Windows Phone 7 USB Tethering

Many stories regarding Windows Phone 7 seem to be of the good news/bad news variety, such as one from MobileCrunch that says Windows Phone 7 will support USB tethering. The really good news part is the possibility that Windows Phone 7 will support USB tethering at no additional telecommunications costs. If true, this means that you can use a phone that runs Windows Phone 7 as a wireless modem for a computer at no additional cost above what you pay for smartphone data service from your wireless provider. MobileCrunch bases the news on a post on Twitter by a person not working for Microsoft who attended a Microsoft event. The bad news is that USB tethering is basically three to five year old technology and the preferred way people want to tether their mobile phones is by using it as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Wi-Fi tethering first became popular thanks to the Novatel Mi-Fi devices sold by Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T. One of the popular features of the Sprint HTC EVO is that it can be used as a Wi-Fi hotspot to share the data service with up to five computers. Google also includes Wi-Fi tethering in Android 2.2 and it works with the Nexus One on T-Mobile. The real news in the MobileCrunch story, assuming it is accurate, is that Microsoft has managed to convince mobile providers to not charge additional for tethering. Historically the mobile phone companies have not allowed tethering, preferring that people pay extra for data cards and service, even though mobile phones have had the ability to be wireless modems for many years. Recently the mobile providers have started to allow tethering with smartphones but charge an additional $20 to $40 per month for the ability, though T-Mobile has been the most flexible by not blocking tethering nor charging extra.

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Windows Phone 7 USB Tethering

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