Sprint says laptop cable is 'stealing'.

You are the exception to the rule! Other folks will abuse this privilege.

"Notan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mij Adyaw wrote:
>>
>> I have a Legal Novatel Wireless card in my laptop and pay for the
>> unlimited
>> data service. It works very well. I do not or never did result to illegal
>> tethers.
>
> If this were illegal ("Sprint illegal"), Sprint would be sending warnings
> out
> to every user that logged on, for even a minute.
>
> When I'm on the road, I log on long enough to check my e-mail and, if
> necessary,
> send a few e-mails. We're talking a few minutes, at most.
>
> If Sprint said they're gonna charge me minutes and/or $5.00/month for this
> luxury,
> I'd go for it. But, for me to spend money on a data card and a monthly
> data
> plan,
> for this pittance of use, forget it... I'd seriously start looking
> elsewhere for
> another carrier.
>
> In my opinion, Sprint knows this.
>
> It's one of the reasons I stay with Sprint.
>
> Notan

---

› See More: Sprint says laptop cable is 'stealing'.

Joseph Huber wrote:

> What does 1 MB have to do with anything? Yes, the laptop connection
> can certainly be abused, but so can your phone.

....But you pay extra for overages on your phone.

> Tethering *might* be considered unethical, because when you do it, you
> knowingly violate a contract to which you are a party.

I agree. And I can see why Sprint would want to prevent excessive use. I
agree with those in this newsgroup who say that Sprint needs to fix its
policies and practices and maybe offer more data plans. I disagree that
excessive use equals stealing.

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: [email protected] Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

Jim Seymour wrote:

> Well, they may get a small >< incentive Real Soon Now, being as,
> at work, we're just beginning the process of doing new wireless
> contracts. This issue isn't a *big* one, but it *is* an issue
> and it will figure into the final decision at least in some small
> way.

Theoretically, if your company has a business relationship with SPCS, you
either have an account rep that can do something for you or you can call
SPCS Business and they can work with you. I say theoretically because I've
only dealt with SPCS on a consumer level.

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: [email protected] Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

In article <ipgGe.27102$bp.3101@fed1read03>,
"Mij Adyaw" <[email protected]> writes:
[snip]
> I for one am glad that Sprint has this rule
> regarding tethering laptops so that there is more bandwidth for business
> customers like me. Otherwise every 10 year old kid with a Sprint phone would
> be connecting the phone to his computer to surf the net and download
> pornography and there would be no bandwidth for legitimate users. Free
> internet service just because you have a Sprint phone. Do you really think
> that is a good idea? That this the real truth of the matter.
[snip]

Mij, are you actually *reading* what some of us are saying? I think
not, because not a single person criticizing SPCS' current policies
has suggested SPCS ought to give bandwidth away for free.

Maybe if you stopped top-posting, and instead put your comments
*following* those of others, so the "conversation" flowed naturally,
things would make more sense to you?

--
Jim Seymour | "There is no expedient to which a man will not
[email protected] | go to avoid the labor of thinking."
http://jimsun.LinxNet.com | - Thomas A. Edison

In article <[email protected]>,
Steve Sobol <[email protected]> writes:
> Jim Seymour wrote:
>
>> Well, they may get a small >< incentive Real Soon Now, being as,
>> at work, we're just beginning the process of doing new wireless
>> contracts. This issue isn't a *big* one, but it *is* an issue
>> and it will figure into the final decision at least in some small
>> way.
>
> Theoretically, if your company has a business relationship with SPCS,

Currently, we do not.

> you
> either have an account rep that can do something for you or you can call
> SPCS Business and they can work with you. I say theoretically because I've
> only dealt with SPCS on a consumer level.

Same here. (May not be for much longer, tho. I'm considering a
move to VZ.)

--
Jim Seymour | "There is no expedient to which a man will not
[email protected] | go to avoid the labor of thinking."
http://jimsun.LinxNet.com | - Thomas A. Edison

Originally Posted by Mij Adyaw

They should just disable #777 altogether so that folks cannot steal service
from them that they are not rightfully paying for. I wish they would do it
so that all of these threads on this newsgroup and other Sprint forums would
disappear once and for-all!

"
> [email protected][/color]

Its not diabled for a simple reason. Money! As I already stated on 2G we were billed our usual minutes. The t&cs state right in them they are subject to change. But who reads them every billing?

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 19:22:11 -0700, "Mij Adyaw" wrote:

>It is all a matter of perspective.

It's a matter of you accusing those of us who tether our laptops of
stealing, without making any reasonable argument to back up that
accusation.

>I for one am glad that Sprint has this rule
>regarding tethering laptops so that there is more bandwidth for business
>customers like me.

So...it's not so much about stealing, ethics, and honesty; it's about
you getting your bandwidth. Well, that's fine. I applaud your
honesty.

What makes you think that business customers aren't tethering their
laptops? When I tether, it's usually for business. Doesn't it even
mildly upset you that Sprint made you buy a Vision data card when your
MM7400 could do exactly the same thing???

>Otherwise every 10 year old kid with a Sprint phone would
>be connecting the phone to his computer to surf the net and download
>pornography

Not if the parent(s) acted responsibly and didn't add Vision to the
kid's plan...

> That this the real truth of the matter.

The real truth of the matter is that both Jim and I have asked you to
show how tethering a laptop is stealing, and you still haven't done
it...

Joe Huber
[email protected]

Paul Miner wrote:
>
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 19:33:34 -0500, Joseph Huber
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:45:18 -0700, "Mij Adyaw" <[email protected]>
> >wrote:
> >
> >>Because you can download many megabytes of data to your laptop. One single
> >>PDF file or a music download can be greater than one megabyte. Your cell
> >>phone cannot store that much data. A laptop is like drinking from a fire
> >>hose.
> >
> >What does 1 MB have to do with anything? Yes, the laptop connection
> >can certainly be abused, but so can your phone.
>
> Granted, both can be abused, so how about this? Take a handset and
> abuse the crap out of it for 24 hours straight. Now tether it to a
> laptop and abuse the crap out of it for 24 hours straight. The laptop
> will have pulled FAR more data than the handset, something on the
> order of 10-20 times more. When Sprint came up with an unlimited data
> plan for handsets, they took into account the fact that you can't pull
> a whole lot of data with a handset and priced it accordingly. When you
> tether the handset to a laptop, you create the capability to FAR
> exceed the usage model envisioned by Sprint when they came up with the
> plan. In effect, you're taking it upon yourself to apply a handset
> data plan to a laptop, which isn't even close to being the same in
> terms of user experience, data usage, and yes, pricing.
>
> <snip>

So, take data minutes out of peak minutes... That ought to slow
down people's (ab)usage.

Notan

Jim Seymour wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Steve Sobol <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>Jim Seymour wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Well, they may get a small >< incentive Real Soon Now, being as,
>>>at work, we're just beginning the process of doing new wireless
>>>contracts. This issue isn't a *big* one, but it *is* an issue
>>>and it will figure into the final decision at least in some small
>>>way.
>>
>>Theoretically, if your company has a business relationship with SPCS,
>
>
> Currently, we do not.

Have you considered calling Sprint Business and setting up an account, if
more than one of the company phones are Sprint phones?

>>either have an account rep that can do something for you or you can call
>>SPCS Business and they can work with you. I say theoretically because I've
>>only dealt with SPCS on a consumer level.
>
> Same here. (May not be for much longer, tho. I'm considering a
> move to VZ.)

Yup. I can understand your frustration, because that's where I was recently
myself. Now with T-Mobile, I'm having a little trouble getting straight
answers on how forwarded calls are billed, but at least I'm talking to
people in this country who actually seem to care about solving my problem.
It's a big improvement over the current state of CS at Sprint.

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: [email protected] Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 02:43:42 GMT, Paul Miner <[email protected]>
wrote:
>Granted, both can be abused, so how about this? Take a handset and
>abuse the crap out of it for 24 hours straight. Now tether it to a
>laptop and abuse the crap out of it for 24 hours straight. The laptop
>will have pulled FAR more data than the handset, something on the
>order of 10-20 times more.

Quite true, but as Jim Seymour pointed out in a previous post, this
really shouldn't be an issue. I don't abuse Vision on my phone, and I
don't abuse Vision when I tether. I understand that there will be
those that do. Can't Sprint set up some limits, like xx kB or MB per
day, and if the user goes over, bill him extra??

Joe Huber
[email protected]

Originally Posted by Mij Adyaw

It is all a matter of perspective. Nobody likes to get caught in the act of
stealing service or violating the ground rules of a contract. It would be
sour grapes for anyone. I for one am glad that Sprint has this rule
regarding tethering laptops so that there is more bandwidth for business
customers like me. Otherwise every 10 year old kid with a Sprint phone would
be connecting the phone to his computer to surf the net and download
pornography and there would be no bandwidth for legitimate users. Free
internet service just because you have a Sprint phone. Do you really think
that is a good idea? That this the real truth of the matter.

-mij



"
> http://jimsun.LinxNet.com | - Thomas A.
> Edison[/color]

Are you for real? First off I have problem with children having phones. For that matter I would say that cell phones are more of a distraction to 50% of adults. A trip on the freeway should confirm that.

Also any dummy can figure out that it much better to get your porn via cable any way.

And its not sour grapes the wife changed the plan due the incopetence of Best Buy during a pnone upgrade.

And if you think you are escapeing out sourcing get a clue its just a matter of time for sprint too.

You are paying for a plan that has unlimited Vision on the handset.
Not for unlimited Vision connected to any other device. If you want
service on your laptop, then you have to get and pay for a "PCS Vision
for PCS Connection Cards - Laptop & PDA" plan, and a pcmcia connection
card. Demis da ruls. If you soicomvent the ruls, dats cheeting. "The
only thing I'm doing" is stealing from Sprint PCS. That is why Sprint
PCS has every right to terminate your service.


Joseph Huber wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:56:19 GMT, Jerome Zelinske wrote:
>
>> Yes tapping into their service in such a manner as to avoid paying for
>>it sounds like stealing to me.
>
>
> I'm not avoiding payment for anything by tethering my laptop. I pay
> for a plan that has unlimited Vision. The only thing I'm doing by
> tethering my laptop is changing the Vision user interface from a
> difficult-to-use device with 24 small keys and a 2" LCD display to an
> easy-to-use device with a 17" LCD display and a 100 or so keys.
>
> I don't deny that tethering violates TOS, and Sprint has every right
> to terminate my service because of this, but I'm certainly not
> stealing anything. I'm paying for Vision, I'm just using an
> "unapproved" user interface.
>
> Joe Huber
> [email protected]

Perhaps you should see if a different carrier would meet your needs at
an acceptable price and port over.


Joseph Huber wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:05:41 -0000, (Jim Seymour) wrote:
>
>>You know: I have a laptop. I occasionally travel to places that have
>>sub-standard dialup service or in which it would be exceedingly
>>inconvenient to use a land-line, but where SPCS service is good. It
>>would be nice if I could tether my laptop to my SPCS phone and get a
>>decent/solid connection for minimal email work and maybe SSH'd
>>console connections for server admin purposes. It would be nice if
>>the time to do that just came off my minutes, with the traditional
>>charge for going over. I wouldn't even mind if, if I had free nights
>>and weekends, data connections came out of anytime minutes always.
>
>
> This paragraph very closely describes my situation, and the situation
> of other business users I know. I'd bet there are a fair number of
> users in this situation. Yet, Sprint just seems to not want to
> address this issue of occasional use direclty (i.e. disable #777
> altogether or come up with some economical plans that permit it); for
> some reason they would rather operate with the present "under the
> radar" policy. I'm sure Sprint knows that many folks tether laptops
> now and then; it's talked about openly here, on sprintusers.com, and
> probably many other places. If Sprint wanted to deduct 1.5 minutes or
> even 2 minutes from my monthly allotment for every minute of laptop
> data access to cover costs, I could live with that.
>
> Many of us were happy campers with this type of "minute" billing plan
> for Wireless Web. It's frustrating to have PCS phones available with
> modem capability, to have a need to legitimately use that capabilitiy,
> and then to have Sprint not allow the use of that capability via TOS
> or disabling the feature in the hardware itself. My MM7400 has modem
> capability, and I need to use it occasionally. Should a firmware or
> software update come out for my phone, do I dare get the update,
> knowing that Sprint could very well disable the modem feature?
>
>
>>SPCS has no idea how badly they're shooting themselves in the foot
>>with this kind of behaviour.
>
>
> You'd think this would be bad behavior, and Sprint would be seeing
> some adverse effects. However, FON stock is doing well, and according
> to MSNBC, FON presently has an "8" rating (significantly outperform
> over next six months). Things are going well, so there probably is no
> incentive for Sprint to address this issue.
>
> Joe Huber
> [email protected]

If you do not want to pay for Sprint PCS laptop data service, fine.
Either use just the handset or switch to a carrier that meets your needs
at a price you want to pay.


Jim Seymour wrote:
> In article <j4eGe.27090$bp.13556@fed1read03>,
> "Mij Adyaw" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>I have a Legal Novatel Wireless card in my laptop and pay for the unlimited
>>data service. It works very well. I do not or never did result to illegal
>>tethers.
>
> [snip]
>
> Fine. Wonderful. Good for you. But you appear to be purposefully
> missing the point: Why would somebody pay for unlimited wireless data
> access just to *occasionally* collect a bit of email or log into a
> server at work (perhaps for some emergency maintenance), all of which
> they could as well do, albeit far less conveniently, from the
> handset? I'm not talking about rampant web surfing, constant
> bittorrent data transfers, etc., etc. I'm talking maybe a few
> hundred K now and then. Hell, I wouldn't use the phone that way but
> once in a blue moon--if that. For those odd, infrequent occasions
> where I *might* *need* the phone for a data connection, I'm supposed
> to pay for unlimited data access? Not bloody likely!
>
> I gotta tell you, Mij, you're not doing SPCS' case any favours. The
> more you proselytize for SPCS on this issue, the more I think about
> it, the more put off I am by what they're doing.
>

The "unlimited Vision I pay for" is through your handset. Connecting
to a laptop to check your email or ebay bid uses much more data than
through your handset. You are stealing all that extra data that you are
not paying for.


Joseph Huber wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:16:45 -0700, "Mij Adyaw" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
>>They should just disable #777 altogether so that folks cannot steal service
>
>>from them that they are not rightfully paying for.
>
> So, if I use only my MM7400 to check my PCS email or place a bid on
> ebay, it's not stealing. But if I tether my laptop to my MM7400 to
> access my PCS email or place a bid on ebay, it's stealing. Why?
> Either way, I'm accessing the unlimited Vision I pay for every month.
> What exactly am I stealing from Sprint?
>
> A laptop is simply an unapproved method of accessing Vision and a
> violation of TOS. It is not stealing.
>
> Joe Huber
> [email protected]