it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who think it's okay to steal services and that it's wrong for the company being stolen from to take measures to stop them.
You sign up for a cell phone plan and you sign up for access from your phone. The terms of service specifically state there is an extra charge to share that connection with other devices. Just because it's technically possible to accomplish with the right software doesn't mean you are entitled to use services you haven't paid for.
It happens with music.
It happens with software.
It happens with cell phone data.
People that would never walk into best buy and steal a CD or an application will download the same content over the internet and feel entitled to do so.
People who don't have a tethering data plan will jailbreak their phone and spend $5 on an app and brag about the money they are saving with the service they are stealing. Then will complain about dropped calls as AT&T's networks get bogged down from them and others using services they haven't paid for.
There is a huge difference between having paid for data access for a single cell phone and using that data pipe for multiple devices. You agreed to a data plan that says you paid extra for that ability. And the ability is available if you just sign up and pay for it. There simply is no more justification for stealing the service than there is for shoplifting.
Well said.
Thats the problem, many didn't.
AT&T did not have tethering plans before.
Also for the unlimited people they do not have the ability to add tethering.
How will they handle the Tmobile unlimited at $10 a month and all the people who tether for free on TMobile?
Unbelievable how people defend AT&T
Most Carriers offer unlimited and many free tethering.
Its hard to believe that they can offer it like this and AT&T can't.
But two wrongs don't make a right. This isn't about defending AT&T, but rather its about basic ethics/morals. AT&T may not be in the right with the way they are handling the tethering situation, but that *does not* make it legal for people to effectively steal 10's & 100's of GB of data usage.
I am tired of reading the
"but it said unlimited" argument. It boggles my mind how people can be so quick to try to twist things into their favor. It really is just like the music stealing issue. Its easy to do anonymously, tons of folks are doing it, you probably will never get caught (or punished)...so it must be OK right? Pretty soon, so many people are doing it that the mob mentality takes effect and everyone forgets ethics 101.
The ugly fact is, there is a small group of users who are responsible for this backlash from AT&T. And its not just mobile users either. If anyone reading this is an AT&T home broadband subscriber (DSL or UVERSE) your usage just got capped to 150GB (DSL)/250GB (UVERSE) per month effective 5/2/11 because of folks who take it to the extreme. If we didn't have folks like the guy above who downloaded 100's of GB of HD movies on his 3G connection, AT&T probably would be turning the other cheek to this issue, but they have no choice now.
You have the folks who use a tethering client to check email and do some light browsing from time-to-time while traveling, and then you have idiots who think that just because
they can download massive amounts of data month-to-month they do, without ever giving thought to the consequences. I am in the former group and had plans to use MyFi when traveling. I do not think that AT&T's tethering option is reasonable for light users and I am not willing to pay thru the nose for it. However, I certainly wouldn't be arguing that it is legal and just for me to be stealing what I did use (I doubt at this point I will ever tether now though). I would be happy to admit that what I was doing wasn't right, instead of being the pot calling the kettle black.
If you want to "steal" from AT&T that's your decision. But don't try to argue and justify your actions as being legal and defensible - they are not. If AT&T catches you, be a big boy and take your medicine (which in this case is nothing more than, "you can have everything you took, but you gotta pay from now on" - barely a slap on the wrist).
