AT&T reportedly provisions iOS 4.3 beta Personal Hotspot feature
AT&T has reportedly provisioned the new Personal Hotspot WiFi sharing feature of iOS 4.3 beta 3 for a developer, indicating it will follow Verizon's lead in offering the feature to its subscribers.
Apple added the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.2.6, a build that only runs on the Verizon iPhone 4. It takes advantage of a feature Verizon has long offered that enables multiple WiFi clients to share a phone's mobile 3G connection.
AT&T hasn't committed to supporting the new feature yet, but is expected to in the face of the competitive threat issued by Verizon. Other carriers can choose whether they will support the OS feature.
The individual reporting AT&T's acquiescence in provisioning the feature on his phone running the developer build says the carrier agreed "after I mentioned Verizon a few times."
AT&T similarly balked for months before finally supporting the MMS and Bluetooth tethering features Apple added to iOS 3.0, but could hold up support for those features because it lacked any direct competition in the US. Personal Hotspot is Wi-Fi tethering.
Activating the feature is subject to additional fees. Verizon charges an extra $20 per month for WiFi tethering, and AT&T is expected to offer similar plans
Apple added the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.2.6, a build that only runs on the Verizon iPhone 4. It takes advantage of a feature Verizon has long offered that enables multiple WiFi clients to share a phone's mobile 3G connection.
AT&T hasn't committed to supporting the new feature yet, but is expected to in the face of the competitive threat issued by Verizon. Other carriers can choose whether they will support the OS feature.
The individual reporting AT&T's acquiescence in provisioning the feature on his phone running the developer build says the carrier agreed "after I mentioned Verizon a few times."
AT&T similarly balked for months before finally supporting the MMS and Bluetooth tethering features Apple added to iOS 3.0, but could hold up support for those features because it lacked any direct competition in the US. Personal Hotspot is Wi-Fi tethering.
Activating the feature is subject to additional fees. Verizon charges an extra $20 per month for WiFi tethering, and AT&T is expected to offer similar plans
Comments
the carrier agreed "after I mentioned Verizon a few times."
Love how free markets work these little inconsistencies out all on their own. Didn't need anyone to mandate these features for everyone. I believe we're going to see a lot of good things come about due to this broadening in carrier availability.
Love how free markets work these little inconsistencies out all on their own. Didn't need anyone to mandate these features for everyone.
No, the only thing someone has to mandate is competition. Of course, the competition between wireless carriers probably got here without government intervention, though at some point in the past AT&T did have a monopoly and was broken up, not in the wireless world but in the wired one.
The benefits of competition!
Identical pricing and customer abuse from the American corporate duopolies?
Identical pricing and customer abuse from the American corporate duopolies?
Exactly. Verizon gets iPhone - and then...suddenly....
AT&T can provide 2 more GB for the same tethering price
AT&T is giving away Microcells
AT&T announces free mobile to any mobile calls
AT&T brings back unlimited data for select customers
But when they didn't have iPhone competition providing these things to customers would have been cost-prohibitive. Hmmmm....
Say I get x data per month for my iPhone. Now apple adds a feature to the phone's OS that allows my phone to become a wifi router so I can use some percentage of x data on my wifi iPad instead of my phone. But the carrier gets to charge me extra, even if I never exceed the x data that I paid for my iPhone plan. Yeah, free markets rule.
Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking (here in Australia) $20 extra for what?
But I think this is due to the prevalence of the so called Unlimited plans in the States and the likelihood that a tethered iPhone supporting X Other devices has the ability to chew up a lot more data than an iPhone alone.
I suppose the other option is for Verizon or AT&T to offer a much lower more realistic usage cap plan or even a straight price per MB or GB and allow any amount of tethering for free.
This would again cause many howls of anguish but at least you wouldn't be paying for bandwidth you didn't use.
(Yes MyWi via JB is available, but the overall ATT 3G speed is slow as molasses)
ATT, hurry up with 4G!
Exactly. Verizon gets iPhone - and then...suddenly....
AT&T can provide 2 more GB for the same tethering price
AT&T is giving away Microcells
AT&T announces free mobile to any mobile calls
AT&T brings back unlimited data for select customers
But when they didn't have iPhone competition providing these things to customers would have been cost-prohibitive. Hmmmm....
That?s how competition works. If not for Apple introducing the iPhone back in 2007 you wouldn?t have the change in the market then to allow there to be a move in the cellphones or carriers at all. Be happy Apple changed the market, even if you prefer WebOS, WP7 or Android.
That?s how competition works. If not for Apple introducing the iPhone back in 2007 you wouldn?t have the change in the market then to allow there to be a move in the cellphones or carriers at all. Be happy Apple changed the market, even if you prefer WebOS, WP7 or Android.
I'm happy to see the competition, of course. I'm just irritated that carriers and ISPs aren't square in the crosshairs of the regulators - instead we have this nonsense about Apple's subscription model being some kind of antitrust issue.
Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking (here in Australia) $20 extra for what?
But I think this is due to the prevalence of the so called Unlimited plans in the States and the likelihood that a tethered iPhone supporting X Other devices has the ability to chew up a lot more data than an iPhone alone.
I suppose the other option is for Verizon or AT&T to offer a much lower more realistic usage cap plan or even a straight price per MB or GB and allow any amount of tethering for free.
This would again cause many howls of anguish but at least you wouldn't be paying for bandwidth you didn't use.
I can understand it for unlimited plans but I'm talking about capped plans. Besides, AT&T is not even offering unlimited plans any more.
I'm happy to see the competition, of course. I'm just irritated that carriers and ISPs aren't square in the crosshairs of the regulators - instead we have this nonsense about Apple's subscription model being some kind of antitrust issue.
That I agree with wholeheartedly. The regulators seem to focus on shiny objects in the media, not the real issues. I think SMS is a huge issue, but what I can do because not use it?
AT&T has reportedly provisioned the new Personal Hotspot WiFi sharing feature of iOS 4.3 beta 3 for a developer, indicating it will follow Verizon's lead in offering the feature to its subscribers.
Apple added the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.2.6, a build that only runs on the Verizon iPhone 4. It takes advantage of a feature Verizon has long offered that enables multiple WiFi clients to share a phone's mobile 3G connection.
AT&T hasn't committed to supporting the new feature yet, but is expected to in the face of the competitive threat issued by Verizon. Other carriers can choose whether they will support the OS feature.
The individual reporting AT&T's acquiescence in provisioning the feature on his phone running the developer build says the carrier agreed "after I mentioned Verizon a few times."
AT&T similarly balked for months before finally supporting the MMS and Bluetooth tethering features Apple added to iOS 3.0, but could hold up support for those features because it lacked any direct competition in the US. Personal Hotspot is Wi-Fi tethering.
Activating the feature is subject to additional fees. Verizon charges an extra $20 per month for WiFi tethering, and AT&T is expected to offer similar plans
Bah! Too little, too late for me. I had to get a Verizon Mi-Fi card. I still have 18 months left on the contract. Freakin' AT&T.
That I agree with wholeheartedly. The regulators seem to focus on shiny objects in the media, not the real issues. I think SMS is a huge issue, but what I can do because not use it?
Senator Herb Kohl used to be working on that. And then Pogue made some noise about it. Seems like everyone has just rolled over at this point.
My 2-year contract from my 3GS iPhone is up in June. If you can't make this work by then -- at equal or better terms than Verizon -- then I'll be jumping ship.
Signed,
Millions of your customers
Besides, didn't people running 4.3 betas already confirm long ago that the hotspot feature worked for them?
Exactly. Verizon gets iPhone - and then...suddenly....
AT&T can provide 2 more GB for the same tethering price
AT&T is giving away Microcells
AT&T announces free mobile to any mobile calls
AT&T brings back unlimited data for select customers
But when they didn't have iPhone competition providing these things to customers would have been cost-prohibitive. Hmmmm....
I'm offended by AT&T only offering features when they *have* to.