11
Apr
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[New App] Chainfire's Hotspot Control Harnesses The Latent Power Of Your Device's Tethering Menu

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Stock Android has had built-in tethering since version 2.2 way back in 2010, but most carrier-branded devices in the US have the option disabled. Sure, there are root apps and various workarounds, but they can be a mess. If you don't need web access, but want your devices on a local network, you're often out of luck. A new app from well-known developer Chainfire gives you back some control (on some devices), and it doesn't require root.

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The app is designed to be simple – just pick a network name and a password, then activate. WPA2 AES + TKIP is always enabled in the interest of security and ease of use.

24
Mar
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T-Mobile's New Contract-Free Plans Go Live, Unlimited Everything For $70/Month And No Commitment

Posted by in News, T-Mobile

The rumors were true and now T-Mobile has launched its new, simplified, contract-free plans. Starting at $50/month for unlimited talk and text with 500MB of high-speed data (throttled, but sans overage fees after that), the new services allow customers to forget about counting minutes and messages and focus solely on data. This could be good or bad news, depending on your usage, but perhaps the most important aspect of these new plans is that you can get them without a 2-year commitment.

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You can select to get the new plans with or without a new device (which some carriers will allow you to do already), but if you do decide you want to buy a phone from T-Mobile, you'll have two tabs: 'Monthly Payments' or 'One Payment'.

01
Mar
2013-03-01_19h40_23

[Editorial] Here's Why All The Google Glass Skeptics Are Wrong (And A Few Ways It Might Fail Anyway)

Posted by in Accessories, Editorials, News
Last Updated: March 3rd, 2013

I'm going to be up front: I want Glass. I'm thoroughly intrigued with the idea, I love the possibility of having an always-available camera that sees whatever I see, and completely hands-free Google sounds like a perfectly natural progression of the things like Google Now and voice actions. In the world where personal digital assistants seem commonplace, why should we not expect those things to be always accessible and visible?

Well, apparently there are a lot of reasons. And don't get me wrong. There are many legitimate causes to be skeptical. As is typical of the tech community, however, some things people have focused on are completely silly.

15
May
htc-sensation

T-Mobile To End The Era Of Free Tethering (If You Ever Had It To Begin With)

Posted by in News, T-Mobile

Remember the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the HTC Sensation 4G that we told you about yesterday? Turns out that it does more than just bring ICS - it also kills free tethering.

Wait, what? T-Mobile had free tethering? Technically, no. But in reality, yes. Here's how it used to work: T-Mobile offered a tethering service for around $15 per month. Somehow, though, there was a "technical limitation" that actually prevented them from charging for the service on Android devices (though Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T have never had a problem taking our money for the same thing). With the Ice Cream Sandwich update, however, they finally figured out how to put the nail in that coffin, so users who want to continue using the tethering service will have to start actually paying for it post-update.

26
Apr
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Wi-Fi Tether For Root Users V3 Lands In The Play Store, Grab It While You Still Can

Posted by in Applications, News

Almost one full year ago, carriers threw the gauntlet down on tethering applications in the Play Store. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile were among the first to lay down the banhammer, with Sprint following soon after.

Here we are, a year later and guess what? Version 3 of the infamous Wi-Fi Tether for Root Users app just hit the Play Store, sans carrier restrictions. Of course, this is only because carriers haven't yet found out about the app; when they do, however, you better believe its availability will quickly be laid to rest - so you better grab before it's gone.

30
Jan
t-mobile-logo

T-Mobile UK Announces 'The Full Monty' - Unlimited Calls, Texts, Data, And Tethering For One Flat Fee

Posted by in News, T-Mobile

T-Mobile UK just announced the plan to kill all plans for our brothers and sisters across the pond. It's called The Full Monty and it's everything that you could possibly want in a mobile plan - unlimited calls, texts, data, and tethering all for one price.

The plan has four different variants, each of which is mostly differentiated by applicable devices. Here's a quick overview of what it looks like:

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If you notice, the most affordable plan is also the one available on the widest variety of devices, but it also has one hindrance compared to the other choices: it only offers 2,000 talk-time minutes to networks other than T-Mo.

07
Jan
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[Updated: Now In The Market] Koush Does It Again: ClockworkMod Tether Alpha Circumvents Carrier Restrictions And Brings USB Tethering Without Root Access

Posted by in Applications, News

At one point, tethering was a simple process - installing a program from the Android Market would enable the feature and you were good to go. Of course, carriers didn't like this, because instead of paying them an extra $30(ish) a month to use their hotspot service, you were gaining access to the feature for free. So they had many tethering apps pulled from the Market. Not only that, but many carriers put a block directly on devices that disallowed the use of common tethering apps.

Update 1/7/12: The app dropped its Alpha status and is now available in the Market.

28
Oct
Sprint

The Carrier Crackdown Continues: Sprint Now Blocking Tethering Apps In The Android Market

Posted by in News, Sprint

A few months ago AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all started blocking wireless tethering apps in the Android Market, making them unavailable for download on their respective devices. At that time, Sprint was the only carrier still allowing tethering apps to be installed without limitation -- but that time has come to an end. That's right, the Now Network has begun blocking the installation of wireless tethering apps from the Market on any device attached to its network.

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While this is disheartening indeed, there is always a workaround. Sprint may be able to block specific apps in the Android Market, but it can't stop you from pulling an app directly from the web and sideloading it onto your device.

24
Oct
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PSA: Verizon Locking Bootloaders On LTE Devices Likely Does Not Violate FCC Block C Spectrum Rules

Posted by in Legal, News, Verizon Wireless

It seems there's been some renewed interest in the subject of Block C LTE "no locking" provisions after news that the Motorola RAZR will come equipped with a locked bootloader per Verizon's request. About four months ago, I published an article on this very topic. To summarize: Verizon can basically do almost anything it wants with handsets on its network in the name of reasonable network management - subject to a few limitations and caveats.

But before we get into the reasoning for this, let's talk history.

The Block C Auction Of 2008

Back in 2008, the FCC auctioned off a block of the 700MHz wireless spectrum dubbed "Block C." Verizon was the sole purchaser of the block, having bid $4.7 billion to acquire the chunk of spectrum.

27
Sep
The-Google-Samsung-Nexus-S-4G

New Nexus S 2.3.6 OTA Update Rolling Out (GRK39F), Reportedly Fixes Tethering - Here Is How To Install It Manually

Posted by in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung, T-Mobile

A few weeks ago, a GSM Nexus S update 2.3.6 (GRK39C) with voice search fixes started rolling out, but it was immediately discovered to break Wi-Fi and USB tethering. After many complaints, Google pulled the OTA, and it seems like they've spent the last couple of weeks making sure everything works as expected.

A new update surfaced tonight, also numbered 2.3.6, but this time bearing build GRK39F. While there is no official changelog, based on the fact that an update with the same exact build hit the Nexus One a few days ago and didn't break tethering, I think it's safe to say it fixes at least that issue (Update: thanks to our buddy Omar for an additional confirmation of working tethering).

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