iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 Disables Unauthorized AT&T Tethering

[mteahan]

I think that most of us are interested in tethering for occasional use, vacations or checking mail in a coffee shop. If AT&T were to make the first couple of gigabytes free with the existing data plan, it would accommodate that part of the market, make customers feel like they are actually valued and preserve the "screw you" rate plans for those that need it.

Nominal use won't screw the bandwidth. I stream Pandora through my car radio as it is, and for the price I pay for the service I think I am more than entitled.

 

[RangerXML]

Not upgrading till tethering works. Me thinks I'm going to undo the jail break when I get home from work today, just so there is no chance of any future mishaps until tethering work around or AT&T offer tethring.

 

[cmwade77]

I think phone companies should be required to unlock your phone after your contract has ended to work with any compatible carrier.

Here's a note about a major provider in the U.S. that doesn't impose a 5 GB CAP:
Boot Mobile provides unlimited voice, text and data for $50 a month, this is prepaid and includes all taxes and fees, I read through their terms of service and it basically states that you can use all you want, providing that you don't intentionally do anything that would cause the system to be unusable for other people. No specific caps, just don't hog all of the bandwidth and you are good.

Please note that Boost Mobile uses the Nextel portion of the Sprint network, which uses GSM technology, so it would be compatible with an unlocked iPhone.

 

[Yuusharo]

Not upgrading till tethering works. Me thinks I'm going to undo the jail break when I get home from work today, just so there is no chance of any future mishaps until tethering work around or AT&T offer tethring.

The jailbreak is undone when you do a complete restore of the OS. You'll return to a vanilla iPhone easily.

Keep in mind that if you have a 3GS, you need to grab those ibec and ibss files for 3.0 if you want to jailbreak in the future. Also, updating to an official firmware will disable your ability to unlock your iPhone in the future, possibly forever, if you choose to do so.

That said... It was pretty inevitable that this hole would be plugged up pretty quickly. It was simply too easy to do so. I might keep around my old 3G running 3.0 just until there's a more practical solution, and swap the sim cards as needed.

 

[peteelew]

Netshare

My Netshare still works with 3.0-- I wonder whether it will work with 3.1

 

[uberamd]

+1

I don't know why it is so difficult for posters to get this through their head.. I mean people think Verizon is some miracle network that would never charge people for their services... geez...

Because some people have no idea what they are talking about, and are convinced God himself created Verizon with the help of Jesus and the dinosaurs. Guess what, God, Jesus, and dinosaurs had no part in the creation of the Verizon network. Thus, any idea that Verizon will somehow make the iPhone be much more awesome for a lower cost per month is STUPID.

All of the ludicrous comments that get spouted off here really give me a lot of laughs. Verizon will sooner put their own stuff on the phone then nickel and dime you until the cows come home than give you free tethering. And they probably won't even stop once the cows arrive.

 

[dagamer34]

It's not that Verizon having the iPhone magically takes it away from AT&T, but competition in theory creates lower prices for everyone.

OR, Congress might finally get off their collective asses and start investigating price fixing.

 

[jav6454]

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.

Lol, its a small secret from a Space Kitty.

 

[Illusion986]

Ah, so much crying.
Let your phone carrier decide what is better for you

I hope your being sarcastic

 

[bubba*nix]

Tethering still works with the updated mobileconfig profile on beta 2. It's sad that "people report" stuff to be broken when it isn't. Those "people" are idiots.

 

[nightmoves13]

Tethering still works with the updated mobileconfig profile on beta 2. It's sad that "people report" stuff to be broken when it isn't. Those "people" are idiots.

I guess your one of the lucky few it still works for, you are on ATT right? what mobileconfig did you use

 

[NoahK17]

I am using an iPhone 3GS with OS version 3.1 Beta 2, and using the updated AT&T 5.0 profile (which enables MMS and Tethering) still works 100% perfectly.

- I tether when I'm at a Starbucks.
- I tether when I'm at the Airport.
- I tether when I'm riding in a car.

Whoever "reported" that Beta 2 disabled the 5.0 profile hack was sadly mistaken. But then again, this is a "rumors" site.

 

[nightmoves13]

I am using an iPhone 3GS with OS version 3.1 Beta 2, and using the updated AT&T 5.0 profile (which enables MMS and Tethering) still works 100% perfectly.

- I tether when I'm at a Starbucks.
- I tether when I'm at the Airport.
- I tether when I'm riding in a car.

Whoever "reported" that Beta 2 disabled the 5.0 profile hack was sadly mistaken. But then again, this is a "rumors" site.

Lots of people have had it broken! what carrier profile did you use (link) I tried the one i had plus the one on help.benm no luck!

 

[jav6454]

I am using an iPhone 3GS with OS version 3.1 Beta 2, and using the updated AT&T 5.0 profile (which enables MMS and Tethering) still works 100% perfectly.

- I tether when I'm at a Starbucks.
- I tether when I'm at the Airport.
- I tether when I'm riding in a car.

Whoever "reported" that Beta 2 disabled the 5.0 profile hack was sadly mistaken. But then again, this is a "rumors" site.

Good for you! This is a news article reporting what is happening to many people, not just you.

 

[cloudmike]

I think that most of us are interested in tethering for occasional use, vacations or checking mail in a coffee shop. If AT&T were to make the first couple of gigabytes free with the existing data plan, it would accommodate that part of the market, make customers feel like they are actually valued and preserve the "screw you" rate plans for those that need it.

I'm in the same boat. But somehow I can't imagine a day when I actually feel valued by a phone company. =(

 

[bubba*nix]

I guess your one of the lucky few it still works for, you are on ATT right? what mobileconfig did you use

My own customized for my corporate device (VPN, Wifi, Certs, Exchange, Policies). Just left it unsigned and changed stuff myself. Just put this in the APN's section above the password entry.

                    <key>type-mask</key>
                    <integer>-2</integer>

 

[nightmoves13]

My own customized for my corporate device (VPN, Wifi, Certs, Exchange, Policies). Just left it unsigned and changed stuff myself. Just put this in the APN's section above the password entry.

                    <key>type-mask</key>
                    <integer>-2</integer>

can u upload the actual ipcc so some of us with it not working can try

 

[bubba*nix]

can u upload the actual ipcc so some of us with it not working can try

It's not an IPCC change. Download iPhone Configuration Utility from Apple, add the APN information for your provider (http://help.benm.at/cfgs/us_att.mobileconfig), edit the file with vi and add those 2 lines.

 

[davesmall]

Sucks

The way I see it we are already paying AT&T excessive monthly charges for data access via the iPhone. Tethering is B]data access via the iPhone[/B]. If they try to charge extra for tethering they'll be double charging for the B]data access via the iPhone[/B] that we're already paying for. That would really really really suck.

 

[pendolino]

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.

you can do this by creating a new 'location' on the mac using network preferences where the tethering/iphone port (installed when you enable and activate tethering) is switched off. call this your general/normal/automatic location and call the other 'iphone' or something similar. in the iphone location i have wifi disabled since i dont need it for that use. let me know if you have trouble setting this up.

 

[Andrew Henry]

So heres my thoughts on this:

I'm not a hardcore tetherer, I use it with my netbook when there isn't a wifi network around, so to expect me to pay another 50+ dollars on top of what I already pay for data is ludicrous, I would be happy if they said, okay for you occasional tetherers we will give you 5gb to use, if you exceed that you will be charged, or you can upgrade to an actual tethering plan. Because I know that there are people who could / will easily exceed 5gb monthly but for those of us that use it once in awhile it should be included in our plan, if you're a power user, you already know that, and you're willing to pay the extra money to have a more robust tethering plan.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in paying for the services that you need, but if there's no possible way that I am going to use more than a small amount then it would be pointless for me to pay 50 dollars or more a month for something I would only use occasionally.

Just my .02

 

[macsamillion]

So help me out here. I just saw an AT&T tv ad that said, " when you subscribe to AT&T DSL you can connect to any AT&T Wi-Fi Hot-Spot around town with your laptop... all for the same low price." So how is tethering different? It not like you can use your phone while it's tethered; what does AT&T care what is processing the data, or how your using the connection that you're paying. Sounds to me like a double standard. Any thoughts?

As far as I am concerned the sooner that Apple dumps AT&T the better—why would a company with the best customer service get in bed with the company that has the worst?

 

[Mal]

So help me out here. I just saw an AT&T tv ad that said, " when you subscribe to AT&T DSL you can connect to any AT&T Wi-Fi Hot-Spot around town with your laptop... all for the same low price." So how is tethering different? It not like you can use your phone while it's tethered; what does AT&T care what is processing the data, or how your using the connection that you're paying. Sounds to me like a double standard. Any thoughts?

As far as I am concerned the sooner that Apple dumps AT&T the better—why would a company with the best customer service get in bed with the company that has the worst?

Umm, AT&T DSL and AT&T Wireless services are not the same. If you subscribe to either, sure, you get the Wi-Fi hotspots thrown in, but DSL goes over the phone lines, which don't have a particular limit to bandwidth where the whole network can be brought down. The AT&T Wireless network does, and could potentially be brought down by usage significantly exceeding the current load (which is a potential risk with allowing tethering). Even bringing up the completely unrelated ad shows a failure to understand what you're listening to/reading in regards to this matter.

BTW, I'm not in favor of exorbitant charges for tethering, but I think a $10 charge on top of the data charge already there is not unreasonable. Given prior history, however, AT&T will likely charge $30 instead, which is a bit too high.

jW

 

[Master Chief]

Why do we need an additional data plan for tethering in the first place? It's just data, so how do carriers differentiate tethering data from "ordinary" iPhone data?

 

[Anuba]

Why do we need an additional data plan for tethering in the first place? It's just data, so how do carriers differentiate tethering data from "ordinary" iPhone data?

There is no difference, they're just making up far fetched excuses to gouge more money out of customers.

AFAIK it's only in the US that carriers are doing this. I was told it's because American carriers equate "unlimited" data plans to all-you-can-eat buffets, that "unlimited" is just a marketing term that shouldn't be taken literally(!). Sounds like a scam operation if you ask me.