I know that the provider try to get you for an extra $10/mo for wifi but......... my buddy has a phone with windows 6.5 and he says that as part of the OS you can wi-fi (use your laptop via cell phone) and avoid paying the provider for that feature. Just wondering if Android had that ability?
Yeah I've never heard of providers charging you more for wi-fi (something that's already on the phone), that's just robbery. Even if you already have or don't have a router, don't pay them one cent for wi-fi. I can see $10/month for 3G, but definitely not Wi-Fi. Who is your ISP/Phone Company? It's not really the "ability" of Andriod to be able to use wi-fi. It's mostly the hardware. If the phone has wi-fi, the 100% of the time the software on the phone (Andriod) will let you use it. So yes, Andriod has wi-fi capabilities.
Depends on the phone; if the phone has been rooted, then WiFi tethering is no problem. You can do just about anything once it is rooted...you can even improve the camera quality and overclock the thing! If it isn't rooted, you can take the easy road and buy a copy of PDAnet...this is not WiFi, but USB instead. It is just $19 one time; that is a lot better than the $25-$40 PER MONTH that most providers will charge for the same feature, but in WiFi. [edit] Verizon has the best network, but they charge extra for the WiFi tethering...by doing this, they sell a lot of copies of PDAnet.