When AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega dropped word that they have official iPhone tethering for data access in our future, we only had one question: how much?
Well, MacBlogz [via Giz] brings word that they expect it will be $30 a month. This certainly seems reasonable (the rumor, not necessarily the rate) as Giz notes that it matches the current tethering plan made available for BlackBerrys. It looks as though iTunes will further recede from being ‘just a music player’ as it will also handle your tethering setup.
As you might expect, it will be capped at 5gigs a month, which seems pretty anemic for $30 bucks to us. On the bright side, PdaNet has sent in word that they’re still hard at work on their excellent tethering application — we suspect that translates into “make it even tougher for carriers to detect that you’re tethering.”
So basically: AT&T wants to charge you $30 per month for a plan that can only be used for occasional tethering. It’s what we expected, sure, but it’s not what we’d hoped.
We hear from MobileCrunch [via] that official iPhone tethering will be coming soon to AT&T. How soon is “soon” we don’t know, whether data will be capped or unlimited is a mystery, and exactly what sort of plan will be involved is also up in the air.
It’s a safe bet to say that AT&T will not be including tethering in the standard iPhone plan. Tethering costs in the US generally run a minimum of an extra 20 bucks a month, depending on carrier, business, and the phase of the moon. In other words, you may still want to think about jailbreaking and tethering on the sly with PdaNet - just don’t tell ‘em we told you.
How much would you be willing to pay for laptop tethering?
Know how some people are complaining that they have trouble connecting to AT&T’s 3G network? How they drop calls? How they blame Apple? (Despite the phone working pretty dang well in other countries on other carriers). Remember the theory that there were so many iPhone 3Gs hitting the market that AT&T couldn’t handle the load? (That their network was basically rabbit ears tied to old antennas? — okay, we made that last one up!)
Now imagine that each and every one of those iPhones, especially in high-density areas like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York — where each tower is already slicing bandwidth to razor thin margins — suddenly found itself barraged by laptops tethering themselves on for the ride.
That might just be what’s keeping AT&T from allowing iPhone tethering: fear it will crush their already strained 3G network. MacBlogz claims to have a source saying just that (via Gizmodo):
“Regardless of how many billions of dollars AT&T pours into their 3G network, it hasn’t been stable enough to handle all you iPhone users.”
PdaNet has been hailed as the best reason to Jailbreak your iPhone. Why? Because it sets your iPhone up as a WiFi router that you can easily connect to with your laptop. This setup is ideal for a lot of users for a few reason:
- It’s dead-simple to set up, as it doesn’t require any weird software or modem configuration on your laptop
- Since the iPhone becomes a simple WiFi router, there are no blocked ports. Unlike NetShare, PdaNet is not a ‘SOCKS proxy,’ so you can use any internet protocol (like iChat or AIM) and not have to worry about whether or not it will work.
- Although you’d take a big old hit on speed, you could theoretically share your internet connection with several computers.
There is one major caveat you need to be aware of with PdaNet, however. The Terms of Service on the standard AT&T iPhone contract and also on their standard Data Plans do not allow you to tether. Most people simply ignore this and go ahead and tether anyway — being careful not to overdo it to prevent AT&T from hitting them with extra fees or even a cancellation. If that doesn’t worry you, read on for a full how to on getting PdaNet setup to tether to your Laptop!
Read the rest of this entry »
Engadget brings the news: there will be an Apple event next week, on October 14th. Obviously, based on the invitation above (which we didn’t receive, sniffle), the focus is going to be on notebooks. Presumably there will be a new form factor or two to talk about here based on Apple’s rumored “Brick” manufacturing technique, where they carve the case out of a single block of aluminum.
The only possible iPhone angles we’re seeing here:
- Steve comes clean about when we’ll see background notifications during a tiny aside about the iPhone
- The rumors of a Glass Touchpad with iPhone-esque multi-touch and even an iPhone-like secondary display down there may be true
- Tethering becomes allowed? Pretty Please?
We’re putting the above 3 possibilities in the “One More Thing” category — which is to say we haven’t really seen a real “One More Thing” moment from his Steveness in awhile now and have pretty much given up hope of seeing one at this event, but we haven’t given it up entirely.
Today on the forums I wanted to point out our new setup. We have cleaned up the forums a bit and have made it even more friendly for everyone. Don’t trust me? Take a look for yourself! If you feel so inclined and want to see something added or removed, start your own thread and tell us!
A lot has been said about the iPhone and tethering, heck even Dieter just jailbroke his iPhone to try out a tethering app called PdaNet. Mugunth wants to know why AT&T won’t allow tethering and VOIP on the iPhone, chime in on the conversation right here.
Are you fed up so much with your iPhone or AT&T that you are considering getting rid of it and going back to your old phone? Well NMprofessional is seriously considering doing just that and for a few interesting reasons… Say it ain’t so, NMprofessional! Head on into the forums and try to change his mind!
Rene let slip that we’re going to have a great new contest coming to the TiPB iPhone Forums soon, so along with our fresh new look, it’s time to get some fresh faces in there as well! Signing up is simple, I’ll even get you started, head on over and I’ll see you on the forums!
I’ve gone ahead and followed Jeremy’s excellent iPhone Jailbreak instructions for one specific reason: the ability to install PdaNet on my iPhone for tethering. PdaNet let us know, along with reader Lawton, that they’ve given up waiting for App Store approval (which will likely never come anyway) and have gone ahead and released their application for jailbroken iPhones. You can get the full skinny here.
PdaNet for the iPhone is heads and shoulders above their other offerings in that it doesn’t require any software on your laptop. You simply need to set up an ‘ad hoc’ WiFi network (here’s how) on your laptop and then have your iPhone join that network. Then, boom, you’re online.
PdaNet will also work in the background (yet another reason to Jailbreak — real background apps), although they caution that you’ll want to make sure that you get back into the app relatively quickly so it doesn’t idle. They’ve also implemented another neat accelerometer-based feature: set your phone face-down and it will turn off the screen, saving power. Truth-be-told, though, you should probably leave it plugged in, an active 3G connection and WiFi connection isn’t going to be very good to your battery.
One last note: over-usage of PdaNet’s tethering is likely to draw the eye and the ire of AT&T, so use with care!
Thanks to Lawton for the tip!
Seems like it’s been an eternity since the pulling of the NetShare application officially brought us into the age of Apple pulling apps from the App Store on an almost daily basis. Without NetShare, the only folks who have been able to utilize their iPhones’ 3G connection for Laptop connectivity have been the crazy ones.
For the rest of us, there’s just the teeniest, tiniest glimmer of hope, that AT&T will relent and allow official tethering.
Until then it’s a waiting game. While you wait, think a bit about folks on PalmOS and Windows Mobile, folks who can not only tether, but can tether in a special ‘proxy mode’ that’s actually quite clever. See, when you tether, your carrier can tell you’re tethering (and can therefore charge you more). What lucky users on these other platforms do is trick their networks into thinking they’re just browsing via their phone. They do this via an awesome piece of software called PdaNet.
So: PdaNet for iPhone? It’s still the waiting game:
Our latest response from Apple is that the PdaNet application will be given new “consideration”. But that was more than a week ago and it still has an “In Review” status. There is not much we can do at this point but just to wait.
Sadly, that response from June Fabrics is now three weeks old and still no sign of PdaNet in the App Store, so things don’t look so good.
Come on, Apple and AT&T, allowing us to tether our laptops to our iPhones would make an awesome “One More Thing.”
The trouble with Steve Jobs (or an anonymous iMinion thereof) sometimes mailing off blunt-force rejoinders to disgruntled Apple customers? The intertubes suddenly become awash in Jobsmail, making it impossible to sort the real from the decidedly not so. Case in point: a Gizmodo reader claims to have emailed Jobs about the possibility of maybe potentially one day considering tethering (allowing your computer to connect to the ‘net via your iPhone’s 3G or EDGE connection). The alleged response:
We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.
Steve
Sent from my iPhone
Yeah, we can has big old doubts as well…
Update: Macrumors lets us know that, strangely enough, it’s back in the App Store. It doesn’t show up in a search, but you can download it via this iTunes/App Store link.
Update 2: …aaaand it’s gone again, at least in the US. Le Sigh.
The Interweb is abuzz about this little program that popped up on the App Store yesterday, so aptly named NetShare. The concept of the app is to essentially use your iPhone’s 3G or EDGE (god knows why) connection for your laptop. It creates a proxy and establishes a pseudo-hotspot with your iPhone’s connection leaving you free to surf the web on your laptop. It’s tethering, more or less.
How this got passed Apple and AT&T who knows. But it looks like has already been kicked out of the App Store. Did any of the TiPb faithful get their hands on this app while it was hot? Anyone get it to work? From what TiPb has been hearing, it’s really hit or miss. Let us know.
Maybe Apple wanted the developers of NetShare to get the app right before they put it out again…wish for it and it’ll come true…wish for it and it’ll come true.
Read
