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Weblog:   How to Lose Treo 650 Customers, by Sprint
Subject:   Not supposed to use it as a modem anyways
Date:   2004-10-26 15:41:52
From:   jdb8167
According to the terms of service that you sign with Sprint, you really aren't allowed to use any phone with unlimited internet (Vision) with a computer. It is explicitly called out in the agreement that you are not to do it. Many people ignore this since the phones work fine as modems using a USB cable, but Sprint at their discretion can shut down any subscribers unlimited Vision without notice if you use your phone as a modem.


Now, I think this policy is kind of self defeating but the speculation has always been that Sprint doesn't want everyone trying to "beat the system" if they allow limited modem access through phones. This way, they leave reasonable use alone at their discretion but can shut down someone hogging bandwidth without much chance of a legal challenge. Not a perfect world, but I know many Sprint users who use their phones as modems with moderate usage with no consequences.


So, Sprint can hardly keep this stance and allow essentially automatic pairing with wireless bluetooth. They lose their weapon of limiting legal challenge. You have to explicitly go out and buy a third-party USB cable to use your phone as a modem as Sprint doesn't sell them. But if the Treo 650 and other Bluetooth phones are automatically enabled for use as a modem, how do they argue in court that that isn't allowed?
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  • Not supposed to use it as a modem anyways
    2004-10-29 21:11:03  cleanflix [Reply | View]

    i am a long time sprint customer as well. almost six years. this is the last straw. if i cant use bluetooth then im history. thats the only reason i want this new phone so bad. im not very technical though. if bluetooth is disabled for data transfer to laptops, does that mean you can use bluetooth for anything like wireless headsets?
  • Marc Hedlund photo Not supposed to use it as a modem anyways
    2004-10-26 15:56:17  Marc Hedlund | O'Reilly AuthorO'Reilly Blogger [Reply | View]

    Sprint controls what they allow and disallow in their terms of service. Obviously their network is capable of providing service to laptops, since they sell cards that permit you to use the network in that way. Obviously the Treo supports this usage, as PDANet and other applications prove. And obviously people want to use their network and the Treo in this way. (As a data point, this blog entry had the single highest level of traffic for the day of posting of any I've ever written.)

    My point is that disabling a feature of the phone in order to enforce a bad pricing policy doesn't make it a better pricing policy. I do not want and will not accept a second piece of hardware, a second phone contract, and a second monthly service fee in order to get functionality one of each of those could *easily* provide.

    Sprint is looking at PDANet and related applications as a threat. That's incredibly stupid. They should instead sell two tiers of pricing for their Vision service -- one for normal phone use and one for "road warrior" use. I would bet that properly marketed, many more people will sign up for "Road Warrior PCS Vision" at a higher price per month than would ever sign up for their connection card offering. They stand to increase their profit by going after demand instead of looking to prevent early-adopters (which all Treo owners are at this point) from using the features of their $600 phone.
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