2) At the airport. I travel quite frequently, and the airports I frequent don't always have AT&T Wi-Fi access points, and those that do don't only allow it for my iPhone and not my MBP (from what I can gather).
3) Since I travel, I often stay at hotels that want to charge me $6 or $7 a day for Wi-Fi service -- F*** that!.
.
I'm in the same boat. I finally got a monthly Boingo account. That will usually get service for my iPhone or MBP at airports, and covers the wifi fee at hotels about half the time.
I think I pay about $15.00 per month for the service. Since a lot of hotels charge $15 for wifi, it's been worth it for me.
My tethering is implemented and free as it should be (I pay for 6 GB of data a month, it shouldn't matter if I reroute some of that data to my laptop). We are approaching a world with more and more connected devices, I don't think being charged a monthly fee for each connected device will be feasible for very long.
i agree with you 100%, i already pay for the data via ATT, if i don't go over the limit and can mange my usage... why the heck should we pay more?
very lame. but i understand that ATT's network wouldn't be able to deal with tethering data usage. it is already in many areas over the brink and useless at parts of the day
----
On Microcell, I get terrible coverage where i live and ATT is overpriced. I may just switch to T-Mobile and take the charges to kill the account, at least with t-mobile i can then get an Microcell equivilent femtocell
I have a really big issue with tethering. IMO, tethering should not be an extra fee. I understand that laptops would be using more of the bandwidth and downloading traffic would suffer, but to charge an extra monthly fee for tethering is down-right robbery. not to mention that if you already have a smartphone, you're already paying a monthly fee for internet usage. Build a better network already!
iPhone tethering is free here with a number of our phone networks, but the cheapest and nastiest network which also sells the iPhone charges about $10/month on top for it.
This article was very helpful for me as well as the comments. I can't understand why Apple can't invest in a more solid mobile framework. If the company is in a hand grip with the big wigs at ATT then they should be willing to invest in that particular mobile framework, to which the iPhone is excusive to, in order to make it more reliable not only for their Apple customers but also to promote their wireless product sales.
This article helped me the most with it's depthness concerning Apple's tethering issue and their pending relationship with ATT. My iPhone contract with mobile carrier is up for renewal this summer but, after reading this article & the comments to it, I doubt that I'll renew at this point.
How can you offer just tethering without a phone plan? If you want "just" a connection for your PC then get 3G USB card. BTW, thos data plans are more likely to have a monitored usage cap abd cost 2x as much as phone's data plan. Can you guess why?
Do you understand that italics serve to emphasize certain words or phrases? They don't even OFFER tethering. I wasn't saying they should offer it without a phone plan.
Quote:
Yes, shortsided for anyone who expects it to be included despite the signed contract stating otherwise and without considering how this will affect the phone's minimum monthly cost.
It's SHORTSIGHTED. That is what I was getting at....my GOD.
Quote:
How about realistic based on what they charge for tethering on their other phones and what the 3G USB card data charge is. A little research people!
Or one could read the contract and realise that "unlimited" can refer to more than one thing.
So the price would be the same even though many won't use the feature.
I am in one of the two areas in North Carolina where they released them this fall.
I have wrestled with the blasted box (two different ones, so no, it isn't a defective device) the entire time. It is hooked up to my ATT DSL line, so they can't point a finger at my ISP.
It needs a clear signal to GPS before it will start (so it goes in a window... what, you want it in the middle of your house so it covers the whole house?) and the location better match where they think it belongs. It took the first FOUR weeks for them to figure out that they assumed it must be at my BILLING address (a PO box 5 miles away), not the STREET ADDRESS their own sales person typed in when I bought the thing.
It then took 6 weeks of calling, getting referred up the chain, supposed consultations with Cisco, being forgotten, restarting the entire trouble ticket process and multiple firmware updates before it would maintain its 3G signal for more than 5 minutes at a time. Every time they would download new firmware and assume they had fixed it without actually ASKING me if it was working. Hey, they downloaded the firmware to it, they checked it immediately, it said it was now online, all done, right?
It now only turns off the 3G service for a few minutes at a time, at random timepoints. It does however, drop calls after 4-5 minutes, and half the time when it thinks it is working neither of the two iPhones in the house see any 3G service available.
So why do I keep trying? Well, I am in a rural area and have essentially zero service in my home. I am on call for work pretty much 24/7 and it would make life easier for a whole bunch of people if they could just call my cell, period.
Bottom line, I can tell you why the MicroCell is not in widespread use - it just plain is not ready for prime-time. It isn't even ready for a beta test. They should be yanked off the market until they work.
I have been waiting weeks for the ATT to turn on my microcell which I purchased in the San Diego Pilot area. Finally this 12/03/2009 they turned it on for me in Irvine, California. This may be an indication of its expansion within the state of California and possibly nationally.
Comments
2) At the airport. I travel quite frequently, and the airports I frequent don't always have AT&T Wi-Fi access points, and those that do don't only allow it for my iPhone and not my MBP (from what I can gather).
3) Since I travel, I often stay at hotels that want to charge me $6 or $7 a day for Wi-Fi service -- F*** that!.
.
I'm in the same boat. I finally got a monthly Boingo account. That will usually get service for my iPhone or MBP at airports, and covers the wifi fee at hotels about half the time.
I think I pay about $15.00 per month for the service. Since a lot of hotels charge $15 for wifi, it's been worth it for me.
My tethering is implemented and free as it should be (I pay for 6 GB of data a month, it shouldn't matter if I reroute some of that data to my laptop). We are approaching a world with more and more connected devices, I don't think being charged a monthly fee for each connected device will be feasible for very long.
i agree with you 100%, i already pay for the data via ATT, if i don't go over the limit and can mange my usage... why the heck should we pay more?
very lame. but i understand that ATT's network wouldn't be able to deal with tethering data usage. it is already in many areas over the brink and useless at parts of the day
----
On Microcell, I get terrible coverage where i live and ATT is overpriced. I may just switch to T-Mobile and take the charges to kill the account, at least with t-mobile i can then get an Microcell equivilent femtocell
iPhone tethering is free here with a number of our phone networks, but the cheapest and nastiest network which also sells the iPhone charges about $10/month on top for it.
This article helped me the most with it's depthness concerning Apple's tethering issue and their pending relationship with ATT. My iPhone contract with mobile carrier is up for renewal this summer but, after reading this article & the comments to it, I doubt that I'll renew at this point.
Corey.
3 Gigs as in 3Gps??
Ooooppssss..... 3mb/s, but you get my drift.... Unlimited, with no nasty repercussions from the operator here.
How can you offer just tethering without a phone plan? If you want "just" a connection for your PC then get 3G USB card. BTW, thos data plans are more likely to have a monitored usage cap abd cost 2x as much as phone's data plan. Can you guess why?
Do you understand that italics serve to emphasize certain words or phrases? They don't even OFFER tethering. I wasn't saying they should offer it without a phone plan.
Yes, shortsided for anyone who expects it to be included despite the signed contract stating otherwise and without considering how this will affect the phone's minimum monthly cost.
It's SHORTSIGHTED. That is what I was getting at....my GOD.
How about realistic based on what they charge for tethering on their other phones and what the 3G USB card data charge is. A little research people!
Or one could read the contract and realise that "unlimited" can refer to more than one thing.
So the price would be the same even though many won't use the feature.
I have wrestled with the blasted box (two different ones, so no, it isn't a defective device) the entire time. It is hooked up to my ATT DSL line, so they can't point a finger at my ISP.
It needs a clear signal to GPS before it will start (so it goes in a window... what, you want it in the middle of your house so it covers the whole house?) and the location better match where they think it belongs. It took the first FOUR weeks for them to figure out that they assumed it must be at my BILLING address (a PO box 5 miles away), not the STREET ADDRESS their own sales person typed in when I bought the thing.
It then took 6 weeks of calling, getting referred up the chain, supposed consultations with Cisco, being forgotten, restarting the entire trouble ticket process and multiple firmware updates before it would maintain its 3G signal for more than 5 minutes at a time. Every time they would download new firmware and assume they had fixed it without actually ASKING me if it was working. Hey, they downloaded the firmware to it, they checked it immediately, it said it was now online, all done, right?
It now only turns off the 3G service for a few minutes at a time, at random timepoints. It does however, drop calls after 4-5 minutes, and half the time when it thinks it is working neither of the two iPhones in the house see any 3G service available.
So why do I keep trying? Well, I am in a rural area and have essentially zero service in my home. I am on call for work pretty much 24/7 and it would make life easier for a whole bunch of people if they could just call my cell, period.
Bottom line, I can tell you why the MicroCell is not in widespread use - it just plain is not ready for prime-time. It isn't even ready for a beta test. They should be yanked off the market until they work.
It even seems to work for the most part.
Happy New Year!