Ok I've search the forum and tried to contact the makers of this program and i need clarification before i invest.

So I would only need tethering when i go on trips which isnt all the time and verizons $15 a month tacted onto my current bill will be a bit extreme for what i need.

Is the $35 sharkmodem a one time payment that enables your BB to do what Verizon charges $15 a month for?

If so how can they do that with out Verizon getting all pissy?

It uses data and if you already have unlimited data, there i snothing for Verizon to say.

Humm so with Verizon $15 this isnt that data? I need more techy nerdy data on whats going on with Verizon's "extra" service and what SharkModem is doing....?

It is still data with Verizon but you are playing with their ball and costs you, shark modem lets you play with their ball for less. As far as I know there is no difference.

If you're really tethering (using the Blackberry modem driver) they know you are tethering. With Sharkmodem you could be using the browser or something like Verichat. I have used it successfully since it was released, and I have never been charged (on Cingular). It's a cool product. There is a small app for the Blackberry and one for the PC, and together they act like a proxy server. The one downside is that you have to configure your PC apps (browser, email client, etc) to connect to the internet through a proxy server. But, the app works very well.

My experience has been that shark is MUUUUUCH slower then VZAccess with connection speeds.

Well, it's certainly not going to win a speed award. But, then, neither does tethering using the modem driver on my Cingular 7290. I use both methods only as a last resort.

Doesn't surprise me. On EDGE, sharkmodem is good for email, but really to slow for web browsing on more than a page or two.

SharkModem is a breakthrough anyway because it lets pratically ANY BlackBerry (7XXX) become tetherable on almost any carrier. Even from a lowly BlackBerry 7230 or 7510. This is an achievement in itself anyway; these were never designed to be tethered!...

If you can tether natively using Verizon BroadBandAccess, that's better than using SharkModem....

However, if the carrier doesn't let you tether at all (i.e. Nextel!), then SharkModem saves the day -- it makes the impossible into possible...

Also, for BES users, it also allows tethering data over your BES to access your Intranet using your preexisting encrypted BES connection as the makeshift VPN. (without needing to configure a VPN, while still remaining as secure as a VPN)

SharkModem essentially borrows the existing BlackBerry's email/web connection. So if you're able to use the web browser on the BlackBerry. Whatever you are able to access in the BlackBerry Browser, now becomes accessible via Internet Explorer on your laptop. Essentially, the BlackBerry behaves as the proxy server for your laptop. That's how SharkModem really works. Very clever programming, and I predicted it was possible, long before SharkModem existed...