There is some rumors floating around that Verizon might be looking to block a popular wireless tethering app from the market. Apparently, Droid-life received a tip that Verizon was looking to squash the Wireless Tether app and then the publication started to look into that rumor. What the gang found was that, in fact, the Wireless Tether app wasn’t available from any of the phones it tested with.

Wireless Tether is listed on the market, but as you can see in the image above the list of devices that can’t use the app is huge. That is most of the popular Android smartphones that are unable to get the app. I think we can assume that what is going on; here is Verizon attempting to crack down on unofficial tethering in an effort to charge for official tethering and cut down on network use.

AT&T has done this with the iPhone and has texted users to warn those using cracks to tether that they will be charged $25 monthly for using tethering. Once one carrier makes a move like this you can bet that others will follow. I would be surprised if all carriers aren’t moving to block unofficial tethering in short order. The Wireless Tether app is reportedly unavailable form devices on both AT&T and Verizon. Any other big mobile users who can find and use the app let us know.

[via Droid-Life]

21 COMMENTS

  1. Tethering apps aren’t blocked on my T-Mobile Nexus One, but it might be exempt from these kinds of things since it was purchased unlocked.

    • T-Mobile supports developers that customize their phones. They are giving one of the cyanogen mod guys a new Gslate for his birthday. They seem like the only cool company that doesn’t want to lock everything down.

  2. Tethering apps aren’t blocked on my T-Mobile Nexus One, but it might be exempt from these kinds of things since it was purchased unlocked.

  3. “There is some rumors ” wow, we no longer even use correct grammar, guess Android users are ignorant or cannot proof read (hey, grammar checker for Android anyone?”

    • You used a comma where you should have used a semicolon, forgot to add the personal pronoun “I” in front of the word guess, failed to use a right parenthesis to close your interjected sarcasm, and ended it all with an orphaned quotation mark. Maybe you should try some spelling and grammar checking yourself. 😉

  4. ” There’s (There is) other ways to get the apps so screw them”

    Why do geeks insist on displaying their lack of education?

  5. ” There’s (There is) other ways to get the apps so screw them”

    Why do geeks insist on displaying their lack of education?

    • Your pedantic diatribes add nothing to the conversation. Crawl back into your “grammar cop” cave and stop worrying about minor typos on a blog. If you can do better, start your own site.

  6. ” There’s (There is) other ways to get the apps so screw them”

    Why do geeks insist on displaying their lack of education?

  7. My Sprint HTC Evo4G comes with Sprint HotSpot and I can tether several devises using the Sprint phone as a modem.

  8. I just checked the Market for the app. Both of my devices I own that are actually registered with a carrier (Thunderbolt on Verizon, Nexus S on T-Mobile) shows the app as not available on my carrier. However, every device I have that is without a SIM shows as available and allows a remote install.

    My Galaxy S (no sim in it right now), Nexus One (no sim), Nook Color (obviously no sim) are all able to get the app. I wonder if pulling your sim on any device that’s currently blocked will allow you to install.

    Pointless anyways, if you’re rooted, you can get the app direct from the source on Google’s Code site.

  9. Just checked the market on my sprint evo and found several wireless tether apps. You can also download wifi tether from the web, just google it.

  10. OH NO I HAVE ENOUGH TECHNICAL SENSE TO ROOT MY PHONE THROUGH TERMINAL EMULATOR BUT I CANT FOR THE LIFE OF ME OBTAIN THE APK BECAUSE OF THE MARKET BAN.. WHAT IS THIS GOOGLE SEARCH PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING OF? APPS CAN ONLY BE INSTALLED THROUGH THE MARKET RIGHT?? =D (end sarcasm)

  11. I have a sprint htc hero, it’s been modded with gingerbread 2.3.4 (not cyanogen mods but the real deal) and has no sprint bloatware anymore, I can tether all 3 ways no problem. I see it as if I pay for the unlimited internet service then I should be able to access it anyway I see fit, and I do. Carriers that want to charge extra for a sevice you already pay for (unlimited interent access) just to tether your phone are just money hungry. It’s your phone so use it how you want. Don’t let corporate asses tell you that an extra fee is charged for something your OS on you phone can do (run an app) to access the service you already pay for (internet access). Most people will not root or mod their phone, well pay for extra apps the carriers will allow you to use or if your like me, use the phone the way you want, if they want your business (and they do) they cannot stop you from installing a different OS or rooting the system you have ( it will void your warranty on a new phone) Like my HTC Hero, Sprint will no longer update and I was stuck with 2.1 as my OS, so I now have the newest 2.3.4 and even showed it to the guys at the sprint store, they all liked it. They did not say “oh my god you can’t do that”, I just can’t afford the new Motorola Photon until my contract runs out again and I wanted to make my Hero faster and update it. So remember you paid for the phone and you pay for the carrier to give you access to the network, use it, its that simple. I do not use the market, I have no access anyway because I removed the market widget from my phone, so I guess I banned myself from everything LOL. If you want an APP I go directly to the makers website and download to the PC and upload to the memory stick then put the memory back into the phone and install the application. The Carriers can not stop you from using your phone the manual way LOL..

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