Tether Launches HTML5-Based iPhone Tethering Solution

[Tinmania]

You have to look threw nothing more than these forum boards. Look at all the screaming here of people getting those Text messages and several of them are tethering as few times as once.

Compare that to Android, I have yet to see a single post from an Android user who got the tethering warning.

You couldn't provide a single recent citation? That is very telling.

And, no, I do not see "all the screaming here of people." In fact the last one I saw was in 2011.

What I do see are a lot of chicken-little-like posts parroting the same stuff from last year.

Just a few years ago tethering mobile device unlimited data plans was a huge fear in the eyes of the carriers. When they designed the plans mobile device usage was the model for pricing and usage. Back then there was a huge difference in data consumption between mobile devices and full-fledged laptops and desktops. But now the difference has gotten far less. Mobile devices today can use enormous amounts of data, with the iPhone being about the biggest offender (usage wise).

So now that iPhones and other mobile devices can use so much data on their own stopping tethering does not help the situation much. The only plans capable of really doing harm, without appropriate compensation, are unlimited plans. We had--in some cases have--unlimited iPhone users racking up 10GB, 20GB, 30GB, and more per month. The plans were never designed for that kind of usage and there isn't enough infrastructure to support even 25% of the user base using that much data. Now if they were getting $300 for 30GB of data, sure. And that is exactly what a tiered customer will pay today if they used 30GB in a month on AT&T. The carrier could justify it at that price. But not at $30 per month.

That is why they are targeting unlimited users.




Michael

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Well, the use case is for the non-phone getting Internet from the device connected to 3G/4G. Since the program is HTML5, it can naturally install on the iPad.

Oh god. The host "program" is HTML5, not the client. The client app must run on a PC or Mac. Period.




Michael

 

[xinu]

You just answered your own question.

Their networks are creaking under the load already. They charge for tethering because (a) no legal or market force prevents them, (b) people will pay for the privilege at least here in the U.S., and (c) they really don't want you to use all the bandwidth you've paid for, and tethering definitely increases your consumption.

Browsers existed on cell phones before the iPhone. Granted, they were crappy, but they existed. Then the iPhone came and carriers were brought to their knees by the sudden demand. .

Why is USA carriers brought to their knees and rest of the world is surfing just fine? Is it so hard to accept the fact that your business model does not work and the blame is on iPhone users who choose not to pay the phone themselves but live it to the Carriers who has to pay it to Apple immediately.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/08/technology/iphone_carrier_subsidy/
------------------------------
Since Apple's iPhone debuted on Verizon's network in February 2011, Verizon's "EBITDA service margin" -- a closely watched metric that carriers use to measure their core profit as a percentage of their sales -- has tumbled.

Between 2009 and 2010, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) averaged EBITDA service margin of 46.4% per quarter. In the first quarter that the iPhone went on sale, that fell to 43.7%. Last quarter, when Verizon sold a record 4.2 million iPhones, its margin plunged to 42.2%.

Verizon had just one "good" stretch this year: The third quarter, when its margin bounced back up to a record 47.8%. That's the same quarter in which iPhone sales stalled, as customers waited for Apple to unveil its heavily anticipated new model.

All smartphones weigh on carriers' margins, since wireless carriers pay a hefty subsidy up front to buy the phones from the handset manufacturers. They make up the difference over the life of a two-year contract.
But the subsidies on the iPhone -- roughly $450 per device -- are the highest in the industry. AT&T's subsidies are even more exacerbated because it gives away the iPhone 3GS for free.

Sprint (S, Fortune 500) revealed in October just how onerous those subsidies can be: The company said it has committed to paying Apple roughly $15.5 billion in up front costs over the next four years, and the carrier does not expect to make money on the deal until 2015.
The cost of adding an iPhone customer is about 40% higher than the cost for the average non-iPhone customer, according to Sprint.
------------------------------



There you have it. And in 2015 there will be new problems and iPhones with new price tags and the circle starts all over again.

You dont want to pay yourselves for you iPhones, so you have to pay otherwise and suffer for datalimits and throttling.

 

[Daveoc64]

There you have it. And in 2015 there will be new problems and iPhones with new price tags and the circle starts all over again.

You dont want to pay yourselves for you iPhones, so you have to pay otherwise and suffer for datalimits and throttling.

I don't see how this is really the case.

Here in the UK (and many other countries), you can get the iPhone 4S with no upfront cost (i.e. free) with a £36 ($56) a month contract (24 months). Want unlimited data (including unlimited tethering) for the same price? Pay £69 ($108) upfront - that includes 2000 minutes and 5000 text messages too. These prices even include UK Tax at 20%!

That's better value than AT&T's 3GS deals.

In the US, the carriers seem to charge a lot upfront, charge a lot per month and complain about it all the way.

 

[firemedicmark]

Am I missing something or can we all already tether our Macs to our phones via wireless OS X internet sharing? As long as the computer (MBP for example) has an internet connection (ethernet, wireless, etc.), you can turn on internet sharing from System Preferences to create an ad hoc wireless network that your iPhone can connect to like any WiFi network.

wow one of the funniest things i've read on here!

 

[xinu]

I don't see how this is really the case.

Here in the UK (and many other countries), you can get the iPhone 4S with no upfront cost (i.e. free) with a £36 ($56) a month contract (24 months). Want unlimited data for the same price? Pay £69 ($108) upfront - that includes 2000 minutes and 5000 text messages too. These prices even include UK Tax at 20%!

That's better value than AT&T's 3GS deals.

In the US, the carriers seem to charge a lot upfront, charge a lot per month and complain about it all the way.

I checked and DNA Finland contract with iPhone 4S 64gb is 29,90e/mo and then top of that 19,90e/mo for SMS+Calls and then 4e/mo for 5gb datalimit and there seems not to be higher data profiles at all.

That makes 53 EUR/Month x 24 = 1272 EUR or 1600 USD and that is with 5gb datalimit... omg how bad deal

I bought my Galaxy S i9000 (the first one) with cash, 250 EUR and pay 20 euros per month for totally unlimited 3G. Happy with price-quality ratio.

So here carriers make profit and in US they make losses.

But it not that simple, iPhone is way more popular in US than in Europe. The percentage differences are quite big if I recall correctly.

 

[KPOM]

I don't see how this is really the case.

Here in the UK (and many other countries), you can get the iPhone 4S with no upfront cost (i.e. free) with a £36 ($56) a month contract (24 months). Want unlimited data for the same price? Pay £69 ($108) upfront - that includes 2000 minutes and 5000 text messages too. These prices even include UK Tax at 20%!

That's better value than AT&T's 3GS deals.

In the US, the carriers seem to charge a lot upfront, charge a lot per month and complain about it all the way.

Apple did completely disrupt the market with the iPhone. Prior to then, the carriers were pretty much in control. They didn't need to pay such big subsidies in the past, and thus could give away "free" phones quite cheaply. During that time, AT&T (formerly Cingular), Verizon and Sprint grew rapidly through acquisition, which hurt the companies, particularly Sprint, which overpaid for Nextel and its incompatible network, as most of the mergers took place at the top of the market.

Meanwhile, along came Apple with the iPhone, which initially the carriers rejected, apart from Cingular/AT&T. It was a gold mine for them for a few years, but now that the exclusivity is gone, Apple has played the game so that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint compete for the right to carry it, which ensures that they are the ones who make the lion's share of profits.

There does need to be a shakeup in the wireless industry here, but I think it will require the FCC accepting more consolidation (which is unlikely after the rejection of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger), with some divestitures to ensure an adequately functioning market. (The real secret in the US is that the regional carriers such as US Cellular and C Spire have lower prices and better customer service than the 4 largest carriers.)

Anyway, it isn't as if European companies have fared any better in the US market. Remember, Verizon is 40% owned by Vodafone. T-Mobile is 100% owned by Deutsche Telekom. DT's mismanagement of T-Mobile USA will be studied in MBA schools for years. They took a company with a decent reputation for customer service, but refused to invest in infrastructure, falling behind first in terms of 3G, and then dragging their heels on 4G. They also missed out on the spectrum auctions and by the time they did build out their 3G network, they were using a frequency that no one else in the US did (and only a few other carriers in North and South America).

 

[Beau10]

You couldn't provide a single recent citation? That is very telling.

Michael

Here ya go, one from last month.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14252361/

 

[davewyman]

"They sell you something and then try and force you to barely use it."

Just like health insurance companies in the U.S.

 

[japanime]

At first I was excited thinking I could tether my ipad wifi via my iphone, but the vendor cleared this situation up. That's cool. For those on tiered plans it could help to cut costs for you. In Japan everybody with an iphone on softbank has unlimited data plans so this type of service isn't needed here.

I beg to differ. While Softbank's iPhone plan does offer "unlimited" data, Softbank throttles access to certain services (including YouTube and Skype, live podcasts, even certain media-rich websites) no matter how much data the customer uses each month. In other words, even if you only watch one YouTube video a month — and do absolutely nothing else with your iPhone — Softbank will still throttle your data speed.

So, while a tethering solution would be just as welcome in Japan as it is anywhere else, this type of service probably won't WORK here — because of Softbank's throttle policies.

 

[tjb1]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us; Silk/1.0.13.81_10003810) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16 Silk-Accelerated=false)

Jailbreak + $20 MyWi.

TetherMe sucked when i tried it...always had to reset it or restart phone and sometimes it just wouldn't work.

 

[koobcamuk]

I beg to differ. While Softbank's iPhone plan does offer "unlimited" data, Softbank throttles access to certain services (including YouTube and Skype, live podcasts, even certain media-rich websites) no matter how much data the customer uses each month. In other words, even if you only watch one YouTube video a month — and do absolutely nothing else with your iPhone — Softbank will still throttle your data speed.

So, while a tethering solution would be just as welcome in Japan as it is anywhere else, this type of service probably won't WORK here — because of Softbank's throttle policies.

Do AU throttle? I remember reading that section and laughing a little in-store. I promptly jailbroke and installed my3G unrestrictor and MyWi. お疲れ様。

 

[dbisping]

plain text username and password

i just registered and they sent a plain text email w/ my username and password.

until this gets fixed, thanks, but no thanks.

i'd like to avoid being a victim of fraud.

 

[jehowe]

The problem is that you US citizens wont pay your own phones.....

This is entirely the carriers fault, they built it this way. Customers in the US have little incentive to pay full price for a handset that is effectively locked (by CDMA activation, frequency, etc) to a single carrier, and without monthly plan price reductions if you use a non-subsidized phone. It's an entirely closed system and the carriers here like it this way. They want long term contracts. They want control of the ecosystem and tailor manufacturers mobile handsets (cripple) feature set to enhance revenue models. And they don't want to compete directly with other carriers by having 'free floating' mobiles out there. Sure, the iPhone doesn't get the full custom mod treatment, but they are for all intents and purposes locked to a carrier.

The truth is carriers here don't mind subsidizing phones, it gives them absolute control with the benefits of long contracts and high ETF's, effectively blunting any potential competitive disruption. As surprising as it is now, these guys were vehemently opposed to number porting a few years ago.

Back OT, I do believe AT&T will try and stop Tether by either preventing access to their proxy site, coming down even harder on customers and push them into tethering plans, or force Apple to somehow cripple cell to ad-hoc networking.

 

[gnasher729]

So.. US Carriers seem to have brainwashed you nicely there.

That's a remarkably stupid remark. You may re-read my post and then figure out how many things you didn't understand, so I'm not surprised.

 

[nikhsub1]

Well, the use case is for the non-phone getting Internet from the device connected to 3G/4G. Since the program is HTML5, it can naturally install on the iPad. There may be a need for an app on the iPad, but that would have to be sold through the store. I see no reason why this kind of tethering won't work. Of course, if you do it extensively, you'll run up against the caps anyway. The only reason the phone nets are not allowing it is to collect a second monthly charge. Which, I'm sure, if you go over both accounts, would be a tidy bit of overage charges. They're not throttling bandwidth if you pay more. Lots more.

You are forgetting the most important part. On the host machine you need to create an AD-HOC network - something you can not do on an iPad at this time.

 

[stefanbean]

Best idea ever!!!

So, I am super excited about Tether. I am a graphic designer for Tactic Marketing (http://www.tacticmarketing.com) in Indianapolis and I am constantly needing to work on branding projects on the go. But I haven't been willing to pay $20/month minimum through ATT so I have to wait until I get to a WIFI network to work. This is going to be an awesome update to my tech repetoir.

Thanks Tether for rocking my world today!

 

[Tinmania]

Here ya go, one from last month.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14252361/

That was lame. A one post thread with zero replies on the first of February talking about a message received in December.

If that is the best you can do my point has been made.



michael

 

[fithian]

New iPad

So does this mean if I buy the itether service for my new IPAD3 with really fast LTE and carry over my unlimited plan from the first 3G IPAD I get unlimited tethering @ LTE speeds ? Thats pretty cool.. It will rock while it lasts.

-Scott

I don't have LTE in my area, or anywhere in eastern PA. I do have two new iPads arriving on the 16th, both with ATT LTE. My current iPhone 4S with 4G, as ATT calls it (HSPA+), gets about 2.2mbps both up and down at my home. This is enough to use tethering. I can only assume that the new iPads will get similar performance. ATT says that the unlimited plan for iPad will not be throttled. When LTE gets here with 10-15mbps, it may be worthwhile.

Back in the day I had a Sony-Ericcson Sprint phone for $15 a month that included unlimited tethering over bluetooth or usb. Speed was like Edge. How things change.

 

[Tinmania]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us; Silk/1.0.13.81_10003810) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16 Silk-Accelerated=false)

Jailbreak + $20 MyWi.

TetherMe sucked when i tried it...always had to reset it or restart phone and sometimes it just wouldn't work.

What carrier do you have for the iPhone?



Michael

 

[BC2009]

On what grounds?

It's not illegal to do what they're doing.

Using it might be a breach of contract in some cases.

Some carriers permit tethering but can't support it using the official Apple method.

I agree its ridiculous, but you have the movie industry trying to sell search engines for including torrent sites in search results. I wouldn't be surprised if the carriers tried to find a way to sue them.

 

[bassfingers]

Ok. How much would you offer me for a 2011 27" iMac with a 3.4GHz quad-core Core i7, 2GB AMD Radeon, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and a 32GB iPhone 4?





The next time you insult people, including myself, can you please find a way to type out the insults in an English accent? I enjoy being insulted by people with an English accent.

That's funny. The English accent bit. It nearly distracted me from how much they owned you.

And your bit about your top end computer validates the points made against you

 

[brdeveloper]

This has nothing to do with tethering. Tether company proved that HTML5 is a powerful platform capable of bypassing AppStore.

A lot of useful apps can emerge from HTML5 plenty of 3D graphics, client-side storage, offline operation. Maybe an IFRAME Javascript Flash player in the future would be possible too.

 

[madness3120]

Lol

Good thing I have a android phone PDAnet works without having to jailbreak

 

[pmz]

You are not wrong. However, I have the grandfathered unlimited plan. Tethering for me would be a) more expensive and b) charging me more for data I already purchased.

I hear ya. I have the same plan. But AT&T has stated that they are now throttling all Unlimited Plans at 3 GB of data. Personally, 4 of my 5 lines have suffered throttled speeds at 2 GB in the past, and now at 3.

Currently I have no option for tethering (like you), and would have to bump up to 5 GB/$50 plan to gain tethering. While I wish to retain my "unlimited" plan, I have to be realistic and acknowledge that I don't have an unlimited plan, I have a 3 GB plan, with throttling and instead of automatic overage charge. That's the situation.

You are correct. But this is a relatively recent change for ATT. When they first allowed tethering, it was a separate plan - which was charging you twice for the same data. They have revamped their data pricing structure (thanks to competition).

This is true now, but the old tethering plans didn't add GB - just $. Even with tethering a few days a month while traveling, I still don't get close to 2GB, so I wish they would allow it on all plans.

Both correct, previously it was a $20 up charge, for no additional data. They've done away with this, so should be acknowledged in relevant discussion.

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This has nothing to do with tethering. Tether company proved that HTML5 is a powerful platform capable of bypassing AppStore.

A lot of useful apps can emerge from HTML5 plenty of 3D graphics, client-side storage, offline operation. Maybe an IFRAME Javascript Flash player in the future would be possible too.

This is something I've been looking into for use in my business, but I'm still feeling better about re-building in HTML5.

 

[elgrecomac]

Atta boy!

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us; Silk/1.0.13.81_10003810) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16 Silk-Accelerated=false)

Jailbreak + $20 MyWi.

TetherMe sucked when i tried it...always had to reset it or restart phone and sometimes it just wouldn't work.

my iPhones have been jailbroken for 2+ years. MyWi works great with my pad 2.

Such an easy solution. and I have NEVER, EVER, been contacted by ATT about usage.