Vodafone Tethering

[MrDJ]

Quick question that i hope someone can advise on.

Ive been with vodafone on contract since the begining of time with the brick phones and the only time ive used tethering without any problem was with a Nokia N8 from about 4-5 years ago.

since ive had my previous 9800 Torch i tried but failed to set it up but it was only on 2 occasions so it wasnt a major problem.

ive now just seen on my Q10 that theres an option for internet tethering setup but there was a warning page that said this may be chargable.

my contract has unlimited calls/ unlimited text/ 2gb data for first 3 months that has just run out and now i think i only have 500mb data a month.

before i phone customer support i thought i would ask here first.

can the Q10 be linked to laptop or samsung tab when i am out of range of a hotspot. i have unlimited wifi roaming with BT but that isnt much help if i cant get a singnal.

also does it use more data while tethering than it does using the web on the phone as for last 2 months ive only used about 200mb a month.

thanks

[Retired-Kay]

Hi MrDJ, 

You shouldn't have any problems tethering to a laptop or tablet.

It does use more data when you tether as you're viewing full Internet pages as opposed to mobile versions. If it's something you're going to do regularly you may want to consider an extra data bundle. 

Thanks, 

Kay

[MrDJ · Accepted solution]

Hi Kay and thanks for the reply.

as mentioned its not used much.

my last package before the upgrade to Q10 was £10  200 mins/unlimited text/500 data and i had plenty left each month.

ive just downloaded a in/out data app and visited facebook twice for about 2 minutes and one computer forum page and it said i had used 1.7mb so as you say it would sure eat up the data on full webpages.

the main use will just be on the odd occasion where i cant get a signal in various places where i need to check emails etc.

thanks for your help.

[MrDJ]

just an update.

it didnt work but caused quite a few problems after.

was in hospital on tuesday so thought i would try and tether the Q10 with my samsung tab 2 but i gave up after an hour.

turned tethering off again and watched a film on my tab.

2 hours later the phone battery was totally dead even though it had been charged the night before and normally it will last for a day.

charged it when i got home at lunchtime and a full charge lasted 2 hours. charged it again and it was down to 10% by 10pm. charged it again for 2 hours and full charge. 7 am this morning it was almost drained again even though it was on silent with no apps running.

check cpu usage and it was jumping between 2% and 10%

no apps running in the background. the only one that used to run was data usage which stopped recording data used at the same time i tried the tether.

deleted the app and redownloaded it and its working again now and funnily enough the battery is holding its charge again.

one last thing.

i got an email from vodafone about Red Sharer which lets you share and use your phone data for other devices.

their is a phone number for mumbai so i guess thats the vodafone call centre.

will this be a better idea for me.

thanks

[DaveCD]

Hi MrDJ

It would be a better option in my opinion. It allows you to have a higher amount of data in your plan, and you can choose how much is allocated to each device.

So for example if you're in a situation where you want to watch a film on your tablet, you can give it more allowance.

DaveCD

[MrDJ]

Thanks for reply Dave.

i have unlimited calls,texts and 1000mb data and i think my monthly usage on the phone is about 200mb or just over. im lucky if i make 1 hour worth of calls a month.

i dont want to extend my data to more as it will be pointless and a waste of money. i only want to use my phone for a wifi connection for the tablet just to send urgent messages if im  in an area that doesnt have wifi hotspots.

i did download a data usage app and for literly 5 minutes of listening to a streaming radio it was using roughly 20mb of data which i thought was quite a lot so im guessing using the data as a wifi connection for my tablet will use a lot more but i think ill go down that route as it will only be for the odd 10-15 minutes here and there.

thanks.