Is August 11 the date when AT&T finally starts forcibly switching Jailbreak users who tether unofficially to limited, tiered plans? We knew AT&T was warning users tethering unofficially with apps like MyWi, and that they were threatening to take away their unlimited plans, but when they would start the process has always been a question.

The August 11 date comes from a 9to5Mac reader.

I was just informed that as of Thursday August 11th 2011, if you use MyWi or any tethering on the phone or using the phone as a modem, AT&T will automatically change ur unlimited plan to a 2Gb tethering plan for 45 dollars without the customers consent. This is for those who received emails or texts about the use of tethering without an AT&T tethering plan.

AT&T has confirmed that they will be forcibly switching users to the tiered plans, but not the date.  Has anyone else been given a date by AT&T?

[9to5 Mac]

Verizon Wireless has confirmed they’ll be ditching unlimited data and switching to tiered data plans beginning on July, with prices starting at $10 per month and going up from there.

New smartphone customers will choose from one of four options:

• 75 MB for $10
• 2 GB for $30
• 5 GB for $50
• 10GB for $80

Overage charges will be $10 per GB.

Existing Verizon customers will be “grandfathered in” and able to keep their unlimited data plans even when upgrading their device. Users who take advantage of their free LTE mobile hotspot feature on devices like the ThunderBolt or Droid Charge will also be seeing changes, as Verizon will begin charging for the service, starting at $20 for 2GB per month for new customers or $30 for unlimited usage for existing customers.

Although most data plans are less expensive on AT&T, the addition of 5GB and 10GB per month options offer more flexibility for users who consume large amounts of data on the go. AT&T also charges $15 for an additional 200MB ($75 per GB) in data overages under their lowest plan, compared to Verizon at $10 per GB. In addition, AT&T doesn’t currently offer an unlimited tethering option for grandfathered subscribers.

[FierceWireless via BGR]

AT&T confirmed yesterday that they will be supporting the Personal Hotspot feature that already is available to Verizon iPhone 4 customers with the release of the iOS 4.3 software on March 11th. To enable this feature you will need to subscribe to the DataPro Hotspot/Tethering plan which carries a $45 per month fee. For that you will get 4GB of data to share between your normal data usage, tethering, and the Hotspot feature.

At least AT&T did not make you wait for this feature as they did with tethering feature that made it’s debut around the word with iOS 3.0. So how many of you will are will to fork over some extra hard earned cash for this feature? And for those of you with grandfathered into unlimited iPhone data, are you willing to give that up?

[Electronista, Rogers Red Board, Thanks A!]

Verizon Wireless Executive Director of Corporate Communications Brenda Raney said today that Verizon would be charging customers $20 per month for the iPhone Wi-Fi personal hotspot feature. That’s on top of their regular data plan.

The extra $20 buys you an additional 2GB of bandwidth for the hotspot to use. AT&T subscribers on the other hand currently pay the same $20 per month for a wired tethering plan, however they aren’t allotted any additional bandwidth despite paying extra for the feature and it only allows for tethering one device via USB. The only major drawback with Verizon is you’ll be paying an additional $20 per gigabyte in overages — ouch!

In addition to Verizon announcing today that a $30 unlimited data plan will be available (for now), this announcement shows Verizon is taking clear steps to differentiate themselves from AT&T.

So you’re getting more bang for your buck if you go with Verizon, but do you think they hit the right price point given the massive overage charges they can apply? Let us know in the comments below!

[Macworld]

After yesterday’s Verizon iPhone announcement, Apple’s Senior Vice President Phil Schiller has weighed in on what it was like building the Verizon iPhone. The two companies began talks to build a CDMA variant for Verizon’s network over 2 years ago in 2008. Over 1,000 test models later, we’ve officially got a Verizon variant.

Schiller says the task was anything but easy. Apple knows their own hardware but sometimes getting software and hardware to work together isn’t an easy goal to accomplish.

“A big part of it is the software, I’d say the biggest part,” … “It uses the hardware in different ways.”

[All Things Digital]

According to a Boy Genius source, and as reported yesterday, iOS 4.3 will definitely be coming to all iPhones and include the Hotspot feature which we saw at the Verizon event yesterday. Accoring to the source, the OS version will be 8F5148b and will have a baseband 04.08.00.

The release will not be until sometime in March however; so do not expect it to hit GSM devices as soon as the Verizon iPhone is launched, we are going to have to wait a little while longer. Also like we said yesterday, we imagine that the feature will be very dependent on your carriers approval, as will any surcharges for it. Maybe AT&T will take the opportunity to be an early adopter to keep existing customers and attract new ones too, here’s hoping!

Just as a refresher, the Personal Hotspot feature will allow up to five Wi-Fi devices to connect to and share your iPhone’s cellular data connection.

[BGR]

Update: Macrumors lets us know that, strangely enough, it’s back in the App Store. It doesn’t show up in a search, but you can download it via this iTunes/App Store link.

Update 2: …aaaand it’s gone again, at least in the US. Le Sigh.

The Interweb is abuzz about this little program that popped up on the App Store yesterday, so aptly named NetShare. The concept of the app is to essentially use your iPhone’s 3G or EDGE (god knows why) connection for your laptop. It creates a proxy and establishes a pseudo-hotspot with your iPhone’s connection leaving you free to surf the web on your laptop. It’s tethering, more or less.

How this got passed Apple and AT&T who knows. But it looks like  has already been kicked out of the App Store. Did any of the TiPb faithful get their hands on this app while it was hot? Anyone get it to work? From what TiPb has been hearing, it’s really hit or miss. Let us know.

Maybe Apple wanted the developers of NetShare to get the app right before they put it out again…wish for it and it’ll come true…wish for it and it’ll come true.

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