Fine words butter no parsnips
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Android 2.2 includes tethering and WiFi hotspot creation
GOOGLE'S MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM Android will allow USB tethering and the ability to create ad-hoc WiFi networks with its upcoming 2.2 system update.
Google is gearing up to launch the update later this month, amid reports that sales of devices running the firm's mobile operating system have finally overtaken the Iphone.
With features such as USB tethering out of the box, it is likely to please users but annoy mobile operators who take any opportunity to squeeze more money out of their customers.
USB tethering allows users to hook up their mobile phones and use them as modems, essentially bringing mobile data connectivity to a wide range of devices. Mobile operators such as O2 charge a minimum of £10 per month for the service which includes a pathetic 3GB of bandwidth.
However, a spokesperson for O2 told The INQUIRER that its Iphone data tariff has no limits and given that Iphone users can take their sim-card and stick it into a device running Android, presumably they will be able to get a whole lot more than 3GB of data transfer without having to fork over a tenner.
Tethering is unlikely to bother the mobile operators as much as Google's decision to allow users to create ad-hoc wireless networks that use a device's wireless data connection. This opens up the possibility that voice over IP (VOIP) applications, such as Skype and Fring, which typically need a WiFi connection to make calls, will work through other subscribers' hotspots, thus reducing the need for the mobile operator's voice service.
In all likelihood, network operators who flog devices with Android 2.2 loaded are likely to disable the feature, which isn't going to be particularly hard as the operating system is open source.
The only question remaining is how long will it take for devices to get upgraded. With some handset manufacturers, such as Sony, taking a pedestrian attitude to upgrading their devices, the most likely candidate to receive the update first is the Nexus One.
Google, in its interest to create a feature rich mobile operating system, might begin to annoy some of the mobile network operators that are vital to Android's continuing success. µ
Tags: Google
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nothing new here, move along
plenty of apps already to do both on iphone, that any power user will already have....
With So Many BT Cards Stuck ALL over Phones, is Outdoor Mobile Booth Maket Releally ?DEAD?... Went to Simple Flower Cart office & Had About Hundred cards Cleaned. Took "em Office cpied 'Em & Told US to Sell 'Em, So sell to people as walk towards home. 2/10, Most wanted More, Ehhhh, I to Cust ometer. Just Called Number on Card & reported defective, ZAP, Back on, from homi accts.
drashek
Geez, now someone else is telling Americans what-cannot-be-done in the USA.
Droid contains a wired/wireless tethering application in its 'market'. There are advisories about just-how-much data one can expect to move over the connection,though.
Or do I mean here? Anyway, wherever it is, - including many new UK personal phones indeed - the Internet allowance in the basic deal is for use on the licensed device (phone) only, i.e. no tethering.
I think several of the companies also sell a 3G computer data contract that specifically excludes VoIP such as Skype, obviously to avoid cannibalising their phone service business, although when I last looked Three had Skype on its phones and no reason to ban Skype on its Internet service, which indeed it didn't. But still no tethering.
Incidentally, I would suppose that I could buy any wireless Skype handset and use it with a wi-fi (802.11) hotspot such as an Android 2.2 HSDPA device can be, unless the 3G contract did exclude Skype. So it isn't that the Android's service provider would fear that you would make free phone calls on someone else's network - but on their own.
Charging for hooking up your mobile phone to a notebook to use it as a modem?!?!?!?!
Can I stress enough the stupidity of that?
You can do that for years, and now you would have to pay for it in addition to paying for the data plan already??
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
I guess that the genius who thought of that is from US... :P
T-Mobile's HTC HD2 handsets running Windows Mobile have the software on them as standard which allows you to create a WiFi network using the PDA as the base station - although it is limited to WEP encryption.
As for tethering - is this really such a big deal? - every Sony Ericsson handset I have owned since my D750i has offered that feature, with my current C905 making a network connection when you connect the USB cable to your PC.
of believing O2 when they tell you that the iPhone data package is unlimited. It is actually "fair use" which can be pretty much anything that they say it is. Certainly some users have seen complaints when going beyond 1GB/month.
Don't expect to replace your fixed broadband with an "unlimited" mobile package and get away with it. Others have tried, and regretted it.