AT&T to Eventually Offer Tethering in the U.S.

[MacU]

Conflict within AT&T

Man AT&T really dropped the ball here. They have the opportunity and the timeing to really change things up for their advantage and they just wast it on delaying the feature (which worked on their older phones, I use to tether my Samsung Sync with AT&T for no additional cost).

This is not just a whiny I don't want to pay for it hippy talk either.

Lets look at the trends. We are in a recession right now, this is the first ressession where people are more apt to drop Lan lines then their cell phones. Most people have internet access too and are paying $30-$40 a month. Their current plan is roughly $20 a month for internet, which is fast enough for most people. Well if people are keeping their cell phones then, if they allowed tethering at no additional cost then people would drop their Cable/DSL lines and some of the dialups who are still there can finally get high speed connection for their computers.

So you can use the Internet on your PC or you Phone but carry around your internet connection in your pocket. People are moving away from Desktops and going to laptops, and some even netbooks. So this could have created some excellent growth for AT&T. However they decided for the quick term and price themselves out of the market. Sure some people will use it but not the mass market. They could have cornered the internet market but they wasted it.

That's just it. AT&T offers Cable, Internet, & Home phone service. They aren't going to shoot themselves in the foot. Their business model is archaic at best. Who the heck still has a normal home phone? MagicJack changed the game for that. Unless they realize that they'll make more money thru a smaller margin but increased membership, they will be obsolete post the exclusive contract. That's why Apple needs to go with T-Mobile or at least Verison IMHO.

 

[Rocketman]

I have heard several pages of whining about AT&T now, some of it based on real concerns of service quality and coverage and pricing. Fine.

AT&T was there for Apple when Verizon was not. Apple had a unique marketing and service delivery scheme that required service side cooperation that leasing space on various networks would not have achieved. AT&T for all its limitations made the iPhone possible. Don't forget that reality. No network, Verizon included, was up for the huge take-up of the iPhone and the spectacular increase in bandwidth usage facilitated by it.

Back haul is being upgraded, cell site bandwidth is being upgraded at a pace AT&T has never seen before, and frankly I have suggested tripling it with outside contractors and unemployed network installers who really need jobs right now.

For AT&T this deal is truly a cash cow, not only because of subscribers and revenues, but most importantly because those subscribers are sticky. The two mentions of services Apple wants to provide which AT&T is slow to offer here in the USA were public notice to AT&T that their sticky customers want those services and Apple is on their side, because whatever carrier(s) Apple endorses gets MILLIONS of sticky customers.

The network is not in place to properly service all the current and new iPhone users with tethering, MMS, VoIP, video conferencing, which the iPhone and software is ready for NOW. It takes time to update an entire national network when you have the government working against you as hard as possible.

When you complain about AT&T, which is fine, also complain about the FCC, congress, and the Fed who have each had an even larger role in killing planned and capitalized baseband rollouts.

Just as one example the Fed crashing the NASDAQ market in 1999 because they felt there was a bubble (which was actually the anticipation of the growth of the internet we can only now see was huge and real), caused thousands of miles of fully installed long haul fiber to stay dark, even to this day!

So make "recovery proposals" emphasizing bandwidth NOW, write to federal legislators and regulators to accelerate this. There are no technological or capital limitations, they are entirely governmental.

AT&T is definitely in the back pocket of the government. If there is ever a domestic national crisis you will bless your lucky stars for the AT&T network.

Rocketman

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=4115&tag=nl.e589

 

[manu chao]

Well, not really. All you can eat = all you can eat, not all you can eat *and* bring with you in a bag.

Ok, let's refine that example. Drink as much beer as you want but use tiny spoons for it (=iPhone rendering speed, iPhone display size) vs. use a big straw (=rendering speed on Computer, Computer display size).

Just because you did not read the fine print (which said you are only allowed to use the data connection for the iPhone itself or will say now with the official tethering option), does not mean that the fine print is not legally binding.

And if there are lawsuits, maybe the courts will order that the fine print will have to made a bit larger.

 

[manu chao]

The 2G Iphone and the 3G iPhone both use a media rich web browser and also a mail client and SMS client. All images and videos from the most complicated web pages are transmitted to the iPhone and rendered by the iPhone (flash excluded), so why using the phone as a modem to browse the net from a laptop would use more badwith? I do not see how my laptop will use more of the network than my iPhone under normal conditions. Yea maybe due to downloads of software, I can see that, but video, pictures, and other web browsing activities are the same regardless of device used.

Did you ever look at any actual number? For example your AT&T bill? My iPhone usage fluctuates around 150 MB/month. When I had to use a 3G USB modem for a month because my cable connection was down, I used between 200 MB and 1 GB per day? Same wireless network, same network speed.
Maybe 400 MB of podcasts per week, another 200 MB streaming radio. Software updates, maybe 200 MB per week etc.
Or go to Activity Monitor and the Network section, at the bottom there is a data sent and received listing (I think a restart resets these numbers). My last restart is 4 days ago, for me it lists 12 and 20 GB respectively, these numbers are likely higher than I would achieve on a 3G network because some tasks are too slow on a such a network).

The key point you are overlooking is that browsing the web and e-mail is only a fraction of all network traffic on a computer. Apart from the above mentioned podcasts, radio streaming and software downloads a lot of people myself included interact a lot with all kinds of servers, be it uploading to web servers, CMS systems (eg, subversion), dedicated number crunchers, office file servers.

How much does it cost to just add a 3G card and service to the laptop?

About $40/month in a lot of countries (there are cheaper ones and also more expensive ones).

 

[Aldaris]

NetShare

I was lucky enough to get NetShare from the App store the second time it was released, so At&t take that!

At&t only got the iPhone from cingular, I wish they hadn't merged... Things would probably be different.

 

[chr1s60]

I simply do not understand how the FIRST CARRIER IN THE WORLD to have the iPhone is not ready for something simple like MMS or tethering. Even worse is the fact that AT&T doesn't seem to care that they were laughed at and booed during the keynote. I do not look forward to the tethering because I am guessing AT&T will make an extremely overpriced plan for iPhone.

 

[diamond.g]

Has anyone called AT&T and asked if the opt in for MMS can be done over the phone as soon as 3.0 comes out?

 

[jibranpcc]

Before I got my iPhone, I had Verizon. Reception was good, but their customer service was horrible. I couldn't wait to drop them. Now I feel the same way about AT&T, except the reception isn't quite as good. I don't know how Sprint is these days, but I used them before Verizon, and their customer service wasn't any better. Overall, cell phone service in the U.S. isn't competitive enough. Want an iPhone? You're stuck with AT&T. Want a Pre? You're stuck with Sprint (for now).

 

[Rodimus Prime]

All the AT&T bitching I see here makes me think of one old saying


"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"

I am willing to bet if it was a locked in agreement with T-Mobile, verizon ect a lot of the same bitching would be going on.

 

[Anuba]

Ok, let's refine that example. Drink as much beer as you want but use tiny spoons for it (=iPhone rendering speed, iPhone display size) vs. use a big straw (=rendering speed on Computer, Computer display size).

OK, well... if that's how it works in the US then that's how it works... I live in Europe and if someone offers an unlimited data plan over here, they better make damn sure it's literally unlimited.

 

[jonhaxor]

let's face it .. all the cell networks in the US suck .. fwiw, the telecom industry here has always been a mess of broken standards, greedy carriers, government over-regulation, and the ability for companies to make a lot of money by promoting ignorance. .. so i guess it's just a lasting legacy making it's way into the wireless industry

methinks it's probably time to go back and jailbreak the 3G again - the only thing you'll miss from the 3Gs is the magnetometer, +1 MP on a crappy camera, a slightly faster processor at lower (non 3G) power consumption, and the HSDPA chipset (for whenever that comes out.)

it seems like they're holding a bunch back, and if the tablet comes out with built in HSDPA i'm not sure they'll want to tie it again to AT&T .. personally i think apple and google should just merge development efforts and buy out a carrier network to get the tower infrastructure and just set out to bring some good into the wireless industry

it's getting a little tiring dealing with the fixed slots from legacy AT&T towers (spells dropped calls in congested areas), and all the dropped calls i still get in the middle of buildings here in nyc .. couple this with *really* spotty data service almost anywhere i go (hit or miss) and now i've got a bunch of stories i can tell my grandchildren ("i remember when you had to redial the same number 3 or 4 times and go to an open window before a voice call would go through" .. or .. "i remember when you had to cross your fingers and wait over 2 minutes for google searches to complete on your cell phone - sometimes it wouldn't even work at all!!")

 

[Anuba]

let's face it .. all the cell networks in the US suck .. fwiw, the telecom industry here has always been a mess of broken standards, greedy carriers, government over-regulation, and the ability for companies to make a lot of money by promoting ignorance. .. so i guess it's just a lasting legacy making it's way into the wireless industry

If government over-regulation was the culprit, cell networks in Europe would suck donkey b@lls, but they're great. Regulation is what beat them into submission. The EU has loads of rules... there's a cap on how much they can charge for services, they're forced to provide a certain level of coverage, their advertising is regulated, and there's a massive amount of carriers so the competition is cut throat. In Sweden, a country of only 9 million, we have at least four or five major networks, and they're obligated to offer coverage across the whole country, including crappy rural areas where nobody lives. This summer, Telenor will be able to sell iPhone as well so we'll have two competing iPhone carriers. Not that the prices are bad with just the one carrier... I'm paying something like a third or half of what it costs to have an iPhone in the U.S, all thanks to merciless government regulation.

 

[dukebound85]

no way i'm paying $70 a month! on top of my voice plan?!

dont forget text!

 

[Rocketman]

let's face it .. all the cell networks in the US suck .. fwiw, the telecom industry here has always been a mess of broken standards, greedy carriers, government over-regulation, and the ability for companies to make a lot of money by promoting ignorance. .. so i guess it's just a lasting legacy making it's way into the wireless industry

In addition to there being different flavors and styles of regulation, there are different population densities here than in other countries. GFL getting cell service in Africa or rural Russia.

Rocketman

 

[Lanbrown]

I like my data plan; $45 for unlimited and tethering. Nothing like a grandfathered plan. Now they charge $65 for it and has additional restrictions.

 

[hiimamac]

att blows...$70/month?...i guess i'll just have to read up on how to tether w/o actually getting the tethering plan...i'll be hanging on to my 1st gen iphone until the iphone is available on somebody beside att.

Yup. Never done jail breaking. Will look into and see about cancelling data plan. I'd lost phone and black market my number I'd use sipe. Enough is enough. Can you cancel tv $30 data plan?

Godspeed. God us in the side of righteous, that is us, AT&T is thevevil empire now.

 

[stoox]

so lets see...
is it 70 buck on top of what im already paying or is the entire plan just 70 bucks+extra for extra text?

and i like all the adds for other carriers all over the site.

 

[ztepper]

updates on MMS.

I just spoke with an AT&T customer service rep about MMS for iPhone customers. pricing for MMS is as follows:
* customers pay for the actual text message
* any data concerning the MMS is not charged to your account since you have the unlimited iPhone data plan.

SO: if you have unlimited text messaging, you literally pay nothing for MMS.
sure did put a smile on my face. as for when it will be supported? no word yet.

 

[blacknblu]

Seriously...

All the AT&T bitching I see here makes me think of one old saying


"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"

I am willing to bet if it was a locked in agreement with T-Mobile, verizon ect a lot of the same bitching would be going on.

I switched to Cingular (before the merger with AT&T) because Verizon had locked their phones down so tight, I couldn't access the "hardware" I had purchased. I take issue with AT&T on a number of items, but I'm certainly glad the iPhone isn't with Verizon. Could you imagine paying to sync iTunes with your phone - I can with Verizon.

I would like to see the end of the "exclusive" contract with AT&T, where any provider could host the iPhone. In that environment, a user could choose which functionality he/she wants at the stated price. Competition isn't just something that gives you gray hair, it also gives you better products...

 

[chr1s60]

At this point I have already lost all excitement for tethering because I already know AT&T is going to throw out some ridiculous price for the plan. It is worth a little bit of money to me, but I have the feeling it is going to be $40 or more extra and IMO that is way too much when you add that on top of the already expensive iPhone plans.

 

[TroyBoy30]

At&t only got the iPhone from cingular, I wish they hadn't merged... Things would probably be different.

didn't att own cingular? lol

I like my data plan; $45 for unlimited and tethering. Nothing like a grandfathered plan. Now they charge $65 for it and has additional restrictions.

I like mine better. $19 media max 200 plan with an att fuze. unlimited internet with tethering and 200 texts. I use anywhere from 1 to 30 gig a month tethering. gonna miss it with the iphone. It's gonna be $35 for the same with no tethering

 

[MacNut]

SBC owned Cingular, SBC bought ATT and took the name.

 

[eastercat]

All the AT&T bitching I see here makes me think of one old saying


"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"

I am willing to bet if it was a locked in agreement with T-Mobile, verizon ect a lot of the same bitching would be going on.

With Verizon the bitching would be worse. When traveling to a foreign country, you couldn't drop a local SIM into the phone, so you can make cheap calls. Although it requires the use of yellowsn0w or something equivalent, we can unlock the iPhone and use foreign SIMs with it.
I'm so glad Verizon refused Apple.