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Tethering and root access are unconnected: my phone can tether and is unrooted. Maybe if you get your phone from a US carrier these things are related, in which

Tethering and root access are unconnected: my phone can tether and is unrooted. Maybe if you get your phone from a US carrier these things are related, in which case, buy elsewhere? There really aren't any reasons to try and root an Android phone. If you want to replace the OS with some custom open source build, just use a phone with an unlocked bootloader and go wild. But you can already access so many features and customise so many things without root it hardly seems worth it.

izacus 10y ago
But thats his point exactly - one of the phones allows him to get over customer hostile limitations of some corporation and makes his device more useful in his life. The other is controlled by a whim of somoeone who sees you just as a walking wallet.
- zigzigzag 10y ago
  If the carrier is giving you the device on better terms than an outright purchase then it's not "customer hostile" is it? You can always buy one instead. Your attitude seems to be "I should be able to get a cheap phone from a carrier by agreeing not to tether, and then I should be able to violate that agreement anyway, and this is a totally moral position". Phones are a commodity. You can get them anywhere. Want to tether? Buy a phone and a plan that allows it. Problem solved.
  - izacus 10y ago
    No, my attitude is "I should be able to do with my 5GB dataplan whatever I wish because that's what I pay for and the carrier has no business dictating why my hardware can or cannot do.". And since I live in EU that is an actual reality - my carrier provides the voice and data service and my phone does what I tell it to and I can choose whichever phone I want. Free market as it should be. Which is why it baffles me beyond all limits just why so many smart Americans go out of their way to defend corporate practices that hurt them as customers.
    - nucotano 10y ago
      Read your contract. You don't pay for a "5GB data plan". You pay for a "5GB data plan to be used on your mobile only". Violating your contract is not "free market".
      - izacus 10y ago
        Again, I'm not from America. My contract does not say anything so idiotic. I can use my paid data as I wish. Why are you trying so hard to support your telcos decision to make your life worse?
        nucotano 10y ago
        I'm not from the US either. And those policies are there to reduce congestion, that's all.
        tremon 10y ago
        "reduce congestion" is just a weasel way of saying that the providers sell beyond their capacity. I understand overbooking is a very common practice, but it is based on risk assessment -- and providers shouldn't be able to dodge all risk for their decision by disavowing their responsibility in single-sided "contracts".
        nucotano 10y ago
        Yes, of course they sell beyond their capacity. This is the real world we live in. If everybody in your neighbourhood turned their faucets on at once, water supply would simply stop working. So?
        jjawssd 10y ago
        Nice straw man you have there "If everybody in your neighbourhood turned their faucets on at once, water supply would simply stop working. So?"
  - tdkl 10y ago
    Parent is just pointing out the BS in hindering tethering based on the amount of data and how well the customers are protected in EU regarding such practices. It's also absurd (perhaps a bit sad) to defend such policies from the point of the customer to your own loss.
tmzt 10y ago
They are not exactly unconnected. Unrestricted root access would let you set up your own iptables rules and direct packets to the cellular network. This is how tethering worked on rooted phones before the carriers offered it as a service. Now you are correct, and carriers responded to those demands from users for mobile networking with (usually metered or priced as an addon) "mobile hotspot" applications. Contrary to your earlier claims, the advanced Android and iPhone user communities are not insignificant and may have played a part in getting demands like these met. Places like androidpolice, and sites like engadget, lifehacks, gizmodo and others cater to this market, and drive popular knowledge of root modifications and jail breaking. Previous incarnations of Cyanogenmod boasted large numbers of downloads in the 100s of thousands if not millions.

izacus 10y ago

But thats his point exactly - one of the phones allows him to get over customer hostile limitations of some corporation and makes his device more useful in his life. The other is controlled by a whim of somoeone who sees you just as a walking wallet.

zigzigzag 10y ago
If the carrier is giving you the device on better terms than an outright purchase then it's not "customer hostile" is it? You can always buy one instead. Your attitude seems to be "I should be able to get a cheap phone from a carrier by agreeing not to tether, and then I should be able to violate that agreement anyway, and this is a totally moral position". Phones are a commodity. You can get them anywhere. Want to tether? Buy a phone and a plan that allows it. Problem solved.
- izacus 10y ago
  No, my attitude is "I should be able to do with my 5GB dataplan whatever I wish because that's what I pay for and the carrier has no business dictating why my hardware can or cannot do.". And since I live in EU that is an actual reality - my carrier provides the voice and data service and my phone does what I tell it to and I can choose whichever phone I want. Free market as it should be. Which is why it baffles me beyond all limits just why so many smart Americans go out of their way to defend corporate practices that hurt them as customers.
  - nucotano 10y ago
    Read your contract. You don't pay for a "5GB data plan". You pay for a "5GB data plan to be used on your mobile only". Violating your contract is not "free market".
    - izacus 10y ago
      Again, I'm not from America. My contract does not say anything so idiotic. I can use my paid data as I wish. Why are you trying so hard to support your telcos decision to make your life worse?
      - nucotano 10y ago
        I'm not from the US either. And those policies are there to reduce congestion, that's all.
        tremon 10y ago
        "reduce congestion" is just a weasel way of saying that the providers sell beyond their capacity. I understand overbooking is a very common practice, but it is based on risk assessment -- and providers shouldn't be able to dodge all risk for their decision by disavowing their responsibility in single-sided "contracts".
        nucotano 10y ago
        Yes, of course they sell beyond their capacity. This is the real world we live in. If everybody in your neighbourhood turned their faucets on at once, water supply would simply stop working. So?
        jjawssd 10y ago
        Nice straw man you have there "If everybody in your neighbourhood turned their faucets on at once, water supply would simply stop working. So?"
- tdkl 10y ago
  Parent is just pointing out the BS in hindering tethering based on the amount of data and how well the customers are protected in EU regarding such practices. It's also absurd (perhaps a bit sad) to defend such policies from the point of the customer to your own loss.

tmzt 10y ago

They are not exactly unconnected. Unrestricted root access would let you set up your own iptables rules and direct packets to the cellular network. This is how tethering worked on rooted phones before the carriers offered it as a service. Now you are correct, and carriers responded to those demands from users for mobile networking with (usually metered or priced as an addon) "mobile hotspot" applications. Contrary to your earlier claims, the advanced Android and iPhone user communities are not insignificant and may have played a part in getting demands like these met. Places like androidpolice, and sites like engadget, lifehacks, gizmodo and others cater to this market, and drive popular knowledge of root modifications and jail breaking. Previous incarnations of Cyanogenmod boasted large numbers of downloads in the 100s of thousands if not millions.