Will AT&T Charge Extra For MMS & Tethering?

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Bill Snyder questions whether AT&T's jockeying on tethering and MMS may signal coming iPhone pricing surcharges. After all, as Apple's exclusive US partner, Ma Bell should have plenty of insight into upcoming iPhone features and revenue opportunities. Yet AT&T was very conspicuous in its absence from the list of providers who will support tethering and MMS at Tuesday's launch of the new iPhone at WWDC, and by Wednesday, it was backpedaling furiously, saying it will offer both services — later in the year. Certainly, the exclusive arrangement between the companies is proving to be an ugly roadblock to Apple's iPhone vision. But Snyder thinks it may go deeper than that: 'My best guess is that we'll see horrendous pricing surcharges for tethering and MMS, on top of the already expensive data and voice charges iPhone users pay. I don't think AT&T execs wanted to stand up at WWDC and announce that.'"

Comments

Bypassing corporate restrictions

[ACMENEWSLLC]

Once this is out, Tether your iPhone to your work PC via USB or Bluetooth. Create a connection through the iPhone to the Internet. (With T-Mobile phones you can alread do this, but it's so expensive.)

Most companies do URL filtering at the gateway. With tethering you bypass such filtering restrictions.

In the USA;
If I browse adult stuff at work on works PC and Internet connection, work can be held libel.
If I browse adult stuff on the iPhone at work using my own Internet connect, it is less likely that work can be held libel.

But what if I provide my own wireless Internet connection and bypass the filters work has in place?

I speak as one who does the filtering, not one who is trying to bypass them.

Re:Bypassing corporate restrictions

[snowgirl]

Once this is out, Tether your iPhone to your work PC via USB or Bluetooth. Create a connection through the iPhone to the Internet. (With T-Mobile phones you can alread do this, but it's so expensive.)

Most companies do URL filtering at the gateway. With tethering you bypass such filtering restrictions.

In the USA;
If I browse adult stuff at work on works PC and Internet connection, work can be held libel.
If I browse adult stuff on the iPhone at work using my own Internet connect, it is less likely that work can be held libel.

But what if I provide my own wireless Internet connection and bypass the filters work has in place?

I speak as one who does the filtering, not one who is trying to bypass them.

The answer, as with all legal matters is: "Talk to a lawyer." If you're working for a company with corporate policies, then they likely have lawyers, whom you can talk to. However, you're likely not responsible for making or enforcing corporate policy.

Now, that said, the first thing to know is that browsing or viewing adult content at work in the USA is a big no no, no matter how you're accessing it. Viewing adult content in any way that can create a situation where someone else can see it, is a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen.

The computer provided by the corporation is also company property, which must be used for strictly company use. Bypassing a company enforced filter in any way would be a violation of employment rules.

So, filter the best you can on your network, and if someone is bypassing your filters, then go through the proper corporate policy of what to do if they bypass the filters, no matter what method they're using.

Leverage

[foo fighter]

This is AT&T trying to get back some leverage in their relationship with Apple.

Right now:
        * If you are on AT&T already, either you have an iPhone or you want one.
        * If you aren't on AT&T, the only reason to switch to it is to get the iPhone.
        * The iPhone is still a great device without AT&T, but AT&T is not great without the iPhone.

By withholding tethering and MMS and not having a 7.2Mbps network in place, AT&T will try to make Apple look bad. AT&T will miss the "late-summer" "deadline" and they are gambling that pressure will grow on Apple to do something about it. Apple can't do anything about it and AT&T will use this in 2010 contract negotiations as a bargaining chip.

AT&T is wagering the backlash against Apple will be worse than the backlash against themselves and that they will get concessions from Apple that will make them the most attractive iPhone carrier even after they lose exclusivity.

Re:Leverage

[iluvcapra]

[AT&T] are gambling that pressure will grow on Apple to do something about it.

Like what exactly is Apple supposed to do? Public pressure won't make Apple suddenly give back it's cut of the handset subsidy, which I imagine is the biggest bone of contention.

AT&T is wagering the backlash against Apple will be worse than the backlash against themselves

If that's their strategy they're already far behind; they should have had someone up-front at WWDC putting their spin on it. Apple's had the opportunity now to demonstrate the new iPhone features, and show that they work everywhere but under AT&T. All media reports have done exactly what Apple wanted; they revealed the new features, but have been careful to note that many new features are not available with AT&T. AT&T has been basically silent this whole time.

Not just AT&T, folks

[mcrbids]

I'm a Verizon customer. They have HORRID billing practices (throw in lots of ambiguous "fees" and then wait for you to call and bitch about this $20 and that $16 charge before removing them) and downright deceptive marketing.

I have a WinMo smartphone (The HTC Mogul, and it's a pretty cool phone, feels to be about Win'95 as far as its O/S) and (of course) need a data plan. Vzw has two dataplans, the $30 "consumer" plan, and the $45 "corporate" plan. I asked what the difference is, since they both have unlimited data usage, since I didn't want to pay $15/mo more for a feature that I didn't need.

I was explained that the corporate account is designed for people who access company email and intranet applications, while the cheaper plan is for home users. I asked if they actually block connections with the $30 plan, and was assured that they did not. I went with the cheaper plan, and have had no trouble at all connecting to my corporate mail server.

In other words, Verizon wireless charges a $15/mo 'stupid tax' for anybody who wants to use a smart phone for business since their consumer plan offers the same actual functionality. I wonder just how many people are paying this $180/year 'stupid tax'?

Re:AT&T sucks balls

[Anonymous Coward]

But who would you go to? Let's say the exclusivity contract with AT&T ended right now. Who would you switch to?

Verizon? Uses a protocol that's incompatible with the iPhone.
T-Mobile? Horrible coverage.
Sprint? Counting the days until they're part of Verizon.

Anyone else in the US? Reselling the service of one of those four previously mentioned companies.

And we owe our lack of choice to the US Government! Thanks to regulations on cell companies, no competitors are allowed to exist. Yay regulation!

Re:No MMS?

[guruevi]

I think AT&T simply doesn't have the capacity. The iPhone is the best selling smartphone in the US and is selling like hot cakes simply because we don't have anything like it in the market (except maybe the Android, but it's still far behind as far as functionality and only on T-Mobile which doesn't have decent coverage in many areas in the countries). This has already put a large strain on AT&T and MMS support and tethering is going to add to that. Being able to tether your phone used to cost you practically another plan and special phones (although my Nokia can technically do it, it doesn't have the software capabilities). But the iPhone is not controlled by AT&T so AT&T can't control who's tethering since it's going to look like you're just using your iPhone. If they block it, users will just download another providers' firmware or unlock it.

I believe that AT&T thought in the beginning: whatever, another smartphone for that niche group of Mac fans, no big deal but it has really changed the market and AT&T wasn't prepared. Since the iPhone everybody wants to surf the internet, their e-mails, cheap music downloads, now movie, in-app game and e-book downloads as well and they never had the capacity to begin with and many other vendors have followed with their own take on iPhone-knockoffs. We're supposed to have 3G on AT&T but in many areas this means less than 100 kbit/s which is only slightly faster than dial up simply because they only wired in about 1 Mbps (carrying compressed voice and GSM control) on your average pole . Now we want 7 Mbps HDSPA - you expect them to wire in something akin to Ethernet?

Re:Maybe it doesn't make sense to allow tethering

[spleck]

I agree its probably about capacity. iPhone users already use more data than the average data plan subscriber, so they probably estimate iPhone tetherers will also use a lot more data.
AT&T has been consistent lately about pricing the iPhone plans just like any other phone plans--I don't see why they wouldn't offer a 5GB capped tether plan for an additional $30.

Another possibility is that they're having trouble distinguishing tethering from normal use--possibly if they enable tethering then it might work even when not paying for the tethering plan. That would be a deal breaker for them.

All of it smells to me like Apple is trying to make their issues with AT&T obvious. It's very possible that Apple has a CDMA iPhone in the pipeline for 2010, with or without LTE. Consider that it took 2 years for the new graphics chip to reach market after the supply deals were made and that last year Apple was headhunting CDMA2000/EV-DO engineers.

LTE G4, will intresting

[Publikwerks]

Verizon Wireless is going to start rolling out LTE tomorrow for testing( or at least so I've heard). ATT and Verizon both have rights to the spectrum that broadcast tv is leaving tonight, and VZW wants to get moving on it asap. They should have LTE G4 by earlier next year. ATT probably a little afterwards. Intrestingly enouhg, Apple's contract ends next year. You think they will have a LTE G4 phone ready for both ATT and VZW?

Re:I want more money!

[nxtw]

$3-5/month for MMS will not deter many people, so it will probably translate to increased profits.

I am an iPhone customer, and I already pay for MMS - the messaging plan on the account includes unlimited MMS and SMS. AT&T actually blocks iPhone lines from accessing the MMS server, though.

Re:By Design - US lags world in wireless features

[Slashdot Parent]

You obviously haven't had to deal with Sprint customer service yet.

Nope, but boy did I ever have "dealings" with Verizon customer service! Sprint can't possibly be worse.

You are aware that Verizon will have the Pre in about six months, aren't you?

I would be willing to bet you that Verizon won't offer the Pre in 6 months. Hell, it'll take 'em longer than that to figure out how to get it to run BREW.

I am sick up to here of crippled Verizon phones. It would take a lot to convince me ever to use Verizon again.

Laptop users use lot more bandwidth

[puhuri]

With unlimited dataplans the laptop use dominates traffic volume. I do not remember now exact figures, but in one European network more than 95% of traffic volume is from laptops. The network has unlimited dataplans starting from 9.95€

It is funny to see US carriers to cripple phones to save their business model.

profits?

[NotQuiteReal]

That's public information... for the whole company, not specific items like SMS, etc....

For example, here are some "profit margin" numbers:
Verizon 6.4%
AT&T 10.12%
for comparison
Apple 14.9%
Microsoft 25%
and something boring, like food, ADM is at 2.7%

MMS is simple

[jonwil]

Its not about AT&T wanting to charge for MMS, its about the fact that their MMSC servers arent up to the task of all those iPhone users sending MMSs. And the fact that there is no easy way to disable the MMS redirect only for phones that have MMS support.