Verizon told to stop blocking 3rd party tethering apps

[Jmills87]

Today the FCC made a ruling that Verizon must stop blocking access to 3rd party tethering apps. This means that if you are a Verizon customer, you are now free to use any tethering app you want(including MyWi).

Under the terms of today’s settlement, Verizon Wireless will make a voluntary payment to the Treasury in the amount of $1.25 million, and has committed to notifying the application store operator that it no longer objects to the availability of the tethering applications to C-Block network customers in the operator’s online market. Verizon Wireless has also agreed to implement a compliance plan, requiring that:

1. employees will receive training on compliance with the C Block rules;
2. future communications with application store operators regarding the availability of applications to Verizon Wireless customers will be reviewed in advance by legal counsel; and
3. Verizon will report any instances of noncompliance with the rule at issue that might occur during the two-year term of the plan.

In addition, the company recently revised its service offerings such that consumers on usage-based pricing plans may tether, using any application, without paying an additional fee.

I would still suggest using TetherMe since it is cheaper, has the same functionality and does not require you to open an application in order to initiate tethering. Remember that this applies to Verizon customers only, AT&T customers can still be fined and removed from their unlimited plans if they use 3rd party tethering applications.

 

[KevinJS]

Sounds like good news, and the other carriers will probably jump before being pushed, so they can keep their haloes in one piece.

My carrier (Telus, in Canada) has never charged for tethering. They don't give a damn how you use your data, what you pay for is yours to do with as you see fit.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF.net

 

[Jmills87]

Ya, it seems like the US is the only country where carriers charge you for data you are already paying for if you want to tether. I have friends in Europe and none of them pay an extra fee to tether.

 

[KevinJS]

Well, looks like the house of cards is coming down.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF.net

 

[ardchoille]

I wondered when Verizon would get into hot water over this. I also wonder if now they are going to keep a sharper eye on the data use of those who don't have unlimited plans.

 

[Skimonkey]

This is great news for Verizon users!!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Darkstar2007]

Ha!
Great news.
Thanks for sharing Jmills!

 

[ardchoille]

Just thought about this again. Does this apply to 4G and 3g data? Or just 4G? I don't think this applies to 3G and, if not, it doesn't apply to iPhone users. If I'm reading everything correctly, the C block spectrum that Verizon won at the FCC auction houses Verizon's 4G LTE service, not their 3G service.

Am I correct in this?

 

[Jmills87]

More articles came out today saying that the ruling does not apply to 3G users or people with unlimited data plans..... hmmmmm

http://www.zdnet.com/verizon-no-free-tethering-for-unlimited-data-plan-customers-7000001987/

 

[ardchoille]

More articles came out today saying that the ruling does not apply to 3G users or people with unlimited data plans..... hmmmmm

http://www.zdnet.com/verizon-no-free-tethering-for-unlimited-data-plan-customers-7000001987/

Well, that sucks. Yeah, the first round of articles should have mentioned that it only applied to 4G. Still, it's good to know what's going on in the data world. Thanks for the update.