Good News?

I have good news to spread so why do I have to complain?  It has to do with the reason for the good news. Read on to find out, I pretty sure it will be a short one.



Last year Verizon asked Google to block tethering apps in the Market (now the Play Store) which Google did.  I don't blame Google for that because they will block any app that a service provider would like blocked.  But the reason for Verizon asking for the block was that they want people to pay for the tethering, an additional $20 per month for 5GB of data.  The problem there is that many of the people that wanted to use the tethering had unlimited data plans.  In other words, greed was the sole reason for the block.


So you may be asking what is the good news, right?  Today the FCC finally enforced a condition on the spectrum purchase that Verizon agreed to last year (check it out here).  Part of the stipulation for the purchase with the winning bid was that they would not prevent their subscribers from using an app that took advantage of the phone's wi-fi hot spot capabilities.  Meaning that they could no longer as Google to block those apps or prevent you from using them for free.  This is good news as it is a win for the consumer, however my problem is in the fact that the FCC had to force Verizon into this.  This should have happened without any action by the FCC.  Verizon knew fully well what they agreed to yet they continued to charge subscribers the $20 per month and limit their data use.  Utterly ridiculous if you ask me!  I really hope someone starts a class action lawsuit against Verizon for doing this.


Of course, it doesn't matter to me.  I've never paid for it as I have found free apps, in the Market/Play Store, that bypass Verizon's restriction.  And the great thing about Android is that I could always get them on my own.  Anyone from the Apple camp know if tethering is possible on the iPhone?  If so, let us know.  You are now free to use it on Verizon as well!