AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
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AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#2Seems pretty reasonable in comparison - I pay $60/month for my Sprint USB 1xEVDO Dongle for 5 GBytes.
Now, if that $55 includes data for the iPhone as well, then I'll be very interested in seeing how ATT's HSUPA network compares to sprints 1xEVDO in the Bay Area - But I'm guessing that would be too good to be true.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#3Well, as the commercials say, it is the "Fastest 3G Network in the U.S." that you're paying for (Eye Roll)
Seriously though I think this is one practice that people should protest. I have no problem with AT&T charging for the equipment itself but if they advertise "unlimited data" than you should get "unlimited data" regardless of what screen it's on.
Don't get me wrong, I see their side of it. If people can tether they'll use more bandwidth which will cost AT&T more. So they want to charge more. I get the business reasons on their side.
But last I checked it was still a crime to advertise fradulently and that's what I consider their "unlimited data" plan to be. Just because the Cellular companies have banded together to make this pricing the norm doesn't make it right.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#4How do they know your tethering?
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#5How do they know your tethering?
I presume the iphone reports it when transmitting but even if that wasn't the case there's plenty of stuff in the ip header (OS, browser type, etc...) to determine if it's a phone or a computer on the other end.
Plus PCs in paticular produce a lot of junk that would give it away. Stuff like IGMP calls would only come from a PC.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#6Well, as the commercials say, it is the "Fastest 3G Network in the U.S." that you're paying for (Eye Roll) Seriously though I think this is one practice that people should protest. I have no problem with AT&T charging for the equipment itself but if they advertise "unlimited data" than you should get "unlimited data" regardless of what screen it's on. Don't get me wrong, I see their side of it. If people can tether t…
I think the argument is "Unlimited Data for the iPhone" - not for a laptop connected to it. If that is the case, I wish they would make it explicit.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#7How do they know your tethering?
With Apple's tools, they use a separate APN for tethering. This is like having another router (you can have another APN for MMS, for instance). All your iPhone traffic gets routed through your normal router, but the tethering traffic gets routed by your iPhone to the tethering APN.
AT&T can then see from their side how much data you've put through the normal APN and how much through the tethering APN, and charge you accordingly. This is also how some of the other iPhone carriers charge you per MB, or give you a monthly xGB limit.
The tethering hacks you see now just make the iPhone use the 'normal' APN for tethering traffic, which AT&T can't distinguish so easy. They might still be able to do it with deep packet analysis, but that probably costs a lot of money and might not be worth it.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#8Tethering is free (and currently available, I tried it out) on Optus in Australia. I don't know the situation with the two other Aus iphone carriers.
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#9Tethering is free (and currently available, I tried it out) on Optus in Australia. I don't know the situation with the two other Aus iphone carriers.
Really? How did you get it to work? When I tried, I got a popup "contact your carrier".
The SMH is reporting that it'll be $10/m from 22nd June (http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/optus-iphone-teth...), and the Optus FAQ says it will announce the price on that date (http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true...).
Re: AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
#10How do they know your tethering?
I wonder if people who paid for Netshare when it was available in the App Store will get billed for tethering if AT&T goes after unauthorized tetherers.