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AT&T Hotspot on New iPad

L

LostAggie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I signed up for the 5gb plan and I have talked with two AT&T customer service people that tell me Hotspot is included with my iPad data plan.

Are they right? If so, how do I activate the hotspot on my iPad?
 
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you got some bad info, the hotspot for the ATT iPad is not active. The official word is they are working on it, but no decision has been made.

Verizon's iPad does have hotspot and it is free, no additional charge (shares data with your main iPad plan)
 
I have a feeling the holdup is that there are still many users on grandfathered unlimited iPad data plans. AT&T is probably working with Apple to figure out a way to not offer the hotspot functionality for just those unlimited users.

Either that, or they are retooling their fee structure to charge separately for hotspot functionality. It is AT&T after all. . .
 
AT&T Announced Hotspot Feature!!! iOS 4.3+! iPad 2+

LostAggie said:
Any update from AT&T?
Click to expand...

Yeah here's info from March 11, 2011... Really surprised nobody has latched onto this yet, that this was promised over a year ago and never materialized. Maybe this is why Verizon announced and delivered on it, they did not realize AT&T has neglected to enable this old feature?

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/att-adding-personal-hotspot-option-to-ipad-plan/
AT&T has announced that it will allow iPads to utilize the Personal Hotspot feature of iOS 4.3. According to the announcement, the Personal Hotspot feature will be available to iPad customers who choose the $25/2GB monthly plan and add the $20 tethering option, which includes an extra 2GB of data that is shared between tethering and normal usage. Previously, tethering was limited to iPhone users. In the same release, the company notes that customers who activate a new postpaid $25/2 GB plan will receive the first month free.

When AT&T says something, do not hold your breath. By the end of 2013, they should have their LTE rolled out as much as they plan to do so. So who knows? Maybe by iOS 7/8?

On the old AT&T news:
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?p...5&mapcode=wireless-networks-general|broadband
The Personal Hotspot feature being introduced with iOS 4.3 is also available to customers who choose the $25 plan plus a $20 tethering option that provides an extra 2 GB of data.
 
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Apple did confirm that the ability to run a hotspot on AT&T iPads is there and the hardware will support it. But they did not comment on why it hasn't been implemented.
The ball is in AT&T's court. Waiting for them to either implement it or come up with a really lame excuse why they won't / will do it.

I'm betting on the lame excuse, "our extensive research has shown that our users prefer to pay for hotspot feature and they don't mind waiting for us to come up with an asinine plan to charge them more money"
 
I'm confused. So if AT&T doesn't support a hotspot using your iPhone to provide data to the new iPad, why does their website have a 5GB data plan for iPhone that specifically says it has the ability to use as a mobile hotspot?

I'm not trying to be argumentative - just looking for clarification.
 
cthoops said:
I'm confused. So if AT&T doesn't support a hotspot using your iPhone to provide data to the new iPad, why does their website have a 5GB data plan for iPhone that specifically says it has the ability to use as a mobile hotspot?

I'm not trying to be argumentative - just looking for clarification.
Click to expand...

The AT&T hotspot in discussion in this thread is using the dataplan on the iPad to generate a hotspot for your laptop, etc. not to connect your iPad to a wifi hotspot from an iPhone.
 
cthoops said:
I'm confused. So if AT&T doesn't support a hotspot using your iPhone to provide data to the new iPad, why does their website have a 5GB data plan for iPhone that specifically says it has the ability to use as a mobile hotspot?

I'm not trying to be argumentative - just looking for clarification.
Click to expand...

You are talking about 2 different devices with 2 different plans. Your iPhone can be used as a mobile hotspot, but your iPad cannot... at least until they make a plan for it.
 
ok, it looks like we have some confusion between terms here. AT&T data plans have a few differences and they also have a few product lines.

AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi - This is AT&T's Wifi network. iPhone users can get on for free, and any wireless data plan over $30, and any U-verse customers have free access to AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi. This is a WiFi only network. There are also subscription services which are $19.99 per month for this service.

AT&T Wireless Mobile Broadband - This is AT&T's LTE/4G/3G/EDGE network. This is what you normally get on your smartphone or tablet device. There are multiple sub-plans depending on what you need.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet 2 year contract - This is a contract tablet rate. 3GB is $35 and 5GB is $50 per month. Overage is $10/GB.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet No Commitment - This is a non-contract tablet rate. 250MB for $14.99 with $14.99/250MB overage, 3GB for $30, and 5GB for $50 with $10/GB overages.

AT&T Smartphone Data Plan 5GB - This is the only tethering data plan that AT&T has. It costs $50/month and overages are $10/GB.

Hotspot != Tethering
 
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whtrbt7 said:
ok, it looks like we have some confusion between terms here. AT&T data plans have a few differences and they also have a few product lines.

AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi - This is AT&T's Wifi network. iPhone users can get on for free, and any wireless data plan over $30, and any U-verse customers have free access to AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi. This is a WiFi only network. There are also subscription services which are $19.99 per month for this service.

AT&T Wireless Mobile Broadband - This is AT&T's LTE/4G/3G/EDGE network. This is what you normally get on your smartphone or tablet device. There are multiple sub-plans depending on what you need.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet 2 year contract - This is a contract tablet rate. 3GB is $35 and 5GB is $50 per month. Overage is $10/GB.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet No Commitment - This is a non-contract tablet rate. 250MB for $14.99 with $14.99/250MB overage, 3GB for $35, and 5GB for $50 with $10/GB overages.

AT&T Smartphone Data Plan 5GB - This is the only tethering data plan that AT&T has. It costs $50/month and overages are $10/GB.

Hotspot != Tethering
Click to expand...

The no commitment pricing for the 3GB tablet plan is $30 not $35.
 
whtrbt7 said:
ok, it looks like we have some confusion between terms here. AT&T data plans have a few differences and they also have a few product lines.

Hotspot != Tethering
Click to expand...

+1 for for the good explanation that cleared up even some of my own confusion. Still in 2011 AT&T said they would do 2GB of tethering for $20, which was never implemented from the iPad.
 
whtrbt7 said:
ok, it looks like we have some confusion between terms here. AT&T data plans have a few differences and they also have a few product lines.

AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi - This is AT&T's Wifi network. iPhone users can get on for free, and any wireless data plan over $30, and any U-verse customers have free access to AT&T Hotspot / AT&T WiFi. This is a WiFi only network. There are also subscription services which are $19.99 per month for this service.

AT&T Wireless Mobile Broadband - This is AT&T's LTE/4G/3G/EDGE network. This is what you normally get on your smartphone or tablet device. There are multiple sub-plans depending on what you need.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet 2 year contract - This is a contract tablet rate. 3GB is $35 and 5GB is $50 per month. Overage is $10/GB.

AT&T Data Connect Tablet No Commitment - This is a non-contract tablet rate. 250MB for $14.99 with $14.99/250MB overage, 3GB for $30, and 5GB for $50 with $10/GB overages.

AT&T Smartphone Data Plan 5GB - This is the only tethering data plan that AT&T has. It costs $50/month and overages are $10/GB.

Hotspot != Tethering
Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks for clearing that up!
 
AT&T agent....

I just had a interesting chat with an AT&T agent who said yes it is available...and I can be a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices! I know this is not true because I am sure it would make all the news, however even AT&T own agents have no idea what they offer! I am usually pretty happy with my service with AT&T but this is ridiculous.......
 
Geoinerworks said:
I just had a interesting chat with an AT&T agent who said yes it is available...and I can be a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices! I know this is not true because I am sure it would make all the news, however even AT&T own agents have no idea what they offer! I am usually pretty happy with my service with AT&T but this is ridiculous.......
Click to expand...

I think its inevitable that they will offer a hotspot function on the iPad in the future. However, like everything that AT&T does they will be slow to implement it and I have a feeling they will charge a premium for it even though Verizon includes it free.
 
Just remember when iPhone 3GS along with ios 3.0 was announced way back in June/July 2009. MMS support was finally available.

Well while all carriers got mms.

It took AT&T about 3 extra months just to enable the mms free feature on the iPhone.

And as for hotspot on the iPhone. It took AT&T about 7-8 months longer just to enable this feature. Heck. Verizon iPhone 4 releases 7 months after AT&T iPhone 4 had the hotspot earlier than AT&T.
 
LostAggie said:
I signed up for the 5gb plan and I have talked with two AT&T customer service people that tell me Hotspot is included with my iPad data plan.

Are they right? If so, how do I activate the hotspot on my iPad?
Click to expand...

since you don't get hotspot with the 5GB iPad plan, then what is the purpose of that plan at all? Isn't it a better deal to get the 3GB plan and pay $10/GB overage?
 
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