AT&T tells Pay Up or Stop

Since I'm in Europe and never heard of any "tethering fees", can someone please explain this to me? If you have (for example) a data plan with a 5GB cap, what difference does it make to AT&T if you use the 5GB directly on your phone, or if you attach a laptop and use the data there? Either way you are using 5GB and to the carrier shouldn't matter which device you use it on or how.

Personally, I have a 2GB data plan, and I use some on my phone, and sometimes I slip my SIM card out of my phone and into my netbook (that has a SIM card slot and modem built in) and surf on that. I also have just a regular USB data stick that I sometimes use on my work laptop as well. I like the freedom I have, and really that's what mobile data is about. If the carrier started asking me to pay every time I switched devices, or charged extra for different ways of using my data (like paying more for tethering within my 5GB) I'd start getting steamed

 

RR, it's really very simple. Since you're in Europe, you probably haven't heard of paying for incoming SMS either. In short, AT&T uses *every* opportunity to squeeze money out of customers, and this is just one of them. You're right, it shouldn't matter to them how you consume your allotted whatever GB, especially now that there aren't unlimited data plans on devices that support tethering officially. (I don't know what they're going to do about feature phones used for tethering since you can't add a tethering data plan to those lines of service, at least not using AT&T's online feature management). There are other examples of corporate greed among AT&T and other carriers where customers are charged for features they don't want or need just based on the kind of device they use.

 

^ Yea, I suppose it could just be a "cash grab", but still, I think there needs to be some plausible explanation behind it. What explanation are they giving their customers? That it's a "service" they are charging for? But "mifi" comes standard with Android 2.2. So, what, they disable it and then provide a "service" of enabling it again for you and then continue to charge you $20/month? Seriously? :googlyeye Wow, there's got to be some class action lawyers drooling over this one

Mandatory data-plans I'm 50/50 on. I can see some reasoning behind it, as alot of people with smart-phones will inadvertently use data anyway, so instead of dealing with millions of people calling one-at-a-time and complaining about $500 data fees, just make them all take a data plan from the get-go ....or at least give them an option to disable data all together then.

 

You would think it reasonable, right? But why should AT&T do that if they can slap a minimum $15/mo plan (you have to ask for it, by default they'll slap a $25/mo plan on) on you and refuse to disable data? Or should you decide that you like a QWERTY phone slap a $20/mo messaging plan on you? Surely smells like the old joke about moonshine & rape.

 

What difference does it make? Well, the regular 2GB data plan costs $25/mo while the tethering plan costs $45/mo, so the difference is about $20/month.... :biggrin:

Bottomline, it's all about the $$$. They need it to buy T-Mobile and have larger control of the market.

 

Under the hood, it is possible that the iPhone tells a lot more than we imagine to AT&T and Apple about how the iPhone is used. It is possible AT&T and Apple know just about exactly which iPhones are jailbroken just by looking up some database. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I do know for a fact that the iPhone has the technology to do this and more. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why AT&T wants everyone to have a data plan, so that they are always updated on how the phones are used.

 

Out of curiosity, I tethered my BB to my laptop with Verizon. It connected me, but I had to agree to signing up for the $20 2 GB plan before I could go any further. So I dont know how AT&T works, or if the users are finding a way around it.

 

So Charlyee, are you saying if users sign up for the $20 2GB plan, they can actually tether up to 4GB with their smartphones, since we already pay the $30 data plan? I wonder if that is just with AT&T, and I just checked out your link, thanks.

 

I thinks so, but wouldn't it be more like $50 since unlimited data is $30?

 

Thanks Charlyee, so if you have a smartphone you're going to have to watch your data. Verizon still offers the unlimited plan for $30, unless they need to update their website. I know there may be the one's that stretch the unlimited data, and that is causing the carriers to post limits. But I agree with Sprint, "unlimited means unlimited", 2GB is not a lot of data even if you're not abusing the priviledge.

 

Oh ok, there's the rub then. They are giving you more bandwidth with the tethering, whether you want it or not. So they have some kind of "justification" for charing you more...

By the way, I'm also curious to know how they detect tethering I know on the radio side, you can see the SIM cards IMSI and then cross-reference what data plans that subscriber has. But how to tell if the data is going directly to a phone and stopping there, or continuing to another device behind that phone? That would have to be done on a IP layer, packet-sniffing, that kind of thing. And then combine that info with the info taken from the radio layer and cross-matching it. Sounds like a pretty complicated scheme. They must have invested alot of time and money developing something like that. Well, I'm sure they'll find a way to recoup their costs somehow

 

I'm sure the iPhone tells AT&T much more than we think about how connections are done. So the iPhone probably tells the network this is a tethered connection or not.

 

I would think that Bobolito's theory is right and it's iPhone spilling its guts to AT&T every which way. In my experience they've never been able to detect tethering (I'm on an unlimited mMode plan which includes tethering at a ~$1/MB but I've never been charged for what little tethering I've done).

 

It is not just the iPhone, as I said earlier, VZW knew I was tethering when I connected to my laptop with my Curvy Curve.

 

What sort of software did you use to tether?

 

I opened the Blackberry Device Manager, and connected through there.

 

Don't be fresh.

 

Could be that it does it's own reporting...

 

Just wanted to make a clarification. If you have the unlimited data with AT&T and want the tethering then you are out of luck. The only way to get it is by having to say good by to unlimited and one of the 2 plans. But if you compare AT&T to VZW, AT&T's plan gives a total of 4 and you can use all 4 for tethering while VZW limits tethering to 2GB.


I hope I made sense.

 

It's possible since i got the sign up page.

 

I guess if you have an AT&T branded iPhone or BB there could be something they loaded in the software to report to them when you activate tethering/mifi.

A true test would be to have a non-branded phone and use a 3rd party tethering/mifi application. In that case, the only way AT&T would know if you are tethering is if they are sniffing packets, and for ex. detecting 2 or more MAC addresses coming from your phone.

@dmapr: Your N8 is not AT&T branded is it? If not, use a mifi app called "JoikuSpot" for Nokias. I used the free version (JoikuLight) on my N95 and it worked pretty good. The "light" verson doesn't support SSL has no WEP/WPA or anything, but it's good for occasional users. See if they have a free version for your N8 and try it out and see what happens. But if you get a tethering bill, you're on your own *RR has hands in pockets, whisteling, walking casually away*

 

I can only see one option on VZW for tethering and that is the $20 for 2GB
Verizon Wireless - Mobile Broadband - Plans


For Smartphones & Feature Phones
Mobile Broadband Connect & 3G Mobile Hotspots
Monthly Access Fee Monthly Data Allowance Per-GB Rate After Allowance
$20. 2 GB $20
Only available with $29.99 or higher data package.

Now the only thing VZW has is the unlimited data for $30 which does not share into tethering. However, as per Verizon the unlimited smartphone data plan will be gone this summer and that the plan is only available for the contract period so once the contract is over he unlimited is gone and one has to choose of the available plans and with that you can add the tethering as compared to at&t where you can't

 

Haven't used an AT&T-branded device since my last TDMA phone. There was a short (30 minutes or so) period of time in 2004 when I used an AT&T-branded Nokia 6820 — basically driving from the store to work, where I debranded it.

Haven't had the need to tether with N8 yet, the last time I tethered was with SE K850i and there the phone just appeared as another NIC once the drivers were installed. Also now I have a data card, so it's probably easier to just switch the SIM into it than trying the tethering, but I'll see if I can get JoikuSpot just out of curiosity.

 

It's not just smartphones that are capable of tethering. I was able to tether with my RAZR years ago.

In my understanding, carriers have always had the technology to detect if connections are being tethered or not. It's just a matter of them deciding to enforce their TOS or not. So just because AT&T has never said anything about your tethering doesn't mean that they are not capable of detecting it. Just use enough data for one month and you might raise a flag somewhere on their system. They can investigate what's going on and then tell you about it!

I used to tether with my iPhone (when it was jailbroken) and I'm sure AT&T has noticed, but they've never said anything about it. So this public statement they are putting out sounds like there are too many people tethering without their consent, so they are just craking down on it.