Talked to AT&T for Tether Rates

[DaGreat01]

Ok so i got tethering to work on my phone last night and tested it by opening safari (the apple home page came up), then came to iphone macrumor forums.

Then i thought to myself, "AT&T must be charging people for this".
So this morning i called AT&T and asked if i would be charged for tethering and he said "Yes you will, 49 cents per KB"

So there you have it...

 

[hellrider]

Ok so i got tethering to work on my phone last night and tested it by opening safari (the apple home page came up), then came to iphone macrumor forums.

Then i thought to myself, "AT&T must be charging people for this".
So this morning i called AT&T and asked if i would be charged for tethering and he said "Yes you will, 49 cents per KB"

So there you have it...

How are we expected to believe this? It makes some sense, but still...

 

[TurboSC]

there's not going to be any real way to tell unless maybe you download a few movies via the tethered connection? use sparingly?

 

[Snide]

Ok so i got tethering to work on my phone last night and tested it by opening safari (the apple home page came up), then came to iphone macrumor forums.

Then i thought to myself, "AT&T must be charging people for this".
So this morning i called AT&T and asked if i would be charged for tethering and he said "Yes you will, 49 cents per KB"

So there you have it...

OMG we're SO busted!

 

[dukebound85]

Ok so i got tethering to work on my phone last night and tested it by opening safari (the apple home page came up), then came to iphone macrumor forums.

Then i thought to myself, "AT&T must be charging people for this".
So this morning i called AT&T and asked if i would be charged for tethering and he said "Yes you will, 49 cents per KB"

So there you have it...

forgive me if i dont believe a member who has joined only a week ago

just sayin

49 cents a kb is crazy

 

[DaGreat01]

forgive me if i dont believe a member who has joined only a week ago

just sayin

49 cents a kb is crazy

Im just saying what he told me...take it or leave it...

 

[sublimespot]

so with an average page size of 100K, thats only about $5 per web page you bring up.

 

[fleshman03]

So tell me my math is wrong.

.49*1024kb (1MB) = $501

 

[bobsentell]

there's not going to be any real way to tell unless maybe you download a few movies via the tethered connection? use sparingly?

They can tell. The iPhone may be providing the connection, but your computer still has to send out the request for the website.

 

[bobsentell]

So tell me my math is wrong.

.49*1024kb (1MB) = $501

I think he meant $0.00048/KB. That's the overflowrate for their PDA plus Tethering package.

 

[ericvmazzone]

So tell me my math is wrong.

.49*1024kb (1MB) = $501

They may have meant per kBite and not kbit. Big difference there of a factor of 8.

 

[dukebound85]

They can tell. The iPhone may be providing the connection, but your computer still has to send out the request for the website.

which requests that the iphone make the request which is the same as iphone data

 

[marksman]

They can tell. The iPhone may be providing the connection, but your computer still has to send out the request for the website.

wat?

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

What's the data charge on ATT for a non-data plan phone? I thought it was around $0.08/KB or something like that... it was ridiculous since you could easily rack up a multi-thousand dollar bill.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Please don't spread misinformation. I have used tethering on all my smartphones with AT&T and never paid extra for their tethering plan. I just use it sparingly.
Most all phones have a way to "unlock" tethering without paying for it. The iPhone is not doing anything new. AT&T can't tell (or doesn't care) what you're doing until you abuse it, then you'll get charged for excessive use.

$.49 a KB? That AT&T rep had no clue...

 

[bobsentell]

Here is the site for their current PDA+Tethering Plan:

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/pda-personal-plans.jsp

 

[chattermark]

I have been tethering on my Fuze for over a year. I have never been charged for doing that. I just go to sites and check my email or do some research on the road. Total misinformation. <M>

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

I know with a JB phone and tethering I haven't had any problems... but is there a chance that using Apple's tethering program, can somehow notifying ATT that the data being used is for tethering? I guess I'm not that knowledgeable about data transfer and internet protocol.

Otherwise if they can't tell, other than your data usage (megabytes), then you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[bobsentell]

Most all phones have a way to "unlock" tethering without paying for it. The iPhone is not doing anything new. AT&T can't tell (or doesn't care) what you're doing until you abuse it, then you'll get charged for excessive use.

Other than being against the terms and conditions, I think it'll be pretty obvious if you are abusing the tethering. The tether limit is 5GB per month. Which a lot of people consider too small. Well I have had my 3G for 6 months and have just now got over 5GB in 6 months (and I have to recharge the battery twice a day to keep up with my web browsing). So I'm averaging less than a GB per month on my iPhone and then all of the sudden go up to 3-5GB per month, AT&T may notice. This is the log from my phone. I'm at home which explains the WiFi, but I never use it outside my home. Plus the log only logs cellular data transfer.