stufried
Premium
join:2003-10-13
 ·Verizon BroadbandA..
| ATT's Tethering Plans Aren't Logical
I have Blackberry International and I am not even allowed to tether domestically no matter how much I am willing to pay. Even though ATT can detect tethering via the approved mode, they seem to take this irrational position here as well. Yes, I know that there is a backdoor way to tether, but the people doing this aren't paying ATT anything whether they tether with an iPhone or a Blackberry. |
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Some User Guy
| Why wait Tether NOW for FREE
»www.reelsmart.com/2009/06/18/sta···l-works/ |
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kaila
join:2000-10-11
Lincolnshire, IL
clubs: 
| We pay $30 for 5gigs worth of data already....
Which is paid whether we use it or not. If ATT can keep track, why should it matter if it's tethered data or native. Is tethering somehow more expensive, and is $6 a gig ($30/5) not enough to give them the insane margins they're looking for?
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Jeff Howe
Jeff's Blog - »www.jeffhowe.net/Jeffhowe.net/Blog/Blog.html |
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dsl_sutra
join:2003-12-25
Jersey City, NJ | T-Mobile tethering
T-Mobile - tethering is always FREE with an unlimited data plan  |
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cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | It already works
Well I've installed the att.ipcc file and tethering works like a charm. So F- off AT&T! |
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N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit | reply to stufried
Re: ATT's Tethering Plans Aren't Logical
No way it's $55 over the $30 data plan.
AT&T's DataConnect plan is $60/mo for 5 GB data (they don't list it as unlimited on their web site).
So, $55 a month with 5 GB cap to tether an iPhone would make sense, and would be $5 cheaper than just getting a wireless connect card. Somewhat of an incentive to do both with one provider.
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… |
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Frink
Professor
join:2000-07-13
Scotch Plains, NJ | Stick to Telegraph...
People should continue to REAM AT&T...iPhone or not, they are absolutely without a clue. |
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baineschile
2600
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI | reply to stufried
Re: ATT's Tethering Plans Aren't Logical
Apple, just bring the frickin iphone to verizon, and call it a day |
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o2checkerupper
@sprintlink.net | Pricing
O2 in the UK if you converted to dollars charges $20.50 for 3 GBs and $41 for 10 GBs. Thats on top of the the regular voice and data cost. |
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fcisler
Premium
join:2004-06-14
Riverhead, NY
| reply to dsl_sutra
Re: T-Mobile tethering
Unfortunately I've known MANY MANY MANY people who have had T-Mobile. I say had because not a ONE of them was happy with the service and every one of them jumped ship.
Maybe elsewhere in the country T-Mobile is good...but around here they blow. |
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dcdeadbeat
join:2008-10-07
Washington, DC
·Covad Communications
2 edits | it is probably the tech support and not the bandwidth
Believe it or not people have been tethering on AT&T for some time now. I know people that were tethering their EDGE Treo 650. Tethering has not brought the network down.
The real problem is that the majority of users are not tech savy enough to handle tethering on their own. Even with the easy steps Apple did to enable tethering on the iphone, you still have to get the computer to communicate with the phone. With the usb 3G cards, they automatically install software that sets up the connection on the computer. Not so with tethering on the iphone (or most other phones except BBs).
So why in the world would AT&T want to unleash a tech support nightmare like tethering? The answer is they won't unless you are will to pay extra for the support (the reason for any extra tethering charge). Tech Support is a huge expense for any company. So my educated guess is that they will charge money for tethering to discourage inexperienced users from tethering and therefore decrease calls to tech support. Experienced users are already tethering their iPhones (courtesy of the new profiles workaround). Companies have never worried about inexperienced users. Experienced users bring in new customers, far outweighing any bandwidth usage they may use from such "illegal" activities such as tethering.
Note to AT&T death-star storm trooper attorneys reading this: I do not tether and do not condone tethering. I don't need to tether as my company pays for both my phone and a 3G card. |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to baineschile
Re: ATT's Tethering Plans Aren't Logical
You'll have to wait for a non GSM based chipset from Apple.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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JasonOD
@comcast.net
| reply to dcdeadbeat
Re: it is probably the tech support and not the bandwidth
While I agree support costs are a factor, it's more than that. For reasons I don't understand, iphone users in general are different breed and would likely crush AT&T's (or anyones) network if given half a chance.
The iphone should be a strictly WiFi device for net services, but apple has shown little regard for the network providers who actually make their products work (itunes & apple tv's hd movie downloads for example). |
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puck0114
join:2005-12-24
Washington, DC | reply to baineschile
Re: ATT's Tethering Plans Aren't Logical
Why would you expect Verizon to price it any better? |
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podstolom
@kanren.net
| Tethering is a big-time ripoff
Verizon is no different from AT&T in regards to tethering. $30/5Gig per month surcharge on their $29.99 data plan. I have some ethical problems with using third-party options to bypass tethering surcharges, probably would be called "theft of service in legalese" but these cash-cow pricing ripoffs are simply too insufferably outrageous to tolerate. I am part of the "market" and these prices I will not bear.
The FCC should initiate similar investigations into these low data caps, overage charges and outrageous tethering surcharges in much the same way as they are investigating SMS charges.
And to the "pro-American" free-market capitalist-loving opportunists, if this sounds like over-regulated Socialism, then so be it. I'm sick and tired of being bamboozled, preyed upon and ripped off by crorporate opportunists whose only interest is in serving the investment portfolios of their investors by excessive monitization of minimal value to the consumer. |
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO | reply to o2checkerupper
Re: Pricing
Thing is, that's a LOT less expensive than tethering in the US. $20.50 for 3GB? $41 for 10GB? I can haz? |
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NOVA_Guy
Obama- Commander in Thief
Premium
join:2002-03-05
 ·VOIPo
| reply to JasonOD
Re: it is probably the tech support and not the bandwidth
What published evidence do you have to back your claim that iPhone users "...in general are a different breed and would likely crush AT&T's (or anyones) network if given half a chance"?
Does it come from the total destruction of AT&T since the release of the iPhone 2G? Or 3G for that matter? I doubt so, since they appear to be as strong as ever today.
Does it come from statements from AT&T about their 3G network not being able to handle the additional load? I doubt so, since most comments I've seen from them seem to be stating just the opposite.
I'm not trying to completely discredit what you've stated, I'd just like to see how you have arrived at your opinion.
If anything, I think the iPhone has been a Godsend to AT&T. It has likely brought thousands of customers to them that they otherwise would not have had-- customers that are spending to the tune of $75, $100, or more per month. That amounts to a rather big number-- one with lots of zeroes after it-- that AT&T has put into its pocket; money which would have gone to its competitors.
And I couldn't disagree more with the opinion shared in your second paragraph. The main reason that most people have purchased an iPhone-- and the main reason why people purchase smartphones to begin with-- is the ubiquitous access to network resources that it provides. Out on the road and need to check an email? No problem. At work with a monitored or slow Internet connection, but want to check on where the FedEx package is? No problem. Want to watch TV on your device through a Slingbox? No problem. These devices have literally changed how we as a society live, work, play, and interact with each other.
I seriously doubt that most of us would have considered purchasing an iPhone without the non-WiFi data access component. It wouldn't have been worth the cost.
As for Apple showing little regard for the network providers... this sounds a bit like the pot calling the kettle black to me. Network providers sell people access on a monthly basis-- for a rather hefty price, IMHO. ($60/mo for the non-bundled slow tier on Comcast is hardly a bargain price.) And after the sale, these network providers seem to do everything within their power to discourage people from actually using the service they've been sold. They set quotas without telling users exactly what those quotas are. They actively try to prevent people from legally sharing legitimate files with each other. They don't run newsgroup feeds-- and those that do don't keep adequate newsgroup histories. They cooperate with government and quasi-government agencies (read as RIAA et al) in efforts to entrap individuals who *may* be doing something illegal-- without a shred of evidence or a court order in sight. And that seems to be just the beginning.
Perhaps if network providers had a little more business sense and a more sound and technically capable network they wouldn't have to whine about Apple releasing a product that lets people actually use their Internet connections the way they were intended to be used. What's next-- start complaining about DirecTV On Demand allowing users to download movies using the Internet connections as well? Your complaint sounds like it is coming directly from a network provider shill.
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How soon will the Obama wack job nut cases wake up and realize that he's tearing this country apart, limb from limb? Thanks to people like him, Pelosi, and Dodd, Socialism is alive and well in our country. |
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NOVA_Guy
Obama- Commander in Thief
Premium
join:2002-03-05
·VOIPo
| reply to podstolom
Re: Tethering is a big-time ripoff
So what ethical options do you have with tethering? I would be hard pressed to see how this is theft of service, since you're simply using bandwidth you've already paid for (albeit on a different device than the provider originally anticipated).
Is it theft of service for me to buy a GSM phone, then take the SIM card from that phone and put it into another, different phone to be used? I can't think of a single person that would argue that it is. The same logic applies here... by tethering a person is taking the bandwidth that was sold/allotted/intended to be used on one device, and using that very same legitimately purchased bandwidth on another device.
Adding a surcharge for tethering to a data plan is like a restaurant telling you that there will be an additional cost associated with your meal because you brought your own silverware/utensils to eat from and have decided to use them. At the end of the day, the same 5GB bandwidth cap applies to your data plan, so AT&T doesn't actually lose anything. Their tethering charge isn't because they actually incur greater costs-- it's because they want yet another opportunity to reach into our wallets and grab another chunk of hard-earned money.
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How soon will the Obama wack job nut cases wake up and realize that he's tearing this country apart, limb from limb? Thanks to people like him, Pelosi, and Dodd, Socialism is alive and well in our country. |
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ackman
join:2000-10-04
Acworth, GA
1 edit | The US is so funny
You know, we all get our panties bunched up when big corpos give consumers the shaft, due to either monopoly or collusion. Yet, any time regulation is suggested, people get their panties all bunched up and shout "communism, marxism, fascism, socialism", etc. The very definition of mental dysfunction is doing the same thing over and over, without change, and expecting different results. Until government regulation is put back in place to regulate big corporations into doing the right thing for society, like Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower believed, then we're all doomed to the same old crap, just a different day. |
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TamaraB
Question The Current Paradigm
Premium
join:2000-11-08
Brooklyn NYC
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to cypherstream
Re: It already works
said by cypherstream  :Well I've installed the att.ipcc file and tethering works like a charm. So F- off AT&T! Do you know what will happen when AT&T opens up tethering, and Apple sends their updated profile?
Bob
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"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities." -- Voltaire
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