I am more concerned with the network speed. If it is received well, which it sounds like it might be, we may all be paying for edge speeds on 3G before it is all said and done. All I have to say is that as soon as Apple puts the iPhone on another network, I am moving; regardless of the early term fee. I am sick of ATT and will gladly give them the finger on the way out.
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AT&T's iPhone Tethering Plan Details?
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I am more concerned with the network speed. If it is received well, which it sounds like it might be, we may all be paying for edge speeds on 3G before it is all said and done. All I have to say is that as soon as Apple puts the iPhone on another network, I am moving; regardless of the early term fee. I am sick of ATT and will gladly give them the finger on the way out.
The 5GB cap is a line of legal poo-poo that will rarely get enforced. Its only there to protect the wireless carrier legally when dealing with bandwidth hogs. Were talking the really big hogs. I go over the 5GB cap every month. Downloading files or even playing Warcraft, Ive never gotten a phone call or a letter. My tethering has never been turned off. Im a Blackberry user. Dont let the bandwidth cap scare you.
And how do you suppose they will know this? Does anyone really think that ATT cares that much about the few individuals who purchased the Netshare application. They are a well oiled and greedy machine, but they don't really care that much about the few of us who were fortunate enough to have purchased Netshare before it was pulled.
This is probably the only time I will ever say this, but I think ATT might actually have a legitimate reason for charging the additional 30 a month for tethering. Think about the strain on the already insufficient network. If they make a 10 or 15 dollar plan, even if it is capped on data usage, peak usage times will completely bog everything down. 30 dollars is enough to be just out of reach for the average consumer, and when its not anymore, they will have tons of money to continue expanding their network (and line their pockets as well). I agree, it is still ridiculous that ATTs 3G network would be as pitiful as it is (in comparison to the rest of the world), but considering this fact alone it makes sense to be a little exclusive in the tethering option.
Sprint is in hot water. They've been losing subscribers in droves and their stock price is down 87% for the past twelve months. Just this month, it fell from $10 per share down to close at $1.95 per share today. On Nov.10, they reported earnings and said that for the most recent quarter, their revenue was down 12% and they lost 1.3 million subscribers for that quarter alone. I don't own stock in Sprint, but I do own stock in AT&T, so I keep an eye on the other wireless companies.
AT&T: iPhone and BB Bold exclusive
Verizon: BB Storm exclusive
T-Mobile: G-phone exclusive
Sprint: the Instinct.
That's why there would be limited data plans. Just like text messaging, you buy a plan depending on how much data you want. Right now, "MILLIONS" of iPhone users surf the web and watch Youtube videos on their iPhones every day. That's a LOT of data already! All the tethering would be doing is displaying the web pages on their laptop instead of their iPhone browser. The 3G connection is the same speed. All it does is display the web pages on the computer instead of the phone. Right now, you have to wait for a webpage to download onto your iPhone. If you laptop is tethered, you still have to wait that same amount of time. It's the same thing; it's just displayed on your laptop instead of on your iPhone.
Damn that looks expensive.
So far I think this is the best "tethering" out there.
http://global.wmwifirouter.com/consumer/
The phone companies don't even know you (and your friends) are using it so it just looks like you might be watching a lot of youtube sites on your phone.
So far I think this is the best "tethering" out there.
http://global.wmwifirouter.com/consumer/
The phone companies don't even know you (and your friends) are using it so it just looks like you might be watching a lot of youtube sites on your phone.
Your argument makes sense, except think about all of the background services that the average PC has that regularly try to access the internet if possible. Especially spyware and adware. Unfortunately, there are just too many windows based laptops out there with poor or inadequate protection against these kinds of threats for me to believe that there will not be a noticeable strain on the network. Even that aside, if the tethering program is not written well (and considering some of the other issues people other than me have reported with the iPhone software), it still has the potential to put undue strain on the network. As the consumer, we may never know what actually causes a network to slow down, but the potential for this to be a culprit is pretty high.
AT&T has busted people tethering on the cheaper data plans before, so it appears that they have some way of "knowing this". If you're really interested in the details, you can search around over on the AT&T forums on HowardForums.com
It's not the same thing at all.
If I put you at a tethered laptop and let you use it like you normally would, you'd use way, way more data than you would during the same time spent with an iPhone.
Look at YouTube. The experience on a laptop is totally difference than the optimized one for the iPhone. First off, the iPhone will only show you videos compressed with h.264. Second off, the iPhone snags all of the info about the featured videos, most popular videos, etc via a tiny XML file, not the huge web page you see when you visit with your laptop.
And then take the laptop itself. Virtually every Windows box out there is set to automatically download updates, which means while you're in YouTube, your OS can be downloading patches in the background.
The iPhone, from what I've seen, doesn't do data in the background. If you're downloading new emails and then switch to Safari, the email program stops/pauses. Your laptop's not going to do that.
There's soooo much more that a laptop can do with data that's not allowed on the iPhone, like downloading music, updating programs, sending emails with large attachments, having multiple tabs in your browser simultaneously downloading pages, and even bittorrenting/p2p.
Even if tethering was only somehow limited to webpages, the fact that the computer is going to download all of those stupid flash ads on most popular pages (that the iPhone ignores) puts it as using my data than the iPhone.
Looking forward to it, BUT???
I would love this as I currently pay $60 per month for a 3G Express Card for My MBP. However, I could use my iPhone for $30 and could use my MacBook too.
But, I will bet the $200 cancellation fee for my 3G service still applies even though I have an iPhone and this is the logical move because of $30 is less than $60 plus all of the line taxes. And, I guess with 9 months remaining before I cancel without the fee, nine times $30 = $270. So, I save $70 if I get the option to tether before my next invoice. Gets dicey after that...
EDIT - Oh yes, I pay $60 + $11 tax for the AT&T 3G Data Service using its own phone line which results in high taxes the $30 tethering plan would not include.
I would love this as I currently pay $60 per month for a 3G Express Card for My MBP. However, I could use my iPhone for $30 and could use my MacBook too.
But, I will bet the $200 cancellation fee for my 3G service still applies even though I have an iPhone and this is the logical move because of $30 is less than $60 plus all of the line taxes. And, I guess with 9 months remaining before I cancel without the fee, nine times $30 = $270. So, I save $70 if I get the option to tether before my next invoice. Gets dicey after that...
EDIT - Oh yes, I pay $60 + $11 tax for the AT&T 3G Data Service using its own phone line which results in high taxes the $30 tethering plan would not include.
At this point I think tethering is still just a novelty. Most business users who are "road warriors" just use a plug in USB thing. They have to use their phones as well and it's not that great when you have to switch around and then have enough power left to talk and stuff.
As for "millions" of users using "internet data transfers", doesn't voice use a lot of "data" too. Bandwidth usage wise, it should be actually free texting and pay more for voice. But they just know that everyone loves to talk so they will capture your business over the competitor via that avenue.
As for "millions" of users using "internet data transfers", doesn't voice use a lot of "data" too. Bandwidth usage wise, it should be actually free texting and pay more for voice. But they just know that everyone loves to talk so they will capture your business over the competitor via that avenue.
$30 Additional for Tethering is Nonsense (Use PdaNet instead)
No s**t man.
I'm sticking with PdaNet.
I'm inside Atlanta and get 1.5 Mbps.
No s**t man.
I'm sticking with PdaNet.
I'm inside Atlanta and get 1.5 Mbps.
Yes, but it's still the fastest network, then Verizon with the larger, then AT&T somewhere in third.
And the reviews of the G-Phone are sounding a lot like the Instinct's, it's just not that great. Although, it is made by HTC which IMHO makes the best handsets save for the OS they put on it.
ok maybe I am missing something.
In the US we sign up for the iphone plan with data that comes with unlimited data.
ATT will allow us to connect to the same internet that we are already paying for for an additional $30 but will cap the monthly usage at 5Gb.
Guess I will take my chances with the other alternatives.
In the US we sign up for the iphone plan with data that comes with unlimited data.
ATT will allow us to connect to the same internet that we are already paying for for an additional $30 but will cap the monthly usage at 5Gb.
Guess I will take my chances with the other alternatives.