iPhone 3: Time for some bullshit detection
by Volker Weber
Q: Where do you stand on tethering?
A: There's two pieces needed to support that: client side and working with carriers. We're absolutely supporting tethering in the client side in iPhone 3.0, but we're working with carriers around the world to see when they can add tethering support on their networks. But we are building that support into iPhone 3.0.
There is nothing to add on the network. The issue here is that a PC burns through a lot more data bandwidth than the iPhone. If you currently have an iPhone goto Settings/General/Usage. How much data did you use in the last month? It's 100 MB for me. How long do you think this will last with a tethered PC?
The network side of a "tethered phone" is working already. It is used by all other tethered phones or 3G modem sticks. What Apple is working on with the carriers, is how the carrier can make sure you paid for the new capability. For Germany that has happened already. T-Mobile has lowered the traffic allowance you get.
Comments
i have about 300mb/month, wifi activated @home and @work
10MB up and 101MB down - so there is a lot of space left to connect my MBP - limit is 3GB for my iPhone :-)
Their trick is to sell you 3000, of which you only consume 111. If you add a PC, you might actually use 3000, which is not what they intended to sell you.
In the U.S. at least, it seems like there's a legitimate concern of available bandwidth/capacity. Just this week AT&T scrambled to increase capacity at SXSW in Austin, TX because there were so many people with iPhones. And that is with no (legitimate) tethering going on.
I'd love to see AT&T offer the service. Since supply is limited, maybe a high price for tethering is reasonable for now. The real goal should be for AT&T to increase capacity.
My iPhone says 110MB sent and 1.1 GB received. But I'm not sure for what time period-- it says, 'last reset: never'. So maybe that is since I bought it ~20 months ago? That would be 5.5 MB sent and 55 MB received/mo.
BTW, I am pretty impressed that my original iPhone will get a free update this summer, two years after purchase (and after my original 2 year contract expires). No MMS or stereo bluetooth, but a lot of other nice software updates in version 3.0.
I don't understand the delay here. AT&T already offers 3G for laptops via add-on cards and already offers tethering plans for other phones. I have the tethering plan added to my Blackberry BES plan... $15/month (on top of the $45/month BES) for 5GB per month... why is the iPhone different?
@Volker: Right :-) - and that's also why they now have retrimmed their offer to 1GB free - and on the same update they raised the monthly fee about 5 € to now € 39,--. All this happened on the same time the new G1 was offered at their stores...
