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HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum

By | April 19, 2010, 6:06am PDT

The HTC Droid Incredible from Verizon Wireless solves for tethering via official support for the Mobile Broadband Connect service.

While that little feature may be an afterthought for most folks the lack of Mobile Broadband Access support was a major hang-up for me and a potential move to the Android platform. A lot of folks were helpful—pointing me to PDAnet for Android and walking me through how to root a phone—but I wanted official Verizon Wireless support. For me, that official tethering support eclipses all of the buzz about the Incredible, which is essentially a subsidized version of the Nexus One roughly speaking.

Matthew Miller notes:

Another utility we haven’t seen officially provided by a carrier on an Android device is the ability to tether the DROID Incredible via cable to a Mac or PC computer through the VZ Access Manager. On the DROID Incredible, visit Settings>Wireless & networks and then scroll to the bottom to see the option to turn on Mobile Broadband Connect. I do not yet know if Verizon Wireless will be charging extra for this service or if they will provide it free like they do with the Palm Pre Plus. The easiest way to use this is to plug in your USB cable and then tap the correct option on the pop-up screen.

First look review: HTC DROID Incredible from Verizon Wireless

Image Gallery: Hands-on with the HTC DROID Incredible for Verizon Wireless

For me the tethering conundrum was really about official support and one-throat to choke if the mobile broadband feature craps out. The issue was so imperative for me that I was almost considering a Palm Pre just for the Mifi feature. Nothing against Palm, but I’d like a little more corporate clarity before buying a handset that I could be stuck with for two years.

Needless to say the tethering issue gets me off the fence about Android. Barring some super device from RIM—I have a few weeks before I can upgrade my phone without paying full retail freight—I’m likely to go Android and the Incredible.

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Topics

High Tech Computer Corp., Mobile, Palm Inc., Verizon Wireless, Mobile Broadband, Android, Palm Pre, Wireless And Mobility, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
zstern 24th Aug 2010
@Bruizer That's not really true anymore. Back when the AT&T Tilt came out, I used to tether, and with HSDPA turned on, sure, I'd get about 3 megabits down. But since the surge of iPhone customers, the speed has been about 1-1.5 Mb/s down. About the same as I get on my Droid Incredible.
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0 Votes
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Android phones do tether, though...
Uralbas Updated - 19th Apr 2010
you are correct. Blessing from the operator is
a big selling point. Wish more operators would
take notice.

Sprint and TMobile look the other way for now.
This move from Verizon will probably make it a
Standard. Now AT&T will probably be griping for
a while.

A lot of people would pay a bit more to have
this with a bandwidth grantee of at least 2MB/s.
Only one operator can offer this speed and its
not Verizon or AT&T. And yes, you can use phone
and the Internet at the same time.
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But in only 0.1% of the US...
Bruizer Updated - 19th Apr 2010
Only one operator can offer this speed and its
not Verizon or AT&T.

And from the FWIW department, AT&T has been delivering DL speeds of
about 3Mb/s for awhile now.
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
zstern 24th Aug 2010
@Bruizer That's not really true anymore. Back when the AT&T Tilt came out, I used to tether, and with HSDPA turned on, sure, I'd get about 3 megabits down. But since the surge of iPhone customers, the speed has been about 1-1.5 Mb/s down. About the same as I get on my Droid Incredible.
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
podstolom 19th Apr 2010
Very nice, but at what extra cost? $30/mo over the standard $30 monthly plan? And what about tethering via Bluetooth, or WiFi?

Tethering upsells have always been my biggest peeve with US Cell Companies. And now with AT&T's iPad data offerings @ 15/250 meg or $30/unlimited with no contract, turn-on/turn-off at will, current contract prices at $60/mo for 5 Gig on my netbook are making me mad.
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Aggred, just another charge from Verizon
bpunk88 19th Apr 2010
Most phones on the Verizon network are capable
of tethering. The Verizon Broadband connect is
just their own tethering application, and you
have to PAY extra to enable tethering with it.

I used tethering freely for the 4 years I was
with VZW by using alternative programs such as
PDANet for Windows Mobile.

Cant vouch for the availability of android apps
like this tho, I switched to Sprint hen the HTC
Touch Pro came out and haven't looked back.
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Hard to believe you won't be ripped off for this.
dgurney 19th Apr 2010
If it's free, fine. Otherwise, install a third-party app to do it without having to suck up to Verizon.

The only incredible thing about Android so far is how its "open-source" freedom has been rendered a fraud by continued crippling at the behest of the phone companies.
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
rwoodall 21st Apr 2010
Just finished chatting with a Verizon sales person on their website, $15 per line for tethering. She tried to tell me my fiance and I would both have to pay for tethering until I told her my fiance doesn't need or want it. She kept saying it was a mandatory add on to both lines if we want a new family plan. We are both with T-mobile and want to switch and get smart phones. Really wanted to get free tethering to save us from the home internet bill that is rising. Oh well.
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
PeteNYC 23rd Apr 2010
Fromt what the VZW rep just told me, the cost is $15/mo only if you have their Corporate Email Plan at roughly $50/mo.

Cost is $30/mo if you have the Personal Email plan.

So I don't see this as anything more than a rip-off on Verizon's part.
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
azcalgar 25th Apr 2010
The specs are misleading..... The phone is capable of
tethering, but Verizon still does not support the tethering
function. I attempted to pre-order the phone on their
website and found that when I went to checkout, it
removed my already existing Mobile Broadband Connect
plan. I called customer service to see why this was and to
verify that it is actually going to be removed, and they
confirmed that it will be. The reason, that was shared by
CS, tech support, and online support, is that Verizon does
not support the feature on the phone and will not be
providing the capability at this time. As they have said
since the launch of Droid... "they are working on it". The
supervisor in the online ordering department even referred
me to the Android Market to purchase pdaNet for the
tethering capabilities.

So, I am sorry to say, it does not solve the tethering
conundrim. Still the same issues as any of their droid
phones.
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Regrettable Incredible tethering conundrum
wrxSTiMULi Updated - 4th May 2010
I was just about to press the button on the Regrettable Incredible when I came across this information. Oh well. I can wait until they figure out how to give me what I am already paying for without charging me again for how I choose to use it.
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I just bought one and the sales rep told me I could download
robert@... 6th May 2010
a software application which would allow me to tether the device to a laptop for free. I haven't tried it yet, but I will be in his face if it doesn't work.
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Incredible with Alltel Wireless Internet software
tiriverrox Updated - 15th May 2010
I have the Alltel Wireless Internet option grandfathered under the Verizon plan. Can anyone tell me if the Incredible will allow tethering with the Alltel software installed on a computer and the droid tethered as a modem?
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RE: HTC Droid Incredible solves the Verizon Wireless tethering conundrum
tpeter52@... 10th Jul 2010
Here's an interesting situation... I called VZ sales regarding tethering an the DROID and the person I spoke with said "it's possible and it's free". I asked three times about the "free" part since I just came from their web site where they quoted $15/$30 depending on what e-mail plan you had. I thought I understood what I was reading, but the person on the phone was very confident in the "free" point after having given me the same answer three times and she even went as far as stating the she does it with her phone.

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