Tethering With Unlimited Data Plans

AT&T and their subsidiary Cricket now offer unlimited data plans but turn off your phone's ability to tether. I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to get around this. I can't think of many (if any) professions that use cellular data like truckers. Thanks for any input.

Verizon let's you turn your phone into a secure wifi hotspot, no extra charge. Yeah, it goes on your account's data plan, but no tethering needed, just a password protected wifi zone.

Hey Bob
These directions should work for most modern android phones. The link is mostly explaining how to do it on a Nexus 5, but the software is the same. You will have to root your phone to do it. Often times if people root their phone without knowing what they are doing, they end up with a very expensive, non-functional, brick. So be careful. Further, while this should allow you to tether without your carrier knowing, if you are using excessive data they still might get wise to it and start snooping around. Depending on your contract they may hit you with big overage fees, or throttle your speed, or something else. I can't really say I recommend doing this, but this is how it would be done.

How to Tether Android Phones

Bob, You can try rooting the phone, and illegally tethering, but these Carriers are pretty wise to people trying to skirt the Terms of Service. You may just have to suck it up and pay for a Tethering plan or Hotspot service. Good Luck! I use Straight Talk and get 10 gigs of data for $60.00 per month. I can't tether, but I never come close to going over my 10 gigs.

In iPhones it is called "jail breaking." TBH, most of the time you will need to make sure you don't update software when available. Apple is constantly updating their security. It takes time to find exploits. There are some iOS versions that haven't been jail broke. Once a new version comes out work on the old stops. Just like rooting an android, jail breaking an iPhone comes with risks. Namely "Bricking" your device. If you don't know what you are doing you can quickly turn that shiny cellphone into a pretty paper weight.

There's and Android app called pdaNet that i was using for a while. I'm not sure if it will work for att phones, but you can try it for free.

You can "brick" both Android and IOS devices. "Geek Types" rarely end up bricking their devices, non-geeks, a little more so.

Despite the "unlimited data service", you're still probably better off getting a hot spot to do your streaming/browsing with off-phone-devices. Seems to be a little more consistent (though at least on ATT, you can still use data and talk at the same time).

Phones, hotspots & service -are tax deductible items - and yeah, you still have to SPEND the $$ on it - but at least you don't have to pay taxes on the income used for these purchases.

Rick

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. With the risk of turning my phone into a paperweight, I think I'll go with a wifi hotspot device and pay for the service that way. I didn't realize everything related to cell service is tax deductible. Thanks again for all the help!

Straight Talk has Hotspot devices for around $40.00 and 7 gigs of data for $75.00. Pre Paid plan, no contract.

To claim your phone for taxes you must use it for work related business. I have TransFlo Mobile+ on mine. I use my phone to accept loads, communicate with dispatch, and send in my "Trip Paks". Therefore, my phone is an needed expense in conducting work related business.