# Does tethering usb to PC shorten phone life?



## P4-630 (Jul 16, 2017)

Since this month my internet connection doesn't work often, it really annoys me, coming Tuesday a guy from the ISP will be here and possibly "fix" my internet problem, not sure what he can do when it suddenly does work when he's here. It can be good for a whole day or then suddenly no connection after dinner....
When it works the speed is good, always 150mbps.

Anyways I was also thinking, now what if I take an unlimited mobile 4G data plan from my mobile provider?
I get 80mbps download speed on 4G where I live, pretty good.

When my normal internet connection doesn't work I use mobile internet and tethering by USB cable to my desktop. I'd like to know if I would do this all day every day, how bad is it for my phone or it's battery?


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## TheLostSwede (Jul 16, 2017)

Why would it be bad for your phone battery? Li-Ion/Li-Poly batteries are not sensitive like NiCd or even to a degree NiMh batteries, so there should be no issues with this, as the charging circuitry would prevent the battery from being overcharged if nothing else. Many phones also switch to trickle charge mode once the battery is full these days, which means it's even less of a chance of the battery being damaged. I just wouldn't worry about it, as modern phones are built to manage these kind of things.


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## P4-630 (Jul 16, 2017)

TheLostSwede said:


> Why would it be bad for your phone battery? Li-Ion/Li-Poly batteries are not sensitive like NiCd or even to a degree NiMh batteries, so there should be no issues with this, as the charging circuitry would prevent the battery from being overcharged if nothing else. Many phones also switch to trickle charge mode once the battery is full these days, which means it's even less of a chance of the battery being damaged. I just wouldn't worry about it, as modern phones are built to manage these kind of things.



It's a Galaxy S7 btw.

So it doesn't shorten the lifespan of my phone in anyway if I would use it to tether my PC 4G by USB every day?


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## TheLostSwede (Jul 16, 2017)

In short, no. But if you don't trust me, see - http://lifehacker.com/smartphone-battery-myths-explained-1735327089


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## natr0n (Jul 16, 2017)

Battery is a non issue as it runs off usb power while tethered.

Phone life wont shorten as that's what the phone does anyway which is transfer data.


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## EarthDog (Jul 16, 2017)

How would that happen??? I dont see a logical leap...


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## taz420nj (Jul 16, 2017)

P4-630 said:


> Anyways I was also thinking, now what if I take an unlimited mobile 4G data plan from my mobile provider?
> I get 80mbps download speed on 4G where I live, pretty good.



Watch the fine print..  "Unlimited" isn't actually unlimited anymore.  After you hit around 30GB for the month they knock you down to 1x (which is around 150kbps).  So forget streaming, torrents, videoconferencing, pretty much anything but web and email. That's why I'm still using the phone I bought almost 4 years ago (S5), because as long as I'm out of contract and don't contract/finance a new phone from them, I'm grandfathered on my true unlimited plan - which is not only not offered by my carrier anymore, but it's $20 a month cheaper than the pseudo-unlimited plan they offer now.  Mine is a mom-and-pop carrier, I know none of the big boys are offering true unlimited.


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## TheLostSwede (Jul 17, 2017)

That depends on which country you live in, where I live, it's truly unlimited.
Even so, mobile internet sucks for anything that's latency sensitive, so playing games online is a no no using a mobile connection.


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## Ferrum Master (Jul 17, 2017)

Yes it does. Due to thermal reasons. Also wifi chips under torrent load simply pop...

Nand is not that durable either... suicide.


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## P4-630 (Jul 17, 2017)

taz420nj said:


> Watch the fine print.. "Unlimited" isn't actually unlimited anymore. After you hit around 30GB for the month they knock you down to 1x (which is around 150kbps). So forget streaming, torrents, videoconferencing, pretty much anything but web and email. That's why I'm still using the phone I bought almost 4 years ago (S5), because as long as I'm out of contract and don't contract/finance a new phone from them, I'm grandfathered on my true unlimited plan - which is not only not offered by my carrier anymore, but it's $20 a month cheaper than the pseudo-unlimited plan they offer now. Mine is a mom-and-pop carrier, I know none of the big boys are offering true unlimited.



Well in my country with my carrier (Tele2) it actually is unlimited data, you'll get 5GB each day, if you're at 4500MB you'll get an sms that you got 500MB left,
with an app you can click on "add 1GB more" button and so you get endless 1GB more each time.
Fair Use Policy. This can be annoying though when streaming something or when downloading a 75GB game from Steam....
The unlimited data package is a 10 EUR extra each month, I'm paying 36 EUR/month currently.



Ferrum Master said:


> Yes it does. Due to thermal reasons. Also wifi chips under torrent load simply pop...


I don't use wifi when I tether, just 4G and it doesn't get hot at all.


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## de.das.dude (Jul 17, 2017)

phones will runn off their charging system once the battery is full. So no issue now a days.


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## Ferrum Master (Jul 17, 2017)

P4-630 said:


> I don't use wifi when I tether, just 4G and it doesn't get hot at all.



It is not designed to do so, forget it. It doesn't matter if it wifi or LTE/WCDMA radio.


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## Vayra86 (Jul 17, 2017)

Ferrum Master said:


> It is not designed to do so, forget it. It doesn't matter if it wifi or LTE/WCDMA radio.



I would also definitely lean towards this, even though I have no evidence to support it. You are pushing a lot of constant, uninterrupted maximum load through the device, and phones are not entirely built to do that primarily, they are built to do that in 'bursts'. The whole big.little core concept is built around this principle, which is why you see it in phones.

Practically, I'd say using a tethered connection for gaming (data throughput isn't that high) is a lot 'safer' than having your phone download the steam library.


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## Ferrum Master (Jul 17, 2017)

Vayra86 said:


> I would also definitely lean towards this, even though I have no evidence to support it. You are pushing a lot of constant, uninterrupted maximum load through the device, and phones are not entirely built to do that primarily, they are built to do that in 'bursts'. The whole big.little core concept is built around this principle, which is why you see it in phones.
> 
> Practically, I'd say using a tethered connection for gaming (data throughput isn't that high) is a lot 'safer' than having your phone download the steam library.



I have evidence working 12 years a mobile service technician. Don't do it if you wan't the device living for more than a year. There's no problem with casual browsing. Streaming and Torrent will kill it.


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## de.das.dude (Jul 17, 2017)

Vayra86 said:


> I would also definitely lean towards this, even though I have no evidence to support it. You are pushing a lot of constant, uninterrupted maximum load through the device, and phones are not entirely built to do that primarily, they are built to do that in 'bursts'. The whole big.little core concept is built around this principle, which is why you see it in phones.
> 
> Practically, I'd say using a tethered connection for gaming (data throughput isn't that high) is a lot 'safer' than having your phone download the steam library.


i used my phone tether because i forgot to bring my cable. This happened for a long time around 3 monhts. Not a big deal. Phones are much better nowadays.


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## DRDNA (Jul 17, 2017)

I have done this in the past (used cell phone as a modem 24/7) and I did it for a few years and never had a problem with the phone dying early or for that matter at all. I even used Kaazza (P2P) to keep the connection alive and never had an issue. Just saying unless these newer cell phones have been getting worse hardware then I will attest that NO IT DOES NOT HURT THE CELL PHONE!


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## jboydgolfer (Jul 17, 2017)

i used to do this whenever the internet/Power would go out....Then my Wife's crafty cell Service provider decided to begin to charge for "Hot spot" which this 100% Does fall under as far as Her provider is concerned(any data sharing)...bunch of buttholes. It did work great before they took it away though.


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## P4-630 (Jul 17, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> i used to do this whenever the internet would go out



I'm doing exactly that now for when suddenly my internet connection is down...
Tomorrow some guy from my ISP will come by and trying to fix my sudden drops, not sure how to "fix" it when my internet connection is working at that time tomorrow though..
I hope he will check everything thoroughly...


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## TheLostSwede (Jul 17, 2017)

I'd like to know a couple of things from the "experts" in this thread.

1. How is a mobile phone SoC different to a router SoC?
2. How is the "NAND flash" in a phone different to a router?
3. How is the memory different in a phone compared to a router?
4. What makes a phone break faster than a router?
5. How is it that a 4G "modem" that uses the same data chip as a phone, doesn't burn out when in constant use, when a phone supposedly does so?

Thanks.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jul 17, 2017)

taz420nj said:


> Watch the fine print..  "Unlimited" isn't actually unlimited anymore.  After you hit around 30GB for the month they knock you down to 1x (which is around 150kbps).  So forget streaming, torrents, videoconferencing, pretty much anything but web and email. That's why I'm still using the phone I bought almost 4 years ago (S5), because as long as I'm out of contract and don't contract/finance a new phone from them, I'm grandfathered on my true unlimited plan - which is not only not offered by my carrier anymore, but it's $20 a month cheaper than the pseudo-unlimited plan they offer now.  Mine is a mom-and-pop carrier, I know none of the big boys are offering true unlimited.



True story, Im in a similar position as you.... My network used to offer unlimited tethering but people were abusing it so they wanted to stop..... I was also paying a small premium just for this tariff so when they contacted me and told me the news about switching tariffs they tried to bump me up to a more expensive one... I told them id go elsewhere if they did and since ive been with them for 10years or longer they bumped me down to a lower priced tariff which offers me almost the same as what i was getting but cheaper.

Im supposed to have 4Gb of tethering, but I have spent nights downloading upto 50Gb via torrent and I never get charged extra for it. nor does my account show that I have used X amount of hotspot or tethering data... Every now and again I use upto 30-80GBs of data when tethering and never get charged a single penny extra for it. I dont know what my network are doing wrong but Im glad they are doing it wrong as I more or less have my same old same old unlimited plan from around 10years ago but for less.


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## cdawall (Jul 17, 2017)

Ferrum Master said:


> It is not designed to do so, forget it. It doesn't matter if it wifi or LTE/WCDMA radio.



I spent 5 years living in an area where my only option was tethering a phone and using 3g and later 4g lte. I never had a phone fail from streaming video, torrenting or any of the other things you listed. We are talking 400+ GB a month for years. I replaced my phone when the 2 year contract ended each time.


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## Ferrum Master (Jul 17, 2017)

cdawall said:


> I spent 5 years living in an area where my only option was tethering a phone and using 3g and later 4g lte. I never had a phone fail from streaming video, torrenting or any of the other things you listed. We are talking 400+ GB a month for years. I replaced my phone when the 2 year contract ended each time.



Considering the amount piles of even CPU burned phones due to waze or pokemon go I swap each day... you were lucky. Also it depends on the network mode, if you live in a rural or undeveloped area... so there is no mimo mode really, it is less hot, if it kicks in true proper multi stream mode, then we are talking about heat.

I got complaints from users that after one your talk their phone gets so hot that it burns their ears, exaggerated yes... but there's simply no help to it... it doesn't have a heatsink. It accumulates it inside.


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## cdawall (Jul 17, 2017)

Ferrum Master said:


> Considering the amount piles of even CPU burned phones due to waze or pokemon go I swap each day... you were lucky. Also it depends on the network mode, if you live in a rural or undeveloped area... so there is no mimo mode really, it is less hot, if it kicks in true proper multi stream mode, then we are talking about heat.
> 
> I got complaints from users that after one your talk their phone gets so hot that it burns their ears, exaggerated yes... but there's simply no help to it... it doesn't have a heatsink. It accumulates it inside.



It sat on a wooden desk, I was within 10 miles of the city and network speeds varied anywhere from 1-2mbps during peak times and 40+ at night. This was across my phones and my wife's so 6 different ones.


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## micropage7 (Jul 17, 2017)

One that i worry just about the heat.. Sometimes it goes hot, im afraid it would affect the internal components


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