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iPhone Tesco Mobile UK. Personal Hot Spot

T

TrickyTree1984

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 2, 2010
163
10
Uk
FYI,

I have contacted Tesco Mobile customer services about tethering personal hotspot available in the new iOS 4.3. Unfortunately they will not be supporting it. Here is the response i got:




Dear Thomas,

Thank you for e-mailing your query to mailto:support@tescomobile.com

I am sorry to inform that internet tethering with Tesco Mobile is not supported.

Recently The new Personal Hotspot feature has replaced internet tethering on the iPhone 4. It enables you to use up to 5 devices to connect to your iPhone, three of which has to be done via Wi-Fi and the other two can be done via USB or Bluetooth. Unfortunately Tesco Mobile does not support Personal Hotspot as we cannot support internet tethering.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

If you have any further queries please feel free to e-mail us again, alternatively please call our dedicated customer service line on 0845 301 4455.
For further details on our products, services and promotions, please visit http://www.tescomobile.com

Thank you

Osman

Tesco Mobile E-mail Customer Service Team



-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Sent: 10 March 2011 10:48
To: Tesco Mobile Care (UK)
Subject: OG Tesco Mobile Enquiry Call Form

First Name: Thomas
Surname: xxxxxxx
Alternate contact number: xxxxxxxxx
Tesco Mobile phone number: xxxxxxxxx
Email: xxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com

Account Type: Pay monthly

Date of Birth (YYYY/MM/DD): xxxx/xx/xxx
Last debit/credit card digits: xxxx
Expiry month: xx
Expiry year: xx
Customer Query: Hi, I have an iphone 12month £20 contract. I would like to be able to use the phone for internet tethering (i.e. sharing the internet connection with other devices). Apple allows this if the carrier does but you do not seem to offer the option.

How can i do this?

Thanks
 
Hi,
I got a lightly different response. In particular I loved the thinly veiled threat to cut me off if I tried tethering...nice! Guess I'll be moving to three.co.uk in August.

Dear Craig,
Thank you for emailing support@tescomobile.com
Tesco Mobile is always looking for ways to improve our network and tariffs to suit our customer better.
Unfortunately at this moment in time we do not support tethering on our network.
We have not had any updates as of yet to say that we are going to support tethering, if we decide to support tethering we will inform all our customer as soon as possible.
Please note if tethering does work from your Iphone this will be breaking the terms & condition and may result in a disconnection to your contract.
I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and if I can be any further assistance please do not hesitate to email me.
Alternatively please call our dedicated customer service line on 0845 301 4455.

Thank you
Michael
Tesco Mobile E-mail Customer Service Team
For the latest information on all of our products, services and promotions, please visit: http://www.tescomobile.com

-----Original Message-----

--- Removed my personal details ---

Customer Query: Hi, Do you have any plans to support the new Personal Hotspot tethering option on the iPhone 4?
This feature would be very useful to me as I have a WiFi model of the Apple iPad and would like to be able to tether it to my iPhone from time to time.

I am currently 7 months into my 12 month contract with you and I feel it is only fair to let you know in advance that this would be a significant factor in deciding to stay with Tesco or move to someone like O2 or Three who do provide tethering. I don't see why you don't allow customers to use their data allowance as they see fit. You might even make more profit from excess data charges or through extra data bolt-ons.

Many thanks,
Craig.
 
TrickyTree1984 said:
i guess we get what we pay for. tesco is the best value
Click to expand...

It was the best deal for me since it was a 12 month contract but once that contract is finished I think that 3 is a better deal. Unless Tesco respond (other than with threats...) I will be moving to the 3 (eat as much data as you like) plan. It's £25 and has more than I could ever need in every way, AND it supports tethering.

I know 3 customer service is beyond redemption but I've got three accounts with 3 within our household (2 daughters and my wife) and they seem to work okay. I've had a couple of run-ins with customer service but nothing I couldn't handle.

The crazy thing is, I already use almost all of my data allowance with Tesco just with my iPhone on its own so it is likely that I would need/want to buy extra data if I was going to tether regularly with my iPad. All Tesco need to do is enable tethering and provide some data bolt-ons or excess data penalties for those who don't plan ahead. As I told them in my email, they would probably make more money and not lose customers.

Craig.
 
TrickyTree1984 said:
i could never sign up to a 24 month contract. I get bored of my phone too quickly
Click to expand...

I agree, even 18 months is pushing it for me, 12 months is fine.

I'm a pretty light user in terms of call minutes and texts as I use my iPhone mainly for data communications (ie. email, twitter, skype, etc.). My ideal tariff would be something like 100 minutes (inc. 0845, 0870, 0844 etc), 100 texts and 2GB data with tethering and a monthly rollover of unused data. I don't suppose it will ever happen but I live in hope...

I'd be so annoyed if a tariff like the above was released by someone just after I had signed up to a 12 month contract elsewhere...
 
Thought I would share my reply since it is a little more positive....
Received on April 12 th 2011. It confirms they WILL support it and it will NOT cost extra!!!! Just no date yet :-(

Thank you for emailing support@tescomobile.com
*
I am sorry you’re not able to use the Personal Hotspot feature that’s available with the new I-Phone software. As of yet I don’t have a timescale for when we’ll be launching this on our network. I can appreciate your disappointment.
*
As this feature requires you to use your phone for tethering I would advise against this, as this Due to high amount of data usage that your handset uses when internet tethering. However I can confirm there will be no extra charge for using this service. Please note that as a result of this we don’t support internet tethering on our network, and it is a breach of our terms and conditions.
*
To see these full terms and conditions please see section 4.2 of the Tesco Mobile Pay Monthly Tariff Terms & Conditions in the link below.
*
http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/content.aspx?page=52*
*
Please see the apple website below for more information.
*
http://www.apple.com/ios/
*
I hope this information helps and if I can be of any further assistance please feel free to email me.
*
Thank you
*
Susan,
*
Tesco Mobile Email Customer Service Team
*
For the latest information on all of our products, services and promotions, please visit: http://www.tescomobile.com
Click to expand...
 
@Netgio

Thanks for sharing this but it seems a very confusing reply from Tesco. They are saying there will be no extra charge but at the same time they seem to be saying they don't recommend using tethering because it will consume too much data and is against their terms and conditions!

I hope they mean it is against their current terms and conditions but these will be amended when personal hotspot becomes available. Otherwise they are saying that it is a feature they will support but you won't be allowed to use it! Weird!

Anyway, thanks again for this update. :)
Craig.
 
I emailed them and got this response:

Thank you for emailing support@tescomobile.com

The new Personal Hotspot feature has replaced internet tethering on the iPhone 4. It enables you to use up to 5 devices to connect to your iPhone, three of which has to be done via Wi-Fi and the other two can be done via USB or Bluetooth. Unfortunately Tesco Mobile does not support Personal Hotspot as we cannot support internet tethering. Internet tethering would require an additional bundle to your tariff because internet tethering is charged differently to your usual data package.

As we have no such bolt on or bundle in place for this I am sorry but we do not support this feature for Apple.

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused and I look forward to assisting you in the future.​

No mention of any plans to support it in the future :(
 
mikey203 said:
I emailed them and got this response:

Thank you for emailing support@tescomobile.com

The new Personal Hotspot feature has replaced internet tethering on the iPhone 4. It enables you to use up to 5 devices to connect to your iPhone, three of which has to be done via Wi-Fi and the other two can be done via USB or Bluetooth. Unfortunately Tesco Mobile does not support Personal Hotspot as we cannot support internet tethering. Internet tethering would require an additional bundle to your tariff because internet tethering is charged differently to your usual data package.

As we have no such bolt on or bundle in place for this I am sorry but we do not support this feature for Apple.

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused and I look forward to assisting you in the future.​

No mention of any plans to support it in the future :(
Click to expand...

Pretty sad news. I was hoping they would come through with the hotspot feature. Oh well, looks like its 3rd party via Cydia to do this then. Probably move to a hotspot friendly carrier when the contract ends soon.
 
Digging up an old thread....

I just recently got given a 3GS to use instead of my Galaxy S droid, loving it already.

My question is this, why is this feature supported on Tescos droid phones and not iPhone? I'm using exactly the same sim card but because it's in a different phone they've locked down the feature.

H
 
howbotnik said:
Digging up an old thread....

I just recently got given a 3GS to use instead of my Galaxy S droid, loving it already.

My question is this, why is this feature supported on Tescos droid phones and not iPhone? I'm using exactly the same sim card but because it's in a different phone they've locked down the feature.

H
Click to expand...
Ey probably can't disable it on the droid
 
I've just bought the new iPad and only now just researching hotspot tethering with Tesco mobile, thanks for the useful info guys. I'm out of contract now so i'll try out mywi 5.0 via cydia but seems like Three is the way to go!
 
Tesco mobile hotspot

I understand that tesco offers a hotspot service on android why not the iPhone is this right. Why is Tesco victimising iOS users perhaps Apple should be asked why it users are the poor relations to droid users.
 
I have spoke to Tesco's as well and you are right it is not an option, though they also said it is not on an android phone either.

O2 do not offer it either it seems, so next ? is what UK carrier does offer it?
 
Surely tethering is supported by both T-Moble with their Full Monty unlimited data plan, and all O2 plans as well as 3 Network ?
 
Hi i really dont undersand this at all . My mates on o2 and she gets the option of personal hotspot on iphone. In on pay monthly tesco mobile and im so pi$$ed off about not having the option on my phone. How do they block it? surely the option should be there. Iv contacted them and sent them a nasty letter as well. Its a disgrace.
 
Jesz1987 said:
Hi i really dont undersand this at all . My mates on o2 and she gets the option of personal hotspot on iphone. In on pay monthly tesco mobile and im so pi$$ed off about not having the option on my phone. How do they block it? surely the option should be there. Iv contacted them and sent them a nasty letter as well. Its a disgrace.
Click to expand...

Agree. I am no longer with tesco and I no longer have an iPhone. On Android you can enable hot spot on any network and just use your standard data allowance. :)
 
Why? Probably for some sort of commercial reason, either to reduce the cost of service provision or perhaps on request from O2 who is ultimately the Tesco carrier. By this I mean that O2 might have stipulated to Tesco that they need to have some difference in product offering between them. This is just a guess though, I don't have any inside info or anything.

My advice is to vote with your feet as soon as you can depending on your contract length etc. I moved to Three as soon as my contract was done with Tesco and have certainly not regretted it. I can get phone reception in my house and everywhere else I need it to work and the data speeds are much better than O2. The icing on the cake is that I get unlimited data and virtually unlimited texts and voice minutes (ie. I never get anywhere near the limits) for just £25 per month on a SIM only deal. Customer service isn't brilliant but they are better than they used to be and you hardly ever need to call them anyway. Just use your local Three store for most things.

I'm glad I never waited for Tesco to offer personal hot spot... :cool:
Edit: Just realised I never explicitly confirmed that Three DO support Personal Hotspot tethering and it is part of the "all-you-can-eat" data which code for properly unlimited with no restrictions.
Cheers,
Craig.
 
does anybody know about this? as im thinking jail break it, surely this will remove the lock on the hot spot feature, im not bothered about breaking terms and conditions lol
 
@Jesz1987 - yes, there are several options available to enable tethering once you have jailbroken your iPhone, via the Cydia installer app (which is usually added automatically in the jailbreaking process). once jailbroken, search Cydia for "tethering", "personal hotspot", etc.
 
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