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Post your comments for Tethering fee sours AT&T plan deals here

[MontgomeryGabrys]

Depends on your perspective. Current options for getting my wifi-only iPad on the net via cellular is Myfi from Verizon (or similar services) which are 40-60 dollars (on top of the 30 dollars I'm already paying for my iPhone data plan).

Other ATT users are paying 30 dollars extra for tethering to their non-iphone offerings, on top of their plans. ATT's new plan (with a 2 gig cap) costs me 15 bucks more than what I'm paying now (unlimited without tethering). I'm using less than 500mb a month (usually around 150mb) on 3g.

For 15 bucks more, I can now give my iPad a 3g connection - without having paid an 130 for an antenna and the monthly iPad plan (starting at 15 for just 250mb).

Now I'm really glad I stuck with the WiFi-only iPad. Plus the 3G "notched" pads are just ugly (and if you think that's not important - why are you buying an Apple product in the first place?).

Works for me.

[turbineseaplane]

Yep. It's jailbreak and MyWi moving forward.

$20 to "activate the tethering button" in the Settings app is total extortion.

How they even justify that internally is a mystery.

They literally are charging $20 for "nothing".

[mheikka]

While as an iPhone user, I'm not AT&T's biggest fan, all the whining about the data plan charges and tethering is simply silly. AT&T hasn't done anything unreasonable here, given the circumstances.

Tethering is a luxury, for which users should pay a premium, to ensure that the rest of us have available 3G bandwidth for our normal (under 2GB/month) use, including good old-fashioned voice calls.

If you need to stream Pandora, watch YouTube or do heavy web surfing, pull over into your local Starbucks, McDonalds, library, local cafe, etc. and burn up their free WIFI. Leave the 3G for those of us who actually make calls.

[robco]

I could understand implementing tethering charge or moving toward tiered pricing, but not both. If I'm paying for the data, it shouldn't matter if I'm using the phone directly or as a modem. The base 200MB seems a little stingy, they were offering 250 for the iPad before. Then again AT&T's data network is already overburdened and they're hoping this will discourage people. Still, if I'm now paying by the MB, it shouldn't matter how I use that allotment. It's gouging customers for a feature that AT&T doesn't have to do anything for.

Unfortunately data usage isn't all the user's fault. Apple is partially to blame as the iPhone is a data hog. It constantly checks for emails and Visual VM is delivered via the cellular data network.

This just underscores the fact that the weak link to the iPhone chain isn't Apple, it's AT&T. I hope that either the next iPhone works on other networks, or Android gets even better and gets more apps.

[buzglyd]

I agree, $20 for no extra data isn't worth it to me.

Question: Could I go into Starbucks and log on to the wifi and then tether it to my Macbook?

[sockimaging]

mheikka, on 02 June 2010 - 01:53 PM, said:

While as an iPhone user, I'm not AT&T's biggest fan, all the whining about the data plan charges and tethering is simply silly. AT&T hasn't done anything unreasonable here, given the circumstances.

Tethering is a luxury, for which users should pay a premium, to ensure that the rest of us have available 3G bandwidth for our normal (under 2GB/month) use, including good old-fashioned voice calls.

If you need to stream Pandora, watch YouTube or do heavy web surfing, pull over into your local Starbucks, McDonalds, library, local cafe, etc. and burn up their free WIFI. Leave the 3G for those of us who actually make calls.

What?

[KAdamsInCO]

HTC EVO 4G on Sprint..... The phone will have built-in WiFi hotspot capability for up to EIGHT devices.... INCLUDED in their 3G/4G everything data plan. No extra "myfi" or other device/phone line required. Now that's a carrier who is responding to market demands. I left Verizon for Sprint two months ago and haven't looked back. Good bye.... good riddance.... SEE YA....

I replaced a Verizon plan that gave me data on my Droid but excluded all of my other family members from data because of the cost per line, to a plan on Sprint that provides to all FIVE phones unlimited data, text, cell-to-cell calls on ANY network and 1400 minutes to "other" telephones, all while saving $30 a month! And they are building out a 4G (WiMax) network here in Denver which will give me broadband speeds over my Android phone to my WiFi devices. Really, there is no downside to this plan. No need to "root" my Samsung Moment and no need to "sneak around" my carrier to try to not get caught "tethering".

AT&T is trying to finance their "catch-up" effort to get their network up-to-snuff for all of the iPhone users out there, and Verizon has become so arrogant they are working hard to nickel and dime their customers into cell phone bill bankruptcy.

[robco]

The downside to the EVO 4G is that there is an extra $10 4G premium tacked onto the plan. Also, the WiFi hotspot capability is an extra $30/mo as well. Still, as far as usage goes, Sprint and T-Mobile are the better deals.

[DogHouseDub]

I've been using a jailbroken 3GS as a tether (via MyWi) for my iPad. Works like a charm.

Has any customer ever been charged by AT&T for exceeding their "unlimited" data usage limit? I haven't heard of any. How would they defend that if taken to court? Are there different definitions of the word unlimited?

[totoro]

What sours the deal is AT&T changing the rules for iPad 3G owners ONE MONTH after it was actually available for sale.

AT&T couldn't have come up with this [censored] before Apple actually made them available for purchase? The whole decision happened sometime just this month?

And the grandfathering-in deal is bull[censored]-why should we have to maintain our contract every month to qualify? That is totally against the spirit of the no-contract idea.

[TeaEarleGreyHot]

These data plans are getting too complicated. Reminiscent of the early cell phone days in the USA, where you never really knew how much you were going to pay each month because you couldn't be sure about those roaming charges.

They need to make it simple. No tethering fees, no expiry date on your megabytes of data. Just a flat rate of $10 per gigabyte, no commitment. If you're on vacation (and leave your phone at home) for a month, your charge is $0. And when you get back and have to download those 800 spam email messages that have accumulated, you can pay the $10 to do so.

[krvh73]

I just went and checked my data usage on my iPhone. The highest month was 1GB and the lowest was 240MB, so this new plan saves me money if I switch. This seems fair - the more data you use, the more you pay, with a reasonable baseline allowance. I'm not switching from unlimited yet (waiting for the new iPhone), but it's probably not a bad thing.

As for tethering, most of my tethering would be used while traveling, which is mostly for work. From a personal finance standpoint, I'm better off paying $15 for the hotel network and charging it to my expense account. That being said, why won't most businesses offer to pay for tethering accounts for their business travelers? The worker gets tethering for free (for work and pleasure), and the business saves a lot of money - my work regularly pays $70-100/month to reimburse me for hotel internet service. Why not pay $20/month instead, or even $40/month to get 4GB, which is enough to handle most email?

A final note, widespread availability/use of tethering will cause those hotel internet access charges to drop, which is a very good thing.

[itsnutz]

buzglyd, on 02 June 2010 - 02:19 PM, said:

I agree, $20 for no extra data isn't worth it to me.

Question: Could I go into Starbucks and log on to the wifi and then tether it to my Macbook?

In a word, no!