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iTether App Pulled From App Store

johncrab said:
Did anyone honestly not see that coming? But to emphasize another comment here, data should be data with one plan, no matter how that data is accessed. Splitting it up into phone data and tethered phone data is just nuts and nothing more than a money maker for the phone companies. I should be able to use my monthly, agreed-to, purchased limit as I see fit and not have to pay extra for the bandwidth I have already purchased.
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I'm even OK with not having "unlimited". Just have packages that scale up to high[er] bandwidth and/or $/GB.

...but I hate the idea of tethering fee. Data cost is data cost, and even if a PC connection can consume more data (which is a silly concept), it doesn't matter - I'm paying for what I use.

This would be like having a surcharge for cable television, if your TV was bigger than 27". The consumption device is irrelevant, only the cost-per-amount.
 
Mr. Pink said:
AT&T can't do that and succeed. It's loophole central. If they could, they would have already. Tether is a long time withstanding product that's been doing this with AT&T connections for a long time. This is just the first time it's been on an iDevice.

With that said, the company's revenue stream is fine as this isn't their first release of Tether, and surely not their last.
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I am worried about ATT looking specifically for tether.com requests and then deduces you must be tethering and bye-bye my unlimited data plan
 
Once again Apple has changed the way we will use our phones forever. Or for fifteen minutes anyway.
 
ThunderSkunk said:
From the standpoint of a cell provider, it wouldn't make much sense at all, but from the standpoint of an already profitable cellphone maker, to be able to say, "oh yea, and were going to throw a voice/data plan in with our phones that you'll actually like..."

Droid don't do that...


Seeing Apple take this "value-added" approach with iCloud, I'd bet it'd appeal to them.
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Yeah, but what does Apple do then? Keep selling competing handsets from HTC, Samsung, etc... to T-Mobile customers. Apple wouldn't be able to just purchase T-Mobile and gut it just for the bandwidth for use with Apple exclusive devices. The FCC, DOJ, etc... wouldn't allow that to happen.

So Apple buys T-Mobile as is, runs it largely as it has been run, and suddenly they're in the telecom business directly. A market with shrinking margins and a terrible reputation in terms of customer satisfaction. I can't see Apple jeopardizing their reputation in that way.

Not to mention that they'd have to continue to sell Apple handsets to all the other carriers at the same time in order to maintain their current business model. Effectively competing against themselves in the market.
 
dukebound85 said:
I am worried about ATT looking specifically for tether.com requests and then deduces you must be tethering and bye-bye my unlimited data plan
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No way. If this were to happen, it would be similar to our ISPs seeing us go to pirating websites and turning us over to the RIAA or something.

Assumption is the mother of all f-ups.
 
You know it could be that the developers pulled it because their servers were getting hammered. There was another App not too long ago that going in and out of the market because of that.

That being said - my .02 on tethering is this (which is not a popular opinion). If you have unlimited data - I don't believe you are "entitled" to tether at will. However - it's ridiculous for people to pay for a data allotment and not be able to use that data however they want.
 
dukebound85 said:
I am worried about ATT looking specifically for tether.com requests and then deduces you must be tethering and bye-bye my unlimited data plan
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Me too. But I am going to go ahead and try it anyways. And if they do take it away, I'll take away my contract from them and get Verizon. I'm free to leave AT&T at anytime I want. I just stay with them for the unlimited data feature.
 
Huracan said:
We don't accomplish much with our comments here. Write or call your congressperson to let them know what the cell phone companies are doing with tethering. Data is just data, no matter if you access it with your phone or with a laptop tethered to the phone. Comparing with fixed line access is like your ISP letting you plug a computer to your home router, but charging you $20 extra if you also plug a game console or a TV to the home router.

I feel reluctantly ok with them capping the data plans, but not with telling me how to use that data plan and with which devices to use that data plan. Please write your congressperson. Definitely the public interest is there, the way the app was selling like hot cookies.
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The biggest reason they capped plans IMO is the higher amount of people tethering w/out paying for it. Especially w/ LTE phones, you can get higher speeds than many homes have available. You can run your whole house on an unlimited LTE plan. I can totally understand the tethering stinginess if plans are unlimited. On capped plans, however, charging for tethering is ridiculous.
 
I always theorized that these high price tethering services are meant to keep out casual users so that they can take advantage of corporate customers who have no concerns about cost and thus will simply pay whatever they are charged...
 
Rodimus Prime said:
And yet another example of why Apple can not be trusted. They go back on their word. Company works with Apple, gets approval then Apple changes its mind.

If it is just US stores then it is the carriers requesting the block but world wide it is yet another example why Apple can not be trusted.
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Didn't Google do the same thing? Let tethering apps into the store and then ejected them all?

Oh yes it did: http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/google-starts-blocking-access-to-android-tethering-apps-2011053/

Can't trust anyone it seems.
 
Working at 6pm UK time

I always seem to miss out on these things, (failed to get the HP touchpad in the firesale) but I managed to grab iTether this morning from work :)

Checked it was working this morning. Very nice when you have a strong 3G signal.

Hey now it's pulled. Quelle surprise. Am slightly concerned with others that if servers go down, the app will stop working. But iTether, the company, seem to be selling quite well on Android and BB, so hopefully their income stream will continue from there. Plus they can always move to Cydia.

Tested 6pm Nov 29th (UK time), iTether still working.
 
derek1984 said:
Me too. But I am going to go ahead and try it anyways. And if they do take it away, I'll take away my contract from them and get Verizon.
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That's the spirit. Speak with your wallet. I did this when AT&T made the decision to go tiered data. I know Verizon wound up doing it too, but I stayed when it became more important for one of them to be more dedicated to 4G. Verizon obviously won that decision.
 
gkpm said:
Didn't Google do the same thing? Let tethering apps into the store and then ejected them all?

Oh yes it did: http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/google-starts-blocking-access-to-android-tethering-apps-2011053/

Can't trust anyone it seems.
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Trust lol Hey, I've got a wacky concept: These companies own these stores and will do with them as they please.

You're all mentioning trust as if Apple is a little kid whom you've given a dollar to. "Now little boy, just stand there in front of the candy store with my dollar. Don't you dare go in there... HEY! Son of a..."
 
Oh well, I was hoping it was going to be there for a long time enough to receive an update to allow it to work as a hotspot - like MyWi. Without that, it's worthless to me since wanted it to work with my iPad 2. I already have MyWi but I'm still waiting for the 4S jailbreak.
 
ethana said:
This was an oversight by some low-level low paid QA tester and that is why it got approved.
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This seems more likely to me. The subsequent news of this app hits the net and the attention forced Apple to pull it. It's a big company, it takes time to pull stuff.
 
Can someone upload the .dmg file for the Mac?
I purchased the app at school on my iPhone while it was available, but the .dmg file wont download! so slow!!! Thank you!
 
sirozha said:
Actually, ten years ago, some ISPs charged for each additional computer on your network accessing the Internet. That was when home Wi-Fi routers were very rare, and the providers would give several IP addresses through the cable modem for an additional fee. Someone needs to sue AT&T and Verizon for this $20/month fee. There’s absolutely no justification for it unless you are on the unlimited plan.
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That was one of those "if you're stupid enough to pay this fee, please pay this fee" kind of things, though.

They weren't issuing static IP addresses for consumer cable internet as standard practice ANYWHERE in the US. They charged you extra (and still do) to have a non-dynamic IP address on your service.

Plug cable modem into cheap 100T router and plug in devices to your heart's content. In 1998.

The cable company offered a "multi-device" service for an additional monthly fee, but that was basically just a rental fee for a cheap router. Buying your own router instead typically paid for itself after 3-4 months of service.

Some ISDN and early DSL could be difficult to share on multiple devices at one time, since they plugged directly into the back of the computer, and required custom software just to maintain a connection.

But that was mostly from the early 90s, before CAT5 became common.
 
ethana said:
This was an oversight by some low-level low paid QA tester and that is why it got approved.
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It could be but sometimes I wonder if Apple did it in purpose. IMO they do not give **** to carriers. Unfortunately because pressure they would have to take the app down. But at least they did sting them for a little bit.
 
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