AT&T iPhone Tethering – Launching with OS 4, $20 a Month, If You Drop Your Unlimited Data Plan
AT&T has finally announced support for iPhone tethering – available when iPhone OS 4 is released.
Along with their announcement today of new wireless data plans, AT&T also detailed its upcoming support for iPhone tethering – only a year behind carriers in 40+ other countries:
Tethering. Smartphone customers “ including iPhone customers “ who choose the DataPro plan have the option to add tethering for an additional $20 per month. Tethering lets customers use their tethering-enabled smartphones as a modem to provide a broadband connection for laptop computers, netbooks or other computing devices. Tethering for iPhones will be available when Apple releases iPhone OS 4 this summer.
So the big tradeoff here is that if you want tethering, you’ll need to give up your current unlimited data plan (which you otherwise have the option to keep grandfathered in) and switch to the new (2GB capped) DataPro plan.
I’ve never felt a great need for tethering up to now, and the only way I’d be interested now is if there is support for tethering the iPad. I don’t see that mentioned though, which leads me to believe it will not be supported. Hope I’m wrong on that, as it would be immensely stupid to support ‘other computing devices’ and not the iPad.
What do you all think of the AT&T tethering offer? Worth paying $20 a month for? And ditching the unlimited data plan?
Via: Gizmodo
Dropping the unlimited plan for iPad 3G SUCKS
Not a chance will I drop it. The future is more content to wireless devices. This is just ATT's FIRST rate….mark my words it will continue to creep (or leap) up as more and more devices use/need content to make them the value we expect.
DO NOT CHANGE—AND you still can't tether in Europe without their stupid insane roaming charges. The iphone is really useless overseas (if you are from US).
The new pricing sux! I live in a major city but wifi isn't as available as most people think. Something about the AT&T's recent actions says that they're about to lose a lot of customers to the competition.
AT&T Tethering will only be USB & BT tethering as seen in the current OS. Neither AT&T nor Apple have a reason to offer tethering for iPad when that's what the 3G iPad is for (Apple) and the iPad plan is more expensive (AT&T).
I'll continue to use my unlimited data AND use my iPad via MyWi thank you… until AT&T figure out how to shut it down (I don't use it that much anyway).
The new pricing is BULL. $20 per mont to access my paid for phone's features? Bye Bye At&T. You dug your own grave here.
This is typical telecom move… They don’t see beyond their nose. Why not offer a $50 all inclusive plan to cover all your registered device with unlimited data plan? That gets customer loyalty.
If their own stats show majority don’t use their full data plan, what would AT&T lose? It could gain more subscriber going to this plan!