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Okay will it cost anything and will it work with iPad?

So the service is imminent?

Mar 10, 10 - 03:41 pm Comment from: breeze

I say give it a chance. Jobs, Cooke and Co. Are happy with the relationship, they know what's in store and we know that they would not compromise theiPhone, iPad or the user experience.

There is a steep growing curve to overcome and Im sure Verixpn wouldn't be doing anywhere as much as ATT if they were given an in at this point, except picking up slack and overflow.

When Apple starts getting impatient, that's when it's time to blast. Hold your horses till then - Att I'd not doing a bad job.

According to Steve Jobs one word reply to an email asking the question of iPad tethering to iPhone: "No".

Other carriers not in the US have long allowed tethering for the iPhone.

Mar 10, 10 - 03:42 pm Comment from: breeze

Excuse typos

No, really! Coming soon

Mar 10, 10 - 03:43 pm Comment from: Gregg Thurman

I don't understand all the angst about tethering. You can access ATT's network today using an ATT device and by paying $60.00 a month. If tethering was that important, then paying $60.00 would not be an issue.

This sounds more like the few that push the most data across ATT's network (despoiling the experience for the majority that don't push as much data) wanting to do so without paying the $60.00 monthly fee.

I sent an email a day before your story asking people to send emails. It seems I got a canned response from AT&T;that hasn't changed since 3.0 came out.
_________
Thank you for choosing AT&T;Mobility as your wireless service provider. As a valued customer, your complete satisfaction with the wireless service we provide is our top priority.
 
Recently, the Executive Response Team received notification that you filed a complaint regarding tethering with your iPhone running the iPhone OS 3.0 software. 
 
Apple did announce that tethering will be possible with its new 3.0 software which becomes available on June 17.  While AT&T;will not initially support that feature, we absolutely do intend to in the future.  We understand that many of our customers are interested in this feature, and we are working with Apple to bring it to market.
 
AT&T;sincerely regrets any inconvenience this issue may have caused.
 
Please feel free to contact me directly at 425-288-2983, if you have any additional questions or concerns in this matter.
 
 
 
Respectfully,
 
 
Karen Johnson
Customer Appeals Manager, Executive Response
AT&T;Mobility
 
 
 
 
Karen Johnson| Customer Appeals Manager, Executive Response| AT&T; Business Solutions| AT&T; Mobility Services| Office 425-288-2983

Inshallah

Mar 10, 10 - 03:56 pm Comment from: Ray

Is the iPhone the only smart phone w/o tethering?

just my $0.02

Normally Rogers is in the business of screwing over it's customers but on tethering they got it right, right away and at least for now it's free.

I remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007, and he had that graph of easy to use phone but lacked capabilities and then there were the "smart" phones that did a lot but were not so simple to use. Steve wanted Apple's phones to be in the upper right quadrant of that graph where the iPhone had great capabilities and was simple to use...

If the iPhone is so simple, why is AT&T;having such a difficult time?

What would Steve's e-mail "sent from my iPhone" be???

We know Steve's witty short replies... so I guess his response would be "Soon."

Mar 10, 10 - 04:12 pm Comment from: It's About Time

Given how tethering was featured by Apple in the OS 3 presentation, I find it confusing they don't bring pressure to bear on ATT. That other carriers outside the US offer tethering makes Apple's inertia that much more confounding.

@It's About Time

Probably why Apple was able to get non contract iPad rates of 15.00 for 250 MB and 30.00 unlimited AT&T;3G service.

Mar 10, 10 - 04:16 pm Comment from: Predrag

..."Is the iPhone the only smart phone w/o tethering?"

Actually, iPhone HAS tethering. Only in the US (on AT&T) does it not work and has been removed/disabled.

However, in the US, tethering is available for most phones, smart or dumb, on all carriers.

Mar 10, 10 - 04:19 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

Translation: Go ahead and buy that iPad with no WiFi on launch day, we've got your back! Honest!!!

@ jarrettdailynews - Mac OS X 10.6.3 continues to be wayyyyy more imminent than this.

Mar 10, 10 - 04:21 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

"If the iPhone is so simple, why is AT&T;having such a difficult time?"

You might as well ask: "If beer is free, why do we have such a hard time keeping it in stock?"

In other words, AT&T;is basically saying: We still haven't found a way to charge you more for the privilege of using the bandwidth you've already paid for.

To be fair, Rogers/Bell/Telus have tethering, but have realistic data caps and charge WAY too much for data plans.

Ideally, AT&T;would provide a data cap with tethering plans but not charge for tethering. AT&T;is worried about people doing massive bandwidth activities because users have unlimited data.

Steve Jobs Says "No," iPad Won't Tether To iPhone
http://gizmodo.com/5487170/steve-jobs-says-no-ipad-wont-tether-to-iphone

Tethering works fine here in hell.

Mar 10, 10 - 05:13 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

Screw tethering. I just use the built in 3G (if I can wait that long) since I have an old iPhone anyway. I don't want to have to depend on 2 batteries.

Mar 10, 10 - 05:48 pm Comment from: HeartMan

ASAP

ASAP=As Slowly As Possible

We got tethering here in OZ, only thing though, Back to my Mac does not work over tethering if your home Mac is behind a router.

Mar 10, 10 - 06:18 pm Comment from: Ray

This what is burning my butt about tethering:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/tethering.html

Obviously Apple intended the capability.

just my $0.02

Mar 10, 10 - 06:47 pm Comment from: Predrag

iPad will have no problem tethering to the iPhone via WiFi. Cable tethering would be like hooking up an iPod touch to an iPhone (kind of pointless).

Mar 10, 10 - 06:48 pm Comment from: Msavwah

iPhone should tether to ipad for FREE as an added perk to owners of both devices. While the 3g ipad would be great for those without iPhones. It would be a win win situation. The fact that it won't happen disgusts me. I'll be looking into jailbreaking. This is just absolute crap.

Steve's hand is moving very slowly towards the button for the trapdoor over the shark tank.

Sorry, but AT&T;'s "spin" doesn't even approach being a legitimate answer.

Perhaps a Class Action Suit would get their attention. I can't help wonder how a jury -- say in eastern Texas or down in Mississippi or elsewhere -- would feel about the company's promise (arguably, part of a verbal contract) to make iPhone tethering available "in the near future." Perhaps such a jury would conclude that:

1. The delay has gone well beyond "the near future."
2. The fact that AT&T;is allocating additonal bandwidth to the iPad is de facto proof that there's sufficient capacity in the system -- and that the company has simply decided to allocate resources to that new initiative, rather than honor their verbal representation, upon which many iPhone buyers relied.
3. A refund of $60 per month (the cost of getting equivalent AT&T;tethering, which the company failed to provide) is due each iPhone subcriber.

You do the math.

Jailbreak and use MyWi. Works great.

3G tethering with the iPhone works great, no matter if I use my MacBook or my Dell notebook from work. Very easy to set up. - Oh, well, I live in Switzerland and use Swisscom instead of AT&T;.

To AT&T;: Male Bovine Excrement!

"...Thank you for your recent email AT&T;.."

Glad to hear that at least SOMEONE got a response, even if it was a canned one.

My email that was sent out to Ralph Delavga on Monday night still hasn't been answered ...

FWIW, I went a slightly different direction:

"As you’re no doubt aware, AT&T;has been promising to bring tethering to the iPhone for well over a year: by your own statements, since November 2008 (16 months). Obviously, this “soon come” (sic) claim is overdue for clarification.

My intended message is that I am probably not the only consumer who knows better than to buy a product based on a functionally empty, contractually unenforceable promise…which is why our household & businesses are still on Verizon, not AT&T;.

Since I know that this issue will naturally not be resolved overnight, may I suggest a different tact? Namely that you offer a contract rider that will provide the service customer with the proper and adequate assurances that AT&T;will in fact deliver this service by a certain date, and more to the point, if AT&T;fails to do so, that AT&T;will provide remuneration until such time that it is delivered.

For example:

1) You (AT&T;) stipulate what the service initiation date is to be for iPhone tethering;
2) If you miss your date, you provide an ongoing consideration of $25/month service credit per phone;
3) Additinally, if after 45 days & thereafter for which you still haven’t met your promised service obligation, the consumer has the right to terminate the contract, in whole or in part, with zero fees or penalties (ie, ETF).


I leave the specific details and structure up to you, and your organization, to figure out. Simply put, I don’t intend to switch my services over to AT&T;until they deliver on this longstanding promised capability.


Regards, ...."


The basis of the above is based on a two simple observations:

#1: in contract law, EVERYTHING is negotiable.

#2: in contract law, a "promise" doesn't count for anything: you put down the terms in writing and sign it.


-hh

Mar 11, 10 - 03:56 pm Comment from: NCIceman

AT&T;Mobility generally drives me bats, but I have been very impressed with the service level of AT&T;u-verse. Let those people take over the mobility side and I bet we would see a lot of improvements.

1. Other countries do not have nearly the penetration of iPhones per capita that the US does. Just part of being one of the richest countries in the world.
2. The US has severe spectrum issues that if you didn't live under a rock you would know about. NO wireless carrier would be able to support the mass of tethering that would result from iPhone users tethering.
3. You aren't already paying for tethering with unlimited data. You very specifically are paying for unlimited data on the iPhone. By your logic of having paid for unlimited data, AT&T;should just be handing you 3G data cards at no fee because you already paid $30, right? Read your contract. Tethering plans are available for other phones where the usage indicates that it makes financial sense and won't bring down the network. These tethering plans have 5GB caps and cost $60 per month, not $45 or $30.
4. The ease of use of iPhone and the extremely high use of data by some users is what makes the iPhone difficult to plan tethering for. With the amount of consumer stupidity going on around things as simple as 2 year contracts and not getting a new iPhone every year for free, I can fully understand why AT&T;would be sensitive to allowing tethering. Every moron will do it, download 10GB in a month and get a $5,000 bill, then start screaming bloody murder.
5. The iPad will primarily be used in WiFi environments. You're not going to pull your iPad out of a pocket to check something really quick like you would a phone.

The amount of ignorance by MDN and all these posters astounds me.