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

[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.

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: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: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.