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Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin
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Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps

By | May 3, 2011, 9:42am PDT

Summary: AT&T and Verizon, with a significant hand from Google, have begun cracking down on Android tethering apps, which enable users to avoid official carrier tethering plans.

The Android tethering honeymoon may finally be over.

AT&T and Verizon subscribers have noticed in recent days that Wireless Tether, a tethering app (formerly) available via the Android Market, has disappeared. Users are, however, able to find the app via the online version of Android Market, signaling that individual carriers may be to blame for the disappearance.

Google spokespeople say that while Wireless Tether is not officially blocked, Android users on specific carriers may find that the app is unavailable. Verizon and AT&T have been similarly evasive in their responses, declining to comment on whether they approached Google on getting the application removed.

Of course, carriers’ efforts to crack down on illicit tethering are nothing new. AT&T recently began targeting subscribers that it suspected were using unlawful tethering programs. Via tethering apps like Wireless Tether and MyWi, users are able to evade official tethering plans like AT&T’s Data Pro, which offers 4 GB of data for $45 per month.

But the news is perhaps more interesting for Google, which has traditionally taken a stance against the efforts of carriers to prohibit how customer data is allocated.

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Topics

Google Inc., AT&T Corp., Carrier, Wireless, Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

Disclosure

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton has no investments that may conflict with his work with ZDNet. Similarly, he has not worked with any companies that he may write about in his technology coverage.

Biography

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications. He lives in New York, and is a graduate of Amherst College.
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Unlawful?
lostzanglar 24th May 2011
Read the fine print in all those terms and conditions. It says that they can change anything at any time for no reason retroactive to the beginning of time. The court of the corporation has recently declared that the court is only for the benefit of business not consumers. Next week using a speakerphone will be "illegal conferencing" because anybody else in the room didn't pay to join the conversation, and you will not be allowed to talk to anyone named Jack or Jill without incurring extra charges.
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Google's losing alot anymore
Bill Pharaoh 3rd May 2011
First this, then Bing on Blackberry, people are running away in droves from Google.

I'd hate to be in the Googleplex today, probally get hit by flying chairs! happy
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
leebosay 3rd May 2011
@Bill Pharaoh Where are they running to? Apple? Ha ha!
They can run to Sprint, who isn't trying to block anything... yet. And how does either Bing or Blackberry fit into the Google equation?
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The fact that in prior years, no one would consider
Mister Spock 3rd May 2011
@leebosay
anything other then Google. Now we are seeing them "cave" to carriers they did not have to before, and having to actually fight their way to their goals,as opposed to just waiting for those to come to them.

Mr. Pharaoh is correct, much has changed, and Google is starting to feel those changes.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
Pete "athynz" Athens 3rd May 2011
@leebosay Using Bing instead of Google as the default search engine on Blackberry is what he was saying so there is an implied lack of faith in Google from RIM and now with Google (NOT the manufacturers but Google) removing this app and being shady about why they did so (as well as the carriers being shady about it)... well your precious is not looking too good right now.
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Anyway, there is actually nothing really "open" in Google's way, since it
DeRSSS 3rd May 2011
@Bill Pharaoh:... banned quite a lot of applications since very beginning.
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At the risk of exposing my ignorance
Economister Updated - 3rd May 2011
(since I do not own an Android device) root it, side load the application and tell the carriers to go and (insert the four letter word of your choice) themselves.

They can sell you the data limit of your/their choice, but once you have paid for it, it is none of their business how you use it.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
Harley_Dude 3rd May 2011
@Economister You are free to do that and the carrier is free to put you on a tethering plan when they notice you are using a desktop browser or downloading P2P over your phone.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
timspublic1@... 3rd May 2011
@Harley_Dude At which a class action lawsuit would be opened, since they are trying to sell the same data twice at that point. Seems a simple case.
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Childish view.
Bruizer 3rd May 2011
@Economister

it is none of their business how you use it.

Contractually, there are limits placed on the devices that the bandwidth can be used. Like it or not, people on AT&T, Verizon and T-Mob never paid for bandwidth for use on their computer, just their phone.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
timspublic1@... 3rd May 2011
@Bruizer Bandwidth is bandwidth, it goes through the phone.
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If you are using their connections, their bandwidth and
fr_gough 3rd May 2011
their infrastructure, is is absolutely their business how you use it. Now, if you want to use your phone to hammer nails, you might have a point.
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re: If you are using their connections, their bandwidth and
Return_of_the_jedi Updated - 3rd May 2011
@frgough@...

Did you just crystallize his point? Hence the bandwidth is the nail he paid for to bang on.
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My main point
Economister 3rd May 2011
@to all

When I buy bandwidth, I buy the right/ability to transmit and receive BITS over their network. What kind of bits and from/to which device should be absolutely irrelevant to the carriers.

It is simply carrier greed and consumer stupidity that allow the carriers to get away with this type of conduct. More competition in the market place would quickly end this nonsense.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
hoaxoner 3rd May 2011
@Economister
+1
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
Pete "athynz" Athens 4th May 2011
@Economister Agreed!
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
Big B 4th May 2011
@Economister
You worded my comment almost exactly. I agree 100%.
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I just love how the terminally stupid always come out and post their
Johnny Vegas 3rd May 2011
bandwidth is bandwidth and you paid for so you can use it however you want to nonsense. They somehow cant grok the simple concept that no you didnt pay for some set allocation of bandwidth to unconditionally use however you want. Your contract specifies that you paid for bandwidth for use only by your phone, not by other devices through your phone, but on your phone. It's so simple most 3rd graders can understand it, yet somehow they're here whinning and crying every time the subject comes up like yet again, the very simple explanation is just too complex for them to comprehend... sigh... see you back here next time simpletons. doh!!
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And which carrier ...
Economister Updated - 3rd May 2011
@Johnny Vegas

do you represent? I'll tell you something even simpler that you do not grasp: a bit is a bit is a bit. Attempts to gouge the customer do not change that simple(ton) fact, even if you struggle with it.
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Hi Mr. Simpleton
Economister 3rd May 2011
@Johnny Vegas

"Your contract specifies that you paid for bandwidth for use only by your phone, not by other devices through your phone, but on your phone"

Did you ever consider the fact that when you speak on your phone, the signal comes from a device other than your phone (you), it is transmitted to your phone, converted and then sent over the carriers' network. When you listen, the signal is transmitted from the phone to an external device (your ear/brain). According to your brilliant and impeccable logic, that is not allowed.

Care to try again?
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
Pete "athynz" Athens 4th May 2011
@Johnny Vegas Let me guess you either work for a carrier (as someone who's bonuses are dependent on carriers double dipping) or do not even use a smartphone and data plans. In the first scenario your argument is self serving and biased in the second you sound like someone complaining about who won an election you didn't bother to vote in.

You would have a point IF there were two separate allotments of data one for surfing the net via the phone the other for tethering but it does not work that way - phone data usage and tethering are taken from the exact same allotment of data... and the carriers are charging twice for the SAME allotment of data. What is so hard for you to understand about this?
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
rhonin 3rd May 2011
I really have no issue with it just with the current offerings....

Give me a pay as you go or month by month if I want with no additional fees...
For the amount I actually tether, a plan makes no sense plain

I tether only as a last resort to my notebook - maybe once or twice a month.... maybe......
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
drw229 3rd May 2011
How many people pay to connect their brand new laptop up to their comcast routers? None.

If you pay for bandwidth you should be able to use as you see fit.....but at tthe same time using it to download bittorent movies is just wrong.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
ryanmc 3rd May 2011
@drw229 Nope, Lets just say you want to share your bandwidth with your neighbours, maybe even start your own business charging people to hook up to your internet connection, Comcast will not like that, and neither will the lawyers that come knocking.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
hoaxoner 3rd May 2011
@ryanmc
Are you kidding? It is still your bandwith, and you will suffer the consequences of a terrible connection. No one will come knocking. People share internet all over the place. Good heavens.
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bittorrent
Economister 3rd May 2011
@drw229

Don't agree. The pricing should be such that most normal people would choose not to download torrents over ANY wireless connection. If you pay for it however, and that is how you chose to use your bandwidth, that is entirely your business.

The problem with the carriers is that they advertise all this bandwidth to get you to sign up, but if you actually use it, they say "sorry, you cannot do that". That is fraudulent in my book.
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So AT&T is Congress?
alsw 4th May 2011
" AT&T recently began targeting subscribers that it suspected were using unlawful tethering programs."

Unlawful? You mean violate their arbitrary T&C.
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RE: Google bows to carrier pressure on Android tethering apps
opcom 4th May 2011
In what possible way does it affect the carrier whether I choose to use a 13" screen and human-sized keyboard rather than the 3" screen and tiny little keys? The data quantity, which is what is bring bought, remains the same. How does it cost them a dime more?
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Surprize, surprize
GoPower 23rd May 2011
The company that like to make things free, finds their partners don't like to give away their services for free.
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Unlawful?
lostzanglar 24th May 2011
Read the fine print in all those terms and conditions. It says that they can change anything at any time for no reason retroactive to the beginning of time. The court of the corporation has recently declared that the court is only for the benefit of business not consumers. Next week using a speakerphone will be "illegal conferencing" because anybody else in the room didn't pay to join the conversation, and you will not be allowed to talk to anyone named Jack or Jill without incurring extra charges.

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