Using Android Data: tethering vs mobile hotspot; Or, what about a VPN

[tiachi]

There seem to be two ways I can use my $20 LG Android smartphone to provide Internet to my laptop. First, I can connect my phone to laptop via usb and turn on tethering and data on my phone; or, second, without using the usb, I can turn on mobile hot spot and data on my phone and enter my phone connection's password into my laptop. Both connect my laptop to the internet equally well. My question is, is my phone carrier, Verizon, going to recognize the same amount of data usage either way?

Is there a better way to do this, a way which does not use my phone's data at all, or perhaps less of my phone's data?

What about using the vpn connection/app that came built into my laptop, I believe it's Sonic? I have heard that you can use a vpn network to hide your data usage from your phone carrier. Is it possible to set up a vpn network that would allow my laptop to utilize my phone's data to connect to the Internet and remain undetected? If it is possible, how would I set this up?

 

[BadAsAl]

How you connect to your phone from your laptop doesn't matter, i.e. USB is a wired connection and Hotspot is a wireless connection. It is the connection between your phone and Verizon that uses data. So wither way, you are using your plan data.
Only other way to do it is to use a WiFi connection and not your phone.
I cannot speak to using VPN as I have never done it.

 

[BadAsAl]

Doing some research and it seems that a VPN does not change your data usage. The data you access will not be readable by the carrier, but they still measure and charge you for the amount of data that gets to your phone.

 

[rgd1101]

If it going thru you phone, Verizon would know your data usage.