AT&T Increases Tethering Data Plan Limit to 4 GB

Yes, but when will they turn on the HotSpot feature..?

Hmmm.

Jailbreaking gives you this privledge of tethering as well.

BTW you are still paying $10 extra for every 1GB over your capped plan, so you are still saving $20 a month with a jailbroken phone for the extra 2GB of data.

So in other words....

EAT IT AT&T!!!

How about just turn on tethering/hotspot for FREE and then be VERY stringent about keeping to the 2GB limit?

I would like to be able to use my MacBook while on the road for very very brief moments using my iPhone as the gateway.

Still criminal. That's as much as you pay for home high-speed Internet, except at 1/4 the speed and a 4 GB cap. That's insane. Equally crazy is a company having to "allow" you to use a device you paid for, and continue to pay for.

KindredMAC said:

How about just turn on tethering/hotspot for FREE and then be VERY stringent about keeping to the 2GB limit?

I would like to be able to use my MacBook while on the road for very very brief moments using my iPhone as the gateway.

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I agree. I mean isn't it in AT&Ts interest for you to consume as much data as possible so that you go over your limit and pay the overage charge? Putting a price on it will keep a lot of users from actually using it. Of course this would hurt them for those still with an unlimited plan.

powaking said:

IPutting a price on it will keep a lot of users from actually using it. Of course this would hurt them for those still with an unlimited plan.

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I didn't think you could add tethering on an Unlimited plan (without jailbreaking). You had to downgrade to the 2gb "pro" plan and then add tethering on top of it.

jayducharme said:

I didn't think you could add tethering on an Unlimited plan (without jailbreaking). You had to downgrade to the 2gb "pro" plan and then add tethering on top of it.

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That's correct Jay.

I'm still on the grandfathered "Unlimited" plan but would gladly go to the 2GB Data Pro if tethering/HotSpot was a free option.

I like the Swiss Army Knife philosophy... I may not need or use a feature (like tethering) everyday or even once a month, but when the chips are down and I need to use it, I want to be able to have the option of using it.

Let me be responsible for my data usage. If I go over the 2GB total because I was tethering my MacBook too much then I am the responsible one who needs to pay the extra fees.

I think AT&T would end up making MORE $$$ using this philosophy.

KindredMAC said:

That's correct Jay.

I'm still on the grandfathered "Unlimited" plan but would gladly go to the 2GB Data Pro if tethering/HotSpot was a free option.

I like the Swiss Army Knife philosophy... I may not need or use a feature (like tethering) everyday or even once a month, but when the chips are down and I need to use it, I want to be able to have the option of using it.

Let me be responsible for my data usage. If I go over the 2GB total because I was tethering my MacBook too much then I am the responsible one who needs to pay the extra fees.

I think AT&T would end up making MORE $$$ using this philosophy.

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Does Verizon and T-Mobile charge you for the privilege of tethering as well? I mean I know they have a few select phones with "free hotspot" but in general do they charge for tethering?

Just curious. Does anyone actually run up against the limit? And if you do, how do you use your phone and what kind of apps do you use?

In my case, I found I was using Wifi so much, my typical monthly usage was 200MB or less. Unless I start watching movies or You Tube a lot on my iPhone, that seems like a pretty good deal on bandwidth.

e-coli said:

Still criminal. That's as much as you pay for home high-speed Internet, except at 1/4 the speed and a 4 GB cap. That's insane.

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If we all had dedicated wires connected to our handsets, and we never moved them from one location, that home analogy might work.

Instead, our phones can connect from almost anywhere, and have to share chunks of fairly limited cell bandwidth.

The prices we all pay today for wireless connections are incredibly cheap compared to ten years ago. Back then, most of us had 19Kbps (max) dialups on our phones, and were even charged by connection minutes, which made surfing the web pretty darned expensive unless you hurried ! (Many of us turned off picture downloads on our browsers to save money.)

Heck, 1GB of transfer at 10 cents a minute would've cost over $800.

I would actually do this if it didnt block the iPad.

kdarling said:

If we all had dedicated wires connected to our handsets, and we never moved them from one location, that home analogy might work.

Instead, our phones can connect from almost anywhere, and have to share chunks of fairly limited cell bandwidth.

The prices we all pay today for wireless connections are incredibly cheap compared to ten years ago. Back then, most of us had 19Kbps (max) dialups on our phones, and were even charged by connection minutes, which made surfing the web pretty darned expensive unless you hurried ! (Many of us turned off picture downloads on our browsers to save money.)

Heck, 1GB of transfer at 10 cents a minute would've cost over $800.

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There is one problem with your analogy kdarling... The internet today is a completely different evolved creature than 10 years ago.

What was YouTube 10 years ago? Nothing. It didn't exist for another 4 years. What was Facebook? Again, nothing.

Flash was something of minor thing and even MySpace hadn't been thought of yet.

Downloading a 3.2MB mp3 file was a half day thing even on cable modems back in the day.

There were no 1GB files to think about transferring let alone over a "high-speed" cable modem in 2001. Top of the line Power Mac G4's only came with 60-80 GB hard drives.

In today's internet climate, information consumption and sharing is what it is all about.

blueskymike said:

Just curious. Does anyone actually run up against the limit? And if you do, how do you use your phone and what kind of apps do you use?

In my case, I found I was using Wifi so much, my typical monthly usage was 200MB or less. Unless I start watching movies or You Tube a lot on my iPhone, that seems like a pretty good deal on bandwidth.

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I'm about the same as you, I have Wifi access at pretty much everywhere I go, but I often stream pandora to my car stereo and maybe update twitter or something while I am out somewhere.

So I end up using around 200-300MB a month which means I would be going over their smallest plan usage and might as well buy the 2GB. Now if I had tethering I would use a bit more data because I can finally connect the two via wifi.

Verizon gets the iPhone and you see all these cahnges on ATT

Mr. Chewbacca said:

I would actually do this if it didnt block the iPad.

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That issue should go away if AT&T gives full access to the mobile hotspot feature in 4.3...

Or I can use my jail broken iphone for free, any time I want.

GeekLawyer said:

That issue should go away if AT&T gives full access to the mobile hotspot feature in 4.3...

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That would be cool, 4gb is a pretty good number, I almost never use half that.

I have an unlimited plan but would bet money that when 4g comes out that will go away.

blueskymike said:

Just curious. Does anyone actually run up against the limit? And if you do, how do you use your phone and what kind of apps do you use?

In my case, I found I was using Wifi so much, my typical monthly usage was 200MB or less. Unless I start watching movies or You Tube a lot on my iPhone, that seems like a pretty good deal on bandwidth.

Click to expand...

In a typical month I use somewhere between 300 and 400 MB since whenever I'm home I have Wifi. I rarely even approach the 2GB limit and that's with fairly frequent web usage.

Right now I'm at 470 MB halfway through the month, but the only reason I've used so much data was because I watched a 40 minute tv show on Netflix over 3G.

And there was much rejoicing.

All these changes are a reminder why competition is good for the consumer, and monopolies shouldn't be encouraged.

The Coke Analogy

Maybe I'm just pointing out the obvious here but it seems a bit strange for a company to charge for a set amount of a product (2GB data use) and then charge an additional fee to allow you to use that product by a different means (laptop connection).

It's like Coca-Cola charging you $2.50 for a can of Coke but then charging another $2.00 if you choose to drink that Coke using a straw. And to further the analogy, NOW Coke is saying you'll get an additional can for your $2.00 but that's not the point. I don't need another can; I just want to drink the first can with a straw and I shouldn't have to pay a ransom to do that.

Right?

amethystjw said:

It's like Coca-Cola charging you $2.50 for a can of Coke but then charging another $2.00 if you choose to drink that Coke using a straw. And to further the analogy, NOW Coke is saying you'll get an additional can for your $2.00 but that's not the point. I don't need another can; I just want to drink the first can with a straw and I shouldn't have to pay a ransom to do that.

Right?

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Its a little different as the coke is a physical product and the tethering and data usage is a service. While I agree its not completely right, they can and do do this. Its an additional service that you want and have to pay for, similar to wanting movie channels on top of your standard cable service.

reckless2k2 said:

Does Verizon and T-Mobile charge you for the privilege of tethering as well? I mean I know they have a few select phones with "free hotspot" but in general do they charge for tethering?

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Verizon does, and it costs more too.

AT&T All Business

My first post guys. Here goes. I have an Iphone 4 and it's great. I have not jailbroke it yet but I think I would like to. I hear a lot of cool stuff about the jailbreak. I have the old unlimited data plan and now AT&T has decided not to offer this plan anymore. I use my Iphone as a player for satellite radio so I crush the current data plans. AT&T needs to serve it's customers better and not manipulate us to please the shareholders. Bring back the unlimited option and give people more choices. I have a Virgin Mobile MyFi Hotspot that is $40 a month flat with no contract and guess what it works pretty good. My MacBook Pro & Ipad work well with it and AT&T has nothing close with this flexibility.