EasyTether Review Laptop Cell Phone Share Data

I finally upgraded my cell phone to a smartphone. I went with Verizon's Samsung Stratosphere because it has a physical keyboard and is 4G. Nice phone.
The only problem is I don't really use it for anything that requires large amounts of data. Having the internet with me at all times is great, but I prefer using my laptop to access the internet. It has a larger screen & keyboard.
My new cell phone contract includes 4GB of data per month. My home internet uses Verizon's mobile broadband mifi device and includes 3GB of data per month. Most months I stay under 3GB, but once in a while I do go over. I thought, it would be great if I could connect my laptop to my cell phone and use it's data plan if needed. Doing that through Verizon would cost an extra $20 per month. I would have to add a data plan that includes mobile hotspot. Apparently you can root your phone and then there are apps you can use to access the cell phone's data plan. Rooting your phone will void the warranty and may make your phone unusable if something goes wrong. Not really the route I wanted to go.
I came across an app in the Amazon app store called EasyTether. It does just what I want. It's normally $9.99, but I bought it for $4.99. You download it to your phone. Go to the EasyTether website and download software for your laptop. Hook your cell phone up to your laptop via USB. Right click on the easy tether icon on your laptop and click connect. Your laptop can then surf the internet using your cell phone's data plan. Pretty cool!
I have no idea if it is legal, but I did not find any reviews saying Verizon suspended anyone's account. The IP address on the laptop is the same as the IP address on the cell phone, so I don't know how Verizon would be able to know what you're doing. I don't know anything about networking though.
One thing to note is my cell phone seemed to get hot pretty quickly. Although, I guess it wasn't any hotter than my mifi device gets. The connection does time out quite frequently when it's cloudy outside. When it worked, it seemed fairly quick, but slower than my mifi connection. I can only get 3G at my house. When 4G comes, the connection will probably be pretty good.
EasyTether is an awesome app! No rooting, no extra $20 per month. It's a great, quick and easy way to connect your laptop to your cell phone's data plan. Now if there was a way to get my Amazon Kindle Fire to tether to my cell phone...


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