AT&T Confirms Personal Hotspot Support Alongside March 11th iOS 4.3 Launch

[Fly Rodder]

All the pricing is done based on average usage.

And that's fine and dandy, but that's NOT how the telcos market their services and bandwidth (that they've bid on and purchased through federal auction). In addition to that little bait and switch, they provide pretty ridiculous "tiered" pricing that provides little or no choice.

In a perfect, free market, I'd be able to buy whatever hardware I want and shop for the best rate for access. In a restricted market, what we get is a limited choice between hardware and providers, and almost zero choice for service access. The few providers choose competition be based on a nebulous, subjective variable, such as "quality" and NOT price.

It's a massive shell game where the consumer has almost zero protection other than through government intervention (e.g., regulations), which end up being written by the telecommunications companies. So the consumer is essentially left with their own voice and telling people to "shut up and pay for it or don't" is not a solution.

 

[azentropy]

They probably should, but we already covered this. You'll certainly end up paying more than you pay now.

Helluva thing to be wishing for.

Well "I" wouldn't because I'm in the large group that gets screwed subsidizing others. Typically I use between 200-500mb a month, even when I occasionally use tethering through Handylight or Jailbreaking as I have access to WiFi "most" of the time. The current plans penalize those with lower usage but still require the ability to tether at times.

 

[dstankus]

Should the water company charge me extra for every faucet I have in my house? Should the power company charge me for every outlet?

Makes sense to me.

The problem here is the concept of the "unlimited" data plan. If you pay for 2gb you should be able to use that 2gb however you like, on your phone, ipad, whatever.

If you have the unlimited plan, I can see the argument that while you might use 2gb, 4gb, 8gb, whatever on your phone, but you'll very likely use lots more if you also tether your ipad to your phone.

 

[pooprscooper]

You have the freedom to do that. You Can use the 2GB that comes with the data pro package for your iPhone and then you have the freedom to add the 2GB tethering on top of that to use with your iPad or MBP.

Do you work for a telco? Freedom isn't given to you by a dictator. Locking down features that are inherently available on the phone and then charging you fees to unlock them isn't freedom.

Would you mind if your home ISP started charging you per device hooked up to your network?

 

[JediZenMaster]

Do you work for a telco? Freedom isn't given to you by a dictator. Locking down features that are inherently available on the phone and then charging you fees to unlock them isn't freedom.

Would you mind if your home ISP started charging you per device hooked up to your network?

Actually i do work in the telecommunications industry and i don't have an issue with AT&T at all. I'm just not going to justify or defend my POV. But do you really think that whining on mac rumors is going to force AT&T to change?

At the end of the day you will JB your iPhone or Pay for tethering. Its very hard to deal with posting on a forum where people act as if AT&T is the only company that want's to make a profit. Verizon does the same thing but yet when that fact is one that certain people choose to forget.

Looking at this thread you would think that AT&T is the only company that charges for those and im sure some people are so blinded by their own ignorance that they think its the only company that does charge.

 

[iBrother]

I honestly dont see either of the two iPhone carriers doing anything groundbreaking as far as deals at this point. I did like the rollover data comment though.

 

[AppleFan360]

Actually i do work in the telecommunications industry and i don't have an issue with AT&T at all. I'm just not going to justify or defend my POV. But do you really think that whining on mac rumors is going to force AT&T to change?

At the end of the day you will JB your iPhone or Pay for tethering. Its very hard to deal with posting on a forum where people act as if AT&T is the only company that want's to make a profit. Verizon does the same thing but yet when that fact is one that certain people choose to forget.

Looking at this thread you would think that AT&T is the only company that charges for those and im sure some people are so blinded by their own ignorance that they think its the only company that does charge.

Thank you and you know what's funnier is that some people here shouldn't even own cell phones. Reminds me of the poor person on the corner wearing $200 tennis shoes who complains that people aren't giving him what he wants.

If you buy a smart phone like the iPhone, be prepared to pay extra for perks. If you don't like it, don't pay. Voting with your wallet is always best.

Personally having Verizon on board as been a good thing. AT&T now must conform to iPhone market forces. Their monopoly on the iPhone was rediculous and I'm glad its over.

 

[Jaro65]

when is the FCC going to step in and stop these companies from raping us?

The government really shouldn't be the one to call the kettle black....

 

[ghostlyorb]

I wonder how many people will use this.. It's so simple to jailbreak these days. And for a one time fee of $20 for MyWi.. you can't beat that!

 

[pooprscooper]

Actually i do work in the telecommunications industry and i don't have an issue with AT&T at all. I'm just not going to justify or defend my POV. But do you really think that whining on mac rumors is going to force AT&T to change?

At the end of the day you will JB your iPhone or Pay for tethering. Its very hard to deal with posting on a forum where people act as if AT&T is the only company that want's to make a profit. Verizon does the same thing but yet when that fact is one that certain people choose to forget.

Looking at this thread you would think that AT&T is the only company that charges for those and im sure some people are so blinded by their own ignorance that they think its the only company that does charge.

Yea, it was pretty obvious that you did. Nobody is "whining" on an internet forum. We're simply having a discussion on a forum. You might want to look up on what that word actually means and its intended use. Your attempts to insult people rather than disprove the statements shows an inability to prove the legitimacy of your own point of view. Of course you're not going to justify or defend your POV, you will simply try to make up things up to insult people because you have no argument.

You're the only one assuming that AT&T is the only company doing this. And we all know what assumptions are...

I also don't see a point in charging for voice service with free VOIP. Neither would I accept paying for each cable box hooked up to a TV either when you can grab the same content over the internet. All I or anyone else needs is a dummy pipe from an ISP and everything is done over that connection. What I choose to do over it whether it be voice, movies or browsing the web is of no concern to the ISP and my packets won't be selectively charged based on their protocols.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Cannot wait.

 

[pooprscooper]

Thank you and you know what's funnier is that some people here shouldn't even own cell phones. Reminds me of the poor person on the corner wearing $200 tennis shoes who complains that people aren't giving him what he wants.

If you buy a smart phone like the iPhone, be prepared to pay extra for perks. If you don't like it, don't pay. Voting with your wallet is always best.

Personally having Verizon on board as been a good thing. AT&T now must conform to iPhone market forces. Their monopoly on the iPhone was rediculous and I'm glad its over.

There's no need to pull the elitist attitude that just because you don't mind dumping money left and right on services that are free that you're somehow better than those who won't.

I can understand the analogy of the 30K millionaire who buys a car and can't afford to put premium gas in it but no one is complaining about not getting everything they want just because they feel their entitled to it by simply owning an iPhone. They're just asking to use the features already built into the phone without being scammed into excessive fees for features already available.

There's a reason why telcos are now finally letting Skype and other services use 3G whereas they used to block them by forcing Apple to not allow them in the App Store. There's also a reason why AT&T took so long to enable tethering in the first place. Apple isn't the one locking down features and pushing telcos to nickel and dime you for every feature. They would love to give you all these features when you purchase the phone but are at the will of the telcos who won't allow a device on their network without locking them down.

Having a monopoly on the telecom market doesn't allow you to vote with your wallet. You want the phone but can't just move it to any network without unlocking it and paying termination fees/unsubsidized premium price. You need a phone service to operate in this day and age but are severely limited in your options. It's not a free market where you have a true choice.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

This...

No one put a gun to anyone's head when signing the contract.
Don't like the terms, don't sign.

Even freedom has a price. NOTHING is free.

I get so tired of people uttering this comment as though customers do not have a right to negotiate. Ultimately customers do. They can all en masse not sign such contracts and then the businesses have to try harder. But perhaps enough complaining can change things without it coming to that.

Freedom comes with a price. For you the price is being annoyed at all the complaints others are free to make.

 

[AppleFan360]

There's no need to pull the elitist attitude that just because you don't mind dumping money left and right on services that are free that you're somehow better than those who won't.

But I am. Those who get something for free that morally and ethically should be paying for it are thiefs in my book.

You need a phone service to operate in this day and age but are severely limited in your options.

I beg to differ. You need food and water, not a phone and certainly not an iPhone.

 

[rjohnstone]

I get so tired of people uttering this comment as though customers do not have a right to negotiate. Ultimately customers do. They can all en masse not sign such contracts and then the businesses have to try harder. But perhaps enough complaining can change things without it coming to that.

Freedom comes with a price. For you the price is being annoyed at all the complaints others are free to make.

You're missing my point.
Your right to negotiate is still there at the point of purchase.
Once you sign the contract, your right to negotiate ends, as does theirs.

If the carrier is providing the service you agreed to in the contract, you have no right to complain.

You complain when the terms of the contract you signed are not being met.

All consumers have an out to the contract too. The almighty ETF.
Don't like the terms of the contract anymore, use your out.

The agreement becomes void and you are free to try and negotiate a new deal with another carrier.

That's how the free market works.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

I beg to differ. You need food and water, not a phone and certainly not an iPhone.

But an iPhone does make life more enjoyable.

 

[AppleFan360]

But an iPhone does make life more enjoyable.

OK, I'm with you on that one.

 

[raremage]

Having a monopoly on the telecom market doesn't allow you to vote with your wallet. You want the phone but can't just move it to any network without unlocking it and paying termination fees/unsubsidized premium price. You need a phone service to operate in this day and age but are severely limited in your options. It's not a free market where you have a true choice.

I beg to differ. You need food and water, not a phone and certainly not an iPhone.

The most important part - "certainly not an iphone."

You absolutely have a choice. Get a basic pay as you go service for a basic phone. Get a cheap all you can eat plan with a regional carrier, like Metro PCS. Get a pre-paid Boost Mobile phone. But if you can't afford it, or can only just afford it, why do you need a smartphone?

 

[AppDeveloper]

Help me understand this. A tethering plan on an iPhone 4.0 is required for the hotspot feature to work. Correct? That would allow me to tether a new iPad? Correct? Presently I cannot tether an iPad or iPod Touch. Correct? I can tether a computer. This I know.

If I want to purchase a new iPad I have the choice of Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi/3G versions with two carriers. If I have tethering and Hotspot functionality, is there a reason the Wi-Fi/3G version would be a better choice than the regular Wi-Fi version?

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

You have the right idea.

This functionality makes it so I do not have to buy the 3g iteration of the iPad. My wifi version will do just fine now.

There's no reason I can think of that the 3G version would be a better choice unless money is no issue.

Well there is one reason which made me to buy 3G version although I have never used 3G connection functionality. It's the GPS chip in it! You don't have to have activated 3G data plan subscription to work with GPS. I use the iPad as GPS navigation with Off maps applications. I just download the area where I am going. It works beautifully. And now with iPhone hotspots I can use it also with online maps.

I just don't understand why Apple doesn't talk more about that difference between WiFi only and WiFi/3G model is also in this GPS chip... The price different would look also more acceptable I think...

 

[marksman]

Makes sense to me.

The problem here is the concept of the "unlimited" data plan. If you pay for 2gb you should be able to use that 2gb however you like, on your phone, ipad, whatever.

If you have the unlimited plan, I can see the argument that while you might use 2gb, 4gb, 8gb, whatever on your phone, but you'll very likely use lots more if you also tether your ipad to your phone.

A lot of you people are your own worst enemies.

Seriously.. This is so silly.

AT&T and Verizon could give you what you want.. Unfettered access to use your data any way you want.. The cost of that would be $70 maybe $80 a month though..

Would you realize how dumb your demands were when AT&T gave you exactly what you wanted and started charging you $80 a month? You do not even actually understand what you are askng for that is the crazy part of all this.

Most of you seriously do not even know what you are asking for from AT&T, you are asking for them to charge you more money which makes absolutely no sense.

You want AT&T to set their prices based on people being able to use their full 2 gigs a month anyway they want it. Okay the price for that will be $80 a month.

In your head you seem to think that AT&T should offer you that for $25, but that is because for some reason you can't absorb what you are actually paying for now and how and why AT&T's price is a bargain for people using 2 gigs a month every month now.

This is like egg producers charging people different amounts for eggs, where one guy pays 1 penny for a dozen eggs and another guy pays $10 for a dozen eggs, and the guy paying 1 penny is demanding more eggs for his penny. It is literally INSANE.

 

[tigress666]

This is like egg producers charging people different amounts for eggs, where one guy pays 1 penny for a dozen eggs and another guy pays $10 for a dozen eggs, and the guy paying 1 penny is demanding more eggs for his penny. It is literally INSANE.

No it would be more like the company telling people they have have up to a dozen eggs for 7.00 (fair price being 1 dollar per eegg) based on the idea that most people only use 5 eggs but putting on charges for people much more likely to use more than 5 eggs, they want to use those eggs for baking and not just for breakfast (basically a bit of gamble the company stacks in their favor that they are charging more than what most people use with incentive that the consumer could get a good deal cause they can get 12 eggs for the price of 7!)

And those people who are much more likely complaining that they should be able to use the full 12 eggs. Which is technically true but what they don't realize is that if everyone uses those full 12 eggs, the company will now have to charge 12 dollars to make a profit for the 12 eggs. No discounts cause the company now knows that you will use 12 and it is a losing gamble to bet you won't.

The solution to this is the pay for what you use scenario. Of which the people who want to use all full 12 eggs won't win in this scenario, they will still be paying for what they use and it will be much higher prices than what they are used to. But the people who don't use much? They win in this scenario.

So, to you people wanting to use all 12 eggs, you will pay for it one way or the other. At least this way some of us can still get a good deal (Those who would use the 12 eggs but don't need to do something that makes it obvious to the company that we would definitely be using all 12).

 

[raremage]

The solution to this is the pay for what you use scenario. Of which the people who want to use all full 12 eggs won't win in this scenario, they will still be paying for what they use and it will be much higher prices than what they are used to. But the people who don't use much? They win in this scenario.

You know who else loses in that scenario? The farmer selling the eggs. His model for selling eggs is not based on the fact that 'it all evens out in the end;' it's based on the fact that a huge percentage of his customers will use significantly less than average. By capping the heavy users and making a killing on the ones that only use 3 eggs (as opposed to five), and further knowing that only a very small percentage EVER use seven eggs in a month. Thus he has no need to invest in more chickens, chicken coops, or farm hands to collect more eggs. Worst case, if he absolutely HAD to add more chickens, he would just squeeze a few more into the existing henhouse, mucking things up a bit in the process.

So, have we stretched this analogy enough? It's beginning to look a bit thin...

 

[Pigumon]

Rage, rage, rage. As was said above, it is a fee to flip a 0 to a 1, but even if I'm one of the only voices saying this, there are added costs associated with this for a wireless carrier. Customers who use tethering are going to use far more data than customers who use only their phone—and that applies doubly so to many among the vocal audience here, I'll wager—and that means added costs and strain on AT&T's already taxed network. They are well within their rights to charge for this service.

Charge as much as they do? That's definitely debatable, and definitely trying to make a tidy profit from these plans. As much a ripoff as text messages? Rubbish. Text messaging is probably the most overpriced service offered by wireless carries by far.

Are you prepared for the basic plan to go from $25 to $40?

They based that $25 price on the fact that most people use less than 1 GB of their 2 GB. Turn on tethering and EVERYONE will start using all 2 GB. So, of course, the price will go up.

Me? I prefer to have a cheaper plan available for those who don't need tethering. You'd force everyone to pay for it.

I say 'no thanks' to that idea. Everyone who wants "tethering to be free" is really just asking me to pay more. Screw that, I'm not interested in paying more so you can tether.

You need to understand the truth here. AT&T is charging me EXTRA because I use a little more than 200MB. They are offering 2GB per month for a certain cost. IF it "overtaxes" their system, that's all AT&T's problem., not mine. And if at any time they can't give me 2GB per month as I am paying for, then they are committing fraud against me.

I pay for 2GB and I should be able to use it anyway I see fit.

I guarantee a class action suit or FCC investigation is in the near future for AT&T because of this.

Except if you are playing for 2GB of data, but only using 200mb per month, they don't credit you for the data you didn't use. Thus it should be your choice if you want to use up that 2GB or not and if you want to do so using tethering, then you should be allowed to; you paid for it. If you use MORE then your plan will allow, then you should have to pay the overages (and yes, they should be steep to encourage you to either not do that or move to a higher plan).

If you were to look at your data usage the last day of your billing cycle, figure out how much of the 2GB you didn't use, and then go download a video of that length, they wouldn't complain. But you had better not allow your computer to download that same video via your phone because, in some way, that's costs another $45 per month.

Just think of how much more money they would make if they would just enable tethering for ALL data plans (unlimited is gone besides grandfathered people -- and yes, maybe they shouldn't be allowed to tether because at the time of signing the unlimited contract they didn't offer tethering) and then collecting all those overage charges from people who aren't paying attention. Charge something like $5/mb overage; just think of how much that would bring in. Offer the sample plans and maybe a few more, 4gb/month, 8gb/month for additional fees.

Much better.

 

[marksman]

I guarantee a class action suit or FCC investigation is in the near future for AT&T because of this.

How much money do you want to put up behind that...

Do you not understand that this is a very common and widely accepted way that businesses price products and services, especially ones that have customers with varying levels of utilization for an ongoing service?

 

[MikePA]

With my luck Id brick the damn thing no matter how easy it is.

It is technically impossible to brick your iPhone doing a jb.