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Nullriver Introduces 3G/EDGE Tethering App for iPhone

Mark Booth said:
Everyone that successfully downloaded the NetPhone app might want to make a copy of the .ipa file outside of their Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications folder. I'm sure it's quite possible that it could disappear from your phone the next time you sync!

Mark
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no way they can do that, they sold me something, I bought it fair and square, I didn't steal it from them...if they delete it from my computer, that's means they just hacked on to MY computer and deleted something without my permission, which I'm pretty sure is against the law..but who knows, America is changing these days....
 
paj said:
It would be interesting to see if anyone has got close to 5GB usage on the iPhone using just safari, youtube and official apps.
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Are you kidding me? My average monthly usage is around 7GB on my 3G iPhone...
 
imacgeek said:
Are you kidding me? My average monthly usage is around 7GB on my 3G iPhone...
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how is that possible? 3G iPhone hasn't even been available for a month?

what on earth are you doing to use 7GB on it? I absolutely hammer my iPhone (with exception of youtube) and have only used about 150MB so far (3G not wifi)
 
Those that have it, use with care..
http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/003035att_will_disconnect_wireless_p2p_users.php
July 28, 2008
AT&T Will Disconnect Wireless P2P Users

AT&T will jettison wireless users that engage in P2P file-sharing over its network, the company said Friday in a letter PDF filed at the FCC (and flagged today by Ted Hearn at Multichannel News). Senior lobbyist Robert Quinn answered a question posed at hearing last week by Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell about the company's policies of managing P2P network traffic on its broadband wireless platform.

Quinn said that AT&T's terms of service (as well as the TOS for most other carriers) bars the use of P2P applications on the wireless platform. "Use of a P2P file sharing application would constitute a material breach of contract for which the user’s service could be terminated," he said.

Because P2P file sharing applications typically engage in continuous (rather than bursty) transmissions at high data rates, a small number of users of P2P file sharing applications served by a particular cell site could severely degrade the service quality enjoyed by all customers served by that site.


AT&T hasn't yet booted anybody off the network for using P2P, Quinn said.

The FCC's McDowell is likely to vote against an order, slated for vote on Friday, that finds Comcast secretly degraded P2P traffic in violation of the agency's network neutrality principles. AT&T's written admission that it won't permit any form of P2P on its broadband wireless network is likely to be used by McDowell in arguing against the order, saying, in essence, that Comcast's supposed transgressions aren't as bad as blocking P2P altogether. (One crucial distinction between the two circumstances: Comcast wasn't "transparent" about its P2P throttling while AT&T is apparently upfront about it in its user agreement).

However, it's all but certain that the order will pass given that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a proponent of punishing Comcast, likely has the two other votes needed to succeed, with Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein no doubt siding with him on this smatter. Less clear is whether any action by the FCC will stand up on appeal. CNET's Declan McCullagh today joins the growing consensus that the FCC does not have the authority to take this action.
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imacgeek said:
Are you kidding me? My average monthly usage is around 7GB on my 3G iPhone...
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The 3G has only been out since July 11th so how could you have an average monthly usage? If you have used 7GB since July 11th, I have to ask you, what are you doing?

I've used 64MB so far and that was with driving down the highway with AGPS and Google maps from downtown Victoria to the BC ferries and from the ferry to the Vancouver airport and back again. I also had push email, some Youtube and movie trailers through Onetap (Movie times), updating Crash Bandicoot and other apps through 3G and so web browsing.
 
You are charged for everything in the US, it's annoying because it's impacting us!! Tethering has always been allowed in the UK. I used to do it on GSM WAP via bluetooth - like 0.5K/B a second hehe.

This shouldn't even be an App on the iPhone. It should be an integral part of the firmware. GRR!
 
Flhusky said:
Those that have it, use with care..
http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/003035att_will_disconnect_wireless_p2p_users.php
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AT&T specifically was addressing P2P people. They aren't after the casual tetherers.
But I do agree, that people need to use it with care. Abuse is the fastest way to make AT&T clamp down on things which is what's going on with the P2P people.

Let this be a warning of caution.

Why do I bother? People are going to abuse it anyway and ruin it for all of us.
 
Bah, the only ones ruining it for everyone are the mobile providers. Disabling apps like this one and VoIP ones just proves they aren't able to cope with the technology behind the services they are offering. If they did some equipment upgrades and price correction, none of the mentioned problems would exist anyway.

But no, it's better to be an old, bureaucratic corporate behemoth and force custumers to adapt to you instead of you adapting to the customers. The record/movie companies are doing the exact same thing.
 
In the "fair use" section of the T-mobile contract here in The Netherlands, it is expressly stated that tethering the iPhone to a computer is not allowed. I really wonder why that is - after all, why would it matter to T-mobile where the actual bytes transferred go to?
 
The same reason data transfers are charged insanely high - because they can't provide bandwidth. You usually transfer more data on a computer then on a mobile phone.
 
happydude said:
no doubt, i've often wondered what is keeping them from opening this up. if blackberry can tether, you'd think they'd want the iphone to do so so they can further cut into RIM business sales. the last thing keeping my father in law from buying one is that he can't tether when he's away on business trips. this is f@*ked up, at&t.
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Tethering means an immense increase of cost for the ISP. You may have an "unlimited" connection, but the average use is not that much and the cost for the ISP is based on the average use. With tethering, that is going to go through the roof.
 
Devil's Refugee said:
if someone posts this app on torrents, can another person feasibly use it ?
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No, of course not. Apps from the App Store are just like music, movies or any other content from the iTunes Store. Its all protected by Apple's DRM (apps included).

If you wanna give it a try, theres still a Super Monkey Ball torrent out there, except w/o the password to authorize it the account w/ which it was purchased on your computer you can't use it at all.

Matek said:
The same reason data transfers are charged insanely high - because they can't provide bandwidth. You usually transfer more data on a computer then on a mobile phone.
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No, data is so damn expensive NOT because its expensive to deliver, nor is it because its hard to deliver, the SINGLE reason why it is so expensive is because theres no competition at all whatsoever and the carriers can get away w/ charging w/e they want. Just look at text messages and keep in mind that its nothing more then just data - and a kb of it at that, how in hell does that add up to 20 cents per message? and yeah yeah, theres fools out there trying to excuse the prices w/ some stupid arguments like it being more network intensive, requiring some special w/e etc bull**** - its all just data.
 
No, data is so damn expensive NOT because its expensive to deliver, nor is it because its hard to deliver, the SINGLE reason why it is so expensive is because theres no competition at all whatsoever and the carriers can get away w/ charging w/e they want. Just look at text messages and keep in mind that its nothing more then just data - and a kb of it at that, how in hell does that add up to 20 cents per message? and yeah yeah, theres fools out there trying to excuse the prices w/ some stupid arguments like it being more network intensive, requiring some special w/e etc bull**** - its all just data.
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You misunderstood me slightly. I'm not saying it's expensive to deliver, all I'm saying is they have a crappy network without the network to provide a lot of bandwidth. Instead of upgrading it, they make data transfer very expensive, which means much less people will use data transfer. They won't let you use tethering for the same reason - because you would use more data and their network can't take it.

This is what I really hate. If they can't provide a decent service, they shouldn't provide it at all. It's just like ISPs introducing data transfer limits that cripples your web experience, because you can't download anything, you can't use YouTube, Hulu and the like.

We've had similar problems in the EU, luckily, things are getting better lately. In Slovenia, you can now get flatrate 3G with no limits for 10 euros per month (about 16 dollars).
 
@ update #3:

Props to Nullriver. I wonder if the app store rules ever said anything about tethering. Good job at finding a loophole. If it didn't and Apple blocks it anyway, after they did all the work on that app, I wonder if they would be able to seek any legal damages? Probably not though...Apple probably has a clause in there saying they can remove an app for any reason. But still...Nullriver ends up being the good guy in this and AppleT&T looks to be the bad. They also get free publicity. I am much more aware of their company now than I was less than 12 hours ago. Brilliant move. I hope it comes back...I'll pay $30 to get it!!
 
Mark Booth said:
Everyone that successfully downloaded the NetPhone app might want to make a copy of the .ipa file outside of their Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications folder. I'm sure it's quite possible that it could disappear from your phone the next time you sync!

Mark
Click to expand...

Nah. I well and truly doubt that. I will say this, though, when I remove some apps from my iTunes (because I've decided to clean off some of the 100 apps on my iPhone, LOL) I've gotten in the habit of telling it to keep the file behind. Just in case, I guess, that app is made to be no longer available in the iTunes Store. That way I'll still have it. As it was with this NetShare one, I just had a hunch. And I'm glad I was right about that and purchased in time.


On the other hand, I learned something interesting today, with regards to how Apple handles re-downloads, too. So far they've been very agreeable, allowing you to re-download at no charge any app you've paid for. One wonders, then, what happens when an app is pulled from U.S. distribution... like this one?

Well, after I snagged this NetShare app, I passed the tip along to a friend. He bought it too (before it was pulled, 15 minutes later.) Then he had to do a restore of his iPhone (for an entirely unrelated reason.) He realized he had no backup of this NetShare app... and then later learned it was no longer for sale "in the U.S." :?

Well, when he tried to re-download, the request went through and he was able to download it. Just as he would any other app. Even though others were getting that error message.

So it seems like Apple protected the customer's interest here, and grandfathered in those who managed to purchase it in time. I found that rather surprising, reassuring, and nice. Because they just as easily could have said "tough noogies," I suppose.

Now that the app's not even listed in the store, though... I suspect he wouldn't have been as lucky.

I also wonder how they'd handle a free app that got pulled... would previous downloaders be able to download it again?
 
macduke said:
@ update #3:

Props to Nullriver. I wonder if the app store rules ever said anything about tethering. Good job at finding a loophole. If it didn't and Apple blocks it anyway, after they did all the work on that app, I wonder if they would be able to seek any legal damages? Probably not though...Apple probably has a clause in there saying they can remove an app for any reason. But still...Nullriver ends up being the good guy in this and AppleT&T looks to be the bad. They also get free publicity. I am much more aware of their company now than I was less than 12 hours ago. Brilliant move. I hope it comes back...I'll pay $30 to get it!!
Click to expand...


Interesting aside, Nullriver is the company that made Installer.app, the preeminent platform for distributing software to the jailbreaking community.

http://www.intoiphone.com/2007/08/2...g-the-iphone-installer-a-breeze-say-what.html

I've a feeling this is not the last we'll hear about this NetShare software.
 
Wow this is a disappointing moment for apple. I'm amazed that apple would go to this degree to satisfy the telco's. Besides I don't get what exactly is wrong with using the 3g connection as a modem. A GB is a GB, regardless from where it comes. If they give me a GB, I'm damn well going to use it.

If AT&T cancels your contract for using their service to the advertised extent (i.e. all the data allowed), presumably you would be free of a contract? That's a good thing right?
 
Holy crappers O_O... How much kb(mb?)ps do you get via that?
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Depends largely on your location. If you are in a well-covered city, it can go up to 5 Mbps, otherwise it's about 1 Mbps. Everything with HSDPA supported phones, ofcourse. Regular UMTS speeds are, of course, accordingly lower because of technology limitations.
 
SpaceMagic said:
You are charged for everything in the US, it's annoying because it's impacting us!! Tethering has always been allowed in the UK. I used to do it on GSM WAP via bluetooth - like 0.5K/B a second hehe.
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Tethering is *not* allowed on O2:

http://www.o2.co.uk/termsconditions/iphone

"Your O2 tariff for iPhone allows you unlimited use... for personal internet use, email and Visual Voicemail (VVM) on your iPhone only."

The general terms and conditions are more explicit:

"You may not use your SIM Card in, or connected to, any other device including modems"

This appears to be O2 specific as I've used it on other carriers for years.
 
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