Wireless carrier Policy Violation

I could charge you for breathing air, would it then be illegal for you to breath without paying me?

I can purchase Tetherberry 'on' my Blackberry (Verizon) in the apps section. We were surprised to see it, but its there. TB flies on my Storm 2.

Tethering using Tetherberry is at worst case a violation of your carrier's TOS. It is not illegal to use Tetherberry. All carriers want you to get all content through their "sources" regardless of what it is. With some instruments it is easy for them to do so. Various Motorola units allowed for acquisition of content (tones and wallpapers) from any source you wanted. Verizon "upgraded" the software and no longer could you get content on a device you "owned" and not leased from Verizon. Verizon as is any carrier an ISP. They want to hear the cash register ring however in any way possible. Their text messaging plans are an egregious ripoff considering that SMS traffic costs them nothing.

For my previous instruments I used BitPim whenever possible. I have had my instruments at a Verizon corporate store and have had it "suggested" that BitPim did a better and faster job by their own employees.

They sell you an instrument that has features built in by the manufacturer (Bluetooth and GPS for example) and then disable most if not all of the feature so as to force you purchase from them.

When Google rolls out Navigation to instruments other than the Droid I will drop Verizon Navigator in a heartbeat. They have the gall to tout it as a cost effective GPS package and charge $10.00 per month for it. A standalone GPS has better functionality and a one time cost.

TOS violation to add content outside of their "sources"? Yes. Am I worried about it? No. Am I guilty about it? No.

Now back to tethering. I will use Tetherberry without any pangs of guilt. You are paying for access with your data plan. I will use that access.

BTW - TetherBerry is a wonderful app but not the same full feature-set you would recieve if you had a dedicated wireless card. With that said I don't think Tetherberry hurts carriers "too" much. I bought tetherberry so I can connect approx 5-10 hours a month. Certainly not enough to justify buying a wireless card for approx $30-50/month. However if I required faster and more frequent wireless access then I would purchase a wireless card without hesitation. Tetherberry is nice but it is relatively slow and I cant talk on phone while using. I personally dont see tetherberry as a full-time wireless Internet solution, where up-time, speed and simul phone use are all critical. Carriers should know this as well.