Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T's iPhone Tethering Plan Details?

Heeeeelllllll No!!! I'm not signing up to pay another $30 for something I'll rarely use. If they do lump it in with the other iPhone plan, they had better not make us pay extra. I'll be fine if it adds 5 dollars but not 30.
 
happydude said:
to not include this in the already $30 "unlimited" data plan is just plain stupid. i'm definitely not going to pay $60/mo to use data on my phone and data on my computer. there's enough places with free wireless these days that somehow i'll get by . . .
Click to expand...

SIXTY BUCKS A MONTH ?????? #@%*! 😱
and that's only for data! add on voice plan and text, and you're OVER $100 !

w t f ?

okay, seriously, how many people do you really think will sign up for this when they can just get WiFi for free ?
 
lowbatteries said:
Now that the smart phone category, thanks to the iPhone, is becoming a more common product, these prices will drop.

Before their potential customers were business users. Now their potential customers are ... everyone. So there will be a lot more price competition in the tethering market I think.

That is, once some other iPhone clones get onto other carriers.
Click to expand...

That's the way all other markets in the world work, EXCEPT for cell phones and cable television.

When I bought my first cell phone, back in 1999, my voice plan was $29.99 per month for more minutes than I could use. (comparable to today's $39.99 plans). It had the unlimited night and weekends just like we have today. They didn't have data plans back then. Text messaging didn't exist yet. $29.99 per month, and the taxes and regulatory fees were about one dollar total. My bill was thirty dollars and change. Few people had cell phones back then. It was still a luxury item. My iPhone is about my fifth or sixth cell phone since then. I've slowly watched my monthly bill creep up. Even before I bought my iPhone, the monthly bill for my RAZR was about $55. The minimum plan they would sell me was $39.99 (even though I only needed a $29.99 plan with unlimited nights and weekends), and I had $5 for text msgs, and then taxes were about $7 dollars now (up from $1 eight years ago). It's ridiculous! They just keep raising the prices!
 
Rybold said:
SIXTY BUCKS A MONTH ?????? #@%*! 😱
and that's only for data! add on voice plan and text, and you're OVER $100 !

w t f ?

okay, seriously, how many people do you really think will sign up for this when they can just get WiFi for free ?
Click to expand...

do you not understand that this is the way it currently works with other smartphones on at&t? if you look on at&t's site you will see that for a phone like the blackjack 2 the pda personal + tethering plan is $60/month, and the same with the rest of the 3G pda/smartphones.

wake up, this is how at&t prices their unlimited 3G data plans with tethering. im just going to assume that all the whining being done in this thread is ignorance because the other option is a disturbing sense of entitlement.
 
ruinfx said:
do you not understand that this is the way it currently works with other smartphones on at&t? if you look on at&t's site you will see that for a phone like the blackjack 2 the pda personal + tethering plan is $60/month, and the same with the rest of the 3G pda/smartphones.

wake up, this is how at&t prices their unlimited 3G data plans with tethering. im just going to assume that all the whining being done in this thread is ignorance because the other option is a disturbing sense of entitlement.
Click to expand...

It is also $60 a month for a laptop card, and they are capped at 5G a month.
 
What a Joke

I can not believe AT&T is going to charge another $30.00 a month for tethering and limit us to 5 Meg. $10.00 more is fair!! Don't limit us! 😉
 
Rybold said:
SIXTY BUCKS A MONTH ?????? #@%*! 😱
and that's only for data! add on voice plan and text, and you're OVER $100 !

w t f ?

okay, seriously, how many people do you really think will sign up for this when they can just get WiFi for free ?
Click to expand...
Um, where I work, we have over 300 people signed up for $60 data plans on Verizon (that's $45 for BlackBerry data + $15 to tether).

For people that pay to tether, $60 is the going rate for AT&T and Verizon.

And FWIW, if you do serious traveling, free WiFi is hard to find on a regular basis. Crap, even if you fly 2x-3x a week, you'd save money with the extra $30 to AT&T to tether than to pay for WiFi day-passes in the airports.
 
I agree, $30/month on top of the $30/month data plus whatever your voice plan is, you're talking $100/month at least. And just in case you've been living under a rock the last few months, the world's economy- not that great right now. Sure, tethering would be nice, but I just can't afford it. Plus, I don't know how much I'd use it. I have a 1st gen iPhone on a pay-as-you-go plan, $30/month for voice, and I have over $200 saved up. That's how much I use it.
 
sangosimo said:
how would AT&T be able to tell by the traffic?
Click to expand...

During casual use they probably couldn't. If I tried to do a system software update, though, AT&T would probably take notice.

I agree with many other people: data is data. If it's truly an "unlimited" plan from AT&T then I shouldn't have to pay extra for a different "flavor" of data. Currently I have a Verizon DSL service at home that's $40 a month. AT&T's tethering plan, while probably not giving me the best speed, would save me $10 a month. However, my wife and daughter use the computer too. So when they wanted to connect I'd have to give them my iPhone.

Once the UHF frequency band is set up for wireless connectivity, the whole game is going to change. Until then, AT&T has us over a barrel -- if we want to keep our iPhones (and not violate our contracts). I keep kicking myself that I didn't grab NetShare.... 🙁
 
jayducharme said:
(..)
Until then, AT&T has us over a barrel -- if we want to keep our iPhones (and not violate our contracts). I keep kicking myself that I didn't grab NetShare.... 🙁
Click to expand...

Can't you simply get your mobile data service somewhere else?

For example, I use a USB 3G Stick from Fonic in Germany. It is "pay as you go", just 2,50 Euro for each day it is used.
(If you use over 1 GB in one day, speed will be limited to 56k for the rest of the day, but 1GB is much for a single day). The stick is very handy, works
well with the Mac and was cheap (88 Eur unlocked).

If you only use it a few times a month (like I do) this is a good offer.

Are there no offers like this in the US?

Christian
 
ruinfx said:
do you not understand that this is the way it currently works with other smartphones on at&t? if you look on at&t's site you will see that for a phone like the blackjack 2 the pda personal + tethering plan is $60/month, and the same with the rest of the 3G pda/smartphones.

wake up, this is how at&t prices their unlimited 3G data plans with tethering. im just going to assume that all the whining being done in this thread is ignorance because the other option is a disturbing sense of entitlement.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? LOL wow.

Everyone who cares is fully aware of what ATT charges for the blackberry +tethering.

The "whining" you refer to is the legitimate complaint that it's absolute extortion to charge $60/month for 3G speed usage, with or without restrictions. 3G on the iPhone is appropriate at $30 a month. Twice that is not appropriate, regardless of the "privilege" to tether to a pc.

Very few iPhone users are going to need tethering to the extreme ( I would consider a 5gb transfer pretty serious tethering action), and those who do need it badly have already figured it out and use it daily. Are they going to switch from free to another $30/mon just to be nice to ATT? Nope. This is just an ATT money making scam. Period. A few wealthy morons will buy it just so they can feel that they are getting the most possible, even if they never use it.
 
People want to have the cake and eat it too....

I remember not long ago at all, people were on here screaming and complaining that AT&T should give the iPhone the same tethering option they give other phones on their network. Sounds like now, they're doing this, and everybody's upset they don't get a "better deal".

Will I pay $30 a month for this? Nope... But I also realize AT&T did just invest heavily in becoming the largest provider of wi-fi access points in public places in the USA. Considering they're offering use of those for free to all AT&T subscribers on iPhones - it sounds like that's a pretty reasonable alternative.

I'd rather be on wi-fi any day than some tethered cellular data network.


ruinfx said:
NEWS FLASH: $30/month is standard for smartphone tethering plans on AT&T.

stop crying.
Click to expand...
 
My guess is that they don't want most people to buy it. So they price it at a price that will make it worth while to them, and keep demand low.

If you don't like it, don't pay for it. You don't have to own an iPhone and you don't have to use AT&T.

For some of us it is worth it.
 
i don't think it would be worth $30 a month for that, at least not for me. especially with the 5GB cap
 
hummm $30 a month or Jailbreak+pdaNET......

if they want this to work i think they need to at least cut the price in half. 30$ is alot of cash per month to use something that can be done for free, with ease.
 
Yeah $30 a month is WAY to steep on top of the data plan I'm already paying for. I only would use the service a handful of times a year, definitely not worth the $360+ it would cost. For now I'll just keep PDANet for my very occasional use.

I'd much prefer ATT come out with their own application and charge a flat fee for it so we can use the Data Plan we already have for our iPhone! I'd gladly pay say $50 for a PDANet type application that was Apple sanitized and purchased through the App Store so I didn't have to jailbrake.
 
****ing rediculous WAY TOO EXPENSIVE

OK. I understand that some people need to do work on their mobile devices and that data plans are expensive but to charge $30 addition just to use that same data in a different way is ABSURD. **** ATT and all the mobile providers they are being greedy bastards. Also, since when is bait and switch an acceptable tactic. Why is it called unlimited if it is in fact limited? Someone should start a class action against these false advertising claims.
 
pyramid6 said:
My guess is that they don't want most people to buy it. So they price it at a price that will make it worth while to them, and keep demand low.

If you don't like it, don't pay for it. You don't have to own an iPhone and you don't have to use AT&T.

For some of us it is worth it.
Click to expand...

I don't understand people like you. It's like you WANT ATT to **** all of us over... How is it in any way OK to charge $30.00 for this service. It's completely INSANE. You can do it for free already with PDAnet not to mention the fact that it should have been included from the beginning. If you pay for a service you should be able to use it any way you want. I can't believe that there are actually people out there defending the big corporations. Please just think about what you're saying. Corporations are out there to make money, we all know this. They want to do well for their investors. BUT, they also should think long term. In no way is charging $30 for tethering a viable long term strategy. The first company that gives it away for free will gain a TON of customers. It's inevitable.

OK sorry for the slightly personal attack. I just don't understand why you would defend the telco's practices even if it's worth it to you. It's still wrong.
 
Amen

ucfgrad93 said:
Wow, $30 a month? Sorry, but that is way to expensive and I will not be signing up for this.
Click to expand...

LOL..... This post really got my anger up as you may be able to tell from my frequent posts. I have a nice "unlimited" data plan for my iphone for $7.00 per month. I use that with PDAnet for data tethering. Sure I don't get screaming fast speeds... I wish I could get 3G but I save approx. 80% over AT&Ts 3G plan. The best way to fight this is to not give in. I almost want to switch to att just so I can NOT pay for this and start torrenting over PDAnet. lol that would be fun.

EDIT: Forgot to mention I have $7 data plan from t-mobile.
 
All Cable/Telco companies can suck it

howyoudoin said:
Unless they redo their tethering prices on all smartphones then its going to be $30 a month on top of whatever you pay. They don't care that you have unlimited on the iphone just like on any other smartphone plan.

Think its too much in my opinion especially if att is going to limit it to 5gb a month. I would consider paying $10 a month for it but more then that and it becomes "i can live without it" feature
Click to expand...

More to the point.... for more than $0.00 per month it becomes "I can still get it for free and say screw you to AT&T." Anyone reading this post who has an iPhone and wants this all you need to do is Jailbreak your phone. It is extremely easy and SAFE (you cannot damage your phone). You then download PDAnet... and bingo you have free data tethering.

LOL I love venting my frustrations on the internet. It's almost as good as an intense work out. I feel so much better now.

SUCK IT ATT and Comcast you both are horrible horrible companies who attempt to rape your customers at every opportunity. I just love using encrypted BitTorrent connections so that you can no longer throttle my lovely "illegal" downloads. ARRRR.... it's great to be a pirate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back