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AT&T's iPhone Tethering Plan Details?

lftrghtparadigm said:
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.
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yea its a scam. :rolleyes: the same scam that verizon is running too. those bastards. im glad everyone is getting so worked up about this now when these prices have been in place for years.

it must be just those "wealthy morons" buying it right? or maybe its people that dont want to violate their contracts with at&t? you act like at&t is asking for an extra $30/month and not giving you anything in return. they are giving you the option to connect your phone to your pc and use more bandwidth. the more bandwidth at&t expects you will be using, the more you will have to pay. what a novel idea. cant afford it? too bad.

just because you figured out a way to tether and use more bandwidth without paying for it now, does not entitle you to special treatment in the future. the only scammer here is you, not at&t, and i hope they start cracking down and apple disables all tethering apps so you freeloaders dont destroy the 3G network that we all share. whoops, i shouldnt expect you to care about the other people using the network, my mistake.
 
contractcooker said:
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.
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I think that you're being naive to believe that people using a tethered connection won't use any more data on their laptop than if they were on their iPhone.

Maybe some people will be like that, but from what I've seen from having to support about 300 coworkers with tethering, when they tether, they're using their laptop just like they were at their home/office. This means they'll do their software updates, download new software, update their iTunes podcasts, send emails with 10MB PowerPoint attachments, etc. All things you can't do on the iPhone.

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.
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Where did you see anything that said the $30/month iPhone data plan is limited?
 
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.
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Apparently you work in AT&T's Accounts Receivable department.

Here's the bottom line: From a "Market" perspective, only a very small percentage of people are going to pay $60/month, but a MUCH, MUCH larger percentage of people would we willing to add tethering if it was only $10 or $15 more. AT&T created that $30 plan for the other smart phones several years ago, when "data" was a brand new novelty and the technology was very expensive to AT&T. Today, with MILLIONS of smart phones on their network, the "data" technology is no longer a brand new novelty item. They need to lower the tethering fee for everyone and get the MILLIONS signed up that refuse to pay the $30 novelty price.
 
Rybold said:
Apparently you work in AT&T's Accounts Receivable department.

Here's the bottom line: From a "Market" perspective, only a very small percentage of people are going to pay $60/month, but a MUCH, MUCH larger percentage of people would we willing to add tethering if it was only $10 or $15 more. AT&T created that $30 plan for the other smart phones several years ago, when "data" was a brand new novelty and the technology was very expensive to AT&T. Today, with MILLIONS of smart phones on their network, the "data" technology is no longer a brand new novelty item. They need to lower the tethering fee for everyone and get the MILLIONS signed up that refuse to pay the $30 novelty price.
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Here's the bottom line, Rybold. From a "network performance" perspective, AT&T can only afford for a very small percentage of its customers to tether.

I don't think you'll find many people who will disagree that AT&T's current 3G network performance can be sub-par. You say that "data" technology is no longer a brand new novelty, but it's pretty obvious that AT&T is struggling with 3G data technology, so it might was well be a novelty.

Letting a few million iPhone users tether (which is what would happen if it only cost $10-$15 month more to do that) would KILL their 3G network performance.

Once they're able to handle the traffic, then I think they should lower the price and let more people on. But right now, it'd really piss me off if they did cheap tethering and we all paid the price with an even crappier 3G experience that what some of us are currently getting today.
 
Rybold said:
Apparently you work in AT&T's Accounts Receivable department.

Here's the bottom line: From a "Market" perspective, only a very small percentage of people are going to pay $60/month, but a MUCH, MUCH larger percentage of people would we willing to add tethering if it was only $10 or $15 more. AT&T created that $30 plan for the other smart phones several years ago, when "data" was a brand new novelty and the technology was very expensive to AT&T. Today, with MILLIONS of smart phones on their network, the "data" technology is no longer a brand new novelty item. They need to lower the tethering fee for everyone and get the MILLIONS signed up that refuse to pay the $30 novelty price.
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i think you are vastly overstating how many people would actually take advantage of tethering. to me it seems like tethering is a substitute for data cards, you use your phone instead. when you compare a plan with a data card with a plan with a smartphone and a tethering plan, the tethering plan is cheaper which is a benefit for customers.

besides the fact that i dont think at&ts network could even support MILLIONS of customers tethering. we are not at the point where there can be tethering for everyone, so its more for people that want it as a luxury or need it for business at this point.
 
Doesn't it cost the same for blackberries, I mean why should anyone expect it for free? :rolleyes:
 
Lack of knowledge of infrastructure!

contractcooker said:
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.
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Do ANY of "you people" have any clue about the infrastructure requirements to offer 3G speeds to the masses? The costs, the equipment needs, the spectrum requirements. Radio waves aren't like wires. You can't easily increase capacity in the same space. There are all sorts of problems related to spectrum & how radio waves behave. The truth is that *NO* network could hope to handle heavy 3G usage by a large section of its user base. The financial & technical requirements tend to increase significantly.

Saying that... I don't agree with paying extra for tethering. I do however believe that data limits are required & overages should be charged for. It's just a matter of how much the charge should be.

Not to mention AT&T's 3G footprint is a joke compared to Verizon/Sprint's.
 
ruinfx said:
so its more for people that want it as a luxury or need it for business at this point.
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IMO, it's precisely for business.

As good as the iPhone has become from a business perspective, its inability to properly tether has been a deal-breaker for many business folks looking to switch from a WinMo or BB device (from which they could properly getheter with).
 
ruinfx said:
congrats? do you really think people will give up their iphones because you can get some crap treo on sprint with cheaper tethering? at&t can do whatever they want with the iphone.
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Well said dude, not everybody is going to get tethering, not everybody needs it and it's not being forced upon you. I mean treo, do they still make those phones anymore? :rolleyes:
 
Thanks, but no Thanks! I will keep my sprint mobile broadband card. get way better speeds then ATT ever gave me on there service, be it Tethered or there 3G laptop card. Yea, I pay more but I know it works and works 100% of the time with no speed issues.
 
Tether - extra - bah!

Hey, I would love to have an iphone - but the cost is ridiculous - and tethering to cost even more - ugh!!! Hence, why I keep a Mogul, and tether wirelessly with WMWiFiRouter - folks this is fast, and it WORKS!!! And, cost = ZERO! (okay except for the $20 I paid for the WMWiFiRouter program). And, I can sync to my Macbook pro using Missing Sync (awesome program and it works great - even let's me put ANY Program on my Mogul I want - the iPhone doesn't let you do that - if only Apple would realize that they make great products - but DON'T restrict their use!
 
Ysean said:
Not to mention AT&T's 3G footprint is a joke compared to Verizon/Sprint's.
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Agreed! AT&T's false advertising about the largest 3G network is a joke in itself. Not to mention the Apple employees who try to tell people that garbage. I respect AT&T for offering service in some of the dark parts of the US. But their coverage for 3G speeds is laughable when you consider they have the best tech device on the market.

I wouldn't complain that much, I just wouldn't pay for it. Anyone that does and can't find a 3G signal is crazy.

This is why Apple should have just went with a different carrier/not dealt with AT&T at least.
 
AT&T claimed that they were the largest 3G network? I've only heard them say that they were the fastest 3G network.
 
Thats so stupid. Why does AT&T care how much we use if we are paying $30 a month! Im already pay $20 for data and $30 for texting, couldn't they just give us so many tethering minutes each month? Like 200 a month that comes with your data plan?:confused: And we can upgrade from there. :)
 
Cheffy Dave said:
I grabbed it to, but have yet to use it., not much need, that said can't AT&T see Netshare in use, and charge you anyway:confused:?
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Yeah. AT&T will see where the data is coming from on your phone, and then you'll get an unpleasant surprise on your next bill.
 
Rybold said:
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!
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T-Mobile, Individual Basic plan with ulimited weekends (not nights) $29.99
 
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