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Charge for tethering?

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,218
4,342
5045 feet above sea level
As its easy to enable tethering for free, is there a way for ATT to track the data that goes through that app and charge accordingly?

Last thing I was is to end up with a 5000 dollar tether bill for browsing 20megs

can att tell if we use this app? or is this just like netshare and what not whereas long as we dont go over 5 gigs, we are ok?
 
Wondering the same thing... I see all these posts about people being able to finally get tethering but, very few people raising this question. I know the data plan is unlimited but, I'm not sure if tethering is tracked separately from that or not.
 
Don't quote me on this lol, but I think I saw somewhere, at least those using the hacked/modded .ipcc file to enable tethering that the same APN is used for normal data usage, i.e., the standard wap.cingular/WAP@CINGULAR.GPRS one. Therefore, if that were the case, it's using the same gateway and wouldn't cause additional charges.

I did this same thing with a Sierra Wireless 3G aircard...I pop my sim card out of my iPhone 3G, put it in the aircard, and then type in the same APN settings of wap.cingular as opposed to the pay-per-kb isp.cingular config. Again, i am not totally sure though...i've already got my other computer prepped and ready in case I have to downgrade back to 2.2.1 and PdaNet, lol.
 
jcde7ago said:
Don't quote me on this lol, but I think I saw somewhere, at least those using the hacked/modded .ipcc file to enable tethering that the same APN is used for normal data usage, i.e., the standard wap.cingular/WAP@CINGULAR.GPRS one. Therefore, if that were the case, it's using the same gateway and wouldn't cause additional charges.

I did this same thing with a Sierra Wireless 3G aircard...I pop my sim card out of my iPhone 3G, put it in the aircard, and then type in the same APN settings of wap.cingular as opposed to the pay-per-kb isp.cingular config. Again, i am not totally sure though...i've already got my other computer prepped and ready in case I have to downgrade back to 2.2.1 and PdaNet, lol.
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That's what I have but, I'm still hesitant to use this. Would be nice to use at the resort I'm going to next week. No wifi there. Will give me something to do at night on my laptop.
 
biw999 said:
That's what I have but, I'm still hesitant to use this. Would be nice to use at the resort I'm going to next week. No wifi there. Will give me something to do at night on my laptop.
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If that's the case, then you're fine. Like I said I use that same standard wap.cingular APN that the iPhone data plan uses with my 3G AirCard, and it uses my standard data. This issue of using the wap.cingular APN has been discussed many times across many forums for many different phones, and if you stick with it it's fine for normal data usage. As long as you stay under the softcap, I wouldn't worry too much.
 
I so hope this will be the same as the regular internet. I have Netshare but this is SO much easier and doesn't require proxys.
 
it will likely not be a problem if you don't abuse it.

If you run your porn and torrents through it 24x7 it will likely be flagged as being unreasonable level of usage for an iphone and they will likely figure it out.

If once in a while you are somewhere and plug it up and do some web browsing and mail, they will likely never know or really care... At least until they release their own over-priced alternative.

But i guess technically an overpriced alternative is already available.
 
If I were AT&T, I wouldn't be looking at usage across the board, I'd look at the user's history. So if you were using 500 MB / month before and now that 3.0 is out you're using 1.5 GB, I might consider taking some action. They may do it as a % change, not a total usage.

Bottom line: If/when AT&T slams you with an overage charge for using your data plan in a fashion that is not in accordance with the terms of your contract, don't whine, you're taking a calculated risk by tethering ;)
 
eh270 said:
If I were AT&T, I wouldn't be looking at usage across the board, I'd look at the user's history. So if you were using 500 MB / month before and now that 3.0 is out you're using 1.5 GB, I might consider taking some action. They may do it as a % change, not a total usage.

Bottom line: If/when AT&T slams you with an overage charge for using your data plan in a fashion that is not in accordance with the terms of your contract, don't whine, you're taking a calculated risk by tethering ;)
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that really would be a surefire way deduce that but one can argue thier usage habits have changed too

as long as one remains under the soft cap of 5 gigs of their "unlimited" dta plan, i dont think they can take any action, such as charging more, without getting in legal trouble
 
dukebound85 said:
that really would be a surefire way deduce that but one can argue thier usage habits have changed too

as long as one remains under the soft cap of 5 gigs of their "unlimited" dta plan, i dont think they can take any action, such as charging more, without getting in legal trouble
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True, but they could give you a hard time about it and that's never fun. I haven't gone through the T&C with a fine-toothed comb, but I suspect they might have thrown in a few clauses there to protect themselves in situations like this, especially given the fragility of their MMS-incapable network

Here's to not getting caught!
 
I wouldn't think that it would be all that hard for AT&T to track usage or tethering.

But even if they can't, usage will probably be much more than just the iPhone by itself. Since AT&T will have that data it would be relatively easy to see those who use more than the average.
 
Well I would only be using tethering at times when I would otherwise be accessing the same websites on my phone so I don't see how the amount of data would be that much different.
:confused:
 
sushi said:
But even if they can't, usage will probably be much more than just the iPhone by itself.
Click to expand...

This is true; even just opening your laptop up, if you have mail.app open and a few toolbar items running, you could quickly rack up 1 MB before you even fire up a browser.
 
It doesn't matter what your "average" is. Just stay under the cap. Unless you're relying solely on your iPhone for internet (which is not a smart idea by any stretch of the imagination) or using it to torrent, 5 GB is pretty dang hard to surpass. If you wanna be extra safe, just start streaming pr0n every day (with your iPhone browser), and get your so-called "average usage" up but still keep it under the cap. Then, tether as much as you want to the same point (again, still under the cap) and stop worrying so much. How is AT&T going to tell that way? :p

TL;DR; stay under the cap and it doesn't matter whether or not you used to use only 100 MB a month and you're up to 3 GB a month now.
 
I have used Netshare for the past year and never got any additional charges, so probably be safe with tethering this way also.
 
As long as you're not going overboard with tethering then I think you're fine. If your laptop/desktop life style includes browsing a lot of youtube, downloading torrents or porn, or just browsing a number of graphically intensive web sites then you may not want to tether. Just dont get stupid with tethering and start testing this site and downloading that to see your new found tethering in action and you SHOULD be ok.

I say this because I dont think AT&T will care much less notice unless your data usage as one member pointed out went from using 500MB a month to 1500MB a month then I'd say somethings up.
 
You also have to consider the possibility that AT&T required Apple to include a "phone home" command in the tethering app. So it's possible AT&T already knows, it's much more likely they won't care as long as you keep your tethering to resonable limits.
 
before you Tether it does say "Additional usage charges may apply" so you never know

but I use PDAnet all the time, unless they can tell a difference
 
daneoni said:
Using data via a laptop is more intense than using it via a phone...i.e. more strain on the network
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Not really in my case. I just want it for the occasional "dammit, I could really use a signal to send an e-mail." Our office is cheap and doesn't have WiFi, so when I bring my pretty MBP, I have to use a flash drive to transfer files and cannot use the Internet. With a quick tether, I could go nuts. Give me a data limit and let me tether! I'm sure streaming audio from MLB At Bat and streaming video from YouTube takes up plenty of bandwidth, but it's free.
 
I have been using 30 gig a month tethering with a htc touch pro (smartphone) while using a non smart phone media max plan for almost 2 years. In case you don't know, that's a non smart phone non tethering plan! lol

Unless they are doing something special for iphone plan monitoring I wouldn't think you have to worry. The worst they can do is cancel your data plan.
 
TroyBoy30 said:
I have been using 30 gig a month tethering with a htc touch pro (smartphone) while using a non smart phone media max plan for almost 2 years. In case you don't know, that's a non smart phone non tethering plan! lol

Unless they are doing something special for iphone plan monitoring I wouldn't think you have to worry. The worst they can do is cancel your data plan.
Click to expand...

or the worst is they charge per kb
 
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