5GB question - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Ken & Sarah · RV-Dreams Family Member

5GB question

Max Signal · RV-Dreams Family Member

Uploading and downloading both count towards your 5GB of usage.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

To answer the second question many load up PDAnet or Easy Tether to tether. Both have free versions that do not support secure websites so you can make sure they work before buying. I think more use PDAnet than Easy Tether, but some find that only Easy Tether works for them.

Cindy T · RV-Dreams Family Member

I use PDAnet on my droid & it works fine.

Cindy T

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

All uploads and downloads count towards cellular data bandwidth caps, on all carriers - as far as I'm aware.

That said, if you're just uploading text to a blog - that doesn't account for much. If you're using a web based blog interface, that probably uses more bandwidth to access than the text content you are uploading. Pictures on the other hand, can add up. Always a good idea to resize any photos you upload to be the minimum size you need to conserve that precious bandwidth.

On satellite however (at least, on our carrier - Hughes), uploads do not count towards your daily limit.

- Cherie

MikeH · RV-Dreams Family Member

Using a tethering app has nothing to do with the original posters question. If you upload or download something it counts toward your 5gig limit, however seeings how different carriers do things differently you would want to call and ask, or read your contract with a magnifying glass!

-- Edited by MikeH on Wednesday 28th of December 2011 12:44:29 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I treated it as two questions from someone who is researching options. The first was the general question if cell providers like Verizon count uploads, which the answer is "Yes". The second was about tethering. Both were answered.

If you want more than 5GB from an aircard you can get the Millenicom Advanced plan for $59.99 per month for 20GB on Verizon. That is what we use to run up to 7 wifi devices with the aircard plugged into a Cradlepoint router. Tethering via PDAnet/Easy Tether uses your existing cell phone data plan for one Windows/Mac computer. The carriers say tethering violates their contract with you, but most get away with it.

Ken & Sarah · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you for all the information.

Racklefratz · RV-Dreams Community Member

Not intending to muddy the water more, but be aware some phones have to be rooted to make tethering work. Not sure about the Droid X, but I definitely did have to root my Droid to tether it to my Motorola XOOM.

Also, on the subject of getting all warm and cozy with your cell provider on this, I wouldn't. Within reasonable limits, one can do some tethering and get away with it, but the cell phone companies really want to be able to charge you via an air card for that data you're up/downloading. My personal feeling is that paying for one data connection is all I want to do, regardless of how the cellular companies view it.

Oh, and sorry for resurrecting such an old discussion. I'll try to be more careful...

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 03:51:10 PM

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 03:52:09 PM

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 03:53:05 PM

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 05:26:20 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

PDAnet/Easy Tether use a USB cable and you do not have to root your phone to do that, but it only works with PCs and Macs. If you want to Wifi Tether (also called a mobile hotspot), which you would have to do with a XOOM, you do need to root the phone. There are phones from non-Verizon companies that include wifi tethering in their plan, like US Cellular (which roams on Verizon at full 3G speed) and T-Mobile's "4G" Android pay-as-you go phone you can get a Wal-Mart ($120 for the phone, $70 for a 5GB a month).

Anyone with an unlimited 4G phone with Verizon can get an unlimited hotspot for $30 extra a month, other plans charge $20 extra for 2GB. If you have an HTC Thunderbolt (like me) or HTC Rezound you can even talk and do data on 3G at the same time since they use a newer 3G (CDMA) radio that supports it. For some reason Motorola, Samsung and LG are using older 3G radios in their 4G phones so they stop the data when a phone call comes in when on 3G. Hopefully when they start using combination CDMA/LTE radios they will also do voice and data at the same time on 3G since those will be new radio designs.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 06:45:19 PM

Racklefratz · RV-Dreams Community Member

bjoyce wrote:
PDAnet/Easy Tether use a USB cable and you do not have to root your phone to do that, but it only works with PCs and Macs. If you want to Wifi Tether (also called a mobile hotspot), which you would have to do with a XOOM, you do need to root the phone.

I'm using bluetooth to tether. Forgot about the hard-wired variety.

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Wednesday 18th of January 2012 02:20:10 AM

-- Edited by Racklefratz on Wednesday 18th of January 2012 02:20:54 AM

3Gstore_Matt · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you need a reference point checkout our "What does 5GB Get Me?" article. It should give you a pretty good idea of what different types of activities will lead to data wise.

laurly · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the Verizon mifi with a 5gb limit. Second month, watched a couple episodes of Glee online, and went over to 6gb. Only a $10 overage charge, but opened my eyes. Now we use the mifi in the morning, checking e-mails, surfing a bit, etc. At night, I tether my Droid Incredible 2 to PDAnet (purchased version). I upload pictures to my blog, surf, watch live streams, all with no problem at all. When signal dips, there sometimes are issues, but love it otherwise.