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."

Comments

For a price of course

[imamac]

Because, unlimited data isn't really unlimited.

Re:For a price of course

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless you live in New York, where 5GB is the most you can possibly ever pull down in a month due to network issues and speeds. That makes it unlimited! Who needs thottling or limits, when you can just overload your network and overcharge your customers!

Re:For a price of course

[Scutter]

Because, unlimited data isn't really unlimited.

If it's anything like AT&T's current offerings, you'll pay $49/month just for the ability to tether, but you'll have to pay $5/month per website, plus $5/month (per "channel") to stream internet radio, plus $5/month for video, plus $5/month for 200 e-mails. It's unlimited alright. The only limitation is how deep your pocket is.

Re:For a price of course

[elrous0]

And Android, all you have to do is download PDAnet, and it doesn't come with a monthly charge. So why take baby steps with Apple/AT&T when you can walk like a man?

Re:For a price of course

[Thanshin]

Which is why this:

tethering for US-based iPhone customers may happen sooner than later."

makes no sense.

It's already "later".

"sooner" was the release day of the first IPhone. It's been later ever since.

Re:For a price of course

[elrous0]

AT&T are the jedi masters of "later," it seems. "Later we're going to offer better customer service," "Later we're going to offer tethering (at a high price)," "Later we won't drop your calls so much." I finally ended my landline DSL from them after I heard my third year of "Later we're going to offer 6mbps in your area."

Re:For a price of course

[Wiarumas]

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?

Re:For a price of course

[bhamlin]

... my point was the Android at least doesn't require the tethering fee ...

The Android OS doesn't. Your carrier usually does. AT&T only "allows" tethering on their system if you pay for it. If they catch you doing it they'll just add it to your account and backbill you for how long they think you've been doing it. Verizon is the same way (with their Blackberries, anyway).

Re:For a price of course

[ckaminski]

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.

Re:For a price of course

[elrous0]

Do it twice and Steve Jobs disappears you. You end up on the island with the engineers who lost their iPhone prototypes and some journalists who criticized the iPad.

iPhone or AT&T?

[ShadyG]

I have no doubt the device can easily support it, and may even have the software installed by default in the OS. The question is will it or won't it be disabled and hidden for US consumers by contract with AT&T?

Re:iPhone or AT&T?

[jo_ham]

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.

Re:What is the point?

[Anonymusing]

Yes, but there is the whole rest of the United States... AT&T's coverage does not suck everywhere.

Re:What is the point?

[imamac]

Indeed. AT&T coverage has actually been very good in the places I have lived in the US. In fact, in my current city, it has the best coverage of all the providers.

Why?

[ledow]

If a company has a device that doesn't support tethering, why would you buy their products if you want to tether it? Why hype-up that they've "finally" included the damn thing, when it's been a standard feature on phones since GPRS and Bluetooth were available (my phone does it and that was released in 2003)?

If a network does not support tethering for your particular device, why would you join them if you one day hoped to tether?

There are other companies, other devices, other networks that *do* support tethering. Stop hoping for half-arsed solutions, trying to "jailbreak" your phone to do that, etc. Just buy one of the cheaper, easier, simpler devices that supports it out of the box without getting in your way or voiding your warranty. The companies that make those devices obviously know what you want and, crucially, will have been doing it properly, for longer.

And, besides, phone tethering is old-hat anyway. It costs literally a few pounds / dollars to connect a PC to a 3G always-on connection on a decent tariff in the country of your choice. Most laptops have options to have it built-in, or external devices can be bought for less than a meal-for-two. There are PAYG and contract data tariffs that work out more than cheap enough (providing you don't roam internationally on them, but that's the same for anything). They won't interfere with the use of your phone, won't be tied to your keeping a stupidly-expensive phone, are designed for the job and don't have the security / network-lock / price / etc. issues that tethering to an iPhone would.

Stop being surprised when years-old features are suddenly "added" to products that should have had them (and technically *could* have had them for absolutely no price difference whatsoever) in the first place.

Re:Why?

[jo_ham]

Talk to AT&T about that - in the rest of the world, the iPhone has tethering as a basic non-jailbreak feature. The lack of tethering on the iPhone is the US is *entirely* AT&T's limitation, which is strange since they allow it on other phones on their network (of course, those phones are not as popular).

I didn't have to hack my iPhone to get tethering.

Re:Why?

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

The second Americans figure out that things aren't as good here as it is in other countries...

We just went through a year and a half of healthcare debates and no one got really upset that we pay out the nose for 2nd rate care.

Do you really think that we'll give the same level of caring to lousy cellular service?

Re:Why?

[kimvette]

A Jailbreak and openssh is all you need to tether to the iPhone. :)

The issue is that people buy the iPhone based on advertised features, and it wasn't until Apple starting moving to disable tethering (quickly bypassed trivially) that they added the * and a footnote stating "in selective markets." The problem is if you pay full price for a fully (officially) unlocked iPhone, Apple still will not give you the ability to enable tethering; they refer you to the carrier. The carrier refers you to Apple. The situation has improved somewhat if you have an "official" Apple reseller as your provider, but if you own an Apple-unlocked phone and don't use their blessed providers, you are still SOL.

This problem began when AT&T and Apple in their joint press conferences announced each iPhone with all of its bells and whistles, and tethering being one of the key advanced features Apple was pushing (advanced? It is something other phone manufacturers have offered dating back to the late '90s by allowing the phones to be used as a modem, and later, many phone manufacturers allowed via a wired, wifi, or bluetooth network connection, passing the full bandwidth of the phone's data connection). Apple's yanking tethering pissed off a lot of customers who bought the iPhone with an advertised set of features, and then reneging after getting our money.

This is NO different than the Sony PS3/Other OS issue. Remember the outrage when Sony yanked the feature, and many had purchased the PS3 to be able to run PS3 games, play blu-ray, AND run a basic Linux box as part of their entertainment center? Sony removed a key feature that sold many units.

The difference here is Apple is FINALLY giving the functionality back after a lot of feedback over the last six months or so since they pulled it.

Stop being surprised when years-old features are suddenly "added" to products that should have had them (and technically *could* have had them for absolutely no price difference whatsoever) in the first place.

The iPhone 3G S had it originally, and Apple yanked it. They're just giving the feature back now.

Re:moderators - out of f'ing control

[Anonymous Coward]

Rational moderators, please correct this.

Someone mod this guy down for using the "R" word. We can't let this kind of attitude catch on around here.

Re:moderators - out of f'ing control

[elrous0]

We really need to stop giving Steve Jobs so many mod points.

Re:And for only a small $40 a month charge

[Fahrvergnuugen]

No idea why this was marked insightful. The OS has nothing to do with tethering, it's the carrier. The iPhone OS has officially supported tethering since 3.0, it's just that AT&T hasn't allowed it because they're afraid it will bring their fragile network to its knees.

If you use an Android phone to tether with AT&T or Verizon with an "unlimited" data plan, you are breaking their rules and stand to be charged extra for using the tethering feature.