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I've got what should be a simple question but is driving me nuts. I have an iPhone 4S and Verizon, and I want to make my phone a mobile hostpot. Verizon wants to charge me $20 a month for 2 GB of hotspot data, and I think that's bullshit because I already pay for 5 GB of data that I hardly use. What do I need to do to avoid that fee? I have an upgrade stored, so I'm willing to even switch to an Android phone to avoid it if need be, or even to another carrier if Verizon won't let me.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:03
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Rotten Red Rod posted:I've got what should be a simple question but is driving me nuts. I have an iPhone 4S and Verizon, and I want to make my phone a mobile hostpot. Verizon wants to charge me $20 a month for 2 GB of hotspot data, and I think that's bullshit because I already pay for 5 GB of data that I hardly use. What do I need to do to avoid that fee? I have an upgrade stored, so I'm willing to even switch to an Android phone to avoid it if need be, or even to another carrier if Verizon won't let me. Moving to Share Everything makes MHS free; otherwise, you could go down to 2GB/$30, which would make up the cost difference.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:12
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Rotten Red Rod posted:I've got what should be a simple question but is driving me nuts. I have an iPhone 4S and Verizon, and I want to make my phone a mobile hostpot. Verizon wants to charge me $20 a month for 2 GB of hotspot data, and I think that's bullshit because I already pay for 5 GB of data that I hardly use. What do I need to do to avoid that fee? I have an upgrade stored, so I'm willing to even switch to an Android phone to avoid it if need be, or even to another carrier if Verizon won't let me. Believe it or not, you're hosed on the iPhone 4S because it is only a 3g phone. Cell phone companies, by FCC ruling, have to allow tethering on 4g phones (unless on unlimited data). No such law on 3g. Your only option would be to jailbreak; I personally like PDANet on my iPhone. Unrelated question: the Verizon Wireless store I went to could not print me a receipt (their printers were down or something) and the bill for a 32gb iPhone 5s came to $358.45. Even putting in the tax, that seems a bit higher than it should be. Is there some sort of "phone activation fee"? I thought those only happened if you were bringing your own outside phone or weren't renewing a contract. I'm just super confused because I am used to signing 4 different documents whenever I get a new phone, including a long one with all this stuff about my contract, and this time there was none of that. But these cell phone policies change so often that it could have changed since the last time I bought a phone over a year ago.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:17
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:Unrelated question: the Verizon Wireless store I went to could not print me a receipt (their printers were down or something) and the bill for a 32gb iPhone 5s came to $358.45. Even putting in the tax, that seems a bit higher than it should be. Is there some sort of "phone activation fee"? I thought those only happened if you were bringing your own outside phone or weren't renewing a contract. Upgrading on a 2 year contract has a $30 upgrade fee as an extra one-time cost. You don't have to pay this if you provide your own device or upgrade on Edge.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:21
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hoobajoo posted:Moving to Share Everything makes MHS free; otherwise, you could go down to 2GB/$30, which would make up the cost difference. I may do this - I ran the numbers and it ends up costing exactly the same for me to change to Share Everything. I don't see MHS listed in the offered features, though, for some reason. Miyamotos RGB NES posted:Believe it or not, you're hosed on the iPhone 4S because it is only a 3g phone. Cell phone companies, by FCC ruling, have to allow tethering on 4g phones (unless on unlimited data). No such law on 3g. So if I upgraded to a iPhone 5s or 5c, I wouldn't have to pay extra for using it as a hotspot? I'm already looking to upgrade anyway, my 4s has run its course. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 00:30
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:Believe it or not, you're hosed on the iPhone 4S because it is only a 3g phone. Cell phone companies, by FCC ruling, have to allow tethering on 4g phones (unless on unlimited data). No such law on 3g. Not exactly, Verizon has to because it's part of their agreement they made when they bought their spectrum.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:52
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big mean giraffe posted:Not exactly, Verizon has to because it's part of their agreement they made when they bought their spectrum. It only applies to 4g phones though. If a phone has a LTE radio in it, they are bound by that agreement. If it doesn't use the 700mhz band, Verizon can do what they want.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:20
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bull3964 posted:It only applies to 4g phones though. If a phone has a LTE radio in it, they are bound by that agreement. If it doesn't use the 700mhz band, Verizon can do what they want. I'm aware of that, I was correcting Miyamotos RGB NES who said all cell phone companies had to allow it.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:27
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hoobajoo posted:Upgrading on a 2 year contract has a $30 upgrade fee as an extra one-time cost. You don't have to pay this if you provide your own device or upgrade on Edge. Thank you! I had it backwards, then is all. Rotten Red Rod posted:So if I upgraded to a iPhone 5s or 5c, I wouldn't have to pay extra for using it as a hotspot? Yep, it's an option right in the OS, and you are not asked to pay for it. I have to resort to fuckery even though I have a 4g phone but it's only because I'm on unlimited.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:28
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I remember this ruling, but this phone and my last 4g phone prevented me from using the hotspot feature. Unless you mean I need to download a third part app for it?
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Dec 13, 2013 01:32
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Roundboy posted:I remember this ruling, but this phone and my last 4g phone prevented me from using the hotspot feature. The ruling didn't tell them they had to enable the built-in hotspot feature on the phone. It said that they can't block apps like PDAnet and FoxFi, like they had been doing. Previously, Verizon had instructed Google that Verizon phones can't access those third party tethering apps on the Play Store.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:35
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Yeah I am pretty sure I can't use the hotspot feature on my SG4 without paying a fee, correct? I am not on share everything but I am on tiered data.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:47
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And using hotspot apps is a violation of your terms of service, so while nobody has had issues before, they could always decide to slap you with data fees at any time.
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Dec 13, 2013 18:30
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A week into life with my Maxx, and I feel the need to share that this is seriously the best phone I've ever owned. Not babysitting my battery is loving amazing. Thanks to everyone who's recommended it, fully worth the off-contract upgrade at $499 - $100 trade-in on my S3. The VZW store I bought it at also offered me a $100 off my bill for buying $100 in accessories, so I picked up a Jambox mini for dirt cheap too.
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Dec 13, 2013 19:02
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stormrider posted:A week into life with my Maxx, and I feel the need to share that this is seriously the best phone I've ever owned. Not babysitting my battery is loving amazing. I've had mine 2 weeks now and I agree, best phone I've ever owned. 24 hours off the charger and it was still at 65% with plenty of use.
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Dec 13, 2013 19:18
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DangerZoneDelux posted:Yeah I am pretty sure I can't use the hotspot feature on my SG4 without paying a fee, correct? I am not on share everything but I am on tiered data. If you are on a tiered plan, you can use any 3rd party tethering app you like. Verizon cannot restrict them anymore as a part of their BlockC license deal. The only ones excluded from this are grandfathered unlimited customers (though they are free to get the same apps, just technically violating their agreements).
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Dec 13, 2013 19:42
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stormrider posted:A week into life with my Maxx, and I feel the need to share that this is seriously the best phone I've ever owned. Not babysitting my battery is loving amazing. Well dammit. I think it might be time for me to bite the bullet.
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Dec 13, 2013 20:27
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big mean giraffe posted:I've had mine 2 weeks now and I agree, best phone I've ever owned. 24 hours off the charger and it was still at 65% with plenty of use. I've actually succeeded at draining it down to the 30-40% range at the end of a day by running GPS/MyTracks for 8 hours of snowboarding while simultaneously streaming Pandora for tunes. I don't even bother plugging it in while driving anymore, even when using GPS navigation. My S3 couldn't make it across the street with GPS running off the charger. I also haven't bothered with turning off wifi, bluetooth, or GPS when I'm not using them, something I was constantly minding on my S3.
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Dec 13, 2013 20:40
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How the hell does the Maxx manage that, anyway? I'm just curious because I thought merely how the Android software operated that the battery life issues would never go away. And there seems to be a bunch of different Maxx models; which is supposed to be considered the best with battery? My coworker is looking to get a new Android phone and I'd like to steer him in the right direction.
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Dec 14, 2013 00:42
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:How the hell does the Maxx manage that, anyway? I'm just curious because I thought merely how the Android software operated that the battery life issues would never go away. And there seems to be a bunch of different Maxx models; which is supposed to be considered the best with battery?
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Dec 14, 2013 00:55
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:How the hell does the Maxx manage that, anyway? I'm just curious because I thought merely how the Android software operated that the battery life issues would never go away. And there seems to be a bunch of different Maxx models; which is supposed to be considered the best with battery? Motorola actually has the sack to build up a decent version of Android with well-optimized kernels so their phones operate with maximum stability and efficiency. The Maxx models have been as follows, in chronological order. 2011's Droid Razr Maxx (Old TI OMAP4430 Chipset @ 1.2Ghz), 2012's Droid Maxx HD (Dual Core Snapdragon S4 @ 1.5Ghz) and 2013's Droid Maxx (Custom Motorola X8 Computing System which is basically a Quad-Core Snapdragon S4 + Adreno graphics from the Snapdragon 600). That said, your coworker should jump on the Droid Maxx. Maxx's have always had legit battery life but each one has only gotten better because the battery stays large while the chipsets get more efficient. ProjektorBoy fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Dec 14, 2013 |
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Dec 14, 2013 00:56
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THF13 posted:The current Maxx (motorola Droid Maxx, not to be confused with the Razr Maxx or Razr Maxx HD) is a verizon exclusive variant of the Moto X. It is for the most part just a Moto X with double the battery capacity in a slightly larger form factor, and the moto X has pretty good battery life to begin with. Oh okay, thanks. Yeah because there's another guy I work with that has the Razr Maxx HD and he gloats about the battery life but nothing close to what I am hearing about the Droid Maxx (holy hell these names are confusing). ProjektorBoy posted:Motorola actually has the sack to build up a decent version of Android with well-optimized kernels so their phones operate with maximum stability and efficiency. Yeah I was telling him to stay Motorola since Google bought them; figured it would be closest to stock. Thanks for the hints there. It's hard to keep up with this stuff sometimes.
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Dec 14, 2013 00:57
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:Oh okay, thanks. Yeah because there's another guy I work with that has the Razr Maxx HD and he gloats about the battery life but nothing close to what I am hearing about the Droid Maxx (holy hell these names are confusing). If it helps at all, Motorola some times calls it the Droid Ultra Maxx because it is the Maxx variant of the Droid Ultra (which is self is a variant of the Moto X). To bad Verizon doesn't call it that...
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Dec 14, 2013 02:25
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Lowen SoDium posted:If it helps at all, Motorola some times calls it the Droid Ultra Maxx because it is the Maxx variant of the Droid Ultra (which is self is a variant of the Moto X). To bad Verizon doesn't call it that... That actually does help; thank you. I wonder what they are going to call the newer Razr Maxx HD 
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Dec 14, 2013 03:37
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Droid Razr Ultra Maxx
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Dec 14, 2013 03:54
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Endless Mike posted:Droid Razr Ultra Maxx Don't forget the HD, they'll probably add a 1080px screen on the next model and demand to put that in the name.
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Dec 14, 2013 04:01
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I'm hearing if I want to give my full upgrade to someone else on my family plan, it'll count against me when they use it in such a way that I'd lose my unlimited data. Is this true? I just want to let someone else on my plan upgrade to a new phone. I need to get a new one myself but I'll have to be paying full price for it
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Dec 15, 2013 22:14
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ACID POLICE posted:I'm hearing if I want to give my full upgrade to someone else on my family plan, it'll count against me when they use it in such a way that I'd lose my unlimited data. Is this true? A vast majority of the anecdotal evidence about upgrade transfers says that as long as you do it on the website, and only through the website, unlimited data for the donor line will be unaffected.
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Dec 15, 2013 22:48
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ACID POLICE posted:I'm hearing if I want to give my full upgrade to someone else on my family plan, it'll count against me when they use it in such a way that I'd lose my unlimited data. Is this true? The way I understand it, whatever line goes under 2 year contract is the one that loses unlimited data. So if you give your upgrade to someone else, it's your line going under contract, which means you have to move to tiered (but can get the 6GB/$30 plan, if that works for you). Otherwise, you can do the opposite and use their upgrade on your phone, and you will keep your unlimited.
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Dec 15, 2013 22:50
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This gets explained every other page. You can give your upgrade to another line in the account without losing unlimited as long as the phone isn't first activated on the line that the contract is extended on. I have 2 lines: 111-1111 has unlimited and is eligible. 222-2222 is not eligible and has no data. I want a new phone on 111-1111 but don't want to lose my unlimited. I use the upgrade from 111-1111 for 222-2222 and activate the new phone on 222-2222. Once the phone is fully activated, I reactivate the original phone on 222-2222 and then activate the new phone on 111-1111 as customer owned equipment, which is the same process as turning on a full retail cost phone, thus preserving unlimited. I am an indirect and do this once a day at least.
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Dec 15, 2013 22:57
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FordPRefectLL posted:This gets explained every other page. You can give your upgrade to another line in the account without losing unlimited as long as the phone isn't first activated on the line that the contract is extended on. This is how I did it. It works.
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Dec 16, 2013 16:49
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bam thwok posted:This is how I did it. It works. Me too. I did it online, then picked it up in store an hour later. The rep asked why I wasn't just activating it directly onto my line, then answered his own question with, "oh, your keeping your unlimited. I'll be extra careful then."
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Dec 16, 2013 17:48
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Maybe another dumb question, but if I have a Verizon unlimited plan on a smartphone, can I put that sim into or onto a Jetpack hotspot and use that?
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Dec 16, 2013 19:10
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iostream.h posted:Maybe another dumb question, but if I have a Verizon unlimited plan on a smartphone, can I put that sim into or onto a Jetpack hotspot and use that? I've freely moved my sim card between my smartphone and my ipad. Probably no different, unless they do a spot check for the tethering plan on your account when you connect the hotspot. The FCC rules that say data is data don't apply to Verizon's grandfathered unlimited plans, so they'd have every right to disable it or charge you if you're unlucky enough to get noticed.
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Dec 16, 2013 19:22
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I have a question about getting my phone replaced under warranty. I have a Galaxy S4 that I got last June and its always given me problems which I believe are hardware related. Here is what I've determined to make the problems occur: When I am on wifi and I move out of range of the wifi signal (like leaving my house) when I try to watch a video on YouTube or Netflix, there will be no sound. This goes for making phone calls as well; my phone won't sound off when getting a call and if I happen to answer, I can't hear the person either from the earpiece or the speakerphone. Restarting the phone will make this all work again, but it will eventually happen again and I don't want to keep restarting my phone every time I move around, since I'm on wifi quite a bit. Another thing I've seen that may be related is that sometimes when I use video calls on Skype or Hangouts, the sound will cut out completely about 5 minutes into the conversation. And when I try to restart the phone when this happens, it will sometimes lock up and I have to pull the battery. The two problems don't always happen, but that is the general sequence of events when I notice a problem occurring. I couldn't find anyone else with similar problems on the internet. I've tried factory resetting my phone, but the problems still occur intermittently. I want to get the phone replaced at the Verizon store since it is still under warranty, but I'm unsure of the process. Do I have to demonstrate the problems when I go into the store? I think I can get it to occur in the right conditions, but its not necessarily a guarantee. What kind of replacement can I expect?
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Dec 16, 2013 20:13
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Don't even go into the store, they'll just tell you to call up a number. Just call up Verizon and tell them your headphone jack doesn't work or something like that. They'll tell you to factory reset the phone and see if it works after that (they can see when you factory reset, so you'll probably actually HAVE to do it). Say it doesn't work again after that while you're on the phone with them, and they'll just warranty you a replacement.
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Dec 16, 2013 20:36
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Just got the update to Android 4.3 on my HTC One. Woo hoo.
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Dec 17, 2013 21:26
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FordPRefectLL posted:Just got the update to Android 4.3 on my HTC One. Woo hoo. Same, better late than never.
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Dec 17, 2013 21:33
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Sadly, it doesn't include Sense 5.5, which means no do not disturb feature yet. We'll see if HTC holds to their pledge that we'll get it and 4.4 in January, although I'm skeptical.
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Dec 17, 2013 21:34
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Is their a Verizon acknowledged issue with data on a 5s? My dad switched from AT&T to Verizon on launch day and has gone over significantly the last few months. They are saying hes used almost 8gb this month. He had 2gb on AT&T and never once went over. He doesn't watch YouTube or Facebook or anything like that, I think he has like 2 apps installed. He's going to call them today and ask but I have a feeling they are going to give him the run around.
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Dec 18, 2013 21:37
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