According to TiPB and a report from Forbes Verizon is rolling out a system to prevent jailbreak utilities like MyWi from working on its network. As of today, when using one of these apps, you will be redirected from the webpage that you wanted to visit to a specially prepared Verizon webpage where you will be asked to upgrade to an official tethering plan.
The carrier’s move to stop illegal data tetherers comes just days after AT&T made a similar move. AT&T now automatically puts jailbroken tetherers onto its cheapest data tethering plan at $45 a month.
Verizon is still the number-one wireless carrier in the U.S., but AT&T’s pending merger with T-Mobile is threatening to change that. A successful merger would leave AT&T with an improved network and 20 million more subscribers than Verizon, its closest competitor.
By following AT&T’s footsteps, Verizon may now be expressing a new more conservative mindset, as it mimics AT&T’s moves rather than setting the tone.
