Verizon put its foot down on subscribers using unauthorized tethering apps and now blocking hotspot apps used on jailbroken devices. Verizon began blocking unauthorized hotspot access through jailbroken smartphone apps as early as last Friday and the current limitation only seemingly affects the hotspot aspect, the ability to allow up to five additional devices to connect to Verizon’s network via a smartphone. AT&T and Verizon have both justified their moves by noting that they don’t prevent customers from tethering and Verizon has come under particular scrutiny thanks to a clause in the agreement the company signed when it licensed the 700 MHz C Block it uses to run its LTE network………………
According to a recent report from ReadWriteWeb‘s Dan Rowinski, Verizon has started to crack down on smartphone owners who are making use of their Android phones tethering features–typically done so via a downloaded app on a rooted Android device–without ponying up for Verizon‘s $20 tethering access fee. The company is allegedly discovering these users and shuffling them over to an information page that details Verizon‘s mandatory plan: $20 for a two-gigabyte monthly allowance of tethered data, and $20 per gigabyte thereafter. Verizon allegedly began its crackdown all of one day after rival AT&T confirmed the more stringent punishments it’s using for those using unauthorized tethering on the company’s plans: Users attempting to tether via rooted or jailbroken devices without a mandatory tethering data plan are now being given one of three options. They can stop tethering; move to a tethering plan; or do nothing and keep tethering, which then forces AT&T to automatically move the user over to the company’s tethering plan. AT&T also recently announced that it was planning to start throttling traffic in October for the heaviest users of its network, which will only affect those using grandfathered unlimited data plans. It’s unclear as to how much data use will trip the switch, nor has AT&T specified exactly what speeds it’ll drop users to once they pass a particular traffic mark. Verizon will also start throttling its users come October, dropping one’s connection to a speed of 256 Kbps once a user crosses a monthly threshold of 2.5 gigabytes of data. With service providers cracking down on tethering from a variety of angles, it seems as if the days of creatively accessing the Internet without paying for exorbitant data plans are slowly coming to an end.
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