How to avoid tethering fees with an unlocked phone
(CNN) -- Two leading U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon and AT&T, appear to be cracking down on mobile "tethering" -- or using a cell phone to get a laptop onto the Internet.
To get a sense of how consumers can avoid tethering fees these carriers charge, I spoke with Myriam Joire , mobile editor for tech blog Engadget.
It can be tricky to do this without getting caught.
And these instructions should come with a disclaimer: Avoiding tethering fees is a breach of most mobile contracts.
Carriers have been catching people who use free tethering apps for jailbroken or rooted phones, such as MyWi . But there is another way to avoid tethering charges: Use an unlocked, unbranded smartphone.
Joire recently sat down with me to explain how to do this.
For a phone to be unlocked (or unlockable) it must have a SIM card -- the component that houses the user's account data. This means it must be operate on GSM network technology. In the United States, the only two GSM carriers are AT&T and T-Mobile. Phones that run on networks using CDMA technology (such as Verizon, Sprint and most discount carriers) lack SIM cards.
The key to this strategy is to do your homework, she said.
First, research which GSM carrier provides the best service in the locations where you spend the most time or travel to most often. ( Rootmetrics can help with this.)
Then choose a phone you want that will work on your chosen carrier's network, and research online whether it's available in an unlocked version.
Many -- but not all -- GSM phones will work on either AT&T or T-Mobile. So before you buy a phone, Joire said you should read online forums to make sure that other people have successfully activated and used the phone and carrier you're looking into. What kinds of problems did they encounter (if any), and how did they solve them? Don't be the guinea pig.
Why 'unlocked' and 'unbranded' matter
According to Joire, an unlocked phone is not technologically tied to a particular carrier's network, so it can work on other carriers' networks. This offers a greater choice of plans for phone and data service, which increases your chances of saving money on phone bills.
An "unbranded" phone does not use carrier-supplied "firmware" -- the fixed programming that operates the phone at its most basic level.
Joire explained that carrier-supplied firmware typically is programmed to alert the carrier whenever you tether your phone to another device.
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