AT&T Mobility CEO Ralphe de la Vega signaled yesterday that the company would soon be releasing an iPhone tethering option to iPhone 3G “soon.” For the un-initiated, tethering means sharing your phone’s Internet connection with your laptop. It’s a great way to get online when you unexpectedly need to get online when there’s no available Wi-Fi connection.
This new’s from de la Vega’s interview with Techcrunch seems like good news, but I’m not so quick to celebrate on this one. A look at the history of iPhone tethering application provider Netshare hints at AT&T’s strategy on tethering for the iPhone.
Back in July, Netshare released an application to the iTunes App Store that enabled users to tether. That it, until AT&T quashed the application and asked Apple to remove it. After another quick showing on the App Store, the Netshare application has been banished indefinitely.
Now that AT&T is set to introduce its tethering capability for the iPhone, you can be sure that they have their minds on their money and your money in mind. The company charges anywhere from $15 to $30 extra for the ability to tether on other plans. That’s on top of the ‘Unlimited’ data plan!
iPhone users are already paying $30 per month for unlimited data. That’s on top of a minimum of $39.99 for a voice plan and $10 to $20 for text messaging. With taxes and fees, that means that iPhone owners are already spending over $100 per month on AT&T service.
The truly frustrating thing about this is that it’s possible to tether your iPhone already using PDANet software. However you have to jailbreak your iPhone to use it. So, the startling choice that AT&T is pushing its customers toward is whether to pay extra for the tethering service or simply crack their iPhone and go rogue.
I’m still torn on whether to jailbreak my iPhone. So far, I haven’t seen any reason that I needed to. However, this might just push me over the edge. Have you thought about jailbreaking your iPhone? What helped make your decision?
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I'm Dave and I like to share news about gadgets, gear, careers and design for a mobile world.
theregoesdave
Yeah I’m sure if this service comes from ATT it will be pricey. I love my iPhone 3G but the bill is huge.