I'd actually say that what Verizon is doing is charging everyone with a residential gas line (to use your analogy) commercial gas prices, and then charging them AGAIN if they actually decide to use the amount of gas their money should be getting them. Verizon is notorious for intentionally crippling their phones' built-in features and then selling them back, month-by-month, as "services" for exorbitant prices. Who in their right mind would pay for EV-DO for their Treo 700w ($399.99; $79.99/month) AND buy an EV-DO PC card ($179.99; $79.99/month) for their laptop, if they're going to be running on the same network? If you're accessing the internet with your laptop, you're not going to need to be accessing it with your Treo seperately. I see nothing wrong with bypassing their ridiculous, borderline extortional business model.

Nonsense. You are signing a contract to rent their service and agree to their terms. Agreeing to those terms, and then turning around and willfully violating that contract is lying and cheating. You're saying that lying/cheating/stealing is OK because, in your mind, they overcharge. That's a hideous, two-wrongs-make-a-right argument. I agree with you that Verizon's practices are often unfriendly. But they're not a monopoly. If you don't think their terms or rates are fair, you are free to choose Sprint, which has a more open attitude and a very nice national EV-DO network. Don't want to pay anything at all? How about checking out some community Wi-Fi networks? The only way Verizon will change their un-consumer-friendly practices is if they see massive customer churn from people leaving because they don't like those practices.

My big question for Verizon is WHY exactly they forbid using the Treo as a modem, other than it give them the opportunity to charge $160/month for two somewhat redundant devices (not to mention the cost of the EV-Do card anyway) as opposed to "only" $80/month. It's not to save their network, and it's not in the interests of security. It's not even that we'd be using any more bandwidth this way. It's not because the Treo 700w isn't designed to be used as an EV-DO modem. It's in the interests of cold hard cash. So I want to use my Treo, which I'm already paying $400 for up front and $80/month thereafter, to connect my laptop to the internet occasionally? I'm not going to be using MORE data than if I bought a separate EV-DO card, I'm just getting the convenience of being able to do the same surfing I would normally be doing, but on my laptop, with its faster processor and better storage. They have the right to cripple the devices we buy from them, sure, but what about our right to use our devices to the full extent of their capabilities? We're not overtaxing their networks (it actually would use LESS bandwidth than having both devices running at the same time, obviously); we're not STEALING anything. We're just depriving them of the opportunity to milk an extra $80/month for nothing in return. It's not harming Verizon at all, it's just not adding another branch to their flourishing money tree. You yourself mentioned Sprint's far more enlightened view of things. That's grand. But since "there's one born every minute," I don't think we'll ever see the mass migration from Verizon you said would be necessary to effect change. The only way that Verizon will ever change is if enough of its own customers make it clear that they know what it's up to and will gladly pay only-slightly-exorbitant fees, but will not give them free money to get the same result as if they hadn't crippled their devices unintentionally. Fuel for the fire, S. Snark

I find this akin to hybrid autos. Would those that call the use of this bypass tech cheating if they "owned" a hybrid vehicle that had the tech to use both gas and battery power, BUT were told they could not immediately use the battery power until some later date. AND, at that time the car company begins requiring a separate monthly charge (via monthly meter checks) to ascertain how much battery power you used? If you pay for something (in this case the phone) you should be able to use ALL of the features it contains...not the ones the service provider thinks it should let you use.

This is a great discussion, btw. Bring it on. The Treo Internet plan isn't $79.99, it's $44.99. That reflects the typically lighter Internet usage on PDAs as opposed to laptops. On a PDA, typically, you check e-mail and do some Web surfing. On a laptop, you'll play games, use Kazaa, stream video, etc. All of which are actually technically forbidden by Verizon even on laptops, but they've said they don't enforce that (and they probably wouldn't have a single EV-DO subscriber if they did.) In any case, it's pretty much a given that laptops generally use more bandwidth than PDAs. By hooking up to your laptop you ARE taxing their network for more than you're paying for. You're paying $44.99 for one PDA's worth of network rental. You would pay extra for an extra laptop's worth of network rental. I absolutely agree that we should be able to use our devices as the manufacturers designed them, but I think my right to hack my device stops at the border of their network. I don't own the network, I own the device. I'm renting a certain amount of network. If I illicitly use my PDA as a modem, I'm using $80 (or $125) of network resources but only paying $45. And yes, that is way too much money. I also agree that people need to complain, loudly. But I still think churn is the only metric Verizon will understand, and Sprint should be rewarded for their more enlightened view. BTW, Verizon told me that they'll have a phone-as-modem plan for the Treo later this year. They said they have to work out the software and billing system.

When you bought the phone you new the deal, you agreed to a contract. If you don't like the deal don't go with it. As much as it annoys me when companies do stuff like this you can see the contract if you care to read it up front and whether or not it's stealing it definitely is breach of contract.

If the real difference is the amount of data used then just charge us for the data we use but do it in reasonable chunks. Its wrong to call a play "unlimited" when it is really "as much data as a normal pda user uses". Instead they should know that a normal business pda user uses around 30mb a month and charge $20 for that 30mb, maybe also have a 10mb buffer that can be used but not every month, and then charge $0.80 for the additional mb used by a person. Then it wouldn't matter if it was coming from a phone used as a modem or from a pc card. The problem is they want artificial inflation of prices in certain sectors. It might be $0.10/mb for the average PC card user when its $0.80/mb for the average phone user but they hide this fact by selling two different "unlimited" plans. All in all I wish the "unlimited" plans would just go away.

I believe a class action lawsuit should be filed against Verizon Wireless for advertising their data plans as unlimited. This is false advertising if Verizon then strictly limits the content and ways in which they allow you to use data. A similar class action lawsuit was filed against Netflix for advertising unlimited dvd rentals. Netflix lost that class action lawsuit. I would encourage others to do the same to Verizon.

Sascha wrote:"Verizon absolutely, specifically forbids this as part of the Treo service plan, and reserves the right to spontaneously charge you insane amounts of money for doing so, with no chance of appeal." This is not correct. Verizon's data plan says this:"Unlimited plans are for individual use only and not for resale. The Unlimited plans cannot be used: (1) for any applications that tether the device to laptops, PCs, or other equipment for any purpose... We reserve the right to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone who uses the Unlimited plan in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term." It does not say anywhere that Verizon has the right to charge you insane amounts of money for violating their terms. It says they only have the right to deny or terminate your service.

Yeah, I should probably have unpacked that a little. From what I've heard, if they can tell you're tethering, they either terminate you or kick you onto a charge-by-the-KB plan and, well, charge by the KB. As for false advertising in the cell phone industry, yes, I agree: the bold print and the fine print do not say the same thing. The most truly insane part of that deal is the acceptable use policy that Verizon admits they don't enforce, because it's totally unrealistic: "Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections." I love (3). If your EV-DO card is not a dedicated data connection, what is it? Grilled cheese? Can you get at those guys who do the coverage maps, too? I'm going to do a separate Gearlog post about an unpleasant coverage map experience I had yesterday.

They don't enforce it, because it's ridiculous, but since I'm hard-pressed to think of a user who doesn't do at least one of those things, this effectively means that Verizon can terminate your service at any time, for basically any reason, and say, "Well, you were violating the agreement!" One thing I hate more than unclear policies are strictly-defined draconian policies that aren't enforced but COULD be, on a whim, and serve only as a convenient "Gotcha" for the company.

I have to say I agree with the statements mentioning how ridiculous verizon's policies are, and also mention how they basically screw their customers by crippling phones with features, only to rent the features back to them. Stealing is wrong, and that's what verizon does. A hardware developer makes a device with every feature you could ever use, verizon will remove the feature, and then charge you in order to get it back. That is wrong. They deserve all the class-action suits and backways on to their network that they get.

I have to agree that I am disappointed that Verizon does not allow the Palm Treo 700w as a modem _yet_. As for the discussion that this would be taxing on their network I would have to say not necessarily. I own both a Palm Treo 700w and an EVDO card for my laptop. While I only use the laptop card periodically my Treo is syncing with our corporate Exchange Server all the time. In the first five days of having the Treo I have transferred over 50MB and I don't do that consistently with my laptop. I believe this is more a Verizion "Political" issue than a technology issue. The indications we have received from Verizon is the Treo will be able to be used in phone-as-modem mode sometime in the second quarter of 2006, but there will be a charge for it. The price we were told would make the unlimited data plan on the Treo, including phone-as-modem, the same as the unlimited data plan on a laptop EVDO card. So we are looking at it just being one less device and service plan for those of us that have both already.

If u have a Highspeed at home, you don't have to get separate service for each computer. Computers and the internet were designed for sharing. So how is it different from using your Phone as a DSL line to connect ur laptop, desktop or whatever? Bandwidth is bandwidth and should be used as such. They are trying to say that bandwidth on a phone is different from bandwidth at home... They have very flawed grounds of logic

I was thinking about going with Verizon and Now.........after reading this; I am outta here. Verizon is going to sell you an unlimited data plan then it should be "Unlimited" regardless of what device I use to pull the data off with! Who are they to dictate what device I use to access my plan? That is like my cable company telling me only certain types of laptops or computers can be hooked up to my high speed connection at home. How many more frickin data plans do I need to buy? I think this is getting outta hand.

Do we actually know that Verizon is terminating plans or is this just another small print bypass that they can use to kick anybody off at any time. I am currently paying $126/month for my EVDO + minutes plan and I am considering cancelling my plan and moving to sprint to get the unlimited plan to use as a laptop modem as well as a phone. What do you think?

Sprint only charges $15 for unlimited EVDO. In one year, switching to Sprint can save $360 plus taxes. I don't understand why anyone will continue to allow Verizon take advantage on smart phone users. If PDa consumers switch to Sprint, Verizon will lower their rate. Right now, Verizon is taking advantage of that fact that have the exclusivity to 700W. But wait until Sprint comes out with 700P. Treo 700W will be an old news.

I just got my sprint Treo 600 set up as a modem with 'USB Modem'. To get the full speeds they offer I need an extra $39 plan. You folks with the Treo 700 will likely not have any other options then the extra plan even with Sprint, though it is at least a bit more resonable then the $80 V wants. How ever, if you don't mind the slower speeds and the modem mode is not locked, you can get 'USB Modem' for $24 and then log in at #777 with your sprint email addy and your account password and get reasonable dialup speeds at no extra charge on the vision plan. Now, that's not to say they won't get upset, I don't know what their policy is on it to be honest, but it can be done. I only need it for rare times when I am fixing some one's computer and need to access the net, and they have no connections. No way am I going to shell out an extra $39 a month on the off chance that I will need it that month. You folks on V can likely do much the same with out a problem, just keep it reasonable. Though after hearing that they have policies like that and leave them in place while saying they know it's totaly unreasonable... Well, I was considering leaving Sprint thanks to some issues with them, but I certenly won't be going to Verizon. Thanks for the heads up.