I admit I dont use it much, but I have tethering on my iPhone. Im in the US on ATT with a legit non jail-broke phone. Thanks NetShare! Too bad it was pulled from the App Store long ago.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Continues to Temper Expectations for iPhone Tethering in 2009
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Small White Car
macrumors G4
Mostly in airports and hotels that charge for Wifi.
I'd guess that in an entire year I'd probably use tethering for about 20 hours total.
If I am normal, perhaps tethering won't be a big strain on AT&T. But I have no idea if I'm normal.
The Chinese. 😛
I don't have an iPhone yet, just because I hate ATT. I have an Instinct from Sprint and I use it to tether by bluetooth. I don't even have to take the phone out of my pocket or bag. It's awesome, now if ATT will ever upgrade their network, they might be able to handle the extra bandwidth. I am going to get an iPhone, as I'm not going to wait for Apple to end exclusivity. By the time my two year contract is up, I'll then be able to port it to Verizon or Sprint, or whoever Apple expands too.
Stike
macrumors 65816
China?! ^^
Edit: Dang, beaten to it! Anyway, THIS is the reason I jailbreak'd! My factory-unlocked iPhone has NOTHING to do with AT&T and still Apple dares to take away this functionality for ME. So I am taking it back...
If they had done this only on certain carriers, I could kinda understand it, but THIS...
Where is it written?
Santa's Public Relations Dept: Where is it announced that we committed to a Dec. 25th of Mr. K. Kringle?!
Santa's Public Relations Dept: Where is it announced that we committed to a Dec. 25th of Mr. K. Kringle?!
NightFox
macrumors 68040
apfhex
macrumors 68030
May if it were free for limited use. But say at $30/mo, doubling what we already pay for 3G, can't see the point unless you're going to be using it constantly (in which case you probably already have a 3G card for your laptop).
I don't send any SMS/MMS for the same reason. Well, that's part of the reason.
If people keep using "soon" so loosely then soon "soon" will will start to loose all meaning.
Soon.
Nfl
I thought I saw a commercial where AT&T was offering video streaming of NFL games. If I recall that correctly, why can't they offer tethering when they can offer video streaming? Isn't that just as demanding on bandwidth?
I thought I saw a commercial where AT&T was offering video streaming of NFL games. If I recall that correctly, why can't they offer tethering when they can offer video streaming? Isn't that just as demanding on bandwidth?
MBHockey
macrumors 601
The confusion seems to stem from a November 2008 interview with AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega in which he claimed support for tethering on the iPhone was coming "soon". In re-reporting the conversation, CNET appears to have construed the comment as meaning some time in 2009, but AT&T is apparently now trying to temper any such expectations.
"soon" is in geologic terms ...
DHagan4755
macrumors 68020
This is the exact kind of crap that keeps me from even buying an iPhone until it's sold by more than a single carrier in the U.S. I really would love to have one, but I won't jump ship to ATT. T-Mobile has been nothing but top-notch since I signed up with them years ago and I won't spend the extra money and extra hassle to bring an iPhone over to my service of choice.
I really hope Apple opens up to sell subsidized iPhones and plans through other carriers like T-Mobile soon.
I really hope Apple opens up to sell subsidized iPhones and plans through other carriers like T-Mobile soon.
AT&T response: "Just reading again - where did anyone promise 4G by EO2Y? Where did you see that?"
hehe...
bet my ass, i will see 2014 before I see AT&T on 4G.
funny att cant do teathering. or mms right...
Its really funny that att says that mms and tethering need all this extra stuff on their end, when here in canada mms and tethering all worked right off the start and are free. mms an tethering on my plan are free, i have 400 min daytime unlimited mms and a 6gb data plan for 80 a month, and tethering is free.and is awesome, how can at a company that is 10 times the size of rogers not be able to handle these basic features that have been around for years. mms has been around for ever, and tethering now like 5 years or so, i love my iphone, but i would not get it in the usa because of att, and in canada the iphone is now being sold by more then one company which i hope will cause prices wars.... which is what competition is. exclusive deals should be illegal and stopped asap.
Its really funny that att says that mms and tethering need all this extra stuff on their end, when here in canada mms and tethering all worked right off the start and are free. mms an tethering on my plan are free, i have 400 min daytime unlimited mms and a 6gb data plan for 80 a month, and tethering is free.and is awesome, how can at a company that is 10 times the size of rogers not be able to handle these basic features that have been around for years. mms has been around for ever, and tethering now like 5 years or so, i love my iphone, but i would not get it in the usa because of att, and in canada the iphone is now being sold by more then one company which i hope will cause prices wars.... which is what competition is. exclusive deals should be illegal and stopped asap.
Bubba Satori
Suspended
i would use it quite a bit as I gave up internet at home because when I first got my iphone 3GS the AT&T salesperson told me tethering was going to be available when 3.0 was released. October and it's still not available in the U.S. I don't use the internet heavily, but I use it frequently.
*sigh
*sigh
Man, for as much as I love my iPhone and how easily it works with iTunes, Android and Double Twist keeps looking better and better.
I've been wanting to get an iPhone since it came out, but because of the exclusive arrangement with AT&T, I refuse to get one. Once Apple opens it up to other networks, then I'll gladly be back in the market for one.
At&t
AT&T seriously needs to turn things around. I have been a huge iPhone supporter since it was first announced. I was one of the guys who waited in line on launch day, and AT&T has me seriously considering the competition because of their service!
I recently went overseas and before that did research into the cost of using my iPhone there, I ended opting for their $200 package for 200MB of data, figuring there was no way in hell I'd use that on a 10 day trip.
4 days before I returned I get a text message stating that I am approaching the limit. (I reset the usage meters on the phone before I landed in Europe), so I checked it, and it said I'd used 80MB.
Then the day before I returned I got a text saying I'd gone OVER, I turned my phone off (This is not tethered NOT Jailbroken). When I landed in the U.S. I saw that my usage was well under the 200MB limit, but when I called AT&T to talk about it they said I was well over the limit. I had to argue with them for WEEKS. I had screen captures of the usage on a day-by-day basis.
And they actually threatened to turn my service off when I refused to pay what they say were the overage charges!
They finally DID reverse the charges, which is great and wonderful, but I spent a lot of my time arguing with them about it, and had it not been for me vigilantly checking my usage and taking screen captures I would have been royally screwed by them.
AT&T sucks for many, many reasons and Apple needs to come to their senses and realize they've become a major liability in the U.S. to the Apple Brandname.
AT&T seriously needs to turn things around. I have been a huge iPhone supporter since it was first announced. I was one of the guys who waited in line on launch day, and AT&T has me seriously considering the competition because of their service!
I recently went overseas and before that did research into the cost of using my iPhone there, I ended opting for their $200 package for 200MB of data, figuring there was no way in hell I'd use that on a 10 day trip.
4 days before I returned I get a text message stating that I am approaching the limit. (I reset the usage meters on the phone before I landed in Europe), so I checked it, and it said I'd used 80MB.
Then the day before I returned I got a text saying I'd gone OVER, I turned my phone off (This is not tethered NOT Jailbroken). When I landed in the U.S. I saw that my usage was well under the 200MB limit, but when I called AT&T to talk about it they said I was well over the limit. I had to argue with them for WEEKS. I had screen captures of the usage on a day-by-day basis.
And they actually threatened to turn my service off when I refused to pay what they say were the overage charges!
They finally DID reverse the charges, which is great and wonderful, but I spent a lot of my time arguing with them about it, and had it not been for me vigilantly checking my usage and taking screen captures I would have been royally screwed by them.
AT&T sucks for many, many reasons and Apple needs to come to their senses and realize they've become a major liability in the U.S. to the Apple Brandname.