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it tethering illegal!!

  • yes

    Votes: 7 4.7%
  • no

    Votes: 103 69.6%
  • who cares

    Votes: 38 25.7%

  • Total voters
    148
  • Poll closed .
well i was looking for the majority to say either yes or no

and their reasons either way
 
I'll play.

I voted no...it's your data. you paid for it. you can use it how you like. the end.

of course I am sure apple/att doesn't agree with me.
 
This has been discussed ... ad nauseam.


Whether it is or is not seems to be trumped by people's opinions on the matter. My opinion was voiced here once and the little AT&T fan****s had a field day.
 
i know a poll is an opioniated thing
now surely this has no relevant outcome
ofcourse it is illegal if you do it which breeches your terms and conditions of your contract

if you pay for it from your carrier then NO it is not illegal
but if you dont subscribe to it from your carrier and do it then YES it is illegal
(a think the notification that comes up when you got to put tethering on is clear enough((please contact your service provider to enable this option))
READ your contract it tells you

dumb poll really no offence to the OP
 
Officially yes, but who cares!

I pay over $150 to that crap of a company ATT! Another $20 for tethering, not gonna happen. DATA is DATA no matter where I'm consuming it. I'm paying for unlimited and I'll view my data where I please.

Of course I use more data using my MBP but I'm paying out the Arse for it soo... fix your shiz ATT and deal with it... or catch me and I'll PAY the price :eek:
 
As I understand it, unless contract terms also happen to be laws, violating them is not illegal (in the sense of being a crime). Though, such violations may open one up to civil proceedings (e.g. damages). As far as I know, there are no laws in the US that say that people are not permitted to tether with their phones. So, while tethering is clearly a breach of ones contract, it is not illegal (i.e. a crime).
 
I voted no. I pay for unlimited data and unlimited means there is no limit to it's usage bandwidth wise.

I don't think AT&T has a right to charge extra simply to charge more for that same bandwidth that I have already paid for.

It's like the car I bought and paid for by making payments. They come in and tell me that I now have to pay extra per month for driving on the road that leads to my house because I'm towing a trailer behind the car.
 
I really don't think there's much to discuss with respect to the question "Is tethering illegal?". A more interesting question is whether carriers' reasons for charging extra for it are good ones. And, to take it further, if their reasons are not good, then should carriers be permitted to charge extra for tethering?
 
Ah, the varying definitions...

"Illegal"? Not in any way. You are violating no laws by enabling tethering on your phone. Period.

"In violation of a civil contract between you and your cell phone service provider"? Depends. By the wording, I'm assuming you mean "Is it a bad thing to enable tethering without using the method provided by my carrier, complete with its increased monetary cost?"

If your carrier offers tethering, and you choose to use the tethering option provided by your carrier (whether it costs extra or not,) then obviously it's okay.

If your carrier offers tethering and you choose to use an unsupported method to enable it without their permission; or if your carrier does not offer tethering, and you use any method to enable it, you are violating your contract with your carrier.

Is this "illegal"? No. Is this grounds for them to terminate your service whenever they feel like it, possibly invoking an early termination fee? Yes. Will they do it? Who knows.

If you're willing to risk your carrier terminating your service, possibly hitting you with an early termination fee for violating your contract; go right ahead.

But to phrase it as "Is tethering illegal?" is just being alarmist. Either you honestly don't know the law, and thought the FBI would come bashing your door down; or you like making mountains out of molehills to make yourself look more like a rebel. Whatever.
 
but we all know charging extra for tethering is crap!
i want to know if att will begin to pursue people and what ppl think there course of action would be
 
but we all know charging extra for tethering is crap!
i want to know if att will begin to pursue people and what ppl think there course of action would be

Then ask THAT. Ask "Do you think AT&T will take action against people who enable tethering without their permission?" Don't ask "Is tethering illegal?"...

I don't think there has been one report of AT&T taking action against someone for tethering up until this point; even though it's been available on jailbroken phones for years. (And was available using the official iPhone OS method with a really simple hack right after iPhone OS 3 came out.)
 
My NZ$22.50/month lets me use the data in any way I wish. No hacking required, and not illegal.

Remember... not everyone uses AT&T.
 
i know a poll is an opioniated thing
now surely this has no relevant outcome
ofcourse it is illegal if you do it which breeches your terms and conditions of your contract

if you pay for it from your carrier then NO it is not illegal
but if you dont subscribe to it from your carrier and do it then YES it is illegal
(a think the notification that comes up when you got to put tethering on is clear enough((please contact your service provider to enable this option))
READ your contract it tells you

dumb poll really no offence to the OP

I don't think you know what "legal" means

Legal: yes
Violating TOS: yes
 
I think it should be illegal for AT&T to charge for something without offering anything in return, isn't that the legal definition of fraud??? /s
 
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