LOL, as you upload your "how to beat the system" or "look how i did it" video on YouTube!
You got me genius. you got me...
LOL, as you upload your "how to beat the system" or "look how i did it" video on YouTube!
Actually you didn't pay for your phone in total. You bought it at a subsidized price.
What about those people who have paid for the phone in full, not a contract price? They own full rights to the device.
Really people! You own the phone, not AT&T's unauthorized data tethering plan!
If you can't afford the plan then get a different phone!
While I sympathize with you, your assumption is wrong. Go read the TOS for the data plan you purchased. It explicitly states that the data is not to be used for tethering.Here's my take on the whole AT&T tethering issue:
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I purchase data from a carrier. Doesn't matter who. This data can be used in any way, shape or form as long as I do not exceed the amount I paid for.
While I sympathize with you, your assumption is wrong. Go read the TOS for the data plan you purchased. It explicitly states that the data is not to be used for tethering.
That said, I agree with your position in principal. AT&T 'should' be more lenient with it's policy on volume limited plans.
Owning the phone has nothing to do with the data plan - that is something controlled by the carriers and as such, they determine what you can use and how much it will cost you.What about those people who have paid for the phone in full, not a contract price? They own full rights to the device.
The reason behind the TOS stating that the data may not be used for tethering is pure profit-based.
Owning the phone has nothing to do with the data plan - that is something controlled by the carriers and as such, they determine what you can use and how much it will cost you.
Owning the phone removes the subsidy aspect of things - it does not mean that you have any more control over the actual service portion of owning the phone.
Put it this way. Weather you own or lease a car, you still have to pay money to get the gas your car runs on. The two things are independent of each other.
AT&T loses nothing if I choose to use the tethering option of my phone with the data I already purchased. They only wish to gain through the additional charges placed upon tethering.
i believe that this action stems from the at&t network already being beyond capacity in many areas.
A policy like this will ultimately serve to improve the reliability and reputation of at&t network.
Many of the complaints about at&t service are a direct result of heavy data demand. Wireless spectrum is a finite resource that needs to be managed. The policy was created under the assumption that the more something costs, the less people will utilize it. A deterrent policy like this will serve to reduce the overall network load. Reduced load leads to a better experience for more users, at the expense of a relative few.
I just wish there were a compromise to this.
I would love to see AT&T offering a true "business unlimited tethering" plan, even if it cost $100 a month.
The reason? There are times where I like getting the heck out of dodge, heading to places where the only Internet access would be a nearby GSM tower, so during that weekend, I'm using the 3G connection as a relatively slow, but steady pipe.
Yes, that's true.
But if I wish to use certain features of my car, I certainly do not have to pay for them.
I paid for them when I purchased the car. I paid for the option of tethering when I bought my phone. Sure, the data isn't owned by me, but what I'm rationalizing here is that AT&T is wrong in how they're handling tethering.
Sadly. it doesn't matter one iota. Companies charge what the market is wiling to bear. That's the name of the game.If tethering was such an arduous thing to do, then I would understand why there would be a sizable charge, but it isn't.
I'm tethering to my more data intensive laptop right now. How is this affecting anybody else's bandwidth around me?... while standing in line at the apple store waiting to buy 15 iPad 2 to sell on craigslist.
Have you ever had 5 bars of signal, but a site still wouldn't load? This is the reason. By using data, you are consuming from a limited pool available to a given tower. Once this resource is used up, the tower can no longer perform reliably.
By discouraging users from using 'excessive' data, they reduce the chance of a cell tower becoming overloaded.
can be hard to tell in some threads![]()
Have you ever had 5 bars of signal, but a site still wouldn't load? This is the reason. By using data, you are consuming from a limited pool available to a given tower. Once this resource is used up, the tower can no longer perform reliably.
By discouraging users from using 'excessive' data, they reduce the chance of a cell tower becoming overloaded.
That said, This policy seems targeted at unlimited users. If you're on a 2GB plan, AT&T shouldn't care if your using it on the phone or for tethering. I wouldn't be surprised if once they eliminate the remaining unlimited plans, that they remove the tethering restriction and go simply to metered usage.
This is why AT&T provides wifi at these types of high congestion areas. You admit to having experienced overloaded cell towers in areas where tethering is likely to occur (hotels). It stands to reason that charging extra for the service will reduce the number of users able to tether. Therefore reduce the load on the tower. Therefore reduce the chance of the tower becoming overloaded. You may not like it, but you're own argument supports my conclusion.I'm sorry but I truly disagree, in this argument 1 or 2 high use people out of lets say 25 are tethering in your Starbucks and thus taking all the bandwidth, But At&t would easily sell the other 23 people tethering and thus if all 25 are tethering at the same time ( this has happened to me away at a Hotel) then the bandwidth is so overwhelmed that its like having no signal.
I agree with you and said as much in the second paragraph.4gb = 4gb of use no matter what the plan
This is why AT&T provides wifi at these types of high congestion areas. You admit to having experienced overloaded cell towers in areas where tethering is likely to occur (hotels). It stands to reason that charging extra for the service will reduce the number of users able to tether. Therefore reduce the load on the tower. Therefore reduce the chance of the tower becoming overloaded. You may not like it, but you're own argument supports my conclusion.
I agree with you and said as much in the second paragraph.
But one thing you should agree on, At&t's system has sucked in many places for quite some time and its not our fault for buying and using the data, a lot of this is At&t's fault.
Yes, the reliability of the network is the carriers responsibility. I take it a step further and don't have a problem with users of unlimited plans using excessive data. AT&T sold it to them, and they have the right to use it.
Unfortunately this has lead to issues in the network, so now AT&T needs to take action to address them going forward. Hopefully in a way that is unobtrusive to most users.
The first step was to cease the sale of new unlimited contracts. The current step is to enforce the terms of the existing contacts.
(Legally this was probably their only option. They would have a hard time fighting the heavy unlimited users because AT&T sold these unlimited contracts. They could not have changed existing terms since that would void contracts.)
--Beyond this point is speculation--
The coming 4G roll out will likely bring an end to unlimited contracts. Since, new capacity will become available at the same time, the network may actually end up being under utilized. In order to encourage slow growth of data usage onto the new network, I would expect tethering restrictions to be removed for 4G data.
Option 3; STOP trying to cheat the system, and START using your iDevice the way the manufacturer designed it and the way your carrier supports it. (Is it unfair? YES! Are all of us iPhone users getting hosed, even though there's now two carriers? YES)
And while you're at it, knock off the piracy with the napster/limewire/torrent crap.
(Yeah, I said it! SOMEBODY had to!)