Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Not long ago I downloaded the free version of EasyTether and took it for a test drive. Simply put, this app is excellent. It's simple to install and simple to use. Adding the EasyTether driver to your PC is equally simple. Three minutes after I installed this app I was up and running. I'm using this app as my notebook's internet connection to submit this review. I found this app at half price on the Amazon App Store today so I went ahead and paid for the full version (which allows access to the whole internet, including 'https://' secure URLs). As a utility app like this should, it stays unobtrusively in the background. To use, simply plug your phone into a USB port on your notebook or PC, start the EasyTether app, select 'USB - Enable to allow USB tethering', and then start the PC-side driver program (I keep that program in my system tray for easy, instant access. I right click on the tray icon, select "Connect via Droid X", and off I go!). The one area people may have a problem with is speed. I normally use RoadRunner broadband with between 7 and 10 Mbps throughput, with bursts up to 20 Mbps. Using speedtest.net to test connection speed with EasyTether, I find that throughput speeds are very slow in comparison - averaging .46 Mbps download and .38 Mbps upload speeds over the course of three tests. (Droid X uses 3G; 4G speeds will probably be considerably faster - also, 3G signal where I live is not full-strength). In other words, at least for me, speed is about 20 times less than my wired broadband connection. When you watch Youtube videos or other high-bandwidth type streaming media, unless you put the media on "pause" until it's fully loaded, it is a bit herky-jerky as playback is paused while more video data is buffered. It hearkens back to the days of telephone line dialup connections, in a way. However, this is not a problem for me as I was simply looking for a way to occasionally access the internet on my notebook when I am in areas where there is no WiFi signal. Of course, your experience may vary. One word of caution. Unless you are enrolled in an unlimited data plan, keep an eye on your data usage if you use EasyTether on a regular basis. Otherwise, you may get a nasty surprise when your next cell-phone bill arrives. In summary, this is quite simply the best app I have found to date for my Droid X. No muss, no fuss, and it does exactly what it says. Even at full price, this is a bargain for people who are looking for this kind of functionality.