Tether Phone - Cancel Broadband?

IamtheWalrus

I have an iPhone 4S pay and go deal with unlimited internet for 12 per month.

I also have a broadband account that I pay for too. I use a Mac Air.

Would this be a wise move: I cancel my broadband and tether my mac laptop to my phone. Considering I have unlimited internet, I could replace my wireless router with my phone and use that for all internet, saving me money.

Wise or folly?

Fresh Pots

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I have an iPhone 4S pay and go deal with unlimited internet for 12 per month.

I also have a broadband account that I pay for too. I use a Mac Air.

Would this be a wise move: I cancel my broadband and tether my mac laptop to my phone. Considering I have unlimited internet, I could replace my wireless router with my phone and use that for all internet, saving me money.

Wise or folly?

Don't cancel your broadband, not yet anyway. Test it out for a month and see how you feel then. Chances are your mobile internet will not be as fast as your current broadband. Also be careful because plans that are "unlimited" are usually capped at 15gb per month.

IamtheWalrus

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Don't cancel your broadband, not yet anyway. Test it out for a month and see how you feel then. Chances are your mobile internet will not be as fast as your current broadband. Also be careful because plans that are "unlimited" are usually capped at 15gb per month.

Is it true I cannot make or receive calls when the iPhone is tethering?

GarIT

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Is it true I cannot make or receive calls when the iPhone is tethering?

No, but the internet connection will be very slow or even stop for the duration of the call.

IamtheWalrus

Have any of you tried this method of a consistent basis? There doesn't seem to be much of a catch..

Fresh Pots

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Have any of you tried this method of a consistent basis? There doesn't seem to be much of a catch..

Only way to find out is try it yourself. If it's only for light browsing its probably OK but downloading big files, Skype, gaming its not.

Heraldoffreeent

It also depends on who your ISP is, Three for example, wont allow you tether a device to your phone on their PAYG service withe AYCE.

MBB can fluctuate, At the moment, I'm getting a ping of 147 and DL of 2.61mbps on three, but from the same location I've often got over 5mbps and a 100ms ping time. The current speed makes it difficult to watch video, the other makes it easy.

I've similar experience with Tesco Mobile, with crazy variations on Ping, and they're capped at 2MB officially, but often hit 3MB.

Fresh Pots

Heraldoffreeent wrote: »

It also depends on who your ISP is, Three for example, wont allow you tether a device to your phone on their PAYG service withe AYCE.

MBB can fluctuate, At the moment, I'm getting a ping of 147 and DL of 2.61mbps on three, but from the same location I've often got over 5mbps and a 100ms ping time. The current speed makes it difficult to watch video, the other makes it easy.

I've similar experience with Tesco Mobile, with crazy variations on Ping, and they're capped at 2MB officially, but often hit 3MB.

Not all the networks officially allow tethering but they have no way of stopping it.You can download apps to hide your tether.

Heraldoffreeent

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Not all the networks officially allow tethering but they have no way of stopping it.You can download apps to hide your tether.

Isn't that difficult with an IPhone though? Apple ban the Apps?, and the OPer has an Iphone 4S.

hallo dare

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Have any of you tried this method of a consistent basis? There doesn't seem to be much of a catch..

I've done it with 3,just for kicks. After you start knocking up a few gigs your cut back to practically nothing.

Fresh Pots

Heraldoffreeent wrote: »

Isn't that difficult with an IPhone though? Apple ban the Apps?, and the OPer has an Iphone 4S.

You'd have to jailbreak the phone but that's usually easy enough. iclarified.com is a great website for jailbreak guides and software.

flutered

i am also thinking of going down that road, i am paying 50 lids a month for 1.40 od a download and o.20 upload, o2 or metero seems to be my choice, as i can see a meteor mast from my kitchen window, i must see id they will give me a few days trial first.

philthrill69

I've been doing it for the last month with Three because I have all you can eat data, and it was okay for my general browsing needs but forget about using sky go or any streaming service on your laptop or as one poster said the downloading of large files, leave it there over night.
Anyway with all this sky on demand and Rte player caper I decided to bite the bullet last week and signed up for sky broadband.

IamtheWalrus

I think I'll stick to broadband. Thanks for all the replies.