AT&T Tethering to Cost $30 per Month?

By Dieter Bohn
last updated

When AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega dropped word that they have official iPhone tethering for data access in our future, we only had one question: how much?

Well, MacBlogz [via Giz] brings word that they expect it will be $30 a month. This certainly seems reasonable (the rumor, not necessarily the rate) as Giz notes that it matches the current tethering plan made available for BlackBerrys. It looks as though iTunes will further recede from being 'just a music player' as it will also handle your tethering setup.

As you might expect, it will be capped at 5gigs a month, which seems pretty anemic for $30 bucks to us. On the bright side, PdaNet has sent in word that they're still hard at work on their excellent tethering application -- we suspect that translates into "make it even tougher for carriers to detect that you're tethering."

So basically: AT&T wants to charge you $30 per month for a plan that can only be used for occasional tethering. It's what we expected, sure, but it's not what we'd hoped.

12 Comments
  • Lord, spend about another $25 and get an EVDO card.
    Or, quit trying to work at strip clubs and go into the office ;)
  • Just get PDAnet and download till your heart is content. There should be no data cap for someone who is paying $30 a month on a wireless provider for wireless internet tethering. That's just ridiculous.
  • Who even needs tethering. I can do 95% of what I need to right from the iPhone.
  • Lame putting the same cap on it as there is on usage with the standard phone plan. Viva la PDAnet!
  • @ Johny Knoxville
    More people than you think... Just because you can do 95% of what you need to do right from the iPhone, doesn't mean that others can too. Some people actually wanna be able to use their 3G data connection on an actual computer or even a netbook. I am one of those people who like to multi-task and have one more than 1 tab open on firefox running, use aim and different im programs, while downloading files such as music or short clips in the background. You can not do this on the iPhone. The iPhone only has 128MB of RAM. That's the same amount of RAM that the windows mobile users have had for years now and even they have more RAM on their devices now. The new Touch Pro on Sprint and the HTC Fuze on AT&T both have 288MB of RAM. So they have more than double the amount of RAM that the iPhone has. I hope this helps you to understand that the iPhone is a great device for niche customers but not for everybody. I LOVE my iPhone, but you'll never hear me say that it's the best at everything. I know my boundaries when it comes to the iPhone...
  • I will be very interested at seeing how PDAnet is going to mask bandwidth from servers. In matter of fact, I think it's impossible to hide how much bandwidth you're pulling from the MTSO.
    I remember back in 2001 when my friend and I found out we could use a cell phone as a modem for his laptop, and it just took up "minutes". Those were beautiful days.
    Tethering for $30 bucks a month: It's $60 on AT&T with a 3G card. I think it's simply outrageous to charge $60 bucks for 5 gig caps. It doesn't cost cell phone providers THAT much for bandwidth. Please. BUT, if there wasn't a cap, you'd get gamers hogging the network, so I understand there has to be a give and take somewhere.
    Charging 21 cents for a text is along the lines of "ridiculous" too.
    But, people seem to pay for it, and it won't drop in price anytime soon.
  • Rogers has tethering already included with the iPhone plan... So $30/mo for 6 GB of bandwidth. Rogers wins.
  • Frankly I think its ridiculous that they would try to charge more money for this functionality. It's my data source, I should be able to distribute it however I want. If I feel like using my iPhone as an access point for my entire home network, I don't feel like thats anyone's business but mine. I've paid for the hardware; I'm already paying for access to the network, not to be told how I can and can't use it.
  • well i think 5 gigs is not enough internet. so what if gamers blog it. you paying them enough money a month for internet. i got a 2000 dollar bill from att bec i went over 5 gigs for my aircard.most people i know hate they got to pay 60 a month for internet that is no longer unlimited. i had to switch to crickets aircard and i hate it bec its slow. i will use crickets until att does away with this 5 gigabyte. i wont pay 60 a month for internet that is not unlimited and i have not heard 1 person say they condone that
  • i am not a big downnloader but my girlfriend lives in canada and we like to see each other a few hours every night on web cam and witin 2 weeks just that puts you over the 5 gig limit . att , verizon and sprint is lucky they have not been reported to the better business bureau for that. if i was a cop i would take them to jail whoever invented that. its alos bad because if i evacuate for a hurricane i like to keep up with my local news to see whats happening here
  • I have no broadband options out in the country here in Indiana. I got a sprint aircard and with unlimited usage. I made them write unlimited on the contract cause I knew about AT&T's 5 gig cap and wanted 2 years unlimited free and clear.
    4-5 months in I get disconnected for going over my dollar amount ($150.00) and had hit my limit, which was all news to me.
    Sprint made it all right to give them credit. The final bill was close to seven hundred dollars. They waived all my over usage fees after days of phone calls and informed me of a 5 gig cap, which violates my contract as far as im concerned. 5 Gigs a month isnt squat. 1 youtube video can run 10-20MB. I have about 170MB per day to stay under my limit, with kids in school, a spouse, myspace, facebook, etc. 5 gigs isnt going to do it. Thinking about getting an aircard?, well keep this in mind as it is like .01 cents per KB if you go over with Sprint. 1 MB over will be 1024 cents-that's over $10 per megabyte. By simply logging onto my homepage could be ten bucks extra on my bill. My point is that Sprint, AT&T, etc. need to tell people that aircards are not suitable for home use, instaed of trying to convince everyone how much 5 gigs is. They have told thousands of people how hard it would be to go over that high amount, which is complete bull. I'd say 30GB a month for $60.00 would be a little better balanced. Waiting on DSL then aircard is gone.
  • @Jeff
    It's not your data source. You are basically leasing their network. When you build your own network called Jeff Wireless then you can price it however you want but. But from AT&T's perspective they are in a business to make money. If you don't like it switch to another carrier.
    @mr. High Definition. I totally agree with you in fact I think the Iphone is really lacking. The app store is great but many of the apps are completely useless. The features we saw today should have been there from the start. And even with the "Speed" enhancements there is still no answer as far as multi tasking. With the Iphone 3GS you just be able to open basically one program at a time faster. And don't get me started on the developer dependent push notifications....pretty much as sorry answer to backgrounding.