Verizon allows selected EVDO phones as laptop modems

What was announced or reported

The change applied to the LG VX9800, Motorola RAZR V3c, Motorola E815 and LG VX8100. The record says the option was sold as Broadband Access Connect and priced at 59.99 dollars per month.

Context and limits

The permission did not extend to every handset mentioned in the record. Palm Treo 700w and Verizon XV6700 users were still excluded, showing how carrier tethering policies were tied to particular devices at the time.

Why the distinction matters

The episode illustrates an early tethering model in which network access, handset capability and billing permission were sold as one package. A compatible radio alone was not enough; the carrier’s approved-device list controlled the option. It therefore documents a carrier policy change, not a general feature of EVDO.

Carrier approval was part of the product

The change is easy to misread as a purely technical EVDO story. It was also a billing and permission story. A person could own a capable handset and still be unable to use it as a laptop modem under the carrier's published terms. The listed models, the required voice plan, and the named add-on made the service a defined commercial configuration rather than a general property of the network.

The permission model behind tethering

The stated add-on shows why tethering could not be reduced to a handset feature. The same radio technology could sit in several phones, yet the usable laptop connection depended on the carrier's billing choice and its approved list. That arrangement made support, charging, and device eligibility part of one service definition. It also explains why an excluded owner could not infer access simply from a similar-looking specification.

What the comparison actually involved

A customer comparing the option in 2006 had to compare a named handset, an existing voice plan, and the extra monthly charge together. The announced models were not merely examples of EVDO hardware; they were the specific configurations that the operator said it would support as modems. This is a concrete early example of mobile data being sold through a controlled combination of device, account and use case.

Approved devices created deliberate exclusions

That configuration explains why the exclusions matter. The Palm Treo 700w and Verizon XV6700 were mentioned precisely because their owners did not receive the same permission. A comparison of handset specifications alone would not settle the question a customer faced. The useful question was narrower: which phone and which plan did the operator recognise for this use at that date?

Laptop data was sold as a separate service

For a laptop user, the practical decision would have involved more than finding a cable or software setting. It involved accepting a separate monthly charge and checking the approved-device list before relying on the phone away from fixed access. The episode captures an early form of tethering in which radio capability, account status, support policy, and price were tightly joined. It should not be read as evidence that all EVDO phones, or any current phones, had the same option.