Jailbroken iPhone and tether

[Brian Davidson]

Has anyone tried to tether their jail-broken iPhone for free internet on their laptops? I have the Verizon Iphone and I'm tempted to give it a try.

 

[Michael Ratliff]

Yes I have and its works awesome! the app is called mywi on cydia .. I streamed the snowstorm in Oklahoma late Jan ... its 19.99 and its a one time purchase so well worth it !

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I think the big question is whether Verizon will notice this kind of thing, and if they do, will they care?

 

[Nick Nolte]

I think the big question is whether Verizon will notice this kind of thing, and if they do, will they care?

that is the question, isn't it? I would think if you aren't near your cap they probably don't care, although I know AT&T charges another $20/mo just to have officially sanctioned tethering on their iPhone, which I believe is the case with Verizon as well...if they discover you are circumventing that they might just tack it onto your bill. Either way using the MyWi tethering is a violation of your contract, I just haven't seen anyone report it being enforced....yet.

 

[Brian Davidson]

how is it a violation of the contract? What section of the contract does it state you can't use 3rd party aps?

 

[Nick Nolte]

how is it a violation of the contract? What section of the contract does it state you can't use 3rd party aps?

There isn't a specific rule against using 3rd party applications, but they tend to include the legalese to cover the exact situation you describe.

How about this from the Verizon Wireless customer agreement in the section entitled "Our Rights To Limit Or End Service Or This Agreement":

• (1e) steal from, or lie to us;
• (2d) modifying your wireless phone from its manufacturer’s specifications;

(1e) would easily include using MyWi to circumvent paying the $20 tethering charge they normally levy
(2d) jailbreaking your iPhone, while legal, is modifying it from manufacturer's specifications.

Those are the obvious ones in the agreement. There's also 2e: "...use your Service in a way that negatively affects our network or other customers."

Then there's the sentence prefacing that whole section that says their ability to suspend or end your service is not necessarily limited to those breaches they have enumerated.

For reference, here's the customer agreement: http://www.verizonwireless.com/customer-agreement.shtml

 

[James Hilger]

I'm assuming you already paid for unlimited data once?

 

[Brian Davidson]

Yes, I pay for unlimited data on my iPhone and by unlimited* I mean a 5g cap.

 

[Daniel Barker]

damn i thought verizon said their i phone was wi fi hot spot, and thought you could do this automatically, legally?

 

[Nick Nolte]

damn i thought verizon said their i phone was wi fi hot spot, and thought you could do this automatically, legally?

It does have mobile hotspot, which allows up to 5 devices to share your mobile broadband connection...it costs another $20/mo and includes 2GB, I'm not sure if that is additional to your data plan or how that works.

 

[Daniel Barker]

well thanks for clearing that up for me, nick, so cheaper to go with that above app unless you need that 2gb of extra data, doubtful you would ever need to.

 

[Nick Nolte]

Bumping this thread with new information that AT&T might be tracking this, but from what it looks like they're actually targeting heavy users whether they tether or not. People in the thread who were notified seem to be people who are streaming video, using bittorrent and the like. So, if all you're using it for is radar and satellite imagery and maybe streamning you'll probably stay under the radar, but don't be surprised if one day they target anyone using 3rd party tethering. It seems to be people going over 10GB.

http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news/755094-t-cracking-down-mywi-tethering.html