I never understood why carriers don't allow tethering or hotspot'ing of phones. You're paying for a service that is capped. There is a data limit set, why do they care how you get to that limit? The only thing I can come up with, is pure greed. The carriers want to force you to pay for an extra service that requires no extra hardware and gives you no extra data allowance.
Because they oversell their service. If their customers started to use most of the bandwidth allowed them by their plans, the network would collapse. Instead, services are sold with an idea of what the average user will consume, thus allowing them to evaluate the real-world strain on their network.
A typical person using an internet connection on a computer will use far more bandwidth than a typical person using an internet connection on a phone. If they opened tethering up to everyone the bandwidth consumption would shoot up significantly (videos, etc.) and this would result in an uncompensated strain on their existing network. For AT&T, it would mess up an already challenged network. For Verizon, it would challenge a relatively stable network. Why would either want such a thing? Or even better yet, why would the consumer want such a thing?
The high costs associated with tethering certainly represent a money grab, but there are costs for a reason.
i'm not interested in tethering, as it costs way too much. I have tethering enabled on my rooted droid, and i rarely use it. i have a 3g ipad and have never activated it. it just isn't an important feature to me. i can't believe that many people are paying for this service out of their pocket. it has to be a lot of business accounts footing the bills on these ridiculous plans.
i'm not interested in tethering, as it costs way too much. I have tethering enabled on my rooted droid, and i rarely use it. i have a 3g ipad and have never activated it. it just isn't an important feature to me. i can't believe that many people are paying for this service out of their pocket. it has to be a lot of business accounts footing the bills on these ridiculous plans.
Would you use it if it was included in your data plan?
This is the first proof that having a multi carrier strategy is very good for us users. Since both now have identical iPhones, improving the network is now the only way to get or keep iPhone users. We will hopefully see both companies move a bit quicker to deploy faster and more reliable networks. Yea I'm captain obvious but I've been waiting for this for a pretty long time.
This is a no deal for me. While this is a neat feature and I could see possible use for this feature in my personal life, there is no way I'm giving up me unlimited plan for it AND pay more for the privilege.
i'm not interested in tethering, as it costs way too much. I have tethering enabled on my rooted droid, and i rarely use it. i have a 3g ipad and have never activated it. it just isn't an important feature to me. i can't believe that many people are paying for this service out of their pocket. it has to be a lot of business accounts footing the bills on these ridiculous plans.
It currently costs too much. From what I understand the issue is spectrum availability, which should be less of a constrain with LTE. So prices should start dropping pretty soon.
FWIW, I do like a deal, but don't expect something for nothing. My unlimited ATT data plan was part of the deal, but tethering was not. Fairly, they offered an unlimited plan to a single device, so in my eyes, if Apple made it technologically feasible to provide unlimited data to a single different device, I don't beleive I should have to pay ATT more for that - it was the essence of the original deal.
In the end, I would pay a little more to have the data I already agreed to on my wifi iPad. Certainly not $20/mo. To toss out a number, I might agree to as much as $5 more a month to support up to 5 simultaneous wifi devices on my unlimited iP4.
However, if I had a limited plan, I don't believe I should have to pay more - I am consuming the same total amount of data.
I figure they will control it them same way they control the USB/BT tethering. It is enabled by the carriers, per account if they wish, though I am not entirely sure of the mechanism for doing it (carrier settings file maybe?).
At least initially it was done via the carrier settings file. When iOS 3 came out and the carriers were dragging their feet, somebody created a website with modified carrier settings files. You just had to navigate to that site with your iPhone, select your carrier, confirm a dialogue and it was enabled.
I'd like someone to explain how (or if), the carrier can even detect this. Previous tethering was USB or Bluetooth and was activated/deactivated in the hardware at the request of the carrier, this on the other hand, is Wi-Fi and it will be built in to every iPhone.
Network stuff isn't my forte at all but it seems to me that unless they are doing packet inspection it will just appear that people are using more data, no? And as long as you don't go over your limit how would they know?
One easy way for them to find out is by checking the user agent on browsers tethered to the phone. A lot of sites (like HULU) prevent Google TV from accessing their services by checking the UA. For a while, the cracked Revue was able to spoof the UA and access Hulu. But Hulu was able to figure it out and prevent that as well. I don't recall the details.
I read reports that T-Mobile was cracking down on tethered Android phones. I tether my iPad to my Vibrant and I never had any problems. But that could be because I use the iPad so infrequently that I probably don't register on their radar.
Yeah, I pretty much figured that. My post was more of a rant than a real question.
I think on the last day of each billing cycle, I'm going to look at my data usage and begin to download huge files just to use up the rest of my data allowance.
I like AT&T, I am not going to Verizon and give me a break----who cares if you can get 5 devices paired-urgh! Just a battery drain and how many devices can on work at a time (with the exception of a family) that this rally matters. If tethering cost $20, why is that out of line, because it cost $20? Wake up folks and stop being cheap, technology cost something and if you want it on these selected devices guess what-pay up! As fro the new CDMA phone-who needs it (well those on Verizon I suppose). All carriers have issues and at least when I travel to France or England my Iphone will work just fine of AT&T international. Don't mean to come over harsh its just all this Verizon vs. AT&T BS, who cares and who needs it!
Now back to shoveling snow-2+ feet today-hey maybe Apple can get an APP for shoveling driveways?
I like AT&T, I am not going to Verizon and give me a break----who cares if you can get 5 devices paired-urgh! Just a battery drain and how many devices can on work at a time (with the exception of a family) that this rally matters. If tethering cost $20, why is that out of line, because it cost $20? Wake up folks and stop being cheap, technology cost something and if you want it on these selected devices guess what-pay up! As fro the new CDMA phone-who needs it (well those on Verizon I suppose). All carriers have issues and at least when I travel to France or England my Iphone will work just fine of AT&T international. Don't mean to come over harsh its just all this Verizon vs. AT&T BS, who cares and who needs it!
Now back to shoveling snow-2+ feet today-hey maybe Apple can get an APP for shoveling driveways?
MInd you don't slip! Condolences BTW, we were there in Boston for the last blizzard, glad to be home in Florida now.
Does this mean they've already figured out a way to stick an entire Mi-fi-sized unit into the iPhone without making it any bigger? That's an amazingly fast job of miniaturization.
At least initially it was done via the carrier settings file. When iOS 3 came out and the carriers were dragging their feet, somebody created a website with modified carrier settings files. You just had to navigate to that site with your iPhone, select your carrier, confirm a dialogue and it was enabled.
Works like a dream. Free unlimited tethering. I don't use it much, but when I do it's a lifesaver. People here mentioned that we had signed a contract saying we wouldn't tether, or something to that effect, but I doubt it because there was briefly a $10 app on the app store that enabled tethering, before it was built into the OS.
However, I haven't upgraded hardware or OS since, because none of the features really seemed to merit giving this up. Eventually I'll just get a new phone and keep the old one (with a SIM card adapter) for when I need this feature--unless they make the Personal Hotspot free for everyone.
Now that there is little to distinguish AT&T from Verizon in terms of the iPhone, perhaps both companies will aim the 3G iPad at people who don't have already have a smartphone? The Wifi iPad could become the default model for most, if it isn't already.
I don't have an iPad yet (waiting for the gen 2) but it would be awesome if you only had one data plan for the iPhone to pay, and you could hitch your iPad to it when you wanted to.
It?s their right as we do sign a contract stating we won?t tether, but I think it?s silly they want to charge $20 for tethering without giving you any additional data.
I think if they offered it for free on capped plans it would be easy to use and could very easily push people into additional charges from increasing from 200MB to 2GB plans and paying $10 for each additional 1GB. I think that would easily exceed what they are getting from people with capped plans paying for tethering.
I agree with you.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
I have to agree with bartfat, i think they don?t want you to come close to using it all. Minutes are one thing. SMS would be fine, too, but I think actual data that you could pay less for for several months a year when you have enough saved up could really hurt their bottom line.
My idea for carriers is Automatic Tier Scaling, which is essentially what they do now for their data, to an extent. If you have the 2GB plan and you go over you are charged $10 per 1GB. I think it would give a lot of customers peace of mind if they had price caps for the different data types.
Right now for voice and SMS if you go over your allocation you are charged a per minute or SMS fee. I think they should auto-bump you to the next tier plan if you go over. This way, no customer will get a shocking $1,000 SMS bill, instead they?ll just have the $20 for unlimited. Same voice. Data however is a different beast and I don?t see any carrier going unlimited until the cost of data drops considerably for the carrier.
Does this mean they've already figured out a way to stick an entire Mi-fi-sized unit into the iPhone without making it any bigger? That's an amazingly fast job of miniaturization.
?? The iPhone (starting with the original iPhone) has the components (cellular modem, wifi chipset, software) to be a hot spot all along. No mi-fi needed. Indeed, probably what will get me to jailbreak my iPhone one of these days.
I have to agree with bartfat, i think they don?t want you to come close to using it all. Minutes are one thing. SMS would be fine, too, but I think actual data that you could pay less for for several months a year when you have enough saved up could really hurt their bottom line.
My idea for carriers is Automatic Tier Scaling, which is essentially what they do now for their data, to an extent. If you have the 2GB plan and you go over you are charged $10 per 1GB. I think it would give a lot of customers peace of mind if they had price caps for the different data types.
Right now for voice and SMS if you go over your allocation you are charged a per minute or SMS fee. I think they should auto-bump you to the next tier plan if you go over. This way, no customer will get a shocking $1,000 SMS bill, instead they?ll just have the $20 for unlimited. Same voice. Data however is a different beast and I don?t see any carrier going unlimited until the cost of data drops considerably for the carrier.
I remember you mentioning the Automatic Tier Scaling idea before and think it is a good idea. Actually, a great idea. The carrier would just need you to choose that option over the existing approach.
I know what you're saying with regard to "rollover data" and you are probably right. It's just that I have so many rollover minutes but I never reduce my plan because there are some months where I actually get close to the limit. Just thinking that that could be the same for data.
Comments
I never understood why carriers don't allow tethering or hotspot'ing of phones. You're paying for a service that is capped. There is a data limit set, why do they care how you get to that limit? The only thing I can come up with, is pure greed. The carriers want to force you to pay for an extra service that requires no extra hardware and gives you no extra data allowance.
Because they oversell their service. If their customers started to use most of the bandwidth allowed them by their plans, the network would collapse. Instead, services are sold with an idea of what the average user will consume, thus allowing them to evaluate the real-world strain on their network.
A typical person using an internet connection on a computer will use far more bandwidth than a typical person using an internet connection on a phone. If they opened tethering up to everyone the bandwidth consumption would shoot up significantly (videos, etc.) and this would result in an uncompensated strain on their existing network. For AT&T, it would mess up an already challenged network. For Verizon, it would challenge a relatively stable network. Why would either want such a thing? Or even better yet, why would the consumer want such a thing?
The high costs associated with tethering certainly represent a money grab, but there are costs for a reason.
i'm not interested in tethering, as it costs way too much. I have tethering enabled on my rooted droid, and i rarely use it. i have a 3g ipad and have never activated it. it just isn't an important feature to me. i can't believe that many people are paying for this service out of their pocket. it has to be a lot of business accounts footing the bills on these ridiculous plans.
Would you use it if it was included in your data plan?
i'm not interested in tethering, as it costs way too much. I have tethering enabled on my rooted droid, and i rarely use it. i have a 3g ipad and have never activated it. it just isn't an important feature to me. i can't believe that many people are paying for this service out of their pocket. it has to be a lot of business accounts footing the bills on these ridiculous plans.
It currently costs too much. From what I understand the issue is spectrum availability, which should be less of a constrain with LTE. So prices should start dropping pretty soon.
In the end, I would pay a little more to have the data I already agreed to on my wifi iPad. Certainly not $20/mo. To toss out a number, I might agree to as much as $5 more a month to support up to 5 simultaneous wifi devices on my unlimited iP4.
However, if I had a limited plan, I don't believe I should have to pay more - I am consuming the same total amount of data.
Just my consumer opinion.
I figure they will control it them same way they control the USB/BT tethering. It is enabled by the carriers, per account if they wish, though I am not entirely sure of the mechanism for doing it (carrier settings file maybe?).
At least initially it was done via the carrier settings file. When iOS 3 came out and the carriers were dragging their feet, somebody created a website with modified carrier settings files. You just had to navigate to that site with your iPhone, select your carrier, confirm a dialogue and it was enabled.
I'd like someone to explain how (or if), the carrier can even detect this. Previous tethering was USB or Bluetooth and was activated/deactivated in the hardware at the request of the carrier, this on the other hand, is Wi-Fi and it will be built in to every iPhone.
Network stuff isn't my forte at all but it seems to me that unless they are doing packet inspection it will just appear that people are using more data, no? And as long as you don't go over your limit how would they know?
One easy way for them to find out is by checking the user agent on browsers tethered to the phone. A lot of sites (like HULU) prevent Google TV from accessing their services by checking the UA. For a while, the cracked Revue was able to spoof the UA and access Hulu. But Hulu was able to figure it out and prevent that as well. I don't recall the details.
I read reports that T-Mobile was cracking down on tethered Android phones. I tether my iPad to my Vibrant and I never had any problems. But that could be because I use the iPad so infrequently that I probably don't register on their radar.
Yeah, I pretty much figured that. My post was more of a rant than a real question.
I think on the last day of each billing cycle, I'm going to look at my data usage and begin to download huge files just to use up the rest of my data allowance.
There should be an app for that!
Now back to shoveling snow-2+ feet today-hey maybe Apple can get an APP for shoveling driveways?
I like AT&T, I am not going to Verizon and give me a break----who cares if you can get 5 devices paired-urgh! Just a battery drain and how many devices can on work at a time (with the exception of a family) that this rally matters. If tethering cost $20, why is that out of line, because it cost $20? Wake up folks and stop being cheap, technology cost something and if you want it on these selected devices guess what-pay up! As fro the new CDMA phone-who needs it (well those on Verizon I suppose). All carriers have issues and at least when I travel to France or England my Iphone will work just fine of AT&T international. Don't mean to come over harsh its just all this Verizon vs. AT&T BS, who cares and who needs it!
Now back to shoveling snow-2+ feet today-hey maybe Apple can get an APP for shoveling driveways?
MInd you don't slip! Condolences BTW, we were there in Boston for the last blizzard, glad to be home in Florida now.
At least initially it was done via the carrier settings file. When iOS 3 came out and the carriers were dragging their feet, somebody created a website with modified carrier settings files. You just had to navigate to that site with your iPhone, select your carrier, confirm a dialogue and it was enabled.
Works like a dream. Free unlimited tethering. I don't use it much, but when I do it's a lifesaver. People here mentioned that we had signed a contract saying we wouldn't tether, or something to that effect, but I doubt it because there was briefly a $10 app on the app store that enabled tethering, before it was built into the OS.
However, I haven't upgraded hardware or OS since, because none of the features really seemed to merit giving this up. Eventually I'll just get a new phone and keep the old one (with a SIM card adapter) for when I need this feature--unless they make the Personal Hotspot free for everyone.
I don't have an iPad yet (waiting for the gen 2) but it would be awesome if you only had one data plan for the iPhone to pay, and you could hitch your iPad to it when you wanted to.
It?s their right as we do sign a contract stating we won?t tether, but I think it?s silly they want to charge $20 for tethering without giving you any additional data.
I think if they offered it for free on capped plans it would be easy to use and could very easily push people into additional charges from increasing from 200MB to 2GB plans and paying $10 for each additional 1GB. I think that would easily exceed what they are getting from people with capped plans paying for tethering.
I agree with you.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
I agree with you.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
But they don't want you to use all of it!
I agree with you.
As I mentioned in another thread, ATT should consider "rollover data" which would be a good inducement. I don't think this would cost ATT much because most people buy the plan that keeps them from exceeding their typical data usage.
I have to agree with bartfat, i think they don?t want you to come close to using it all. Minutes are one thing. SMS would be fine, too, but I think actual data that you could pay less for for several months a year when you have enough saved up could really hurt their bottom line.
My idea for carriers is Automatic Tier Scaling, which is essentially what they do now for their data, to an extent. If you have the 2GB plan and you go over you are charged $10 per 1GB. I think it would give a lot of customers peace of mind if they had price caps for the different data types.
Right now for voice and SMS if you go over your allocation you are charged a per minute or SMS fee. I think they should auto-bump you to the next tier plan if you go over. This way, no customer will get a shocking $1,000 SMS bill, instead they?ll just have the $20 for unlimited. Same voice. Data however is a different beast and I don?t see any carrier going unlimited until the cost of data drops considerably for the carrier.
Does this mean they've already figured out a way to stick an entire Mi-fi-sized unit into the iPhone without making it any bigger? That's an amazingly fast job of miniaturization.
?? The iPhone (starting with the original iPhone) has the components (cellular modem, wifi chipset, software) to be a hot spot all along. No mi-fi needed. Indeed, probably what will get me to jailbreak my iPhone one of these days.
That and wifi syncing
I have to agree with bartfat, i think they don?t want you to come close to using it all. Minutes are one thing. SMS would be fine, too, but I think actual data that you could pay less for for several months a year when you have enough saved up could really hurt their bottom line.
My idea for carriers is Automatic Tier Scaling, which is essentially what they do now for their data, to an extent. If you have the 2GB plan and you go over you are charged $10 per 1GB. I think it would give a lot of customers peace of mind if they had price caps for the different data types.
Right now for voice and SMS if you go over your allocation you are charged a per minute or SMS fee. I think they should auto-bump you to the next tier plan if you go over. This way, no customer will get a shocking $1,000 SMS bill, instead they?ll just have the $20 for unlimited. Same voice. Data however is a different beast and I don?t see any carrier going unlimited until the cost of data drops considerably for the carrier.
I remember you mentioning the Automatic Tier Scaling idea before and think it is a good idea. Actually, a great idea. The carrier would just need you to choose that option over the existing approach.
I know what you're saying with regard to "rollover data" and you are probably right. It's just that I have so many rollover minutes but I never reduce my plan because there are some months where I actually get close to the limit. Just thinking that that could be the same for data.