USB Tethering Working On iPhone 3.0 Through Hack 219
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."
Wtf is tethering? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wtf is tethering?
Strange...I do that now on AT&T (Score:4, Interesting)
I do that on AT&T with a Sony Ericsson W350i. Now I have the unlimited data option on my account and thus there is no charge for the tethering to my laptop with my USB cable.
It shows up in my statement every time I use the service and every bit that passes gets documented in my bill (it's darn thick).
Thus it beggars the question of why Apple hasn't activated the feature on their phone with the only carrier that is *allowed* (AT&T) to use the phone in the United States, when the carrier in question already allows this function on other phones.
Greed? Stupidity? Both?
Phoenix
Re:Extra cost for tethering (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Lock Down (Score:3, Interesting)
Carriers only do these kinds of things because we let them. If people simply wouldn't pay the fees, then they'd stop in about 3 months. But too many people gotta have it now, so the carriers are actually *correct* in charging these fees. People will not only take it on the chin, but they'll pay for the privilege of doing so.
Your story, however, reminds me of the Motorola V710 I bought from Verizon about 4-5 years ago. It had bluetooth, but they locked it down so tight it was only useful for Bluetooth hands free. I'm sure you read about all the lawsuits (which came to nothing... Verizon offered to give you a few dollars off a new phone provided you signed up for 2 more years of service. Some deal), but hackers managed to come up with firmware that that enabled many of the profiles.
Thus, the phone became far more useful, although it "cheated" (haha) Verizon of 25 cents every time you snapped a photo, or loaded na mp3 for a ringtone, or use it in a way that they felt you shouldn't. Anyway, long story short, when I'd go into Verizon stores from one end of the country to the other with the phone, the Verizon reps would look at it and say "oh. you have one of *those* phones". And the employees were genuinely bitter and angry that people like myself had loaded the hacked firmware to make the phone useful.
Verizon has gone to much greater lengths in newer phones to prevent people from using their own property.
I'm no longer with Verizon, BTW.
Re:Extra cost for tethering (Score:5, Interesting)
WiFi tethering for Android (Score:2, Interesting)
If you have an Android DevPhone or a "rooted" T-Mobile G1 you can use the free application aNetShare [a0soft.com] to tether via WiFi.
(Other wifi tethering applications are available, I have nothing to do with the software, just a happy user)
Re:Extra cost for tethering (Score:3, Interesting)
I want to tether when there's WiFi is available. My Mac Pro doesn't have a wifi card, so using my iPhone as a USB wifi adapter would save me buying one.
Re:Cellular Addiction. Yeah, I'm talking to you. (Score:1, Interesting)
It's planned competition. If you think the execs of these companies don't hash this out over golf, you're not paranoid enough. Telecom is a license to print money. They only give you better plans as they public gets irritated enough to start pestering their elected representatives. Then as the behemoth starts to move the telecom execs make things a little better and say, "No look see, we respond to the demands of the consumer." The execs long ago learned that to maximize your profits, move _just fast enough_ to keep the customers disatisfied, without being disgruntled. That's the real benefit of doing business in a monopoly or cartel.
Re:Grrrrrrr (Score:2, Interesting)
The apple fan boys haven't arrived yet, so I'll fill in for them We don't need obvious functionality that is available in the most low end phones, like MMS messaging and video recording. Oh no. All we need is a sexy interface with a glossy product and we're happy. In fact, we'll pretend our phone is the best phone in the world simply because it has the apple logo on it. Oh wait, hang on, Apple is introducing those features in it's new product? Well praise the lord, we've been waiting for those features for so long. Never mind the fact we said we didn't want them, now they're here our phone is AWESOME
The fact that your perfectly fair portrayal is modded flamebait - yet the post that started it isn't flamebait, shows that the hater-haters outnumber any alleged haters (as with a recent article on Japan - just because people don't use the Iphone doesn't mean we hate it, anymore than we hate any other phone we don't use). (Hint to mods, flamebait is the one that starts the flamewar.)
But now that Apple have finally entered the 21st Century, and joined the sub-£50 low end market with features such as video and MMS, I predict that no longer will we hear "Why would I need that?", instead, they'll be touted as great features.
Consider, if it was really true that the Iphone was better off by lacking these features (as some claimed), doesn't this mean the Iphone is now worse? They can't have it both ways. But they'll try to, anyway.
Re:Cellular Addiction. Yeah, I'm talking to you. (Score:2, Interesting)
While I certainly agree with this in principle, having texting available for your teen can be extremely useful for the parent as well. I often need to reach them and they don't answer their phone. Sometimes they're out of range, sometimes they just don't want to answer.
If I text them, I know they got it and they generally respond right away. I can also text them from my computer without a cell phone and the responses come back to my email.
Then when they have it, they get inundated with texts from other kids. My son gets an order of magnitude more texts than he sends. This is difficult to control, and so I get him the unlimited plan.
You have to pick your battles with teenagers. You're not going to win every one, at least not and keep your sanity. This is not one that's worth fighting in my book. I certainly don't think I've spoiled my teenagers, but they still have entitlement issues. They usually grow out of it once they get out on their own and realize what it costs to live.
None of this excuses the price fixing the wireless providers engage in. The fact that you get charged so much for both sending and receiving a text is outrageous.
Re:Cellular Addiction. Yeah, I'm talking to you. (Score:1, Interesting)
Yeah.... honestly, the cellular companies really started "soaking" people with the transition from analog to digital.
I always found that ironic, since the primary motivation for killing off the analog phones in the first place was to cut costs for them. (Many more users able to be handled with the same amount of bandwidth.)
They put the "spin" on it that it would give you "crystal clear digital" sound quality, so it was a "benefit" - and migrated people off their old analog plans, onto digital plans at nearly double the monthly cost!
(Remember those old Sprint PCS commercials where they promised you could "hear a pin drop" on the new network? Hah! The early adopters of THAT network wound up with calls where the volume of the call went up and down like a roller coaster for the duration of each call and other such issues.)
I remember having an old Ameritech cellular plan for my analog Motorola flip-phone that cost me about $18 a month, with unlimited evenings and weekends. (Granted, it was a "corporate discount" - but they gave it to me and a couple co-workers just for visiting an Ameritech booth at some convention and telling them we were interested in a business discount.)
When Verizon took them over in this area, I got herded over to a digital plan that cost me more like $40 a month - while giving me essentially the same thing I had before. (I couldn't use my cellphone during the work-day anyway, so just about ALL my calls were "evening and weekend" minutes. So the number of "peak" minutes in a given plan was not much of a concern. I think my old analog plan came with 250 or something....)
how to get kid to answer phone (Score:3, Interesting)
If your child isn't answering the phone when you call, you need to return the phone to the store you bought it from. Tell your child the device isn't succeeding at fulfilling the purpose for which you purchased it. If your teenager has a job and bought the phone himself / herself, then it is the child's choice of when to answer the phone.
Seth