I am tethering with Sprint's Touch and the $15 PowerVision plan. You can tether cheaply using any
Windows Mobile phone and the provider's cheapest unlimited data plan, usually around $10-15. These plan's usually do not allow tethering, just data on the phone itself. The thing about WinMo is that it has a built-in internet sharing utility. Depending on your carrier, you may have to do a couple reg hacks the make it work the way you want it to. For instance on my Touch, without the reg hacks I would have had to manually start a data connection before starting Internet Sharing. Now I just start Internet Sharing and it will activate the data if it's not on already.
Another thing to consider is a WinMo phone with built in
WiFi. There's an app out there that will turn the WiFi into an AP, so you can even have a mobile AP with you at all times. True you can tether without this app, but who doesn't already have WiFi? No need to setup phone drivers or
bluetooth modems. Just makes it real easy. BTW, my Touch does not have WiFi and I miss it just for this function.
Otherwise the cheapest is T-mo. I used to have them and their data plan is only $20/mo and explicitly includes tethering. It also includes any T-mo hotspots (Starbucks, etc). Works great except that they do not have 3G, only EDGE. Speeds are good enough for just browsing or anything light, but a dog for anything else.
Bookmarks