This will be such a nice enhancement. Now if the rates are reasonable. To me it should be free if you don't exceed your monthly allotment, as others have said.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iOS 4.3 to Bring Mobile Hotspots to GSM iPhones, Pending Carrier Support?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Pending carrier support? WTF? WTF! 
REALLY APPLE? What is wrong with you? Why can't you just start selling the freaking iPhone in the US unlocked, completely free from carrier burden? I have been doing wifi hotspot with my Nexus One, and I'm on AT&T. Apple, stop this ************* and propel yourself away from this backward carrier bullcr@p. I expect Apple to start selling GSM/HSDPA iPhones in the US unlocked the minute the CDMA iPhone announcement happened, but no. It's ridiculously stupid. I have a feeling that we in the US will never see an unlocked iPhone. I mean come on, instead of simply having an unlocked GSM iPhone, what we get is a CDMA iPhone where it's not only locked to a single carrier, you can only use it in 1 country. WTF ************* is this?
REALLY APPLE? What is wrong with you? Why can't you just start selling the freaking iPhone in the US unlocked, completely free from carrier burden? I have been doing wifi hotspot with my Nexus One, and I'm on AT&T. Apple, stop this ************* and propel yourself away from this backward carrier bullcr@p. I expect Apple to start selling GSM/HSDPA iPhones in the US unlocked the minute the CDMA iPhone announcement happened, but no. It's ridiculously stupid. I have a feeling that we in the US will never see an unlocked iPhone. I mean come on, instead of simply having an unlocked GSM iPhone, what we get is a CDMA iPhone where it's not only locked to a single carrier, you can only use it in 1 country. WTF ************* is this? 
The iPhone 4 alone causes a lot of strain on a network. Even here in Canada, where all 3 major carriers have the iPhone, the networks have significantly slowed down. Allowing carriers to decide if they want to put even more strain on their network should, and will wisely be left to the carriers choice.
As far as selling HSDPA phones now, thats completely unreasonable. It would be very unwise to sell a Verizon iPhone 4 that is not sitting at the same point at the AT&T iPhone 4, lest we upset those millions of customers who bought a brand new phone six months ago.
Pending carrier support? WTF? WTF!
I suspect that this must be for the general audience. The general audience wants things to work. They don't really care to understand. If AT&T is the only real/large carrier which supports 3G, then they might see backlash to the brand as consumers may feel lied to about the speed. iPhones don't have the 1700 HSDPA support which is needed to support tMobile's network. So ultimately, Americans do not have much of a choice for the iPhone when it comes to carriers, if speeds are to be kept constant - until now... the CDMA iPhone for Verizon.
Canada's carriers now all support HSDPA. Telus & Bell have upgraded their network from the old CDMA standard ie. EVDO, 1xRT so Canadian consumers have a choice, while maintaining mobile data speeds. That being said, there are 2 carriers which do not support the iPhone at all. That is the 2 newcomers: Windmobility.ca and Mobilicity which are Canadian's answer to tMobile. They utilize the same bandwidth as tMobile 1700MHz. Instead, phones like the Nexus S are the "iPhones" of those networks.
Will we see a pentaband HSPDA iPhone? Only time will tell. It would be nice to have it support 900/1700/1800/1900/2100 unlocked, but perhaps there are other fiscal or social responsibilities which Apple have committed to which we don't know about. Maybe they're jumping the gun and going directly to LTE and Satelite support?
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
I don't think apple is stupid enough to hold back the rest of the world just to give verizon an edge over AT&T, otherwise they will not be able to compete with android on the global market
Nuvi said:
I don't think apple is stupid enough to hold back the rest of the world just to give verizon an edge over AT&T, otherwise they will not be able to compete with android on the global market
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
In Sweden I pay equivalent of 69$, gives me unlimited everything (calls, SMS, mms, data, tethering) no caps. 16gb iPhone 4 included at no initial cost.
Popeye206 said:
In Sweden I pay equivalent of 69$, gives me unlimited everything (calls, SMS, mms, data, tethering) no caps. 16gb iPhone 4 included at no initial cost.
Sure, but so what? There are apps for Android phones that allow portable hotspot. Nexus One comes with the feature built-in with froyo. Nokia phones can do this for quite some time already too. I don't see the wireless carriers around the world crumbling down. In fact, the iPhone gave AT&T a ton of money form new customers/contracts. This type of excuses to protect the carriers is bull. Carriers are raking money left and right. If hardware manufactures are always defending carriers, we will never see progress. It's bad enough that we have the regression of bandwidth cap from unlimited to mere megabytes. Oh, and we in the US are still paying to RECEIVE calls and SMS. Apple used to be the only company that had the balls to tell the carriers up theirs with iOS being free from carriers' hands. But it seems Apple is getting softer and softer now.
And yeah, I'm still mad that I still cannot purchase an unlocked iPhone straight from Apple US, while other countries don't have that issue.
ATT here in the US disputed that last year when they changed the rates on the data plans. Their rep, Vega I think, shared this data to explain the price changes.
AT&Ts New Data Plans
DataPlus 200 MB of data for $15 per month
* Designed for people who primarily surf the Web, send email, and use social networking apps.
* On average, 65% of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB per month
* If you use more than 200 MB, youll receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15, replenished as often as necessary during the billing cycle.
DataPro 2 GB of data for $25 per month
* Designed for people who regularly download or stream music and video, or use other high bandwidth applications
* 98% of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB in a month on average
* If you exceed 2 GB, youll get an additional 1 GB of data for only $10. Each time an additional 1 GB is used up during a cycle, you will automatically receive another 1 GB at the same low price.
I COMPLETELY agree!
I've written to my members of Congress to get the FCC to step in and forbid extra charges for tethering. If I pay for 2 GB of data, it's irrelevant HOW I consume it. I've paid for it and it's mine to use as I see fit! The idea of charging ANY fee based on my method of connecting is asinine! If I go over my data limit, either with the phone OR notebook, I get charged for it. AT&T could actually MAKE money, legitimately, from excess data usage.
I asked Congress to step in because they've done it before. Many years ago, the Plain Ol' Telephone Service ("POTS") used to charge extra for EACH jack in your home. They claimed it was a convenience to have a jack in other rooms and customers had to pay for it.
If we follow AT&T Wireless' flawed logic, then the "POTS" should charge an extra fee for hooking up a cordless phone to your line. Since it allows you to move from room to room more freely, you might talk on the phone more and that could increase your usage. That argument doesn't stand up because, if you're on a limited plan, you pay extra when you go over, regardless of whether you use a wired phone or a cordless one.
The FCC also stopped Cable Companies from charging extra per TV outlet. This happened when "cable ready" TV came out. Equipment rental fees for converter boxes are still allowed.
It's time for GREEDY Cell Phone Companies to be forced to STOP this unjustifiable gouging!
your tethering was illegal, this is legal.
however, i think that this is how it really should be: an ipad connects to wifi at home, and wifi on the iphone somewhere else. isn't it strange that it is now allowed, after sooo many people bought the overpriced ipad 3g with an overpriced phone contract (in wich you can't even phone)???
however, a step into the right direction.
I got the iPhone 4 about 3 weeks after it came out, and got a fairly good deal on O2 (much cheaper than US), but just before Christmas my girlfriend got a great deal on Three-
£99 upfront for 16Gb iPhone 4 (~$150)
300 mins
3000 same network minutes
5000 texts (so basically unlimited!)
1Gb data
£30/month for 2 years. (~$45, and remember the £30 includes taxes)
They seem to have stopped this deal now, but other networks offer similar deals but ask around £150-£200 upfront for the phone. As I was saying earlier, from the comments I've been reading on here since the Verizon announcement the US prices seem huge!
I wish AT&T would allow such a feature to be free, but yeah right. I'll stick to a $20 flat fee for MyWi and a free jailbreak.
Illegal...? I don't think that's the right term. AT&T and Apple don't set the laws.
+1
People need to learn the distinction between an illegal act and a breach of contract.
Shareholders were expecting more of a smoking gun. A good reason why Apple is so secretive. It keeps stakeholders on their toes. If you know what is coming, you can start to calculate your risk and place your bets.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
About time!! I was thinking of switching to Android for this feature. My carrier better support it without additional cost!
About time!! I was thinking of switching to Android for this feature. My carrier better support it without additional cost!
Here is Aus my plan A$69 (inc all taxes) with unlimited SMS, 2GB data (tethering is free), unlimited MMS, unlimited calls to other mobiles on Optus' network (all my friends and family) and $500 credit for other services.
32GB iPhone 4 is included at no cost on the 2 year contract and Optus has unlocked it for free in case I need to travel.
The iPhone is on all the networks here and Apple sell them unlocked through their stores.
As Vodafone UK ownes 45% of verizon wireless, i wonder if Vodafone will allow teathering on the iPhone around the world? This could lead to more worldwide providers enabling the feature to stay competitive
Edit: unless they sold verizon? i know they recently dumped a load of assests including china mobile?
Edit: unless they sold verizon? i know they recently dumped a load of assests including china mobile?
Yikes.. didn't know JB was illegal. So silly of me..
but then how come they charged MyWi $19.99 for the full license? Been using WiFi tethering for a while now. Makes life easier for my iPad and Laptop whenever I'm on the go.Damn. Should've waited for this personal hotspot update.
The difference is that nobody here cares or is talking about your Droid X.
It's a big deal for iPhone users.
Yikes.. didn't know JB was illegal. So silly of me..
Damn. Should've waited for this personal hotspot update.
The courts have ruled that Jailbreaking and/or UnLocking is TOTALLY LEGAL.
I don't understand where this misconception comes from.
Perhaps people who don't want to risk Voiding the Apple warranty.
While Apple has that right, that is where their power ends.
Apple is not the Law.
(Maybe a religion of sorts)
Or maybe Apple could just make the iPhone with that feature, period. I mean come on, Nexus One has it, Nokia phones can do it. There's no reason why Apple should ask AT&T (or any other carriers) on what feature they should put on their own product. It's totally backwards from the stance that Apple seemed to make in the beginnings.
Does Apple wait for Comcast's approval in order for OS X to be able to share internet connection? No. So why suddenly they need AT&T's blessing for this? Apple is going soft. I'm disappointed and mad.
[QUOTE
[/QUOTE]
Wow, talk about a lot of "no comments" in the Q&A and note how he avoided the question of no simultaneous voice and data.
It appears the Verizon story was more hype than reality.
I did not know this: if one is downloading data (like buying shares of stock on-line) and you get a phone call, all data stops. You gotta be kidding.
[/QUOTE]
Wow, talk about a lot of "no comments" in the Q&A and note how he avoided the question of no simultaneous voice and data.
It appears the Verizon story was more hype than reality.
I did not know this: if one is downloading data (like buying shares of stock on-line) and you get a phone call, all data stops. You gotta be kidding.
Very awesome. Now I can cancel my pocket wifi frmo vodafone and hopefully use my 3 (in australia) on iphone4 to allow other devices to connect easily.