questions about iphone, data use and laptop

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BengalsFan24

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 24, 2006
159
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i hope im not asking any stupid questions but i cannot find anything in search for some of these.

first, do i have to "tether" through att to be able to use the phone as my modem for a laptop? not interested in using it to run a ps3 or wii or anything like that. can i simpy hook it in with a usb cable to the laptop and have it work without having to dish out the extra $20 bucks a month. we are now using the 2gb of service as our main internat connecation and are wanting to drop our other. we really need to save cash. the 15% discount we get through our company on the att data and cell phone is helping.

how is data calculated for video? i have the 2gb plan and i would say i probaly view about 3000 pages a month and do about 10 hours of music streaming a month (just for commute). i probaly send less than 100 emails a month with the phone (much less actualy). i only have my locals and the aad distants and center ice on dish and use the phone to watch the wwe highlights for raw with the wwe app. after doing so i can go look at the data usage and it has barely moved the next day (or not enough to be alarming). however when i use youtube or a music video site it seems to really pull the data. it hasnt been a problem - im ending up with abotu 1.7 each month - but im curiuos if there is a diffrence in some sights video and others?

i was thinkg about the mlb and nhl apps but didnt know if video was different for some than others. i dont want to squeze all the data on one place but im confused at how the wwe stuff doesnt seem to take up as much space? is it downloaded some other way or something?
 
I may be way off on this and if I am maybe someone will chime in and say so. I have had my IPhone for about two months now (since about the time the new plan was announced - $25 for 2GB). I used nearly 1.7 GB the first month and I'm thinking (with keeping track of things) that I will probably be at about 1.4 this month and will be around that area on average. I think I was higher the first month as I was downloading several apps.

Anyways, AT & T has a data calculator that is pretty handy but the video streaming varies greatly from site to site. I saw a nice little research project that said you could spend about 17 hours on YouTube compared to about 12 on NetFlix (before using up the 2GB - of course, that assumed you used it for nothing other than viewing the video). You'll find that the amount of data being used from streaming video varies greatly from source to source.

Practically all of the e-mail I send is going to be at work. So as far as my data usage goes, I spend none of it on e-mail. When I'm on YouTube, I'm on it at work and only to listen to music. So you can scratch that from my usage (although I'll sometimes take a notion to watch a music video on the page but I don't spend no more than maybe 10 minutes every four or five days there.

Like you, I use the IPhone to view the WWE Raw highlights but outside of that about the only other video I watch is the Local Forecast on the Weather Channel.

My data plays out like this:

I kept count and sent two e-mail messages from my IPhone last month. It didn't include any photographs or attachments and it was something I sent to my work address as a "reminder" to myself. Pretty much NO USAGE there.

I don't really know how many "pages" I visited but I spent much of my time on the ESPN Score Center, Arizona Wildcats, Weather Channel, Facebook and WWE apps. I will estimate 75 pages to a day which brings me out to 2250 on a month and I would say 75 is a stretch for some days.

I stream music sometimes from Magic 98.9 out of Greenville, SC for my commute. I like the music they play and can get it for about half the ride in my truck before some country station comes in over it. I guess I stream music for maybe 20 hours a month (which, again, may be a stretch).

So any video for me is limited to the WWE and Weather Channel apps. I'm fine in the way I come out. But with that being said, much of what I use mine for is music streaming. I may have went to Verizon (unlimited though I've heard they may be scaling back) if it weren't for my discount (I get one for working in education) and the reception for AT & T is superior here.

For me it comes down to one or the other: Music or video.

The only thing I can do by hooking my phone to the computer is charge the phone or sync stuff to it. I did not pay the extra $20 for tethering as I mainly will use my laptop for Word, Excel, etc. I may eventually tether the phone as with my discount the total for all my services (450 Anytime Minutes, 2GB, Teethering, $4.99 Canadian) would still only be about $78 (after tax) - that is far much cheaper than the money I was spending for my cell phone and then the $70 I was also giving to the local phone company for a phone line I never used and internet.
 
Its too bad all carriers don't operate the same, but I understand why AT&T has issues with iphone tethering. Their network hardly handles the iphone load let alone tethering to other devices.

With Verizon, you have two choices. You can buy a third party ap that supports your phone OS and then tether with the connection that it supports. I have used PDANet which used USB connection and now use win WIFI Router which costs about $30 but is well worth it. It sets up your phone as a router and can connect using BT, WIFI and USB cable and it can support upto 5 IP addresses. This does chew up battery power and you should plug into a charger while using it. The other way is to use Verizon's own software but it doesn't support all phones. They rent this for a nominal fee per month. They don't care if you do your own but then they won't support it so you'll need to work through the ap supplier if you have problems.

You might want to just wait until next year. It is very likely Verizon will be selling the iphone as the latest info on this rumor front is that Qualcom has sold a "shipload" ( in the millions) of CDMA chips to Apple last month for delivery no later than December. Many are saying January for Verizon iphone but I suspect not until February or June as the most likely target.
 
I wouldn't mind paying AT&T $20 for tethering, but apparently they don't want my money... Looks like Tethering is not available with my (unlimited) data plan.
And I am not looking for unlimited tethering, I would be ok with 2GB a month or something for occasional tethering, but I don't want to downgrade my iPhone data plan.
 
Ilya said:
I wouldn't mind paying AT&T $20 for tethering, but apparently they don't want my money... Looks like Tethering is not available with my (unlimited) data plan.
And I am not looking for unlimited tethering, I would be ok with 2GB a month or something for occasional tethering, but I don't want to downgrade my iPhone data plan.
Click to expand...
Same here. In order for me to add or change data plan features, I would have to lose my grandfathered unlimited plan, and there is no way I am giving that up.

As far as jailbreaking to tether. I don't want to do it since I consider it steeling. I am taking a service that they require payment for. If I do use it, it will be once in a blue moon for those rare occasions in which I have no other options. I am not going to pay extra or change my plan for the rare occasion.
 
I used to tether with my 3Gs when they had the bug and you could tether without jailbreaking. It worked well and it was handy. Now with the iphone4 and locked down, I got a mifi device from virgin mobile. I only need a few months a year of tethering. It is $40 for a month of wifi, prepaid. So, I only pay the few times I need it. Last month I made 2 trips that were covered by the 1 month prepaid (it is 30 day from when you pay so you can start mid month).

I figure I will use another month in October and then probably be able to work 2 trips into one in the winter when I go to a business meeting and skiing. So, 3 times at $40 a pop is less than the $20/month AT&T wants, plus I keep my unlimited on the iphone.
 

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