Well, it's available now (tried it the other night and it works fine). That Web site is a little misleading, sort of (in their defense, it's pretty dаmned confusing - you have to look closely at all the plans, and then at all the available options to figure it out). When they say tethering will cost you $30, that's correct, but they fail to make it really, really clear that the
"Must be added to one of the following plans" part means adding that $30 to a plan that's
already costing you
an additional $30 over and above the regular calling plan of a phone. (Go to Verizon's site and closely look at the plans, and then
also go through the motions of changing your current data plan by adding a e-mail and Web data plan to it, you'll see what I mean)
Verizon has the higher cost plans (the e-mail and data plan, called the "Email and Web for Smartphone") that gives you "unlimited" data (which isn't unlimited in the traditional sense, stay with me), plus unlimited e-mail and messaging. Or, you can do a regular calling plan and then add on the $30 "unlimited" data plan. The "unlimited" data plan in either case means unlimited for the 3G
phone data, like for downloading apps and all the things they use 3G data for (like news feeds, Youtube videos, stuff like that), and for surfing the Web and doing e-mail
using your phone. If you want to use the Corporate Email and sync with MS Exchange Server and Outlook, then you need the extra $15 Sync plan
on top of the $30 plan, for an extra $45 total on top of the regular calling plan. Most here won't need that. It's really only for those who need to sync with their office's Exchange Server, for ignore the $15 thing.
This really isn't anything new, as the same addon plans have been in place pretty much since Verizon stated offering smartphones, Palms and Blackberry's. My former phone, a Motorola Razr2 v9m, is a smartphone, and I could have used it to tether as an Aircard, but all the while it's tethered it wouldn't work as a phone.
With the $30 data plan, you really can do tethering just as it is, so log as Verizon doesn't catch on (and they almost certainly will). In either case, Aircard or Droid tethering, it's still a 5GB cap, not unlimited, unlimited. Again, the unlimited is only for phone data, not tethered computer data.
OK, so, before you look at the current $30 (or the $45) and think it's a better deal than the Aircard, keep in mind that the Droid (any Verizon phone, actually) is
not the same as a GSM iPhone where you can talk on the phone and use 3G-
anything at the same time, 'cause you can't. If you tether the Droid, as long as it's tethered it's not a phone, it's an Aircard. Period. The structure of CDMA is such that you cannot use the phone as a phone and use anything that uses 3G (which is about 85% of all the apps and features of the phone) at the same time. If you are
tethered and also have a WiFi connection, then many of the apps and features will work, but not at 3G (National Broadband) speeds, they'll only work at the much slower WiFi speeds (National Access).
If you check out the plans carefully, making sure to read the service agreement, the one for a phone data plans specifically talks about data such as P2P, streaming videos (like Hulu) and lots of other specific applications and operations as being expressly forbidden by the agreement.
So, right now, for that $30 data plan (or one of the bundled Email and Web for Smartphone plans), you can tether and you get the 5GB limit (because the phone is already limited to 5GB per month for
data, even though if you go over that, and they can see that you went over it for phone and not computer data, they won't charge you anything for it). But Verizon's Service Agreement specifically disallows the Droid to be used in that manner. That will change sometime next year, where for an
additional $30 on top of the Data Plan or the Email and Web for Smartphone bundles (ah, hah!) you can add the 5GB tethering option. In effect, you'll be paying (ta-da) $60 for 5BM of unlimited data, be it phone or computer, just the same as you'd pay for an Aircard.
If you really and truly know what you're doing and are very careful about it, and know for sure that you won't need your phone while tethered, yeah, a tethered Droid can replace an Aircard. Otherwise, you probably don't want to go there. I actually
do know what I'm doing, but can clearly see that it's not worth the time and effort, especially since Verizon's computers are set up specially to look for computer-type data being sent and received through a tethered Droid. The risk/reward simply isn't there. For me, at least.
I moved from the Nationwide Plus Canada plan to the $59.95 Basic National Calling plan, which gives me 900 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile-to-mobile (which includes my 5 Friends and Family phone numbers which are treated like M2M minutes). I added a $5, 250 message text plan, and added the $30 data plan for the phone. That's $95 a month. That's the most bang for the buck depending on how many text messages you might send. If it's more than 250, then the same 900 minute plan except on the Mobile E-mail and Data bundle (for $110 I think) is a better deal. I kept the Aircard for the computer as a separate $60 per month deal.
If you want National Broadband for the computer, the real-world option is, pay $60 for an Aircard to use with the computer, and then either get a data bundle or pay the extra $30 for a data plan for the Droid and use the Droid as a phone, or, if you want to use just the Droid for
both phone and computer data, pay the $30 for the phone data plan, and an additional $30 for tethering (in effect $60 above the voice calling plan itself), but you don't have a phone while tethered. You
will get 5GB for the primary data plan, and another 5GB for the tethered plan, for a total of 10GB, so other than not having a phone while tethered, it's actually a pretty good deal, if you choose to go that route.
So, Mr Moot, tethering is not an option at all without some kind of additional data plan above and beyond the regular voice calling plan, but it's available right now with no extra fees (above the normal data plan) if you're careful and don't get caught, or it's available next year with Verizon's blessings with extra fees (above the normal data plan).
I actually went through each and every plan and every combination of available options, and did it from two angles, one as if I were a new customer doing it from scratch, and the other from the point of view of changing my current plan to each of the available plans and options. Then I confirmed all of it with the manager of the Verizon store at home. I can't believe how anal you have to be in order to understand these plans, as some options weren't even available on some plans (the email and Web data plan wasn't an option with the Nationwide Plus Canada plan).
The upside to a part of it is, I was still grandfathered in on the higher New Every Two deal, where I got $100 off the new phone, so the online discount of $100 and the New Every Two discount of $100 means I only had to pay $99 for the phone, instead of $149 or $199.
The next New Every Two and I'll only get $50 off the new one, tho.