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iPhone 4 Beta Shows AT&T Tethering
An anonymous reader found news that will strike fear into the hearts of every 3G user in NYC. "Apple released iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 4 on Tuesday evening and it wasn't long before developers found the strongest evidence yet that tethering for US-based iPhone customers may happen sooner than later."
It's *already* in the iPhone OS - my 3G tethers out of the box here in the UK - no jailbreaking or extra software. This is entirely an AT&T limitation in the US.
My biggest complaint is the market's price fixing on text messages. There is no way in hell that unlimited texting warrants a $30 price tag when the iPhone comes with a $30 unlimited data plan. Yes, you can play FPS, stream music, videos, browse the web, etc, but those 8 digit text messages are somehow made separate and charged at the same price?
I will bend like a reed in the wind.
SMS originally was free. I was using it for paging alerts in 2001/2002 and never paid a dime. Something between the loss of my datacenter job in 2002 and my gaining a new one in 2005, they'd started charging for it. It may have "cost" something on paper (.08?) but they never billed it (Verizon) - perhaps because they couldn't.
Once they saw usage go up, it made sense to charge for it - it was a profit-making revenue stream. I'd have done the same. I don't think I'd be as greedy as the telco motherfuckers, but hey, that's just me. If you don't like the extra $20/m, don't get it.
What I don't like is the phone company not supporting a total blockage on SMS. I don't want SMS at all - and I don't want people texting me to cost me $.20 a pop. Last I tried with Verizon, they wouldn't block incoming at all.