iPhone 4 Beta Shows AT&T Tethering

An anonymous reader found news that will strike fear into the hearts of every 3G user in NYC. "Apple released iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 4 on Tuesday evening and it wasn't long before developers found the strongest evidence yet that tethering for US-based iPhone customers may happen sooner than later."

Re:What is the point?

[Anonymusing]

Yes, but there is the whole rest of the United States... AT&T's coverage does not suck everywhere.

Re:For a price of course

[Culture20]

Unless you live in New York, where 5GB is the most you can possibly ever pull down in a month due to network issues and speeds. That makes it unlimited! Who needs thottling or limits, when you can just overload your network and overcharge your customers!

And this is why I don't understand why companies would spend so much on throttling; it's a naturally self-limiting system.

Re:iPhone or AT&T?

[jo_ham]

It's *already* in the iPhone OS - my 3G tethers out of the box here in the UK - no jailbreaking or extra software. This is entirely an AT&T limitation in the US.

Re:For a price of course

[Wiarumas]

My biggest complaint is the market's price fixing on text messages. There is no way in hell that unlimited texting warrants a $30 price tag when the iPhone comes with a $30 unlimited data plan. Yes, you can play FPS, stream music, videos, browse the web, etc, but those 8 digit text messages are somehow made separate and charged at the same price?

Re:For a price of course

[DrgnDancer]

But again, depending on your carrier if they catch you they'll charge you out the wazoo. The only thing really stopping Apple from implementing tethering in the US (3.0 had the feature built in) was AT&T. Technically nearly all the carriers forbid tethering without paying for the service, but it's harder to enforce on other phones. Basically, you're not supposed to tether phones unless you pay for the service (or your carrier is on of the few that allows it by default). The single source nature of the iPhone allows stricter enforcement of this rule on it than on other phones

Re:For a price of course

[ckaminski]

SMS originally was free. I was using it for paging alerts in 2001/2002 and never paid a dime. Something between the loss of my datacenter job in 2002 and my gaining a new one in 2005, they'd started charging for it. It may have "cost" something on paper (.08?) but they never billed it (Verizon) - perhaps because they couldn't.

Once they saw usage go up, it made sense to charge for it - it was a profit-making revenue stream. I'd have done the same. I don't think I'd be as greedy as the telco motherfuckers, but hey, that's just me. If you don't like the extra $20/m, don't get it.

What I don't like is the phone company not supporting a total blockage on SMS. I don't want SMS at all - and I don't want people texting me to cost me $.20 a pop. Last I tried with Verizon, they wouldn't block incoming at all.

Re:Why?

[Trashman]

You make very good points. And I agree with you that you should vote with your dollars. Unfortunately, your comment doesn't address the reality of the market forces and competition between the big 4 telcos in the US.

The reality is: There is no competition.

1. Look at the txt messaging rates between the big four. They basically charge the same rate. when one raises their price, the others follow shortly thereafter.

2. Look at the ETF's for the (usually, 2 year) contracts you sign. they're all very high. so high in fact, that they don't really reflect the unsubsidized cost of the device which is the reason the ETF exists. And as with TXT mgs rate, when one raises it, the others follow.

3. Verizon I believe was the first to require a data plan if you wanted to get a smartphone. at&t later made that a requirement. (I'm not sure about T-moble and sprint but they probably have a similar mandate, if they're not working on on behind the scenes and haven't announced it yet.)

PAYG is not a solution for some, as the device you want to use may be not be "authorized" by carrier.

Re:For a price of course

[blackC0pter]

As a poor college student, I setup my ATT phone to block SMS inbound and outbound (just call up the carrier and tell them you want it blocked). It worked great and I saved money until I realized any girl that is interested in you mainly wants to flirt via text. Needless to say, as soon as I discovered that I reactivated my SMS service very quickly.