iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 Disables Unauthorized AT&T Tethering

[camarobh]

Verizon isn't the end all be all of cell providers

I second that. Why does AT&T have to be so money hungry? I understand they are a business and need to make a profit, but at what cost to them? If verizon gets the Iphone in 2010, AT&T are going to lose 75%+ of their iphone customers. We shouldn't have to wait to tether and pay the $60 EXTRA to tether. Look at all of the other carriers that are offering it to free or next to nothing. They are making a killing in profit because of all of the increased business. I am gone as soon as possible even if I have to pay the $180 early termination fee. Is anyone with me? And Apple...why are you biting the hand that feeds you. AT&T are not keeping you in business, WE are!

When are you all going to stop dreaming about going to Verizon? You will get there and discover they are no different than AT&T. Nobody offers free tethering in the states and AT&T is in business to make money. If you don't like it, don't be an AT&T customer and go use one of those lousy locked-down no apps store phones Verizon sells.

 

[Anuba]

It's tough only having to worry about only covering an entire country the size of California. I hear this nonsense from Europeans over and over. Rolling out infrastructure like this to a country as large as the US, takes a lot more money and a lot more time.

Except the US has a higher population density than Sweden. More people per square mile = more potential revenue. In a country with 33 times the population of Sweden, a dinosaur carrier like AT&T should also have 33 times the revenue and 33 times the resources, and then some. The scale doesn't matter. Italy is only half the size of Sweden yet they're also trailing far behind on this stuff.

California is the perfect example, with 37 million people on an area the size of Sweden (9 million) and a population density of a whopping 235/sq mi. I can see why AT&T aren't keen on upgrading to 4G in Alaska, but California should have been miles ahead of Sweden with 3G, turbo 3G, 4G, 100/1000 mbit fiber broadband etc. Yet in Sweden, 18% of the broadband connections are fiber connections (third in the world after Japan and South Korea), while in the US, that number is 3%. Three percent! Even the Czech Republic beats the US in that department. Imagine that, the cradle of computer technology is behind a p*ss poor country in the Eastern Bloc. 20 years ago they had one TV channel and drove 25 bhp tin cans...

The answer is that the US has taken free enterprise so far that you ended up in a situation where competition stopped functioning as a driving force. I hope all the Tucker Carlsons over there are happy with the Soviet-style technology, while Japan and the EU are shaking their heads.

 

[Diode]

My iPhone tethering seems to be working fine. In fact, I'm sending this post via a tethered computer via an iPhone 3GS running 3.1.

Do you use AT&T and are you on Beta 2?

 

[acidfast7]

Except the US has a higher population density than Sweden. More people per square mile = more potential revenue. In a country with 33 times the population of Sweden, a dinosaur carrier like AT&T should also have 33 times the revenue and 33 times the resources sources, and then some. The scale doesn't matter. Italy is only half the size of Sweden yet they're also trailing far behind on this stuff.

California is the perfect example, with 37 million people on an area the size of Sweden (9 million) and a population density of a whopping 235/sq mi. I can see why AT&T aren't keen on upgrading to 4G in Alaska, but California should have been miles ahead of Sweden with 3G, turbo 3G, 4G, 100/1000 mbit fiber broadband etc. Yet in Sweden, 18% of the broadband connections are fiber connections (third in the world after Japan and South Korea), while in the US, that number is 3%. Three percent! Even the Czech Republic beats the US in that department. Imagine that, the cradle of computer technology is behind a p*ss poor country in the Eastern Bloc. 20 years ago they had one TV channel and drove 25 hp tin cans...

The answer is that the US has taken free enterprise so far that you ended up in a situation where competition stopped functioning as a driving force. I hope all the Tucker Carlsons over there are happy with the Soviet-style technology, while Japan and the EU are shaking their heads.

Tja! Tack så mycket för bra replikering att löjlighet amerikansk.

 

[cmcconkey]

verizon wont even let you send pictures/messages/mp3 files over bluetooth in their phones! iPhone will never go to verizon, tmobile is more likely.

This no not exactly true anymore. I constantly do it with my Dare, a friends Versa and have successfully done it on the new ENV Touch. It has become a must on my future phones.

I also have the 3G S but I have yet to be able to send squat to it over bluetooth, I haven't actually tried much.

 

[rw3]

Might as well get a Spring or Verizon USB adapter and call it a day. I have a CBeyond (uses Spring and Verizion towers) and it works well and is cheap, $20 a month for unlimited. Helps that we have a 6 land line plan.

 

[akutad]

Sucks to be an AT&T customer

Tethering is great up here in Canada. Couldn't live without it now that I've had it.

+1, also what's cool is that when I'm tethering My HD that's hooked up on my airport extreme shows up under my "shared" in finder. now I can access 1TB of storage anywhere. Love it!

 

[AppleFan360]

Works 100% in 3.1 beta 2

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

[MarceePauff]

How do you plan to hang onto your $20 plan? I was able to keep mine (which also had 200 texts included) with my 2G up until I ordered the 3GS. The first step in the order process forces you to accept the new $30 plan. I almost didn't order it due to the huge plan hike, but when I looked at "my current plan" on the AT&T Website there was a note saying my $20 plan was going to expire on 8/1 anyway.

Any answer to this yet? I'm wondering the same thing. I'd like to upgrade my phone eventually, but keep my plan and I should be able to - it's still an iPhone; I should be "grandfathered" in. If you speak with an AT&T rep, will they let you just change devices and keep your plan?

 

[NoExpectations]

I'm not happy either...but.....

...all wireless carriers charge extra for tethering....even if you have an unlimited data plan. These plans were priced under the assumption that all data traffic is to/from the actual device. Passthru traffic (tethering) will totally throw-off the pricing and capacity model.

As you know, tethering allows you to connect your own PC to the wireless network....but it can also allow someone to connect an entire LAN infrastructure behind it as well.

If tethering was free, this would only delay the rollout of MMS for the rest of us until the network capacity was built up to support both. And how would you add network capacity if you were not able to charge customers for the added service?

I have gripes too....but I understand the business model. Nothing is free.

 

[scubasteve03]

Relax guys! Everything is still very premature. This is just a beta! Some people are saying they are still able to tether with 3.1 Beta 2. I promise there will be another workaround to get tethering later. These guys are on top of their stuff and will find another loophole.

 

[fabianjj]

Some post back there (I'm too lazy to find it and quote, my apologies) got me thinking of some old phones that had a setting so you could send SMS messages through GPRS, and then they were charged as GPRS data instead (And in Sweden only a handful of people have SMS plans, most people pay per SMS). No matter how expensive your data was 160 Bytes is very little in comparison to what an SMS woud cost.

I believe the Service providers were very pissed off and made the manufacturers disable the feature.

 

[mobi]

Whoa...big surprise! (...not)

I think I'd rather AT&T allow me to tether with my iPhone for no additional charge, in exchange for making my "unlimited" data plan a "limited" plan of, say, 5GB a month.

There is no such thing as truly "unlimited," as the fine print reveals. So why advertise it as such...let me do what I want with what I pay for, and I will happily accept a less-than-infinite amount of bandwidth for my $30 each month.

Very well stated! Many people share this same viewpoint, myself included!

 

[iBookG4user]

Well, looks like I'm staying on 3.0 for a while.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

Anyone know whether this breaks XT tethering in NZ? I don't even own an iPhone but I know that quite a few people are using a "hack" for support over here.

Nope, there should be no need for a 'hack' because all you need to do is set up the settings correctly in the phone after you move it from Vodafone to Telecom XT Network.

No hacks are needed because the phones in NZ aren't sim locked like they are in the US of A.

 

[Anuba]

+1, also what's cool is that when I'm tethering My HD that's hooked up on my airport extreme shows up under my "shared" in finder. now I can access 1TB of storage anywhere. Love it!

Tethering is fantastic but sometimes you want to plug in the iPhone for charging/syncing without tethering kicking into action. Is there any easy and convenient way to do that? I hate doing it on the iPhone because it takes forever to get to the switch, it's buried under Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering, which takes half a minute on my slow-as-molasses iPhone 3G... and in OS X there is no on/off switch at all.

 

[likemyorbs]

why would anyone have rated this article positive? att sympathists much?

 

[HowEver]

First, nobody has an "unlimited" data plan. AT&T soft-caps at 5GB, no?

Here in Canada, there is the 6GB data plan--and Rogers Wireless and fido do *not* charge extra for tethering. They have hinted that they may start charging in 2010, and also hinted that those on the 6GB plan might still have it free.

Wireless providers are fully aware that data traffic from tethering, whatever the method or purpose, could easily exceed 5 or 6GB. "Passthrough" or not. The only question is whether they will treat data as data. The vast majority don't use a fraction of their available data. Those who over-use it will no doubt be charged.

But we may not be charged extra for tethering. It just isn't known yet.

...all wireless carriers charge extra for tethering....even if you have an unlimited data plan. These plans were priced under the assumption that all data traffic is to/from the actual device. Passthru traffic (tethering) will totally throw-off the pricing and capacity model.

 

[akutad]

...all wireless carriers charge extra for tethering....even if you have an unlimited data plan. These plans were priced under the assumption that all data traffic is to/from the actual device. Passthru traffic (tethering) will totally throw-off the pricing and capacity model.

As you know, tethering allows you to connect your own PC to the wireless network....but it can also allow someone to connect an entire LAN infrastructure behind it as well.

If tethering was free, this would only delay the rollout of MMS for the rest of us until the network capacity was built up to support both. And how would you add network capacity if you were not able to charge customers for the added service?

I have gripes too....but I understand the business model. Nothing is free.

Nothing is free? Here in canada there is not extra charge for tethering. I get up to 6GB of tethering at no extra charge piggybacked with my data plan.

 

[ddTaylor]

I'm sure jailbreaking will provide a work around.

I already does - with several applications - iModem and PDAnet with the later being my favorite for ease of use and cost...

D

 

[Anuba]

...all wireless carriers charge extra for tethering....even if you have an unlimited data plan.

No they don't. TeliaSonera (the iPhone carrier in Scandinavia) doesn't charge anything for it, they just enabled it on the day that 3.0 was released and that was that. They wouldn't dare charge a cent for it because customers would never accept it. A data plan is a data plan is a data plan. You can't charge people for an unlimited data plan and then go "oh, you're actually going to be USING it... well that throws off our calculations completely".

Stop making excuses on behalf of overly greedy and backwards carriers, they're the ones who have a lot of explaining to do.

 

[JPark]

Knowing AT&T, the 5GB plan will be $29.99 additional, and if you want unlimited, it will be $39.99 additional. After two years, the $29.99 plan will mysteriously disappear (like the $29.99 voice minutes plan mysteriously disappeared about three years ago), and they will then require anyone who buys an iPhone to mandatorily subscribe to the $39.99 plan.

Yeah, I miss my $29.99 voice plan. I refused to upgrade for 5 years so I could keep it, and I'd still have it now if I hadn't succumbed to iPhone.

 

[Ronlap]

I think I'd rather AT&T allow me to tether with my iPhone for no additional charge, in exchange for making my "unlimited" data plan a "limited" plan of, say, 5GB a month.

I almost agree. I use my iPhone a LOT more than I use my MacBook outside of my house, for epocrates, email, web, and Foreflight. The only time I would need tethering is if I am in a hotel or airport which doesn't offer free Wi-Fi. As it is, many airports, hotels, and coffee shops already offer free Wi-Fi so my use of tethering would be very small. Looking at my monthly at&t bill I am using less than 1/4 GB/month anyway and some of this would shift to my tethered laptop.

 

[akutad]

No they don't. TeliaSonera (the iPhone carrier in Scandinavia) doesn't charge anything for it, they just enabled it on the day that 3.0 was released and that was that. They wouldn't dare charge a cent for it because customers would never accept it. A data plan is a data plan is a data plan. You can't charge people for an unlimited data plan and then go "oh, you're actually going to be USING it... well that throws off our calculations completely".

Stop making excuses on behalf of overly greedy and backwards carriers, they're the ones who have a lot of explaining to do.

I would love to see carriers explain how evenings start at 9:00pm, but for extra $$$ evenings start at 6:00pm and for even more $$$$$ evenings start at 5:00pm. Total bull*****.

 

[jamesryanbell]

If it says "unlimited data", I expect them to let me do whatever I want with that. Don't EVER call it unlimited unless I literally can download 2 TB or so. Call it 5GB worth of data. It's not unlimited. Secondly, if I get unlimited data transfer, then I can do ANYTHING I want with it. That's MY loophole. You said it, not me. So that means I get to use it how I want.

When you back out on the deal, it's not cool.

I expect a TON of service and perks for no more money than I already spend.

Crap.