had a problem from TMobile on my non tethering contract

So my questions are as follows:

Am I lucky in having this app on my phone or is it on all HTC phones?
Am I getting away with tethering because Im only using it occasionally and its habitual heavy use thats forbidden?
Do some phones (eg iphone) have software that just wont let you tether?

Thanks!

Tony5101

The wifi hotspot function is standard on HTC phones using generic firmware, but is only available on some where the firmware being used is network specific. Orange are infamous for removing this feature.
You're getting away with using it because you're not hammering it all the time. In-fact, due to the way that Android/WP7 phones use data (I'm assuming that your phone is using either one of these o/s's) the networks can't really detect when someone is tethering, other than possibly a spike in data usage.
You can tether using an iPhone too - but the data throughput is completely different from that phone/os (don't ask me how - I don't know), and the networks are able to detect whether an iPhone is being used to tether or not. This is why you tend to see specific iPhone tariffs that include some sort of tethering inclusion/exclusion clause.

Tony5101

alexandra_singh wrote: »

Yea, a pretty much standard features on many smartphones, nowadays.

Thanks for that amazing insight. Is your post count high enough to be able to post :spam: links yet?