AT&T, following the the reversal of their no-VoIP-over-3G policy, still has nothing new to offer with regards to iPhone tethering. Quotes the Wall Street Journal:
An spokesman for the wireless carrier, however, said that tethering remains unavailable and stuck with the company’s prior statement: “Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience.”
While international iPhone users have been able to connect their computers to the internet using the iPhone's 3G network, via Bluetooth or USB tethering since the launch of iPhone 3.0 in June, for US iPhone users, no news remains bad news.
Then again, if you're already complaining about poor AT&T signal, probably the last thing you want is every iPhone user on your tower trying to suck down 5GB of torrents... right?
Reader comments
AT&T: Still No iPhone Tethering or You!
Maybe AT&T should spend some of the millions of dollars they've made from iPhone users on maintaining their network.
The big 4 telecom providers are united in screwing us over with data charges. It's just like oil prices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sJ9minltfA
Tether 3.1.2 youtube.com/watch?v=1sJ9minltfA
@Rich,
That's all it takes to get laid in Detroit and I keep my phone? Sign me up!
@Obama,
Fight the power!
It's George Bush fault! Waaaaah ...I want my tethering back!!
How do I thether a 3gs 3.1 on AT&T?
Jeff Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 9:41 am
"Good, until the network is stable and upgraded please keep tethering turned off. I hear nightmares about 30% drop call rate in certain cities… luckily I’ve had no issues in Metro-Detroit."
No issues in Detroit?! You mean you can actually use your iPhone without getting mugged, shot, or raped?
A said:
Oct 8th @ 05:01 pm
What the hell is teathering?????
Tethering is where you use your phone as a modem, so you can take your laptop to a place that may not have wifi but does have 3G coverage and use your phone to connect it to the internet.
FYI 3.1 had a section under usge for tethering usage it was under the cellular data usge.
I dowloaded 3.1.2 today and now under usage the tethering data usage is gone!
Almost makes me want to go nvm to benm.at and see if all is right with the world?
Bummer after being psyched to do 3.1 I feel so frigging mad now loosing my tethering.
I spent the last 24 hors getting a phd in what just happened from everyone sarnak best explanation, AT&T clueless they say call apple, apple says it's all illegal and any apple tech at work jepordizes their job with a JB. But the apple guy did say read the blogs n tech support guys not working could fix it. Apple techs honestly seemed embarased to be imbed with AT&T
What the hell is teathering?????
Apple probably thought it would be confusing calling it 3.1.1 after the iPod Touch got a (different) 3.1.1 already while the iPhone had 3.1. (Why was that actually? Did the iPod Touch never even have a 3.1?)
Actually no....I just got the update offer as well.
@parabel:
iPhone 2G/3G/3GS OS 3.1.2
is this a joke? 3.1.2?
iPhone 2G/3G/3GS OS 3.1.2 is live, iTunes just offered it to me. This time it should (hopefully) only be a matter of hours or a few days until the JB tools are updated.. :)
I'm on 3.1. I don't want to jb. I used to be able to tether using the benm.at method, but that has been broken for me with the latest update. I don't tether a lot, and when I do, it's for very short amounts of time resulting in negligible traffic increase.
Has anyone been able to get tethering up and running for 3.1 folk who don't want to jb?
@designeratlarge
That's actually not true about paying more than any other. I went to Verizon's website and priced out a smartphone with the same exact plan as mine, which is unlimited text, data and voice and it was the same exact price as AT&T. However they did charge an extra $2.99 for visual voicemail. Your argument is flawed when compared to the other large provider out there. Check your facts before you say AT&T charges more than ANY OTHER. They also charge an extra 15 bucks a month if you want tethering at a 5 gig cap. Of course AT&T doesn't offer tethering, but it's safe to assume that AT&T won't charge exponentially more than Verizon for tethering.
can anyone tell this noob how to tether with 3gs w/o incurring massive charges?
Yes it is correct that u can tether your iPhone without a jb. You may want toncheck ou YouTube university for that but anywhew I have had the ability to tether for a while now but I rarely use it. Because in NJ where I live there is wifi almost everywhere u go. Not to mention that if AT&T enables wifi then they will probably have their eyes on those who tether without there permission. As of now there is no data cap on the iPhone but if they enable tethering they put that 5 gb limit on us.
Now for a more important question how do I get roaming only on my iPhone?
@Brian, well said
@dc if you're pre-3.1: http://help.benm.at
Tethering without jailbreaking? How? I'm jailbroken for the sole purpose of using MyWi, I would restore though if there was another way.
This whole Tethering thing ... such a mess. Browsing and my RSS Reader app chew up way more bandwidth than I've used compared with the 3-4 hours worth of tethering I've needed in the past couple months.
My old AT&T phone, a Samsung Blackjack running WinMo 5, also supported tethering. It was more of a hassle to get working than on the iPhone, but once-configured it was flawless.
Two key differences:
- Did NOT require a hack
- Was supported by AT&T, and did NOT cost extra above and beyond the standard data plan.
The iPhone tethering works really well, though... I suppose they're afraid some people would ditch their home internet entirely if tethering were wide-open for everyone?
I'd like to upgrade to 3.1... but I won't, till I get charged.
Mannnnnn fuck AT&T and fck their ways that's why I'm with t-mobile! free tethering for me all day everyday with no extra fees!!!! Hahahaha going strong with PDA net for almost 6 months now! Everyone who feels me say HOOORAHHH!!!!!!
Ummm said:
Oct 8th @ 09:40 am
Ive been teathering for a few years. Curious weather anyone racked up any unexpected tethering charges from at&t? Ive used pda net and installed the special profile that enables tethering.
Ahhh YEA!!! they added extra charges to me!!! I'm on a family plan and the bill is usually 195.00 but last month it was 265.00 I called AT&T and the rep said the extra charges were added because of tethering! My boyfriend nearly chopped my head off cause he pays the bill. I added tethering from the lil link that some of these bloggers had floating around the net! Lol also the rep said some users may not get charged at that moment but they will eventually! ...it's just when for some. but when i upgraded to 3.1 tethering was gone from my Iphone" the file was in my settings, I just didn't have the option to turn on or off. But everything is back to normal now thank god!!! And my boyfriend is not giving me evil eyes anymore...I hope that helped though!
AT&T is the worst cell phone provider - period. We pay more for our service than any other and AT&T treats us like red headed step children. Tethering and MMS have been available for everyone else since day one. I lost my tethering ability when I upgraded to 3.1 (yes, I was stupid for upgrading) and have been unable to re-establish a way to tether and will not until someone develops a jailbreak for the 3GS on 3.1 baseband. Amazing. This one has forced me hand - hello T-mobile.
I use PDAnet for my G1, but do APN changer for the iPhone, takes 20 seconds to setup!!! and its great
I got a jb, 3.0.1 32gb 3gs with tethering,mms,vvm, all working. No need for 3.1. Last time i dl'd 3.1. I ended up with a new phone cause of batt drain. 1% per min, with only screen on!!!!! Im happy with my new phone.
What was the one before pdanet called I can't remember and do you remember netshare. Lol
If they'd allow tethering without an additional charge, they'd have one hell of a marketing point. I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon's Android charge caused it to happen sooner rather than later.
Good point BRIAN!!!
Lol. You dont evn need to jb to tether. What is anyone who wnats to waiting for?
Love the title. Still no tethering, still no me
Those 3 comments are why I find this all so amusing. The people that will be using tethering the most are already doing it. The people downloading massive amounts of torrents already are. The people that really need the feature, found the many ways to do it. The extra strain on the network if enabled legitimately would be negligible and the only times it would cause an issue are the times when there are already issues. When large numbers of people gather in the same place for conferences and conventions. The AT&T network coverage is crappy because there is crappy coverage. It has nothing to do with the amount of data running through it.
Few=1 in this case. Poor choice of word.
Good, until the network is stable and upgraded please keep tethering turned off. I hear nightmares about 30% drop call rate in certain cities... luckily I've had no issues in Metro-Detroit.
Ive been teathering for a few years. Curious weather anyone racked up any unexpected tethering charges from at&t? Ive used pda net and installed the special profile that enables tethering.
Google APN Changer on your iPhone and this will allow you to add the tethering option
I have been tethering as well, you just have to look it up and you will find possiblities....THEY ARE THERE : )
Bah I've been tethering for over one an a half years!