USB Tethering Working On iPhone 3.0 Through Hack

eviltangerine writes "Twitter user stroughtonsmith was dickering around with the carrier bundle files for his developer version of the iPhone 3.0 OS and enabled the USB tethering options. Apparently he has even been able to use his laptop to access the internet over the USB tether. MacRumors comments that while Apple has announced the availability of tethering, it hasn't hashed out the details with the mobile carriers (probably so they can charge more in fees). No word on connection speed, but here are some pictures of his phone while tethering."

Re:Wtf is tethering?

[codegen]

Wtf is tethering?

Connecting your computer to the internet using your phone as a data modem.

Re:Wtf is tethering?

[pacinpm]

Hmm, I was sure every modern mobile handset has this feature anabled by default. And what network operator has to do with it anyway? It's not his business what I do with MY phone and connection I have already PAID.

At least it works like that in Europe.

Re:Wtf is tethering?

[je ne sais quoi]

The idea here is that cell phone have a much wider access than wireless networks. At any given location, there's a much greater probability that you will have a cell signal than a wireless signal. Thus, by tethering you can have internet access for your computer wherever. Having the computer on the internet is important because it has a much wider feature set than your phone.

I never bought an iphone because of the monthly rates, but if you're already paying AT&T 70 bucks a month for data service, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to tether it. Heck, if I traveled a little more and tethering was easy I would actually consider getting one.

Re:Extra cost for tethering

[Kiaser Zohsay]

AT&T prices their unlimited data plans according to the internet capabilities of your phone. My HTC (WM6) is $30 a month, while my wife's Sony/Ericsson is only $20. My phone theoretically does tethering (Start | Settings | Connection | Wireless Modem) even though I do not have a tethering plan, but I have not had the opportunity to try it out yet.

Re:Wtf is tethering?

[marsu_k]

You are getting seriously ripped off. I pay 10e/month for unlimited use-as-you-see-fit data @384kbps. 1Mbps costs 20e/month and 2Mbps 30e/month, but so far I haven't had the need to have faster access when I can't find a hotspot.

Re:Grrrrrrr

[tdp252]

Having a plan in place that encourages a large number of signups and disconnects ("churn") as you suggest with "no contract" does nothing but make each subscriber more expensive to provision and creates a situation where system planners can never accurately perform capacity planning. Believe it or not the call detail records for both voice and data are quite expensive to maintain.

Also "bringing your own phone" can cause a customer service nightmare where people expect to use their POS phones they brought 10 years ago, for which Reps cannot all be fully trained to answer questions. This then leads to all sorts of industry analysts claiming customer satisfaction is garbage when it's really the customer's shooting themselves in the foot.