Just plug a usb cable up the cellphone's undersides and the other end to the PC and bingo.
What the heck is this drama about charges and the rest ?
That's not how it worked when I used my 8525 a little over a year ago. For tethering actually to work, I had to activate AT&T's Laptop Connect service at $60/month, which is $20/month more than the 8525's $40/month unlimited data plan a year ago, $30/month more than the current 3G smart phone data plans, and $40/month more than the original iPhone data plan.
I won't buy an iPhone (even though I'd really like too) because:
1) No tethering option with iPhone is a deal breaker. Currently my Sprint-Palm 755P does a fantastic job of tethering to my MBP and I use this feature regularly while traveling.
2) ATT seems to be having problems with their network penetration and bandwidth for 3G devices. Especially now that they have so many more 3G iPhones on their network, makes me think that staying on Sprints CDMA 3G may be a better option. Although this is just my casual observations.
How true is the following:
"According to RCR Wireless News, Sprint has dropped the price of their "phone as modem" plan from $50 to $15.
However, customers must own a Power Vision (CDMA2000 1x EV-DO) phone with connection capabilities to their laptops.
The $15 tethering plan is also only available alongside certain Sprint data plans, namely the Sprint PRO Pack ($30 per month), Blackberry Personal Pack ($30 per month), Worldwide Blackberry Personal Pack ($70 per month), Primary Data Plan ($50 per month) and the Worldwide Data Plan ($70 per month).
There are ways to unofficially tether -- just be wary of Sprint's 5GB cap, implemented last May."*
I do not what possessed Apple to get into these exclusive deals with companies like ATT which is known to have an unstable network. The best way to sell these sophisticated phones is to sell them to all the major carriers and then let them subsidize, compete on service plans like RIMM has done with Blackberry. If the consumer wants an unlocked phone, they should clearly have that option... so they can use anybody's SIM when they travel, etc.
Instead, Apple took an a great product and hog tied to the lowest quality carrier... at least in the US. The Cingular/ATT network has been terrible for years and now worse with the 3G/WCDMA upgrade on top of their GSM.
From a technical point of view there is no reason why the phone could have GSM for global coverage with CDMA/EVDO for carriers like VZ and WCDMA/3G for ATT, Vodafone, T-Mobile. Companies like QCOM do offer these solutions... Apple already pays royalties to QCOM anyway.
Apple needs focus on the consumer first... then the carriers. This biz of taking the tethering software from their store just to please ATT is a conflict of interest.
I am long AAPL and I spend around $100/mo on my individual plan with the current carrier... and I would like to buy the iPhone, but I can not hold my breath long enough to sign up with an onerous carrier like ATT. Looking for an Iphone 1st generation.
Well this should be fun! Most, if not all, other phones have the capability and you *can* tether without paying the fee it's just that you risk getting busted. Would AT&T follow this path and allow for tethering and just wait to 1) have people "on their honor" pony up the $30 a month or 2) just wait and bust people with huge bills?
Perhaps if they allow a third party to make the tethering and then just have apple "encourage" that if you're going to download this *and* use it then you need the tethering plan. I mean - I shouldn't have to pay AT&T for the tethering if, for example, I wanted the application but don't plan to use it until an undetermined later date right?
It makes absolute sense that they are discussing it. What makes little sense is that AT&T's policies are conditioning Apple's policies in countries where other cell companies are allowing tethering in the first place. (Not to mention the fact that the extra $30 AT&T would be charging is unreasonable, in my opinion.)
Have you seen the iphone plans for other countries?
These countries are giving out 250 MB or 500 MB or 1 GB a month iphone plans.
250 MB will give you a couple of days of tethering.
It looks good "on paper" about some of these iphone carriers allowing tethering --- but it makes no sense in reality.
Additional $30 is too high, the iPhone already has an unlimited plan and a web browser, and when you use a tethered iPhone you can't use the browser on the iPhone so it's more like moving the browsing off to the notebook, why should that be extra? The speed of the connection is also the same. If anything the option should be $10 a month.
Additional $30 is too high, the iPhone already has an unlimited plan and a web browser, and when you use a tethered iPhone you can't use the browser on the iPhone so it's more like moving the browsing off to the notebook, why should that be extra? The speed of the connection is also the same. If anything the option should be $10 a month.
Sounds like pure greed to me.
Welcome to the smart phone game. It sucks for sure but that's the same price they charge everybody else...
we pay too much for this phone plan already to charge an extra $30 a month
or at least have a tiered plan for tethering.... like: $5 per 50 Mb of usage
listen up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigmc6000
Welcome to the smart phone game. It sucks for sure but that's the same price they charge everybody else...
Seems like AT&T is missing a huge opportunity here - make an official patch to allow tethering with iPhone and include it at no extra charge with the existing data package. Would be interesting to see the impact on increasing their customer base and loyalty.
Personally I wouldn't go for such an arraingement as the price is way to high for web surfing. In my case that is what tethering would be used for. When I need true high speed,say for updates, I'd go to the library or other high speed access point.
As to AT&T well let's face it their fees would be more bareable if the simply showed serious investment in their network. I mean this I understand the need to make boat payments and satisfy the wife, mistress and whore but that needs to be balanced with investment. Investment in something we need to hear more about from the carriers in the US instead of the constant whineing about the need for bandwidth controls. Bandwidth caps would be one thing if reasonable investments where being made in hardware but that is clearly not the case.
In my humble corner of the world AT&Ts network is highly variable in it's ability to sustain data through put. This on an iPhone without signal problems. This isn't a 3G issue but rather issue with performance of certain cells to the web. Yeah you can say 3G is new and adjustments will be made as needed and so forth. The problem is the carriers clearly have the profits to do a lot better as far as the investment in hardware or capacity goes.
So how do we adress this. Well I'm not one for a lot of regulation but there are something that can be done to let the market decide. The first thing would be to make the long term contracts illegal along with the corresponding carrier ties. Second and closely allied would be to get rid of subsidation of cell phones, this to help people identify the costs of services better. IPhone is a good example here because I doubt many people could even say how much the iPhone hardware actually cost or how much of their bill actually goes to sustaining the service. In the end I do wonder why the cell industry has gotten a free ride for so long considering some of the business practices seen there.
Today people whine at the prospect of paying an extra chunk of money for tethering, down the road they will whine that AT&T's network is continuing to struggle with its load. $30 is a perfectly reasonable data plan as it is equivalent to that of other smart phones--and iPhone users are using more data than anyone else. If we get tethering through AT&T, it will probably also be at a competitive monthly rate. There is absolutely no reason why an iPhone user should expect special treatment in these regards.
Aren't you paying attention? iPhone users don't want special treatment, they just want equal treatment! Other phones have tethering plans, why not the iPhone!? iPhone users would be willing to shell out extra, on top of the existing $30, to have it.
Aren't you paying attention? iPhone users don't want special treatment, they just want equal treatment! Other phones have tethering plans, why not the iPhone!? iPhone users would be willing to shell out extra, on top of the existing $30, to have it.
Have you read the blogs?
Do not all carriers charge extra in some form or other for tethering?
Are not most of the comments above demanding free tethering?
Does not the article suggest that there are movements toward providing a tethering plan?
Additional $30 is too high, the iPhone already has an unlimited plan and a web browser, and when you use a tethered iPhone you can't use the browser on the iPhone so it's more like moving the browsing off to the notebook, why should that be extra? The speed of the connection is also the same. If anything the option should be $10 a month.
Sounds like pure greed to me.
For the tethering plans, they're charging computer users more for the unlimited, because computer users are going to use more data on average. The iPhone's browser is pretty good, but it's still a phone, a tiny screen and it's not a replacement for a computer. The unlimited part of the plan is just to remove worries on the part of the user that they're going to go over a limit. A person using a phone as a modem is going to use far more data than a person that uses the phone itself for the browsing and data stuff.
I hope they offer a way to pay for tethering by the day. I only need a backup internet service at most one day per month. If I were a road warrior, then $30/mo more wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not, my needs for the service is intermittent at best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luvosx
Just plug a usb cable up the cellphone's undersides and the other end to the PC and bingo.
What the heck is this drama about charges and the rest ?
I am paying for the device, I am paying for the net - why pay extra for using the net I am paying for already ?
Because it can be done with other phones, doesn't mean that your contract for that phone allows for it without paying for that kind of use.
It is the same Internet and the same web page or email regardless of being retrieved via the iPhone or the laptop.
Since I got my iPhone 3G about a month ago, I hardly use my laptop except for editing documents, so I do not see how I would use more bandwidth just because my laptop is tethered. Same web page, same RSS, no extra images, no difference.
While I could be convinced to pay 10 more a month, all I can say is NO WAY JOSE to more than that. There is no extra cost to AT&T.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
Have you read the blogs?
Do not all carriers charge extra in some form or other for tethering?
Are not most of the comments above demanding free tethering?
Does not the article suggest that there are movements toward providing a tethering plan?
Just because it has become common for customers to get raped by the providers, does not make it right. The least they can do is kiss me first.
To do this on my T-Mobile phone in the US, I have to buy the $20 to $25/month Internet service. I've done this before when traveling and then when done, get rid of the service.
Expect that you are NOT paying an EXTRA fee to tether you phone to your laptop. That is what this discussion is about.
Comments
Just plug a usb cable up the cellphone's undersides and the other end to the PC and bingo.
What the heck is this drama about charges and the rest ?
That's not how it worked when I used my 8525 a little over a year ago. For tethering actually to work, I had to activate AT&T's Laptop Connect service at $60/month, which is $20/month more than the 8525's $40/month unlimited data plan a year ago, $30/month more than the current 3G smart phone data plans, and $40/month more than the original iPhone data plan.
Totally agree.
I won't buy an iPhone (even though I'd really like too) because:
1) No tethering option with iPhone is a deal breaker. Currently my Sprint-Palm 755P does a fantastic job of tethering to my MBP and I use this feature regularly while traveling.
2) ATT seems to be having problems with their network penetration and bandwidth for 3G devices. Especially now that they have so many more 3G iPhones on their network, makes me think that staying on Sprints CDMA 3G may be a better option. Although this is just my casual observations.
How true is the following:
"According to RCR Wireless News, Sprint has dropped the price of their "phone as modem" plan from $50 to $15.
However, customers must own a Power Vision (CDMA2000 1x EV-DO) phone with connection capabilities to their laptops.
The $15 tethering plan is also only available alongside certain Sprint data plans, namely the Sprint PRO Pack ($30 per month), Blackberry Personal Pack ($30 per month), Worldwide Blackberry Personal Pack ($70 per month), Primary Data Plan ($50 per month) and the Worldwide Data Plan ($70 per month).
There are ways to unofficially tether -- just be wary of Sprint's 5GB cap, implemented last May."*
*http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/wi...ering-fee.html
Instead, Apple took an a great product and hog tied to the lowest quality carrier... at least in the US. The Cingular/ATT network has been terrible for years and now worse with the 3G/WCDMA upgrade on top of their GSM.
From a technical point of view there is no reason why the phone could have GSM for global coverage with CDMA/EVDO for carriers like VZ and WCDMA/3G for ATT, Vodafone, T-Mobile. Companies like QCOM do offer these solutions... Apple already pays royalties to QCOM anyway.
Apple needs focus on the consumer first... then the carriers. This biz of taking the tethering software from their store just to please ATT is a conflict of interest.
I am long AAPL and I spend around $100/mo on my individual plan with the current carrier... and I would like to buy the iPhone, but I can not hold my breath long enough to sign up with an onerous carrier like ATT. Looking for an Iphone 1st generation.
Steve Jobs in answering a lot of emails these days. I wonder if he's gotten a phone with email on it, or something?
What is Steve Jobs' e-mail address
Perhaps if they allow a third party to make the tethering and then just have apple "encourage" that if you're going to download this *and* use it then you need the tethering plan. I mean - I shouldn't have to pay AT&T for the tethering if, for example, I wanted the application but don't plan to use it until an undetermined later date right?
It makes absolute sense that they are discussing it. What makes little sense is that AT&T's policies are conditioning Apple's policies in countries where other cell companies are allowing tethering in the first place. (Not to mention the fact that the extra $30 AT&T would be charging is unreasonable, in my opinion.)
Have you seen the iphone plans for other countries?
These countries are giving out 250 MB or 500 MB or 1 GB a month iphone plans.
250 MB will give you a couple of days of tethering.
It looks good "on paper" about some of these iphone carriers allowing tethering --- but it makes no sense in reality.
Sounds like pure greed to me.
Additional $30 is too high, the iPhone already has an unlimited plan and a web browser, and when you use a tethered iPhone you can't use the browser on the iPhone so it's more like moving the browsing off to the notebook, why should that be extra? The speed of the connection is also the same. If anything the option should be $10 a month.
Sounds like pure greed to me.
Welcome to the smart phone game. It sucks for sure but that's the same price they charge everybody else...
we pay too much for this phone plan already to charge an extra $30 a month
or at least have a tiered plan for tethering.... like: $5 per 50 Mb of usage
listen up!
Welcome to the smart phone game. It sucks for sure but that's the same price they charge everybody else...
Seems like AT&T is missing a huge opportunity here - make an official patch to allow tethering with iPhone and include it at no extra charge with the existing data package. Would be interesting to see the impact on increasing their customer base and loyalty.
Have you seen the iphone plans for other countries?
These countries are giving out 250 MB or 500 MB or 1 GB a month iphone plans.
250 MB will give you a couple of days of tethering.
It looks good "on paper" about some of these iphone carriers allowing tethering --- but it makes no sense in reality.
O2 in the UK - unlimited data.
Give me my f'ing tethering NOW!
Oh and in case I haven't said this before - The USA != The World
As to AT&T well let's face it their fees would be more bareable if the simply showed serious investment in their network. I mean this I understand the need to make boat payments and satisfy the wife, mistress and whore but that needs to be balanced with investment. Investment in something we need to hear more about from the carriers in the US instead of the constant whineing about the need for bandwidth controls. Bandwidth caps would be one thing if reasonable investments where being made in hardware but that is clearly not the case.
In my humble corner of the world AT&Ts network is highly variable in it's ability to sustain data through put. This on an iPhone without signal problems. This isn't a 3G issue but rather issue with performance of certain cells to the web. Yeah you can say 3G is new and adjustments will be made as needed and so forth. The problem is the carriers clearly have the profits to do a lot better as far as the investment in hardware or capacity goes.
So how do we adress this. Well I'm not one for a lot of regulation but there are something that can be done to let the market decide. The first thing would be to make the long term contracts illegal along with the corresponding carrier ties. Second and closely allied would be to get rid of subsidation of cell phones, this to help people identify the costs of services better. IPhone is a good example here because I doubt many people could even say how much the iPhone hardware actually cost or how much of their bill actually goes to sustaining the service. In the end I do wonder why the cell industry has gotten a free ride for so long considering some of the business practices seen there.
Dave
Today people whine at the prospect of paying an extra chunk of money for tethering, down the road they will whine that AT&T's network is continuing to struggle with its load. $30 is a perfectly reasonable data plan as it is equivalent to that of other smart phones--and iPhone users are using more data than anyone else. If we get tethering through AT&T, it will probably also be at a competitive monthly rate. There is absolutely no reason why an iPhone user should expect special treatment in these regards.
Aren't you paying attention? iPhone users don't want special treatment, they just want equal treatment! Other phones have tethering plans, why not the iPhone!? iPhone users would be willing to shell out extra, on top of the existing $30, to have it.
In the end I do wonder why the cell industry has gotten a free ride for so long considering some of the business practices seen there.
Well, for one thing, telecommunications companies make massive campaign contributions
to both major political parties in the US.
See: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=B08
What is Steve Jobs' e-mail address
See: http://forums.appleinsider.com/archi...p/t-60371.html
I assume you will -- as we we all should -- use it advisedly.
Aren't you paying attention? iPhone users don't want special treatment, they just want equal treatment! Other phones have tethering plans, why not the iPhone!? iPhone users would be willing to shell out extra, on top of the existing $30, to have it.
Have you read the blogs?
Do not all carriers charge extra in some form or other for tethering?
Are not most of the comments above demanding free tethering?
Does not the article suggest that there are movements toward providing a tethering plan?
Additional $30 is too high, the iPhone already has an unlimited plan and a web browser, and when you use a tethered iPhone you can't use the browser on the iPhone so it's more like moving the browsing off to the notebook, why should that be extra? The speed of the connection is also the same. If anything the option should be $10 a month.
Sounds like pure greed to me.
For the tethering plans, they're charging computer users more for the unlimited, because computer users are going to use more data on average. The iPhone's browser is pretty good, but it's still a phone, a tiny screen and it's not a replacement for a computer. The unlimited part of the plan is just to remove worries on the part of the user that they're going to go over a limit. A person using a phone as a modem is going to use far more data than a person that uses the phone itself for the browsing and data stuff.
I hope they offer a way to pay for tethering by the day. I only need a backup internet service at most one day per month. If I were a road warrior, then $30/mo more wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not, my needs for the service is intermittent at best.
Just plug a usb cable up the cellphone's undersides and the other end to the PC and bingo.
What the heck is this drama about charges and the rest ?
I am paying for the device, I am paying for the net - why pay extra for using the net I am paying for already ?
Because it can be done with other phones, doesn't mean that your contract for that phone allows for it without paying for that kind of use.
Since I got my iPhone 3G about a month ago, I hardly use my laptop except for editing documents, so I do not see how I would use more bandwidth just because my laptop is tethered. Same web page, same RSS, no extra images, no difference.
While I could be convinced to pay 10 more a month, all I can say is NO WAY JOSE to more than that. There is no extra cost to AT&T.
Have you read the blogs?
Do not all carriers charge extra in some form or other for tethering?
Are not most of the comments above demanding free tethering?
Does not the article suggest that there are movements toward providing a tethering plan?
Just because it has become common for customers to get raped by the providers, does not make it right. The least they can do is kiss me first.
Do not all carriers charge extra in some form or other for tethering?
No, they don't.
To do this on my T-Mobile phone in the US, I have to buy the $20 to $25/month Internet service. I've done this before when traveling and then when done, get rid of the service.
Expect that you are NOT paying an EXTRA fee to tether you phone to your laptop. That is what this discussion is about.
T-Mobile doesn't have tethering fees.