AT&T: we'll offer tethering on the iPhone

It's been known since day one that iPhone OS 3.0 would support data tethering, and Apple took the opportunity at WWDC today to drive the point home by saying that it'd be launching the service with 22 carrier partners in 44 countries. Of course, it's easy to have assumed that AT&T wouldn't be one of those partners, but we've been told today by a company spokesman that it will be offering tethering on the device -- it just doesn't have any announcements to make at this time. Whether that means availability will be delayed (perhaps until the 7.2Mbps upgrade is built out) or they're just trying to hammer out pricing, we don't know, but it's a promising sign.

[mere @ Jun 8th 2009 5:27PM]

whooo hoo!

[inteller @ Jun 8th 2009 7:55PM]

i would bet money this will be the first iphone with ATT crapware installed on it as well.

The S in 3Gs stands for s hit.

[insky @ Jun 8th 2009 5:27PM]

Kind of like push notification?

[keeheon @ Jun 8th 2009 5:29PM]

As this moment, tethering is NOT supported in the US...

http://www.grabup.com/uploads/804ba45552378b88c1cf03abb724a267.png

[rock99rock @ Jun 8th 2009 8:20PM]

Unless of course, you Jailbreak (easy peezy), install pda-net from Cydia on your iphone, Connect over wifi and BAM. Tethered. Copy and paste on Cydia as well.

Come to think of it, i don't remember seeing anything new today.

[Matthew @ Jun 12th 2009 2:19PM]

...or if you have NetShare (BTW... greatest 10 bucks ever spent)

!~YES~!

[egloskerry @ Jun 8th 2009 5:29PM]

Since it's the iPhone...probably twice as much as any other phone. Hey, Big Blue needs to get their subsidies back!

[---- @ Jun 9th 2009 12:30PM]

cant wait till apple drops at&t exclusivity ... you think everyone and their mother has an iphone now ... just wait

[Superstition @ Jun 8th 2009 5:29PM]

They will have an unlimited (5GB) plan for $39.99 per month, most likely. And they wiill forbid Hulu, Torrents, Youtube, and general web-surfing. Things like paying your AT&T bill and purchasing higher plan prices are welcome.

[barnette.ben @ Jun 8th 2009 5:43PM]

haha agreed! AT&T sucks very badly.

[jimmy @ Jun 8th 2009 6:04PM]

agreed. almost.

first "unlimited (5GB)" is not either. I think it will be a 5GB cap, like all those USB cell modems out there.

second, I think AT&T will happily let you stream Hulu and Netflix, eating up thos 5 GB in a day or two, and then charging you out the ass for more gigabytes.

$40 extra a month seems right, tho.

So, to summarize, AT&T is at least two months behind on MMS, says tethering is "in the future" and at an undisclosed price, is charging existing customers $599 for the phone, even with a contract, and couples dropped calls with no femtocell option...

Man, so happy Apple went "exclusive"...

[Dan Nicholls @ Jun 8th 2009 5:34PM]

To go to any gadget right now and NOT expect to be swamped by iPhone news a few hours after the announcement is ludicrous. Sorry if it's uncomfortable for you, but maybe it's better to just stay the hell away from the site until tomorrow.

[Yahhoun23 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:31PM]

I sure hope so. I love angry people.

[DirtyVegas @ Jun 8th 2009 5:31PM]

Meanwhile, over at AT&T headquarters

"We already suckered them into that expensive data plan, how do we make them pay even more for our weak 3G network?"

[DirtyVegas @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

"And while we're at it, let's come up with inane and antiquated rules to restrict access through the tethering plan"

[jay jay @ Jun 8th 2009 5:34PM]

+1 agreed

i have tmobile and i tether my g1 no problem for free. also i use to have a nokia 6263(standard flip phone) and i called tmobile and they help me to tether it FOR FREE no extra billing fees.

[conigs @ Jun 8th 2009 5:35PM]

I never understood the "expensive data plan" complaint. Yes it's more than the Edge iPhone, but it's equal to every single data plan for all 3G devices on AT&T.

[Mark @ Jun 8th 2009 5:37PM]

@conigs: And it's $5 more expensive than the G1 unlimited data plan that also comes with 400 text messages/month. Hrm...

[Squid7085 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:38PM]

The Data Plan is the same as every other AT&T "Smart" phone, and by comparison on par with Verizon's Data plans. iPhone users are not getting charged anything more.

[weems @ Jun 8th 2009 5:39PM]

@Mark

they arent giving out the 400 anymore gotta pay the extra 5 for it, still cheaper tho

[Michelle @ Jun 8th 2009 5:43PM]

@ conig
The point is that it shouldn't even cost $30 a month extra.
The cost should be WAY lower(try half?) to make it worthwhile.
If they can half the cost of an 8GB iPhone 3G to make it more "affordable" why can't they do the same with the plan needed to make it work?
It's like selling tires to someone for $99 and then charging $2400 to air them up so they can be usable.
It's a complete rip off.

Also tethering with AT&T? Ha! What's the cost of that going to be if something that can't compete with data usage is $30, I can only imagine $70-$80 being "fair priced" for something that will actually use data.

[LeeN @ Jun 8th 2009 6:14PM]

@Jay Jay,

From what I have read the G1 tether apps is banned in the US :

http://phandroid.com/2009/04/02/google-responds-to-g1-tethering/

[GroovDude @ Jun 8th 2009 7:37PM]

Sprint $99 for everything... ta da ^_^

[ilhongy @ Jun 8th 2009 5:37PM]

my guess is increase by $10 per month..
coz that's the difference between pda unlimited data plan and iphone data plan...
att and verizon are competing in the ugly pricing section...

[waiownsyou @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

Oh thank God! I was beginning to worry that I couldn't pay the monthly cost for limited data transfer on top of the already-present 3G data transfer costs for the phone!

[Kamil @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

uhmm....... engadget, i dont know if you havent noticed this yet but......
12/20 of the posts on the front page are about the iPhone.... right?
and im not even going to count the Apple posts....

this.... is..... BullS***

"Apple revolutionizes laptop inustry with SD card Slot!!!"
"iPhone Compass saves 10,000 lives!"
"AT&T offers services never before SEEN on other networks, is called "Tethering" "

here are some more good topics =)

[Squid7085 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:36PM]

That could be, oh I don't know, maybe because today was a major Apple event where all these things were released. Anytime there is a major event about ANYTHING the whole day is covered with that stuff, even more so when nothing else happens. I seem to remember quite a few posts about the Pre on Saturday, why don't you complain about that too? Get over yourself honestly. Or just hide under a rock till the day is over, because all the buzz today will be about this event.

[Kamil @ Jun 8th 2009 5:43PM]

..........16/20 posts are on apple
thats 80%

this isnt anything new either, just some small updates, some name changes over here,
bashing microsoft for actually DOING more this year then apple for a change....

Engadget does this alot, WITH Apple, but never, never have i seen it be 80%...

and the most ive ever seen on palm pre on front page was 3 posts

[Jakob @ Jun 8th 2009 5:51PM]

Oh Kamil. Oh Kamil.
Big events are hard for you, huh?

So hard you forgot E3 and boy it was just a few days ago.

[Kamil @ Jun 8th 2009 6:13PM]

"E3 is widely regarded as the world's largest regular convention for video games."

Apple is one company
and, on the post count, apple still won

[CraigJ @ Jun 8th 2009 6:31PM]

Here you go: http://gizmodo.com/

[Anthony M. @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

How bout a statement saying when MMS will be supported and why it isn't immediately?

Stupid AT&T.

[Dion @ Jun 8th 2009 6:18PM]

exactly! WTF is the deal with AT&T not being able to support MMS at launch next Wednesday? They have tons of other phones that currently use MMS, so what's the hold-up for iPhone? "Late Summer" is what they stated.....my ass! AT&T sucks!

[Greg2k @ Jun 8th 2009 8:43PM]

When AT&T announce that in oh...15 minutes, Engadget will be right there to start YET ANOTHER POST about the iPhone, don't you worry.

[LongshotX @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

Tethering for $70/m or on and off tethering with PDAnet (free) ?


Hmmm tough choice.

[Kyle @ Jun 8th 2009 5:33PM]

Im sure this will be an added feature, with added price tag. This right here is why i sold my iPhone for a pre. ATT and the silly cost of operating the device.

[Squid7085 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:33PM]

If AT&T is going to speak up about anything, I rather have it be why the hell we have to wait for MMS.

[rob @ Jun 8th 2009 5:33PM]

My G1 has done this since day 1. It's also had video recording, copy and paste and more that the iPhone still DOESN'T have.

[TareX @ Jun 8th 2009 5:44PM]

Not to mention the magnitude of emulation only a qwerty phone is capable of.

[Steven Haskayne @ Jun 8th 2009 5:34PM]

Dont get your hopes up guys, the o2 website is saying that £15 per month charge for tethering......already on top of an unlimited data tariff. So really they are charging us to use the bluetooth....??? I would expect AT&T to charge $25-30 on top of your contract for what is an absolute farce of a situation.

The handset cost is not the issue here, its the fact you have to pay the remaining months contract to upgrade instead of starting the ball rolling like last time. I signed up to an 18 month contract 12 months ago, now if i wait 6 months i can upgrade, but wait.......6 months after that the new iphone will be out again, so i have to wait another 12 months for that??? (Common sense lacking on someones part here?)

For this price i can buy an unlocked phone from Japan/Asia and use any network....what motivation do i have to stay with my carrier if this is the weak customer service they pull?

I've started a petition on the o2 customer forums to try and force the issue before launch day

http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=20280

[mugupo @ Jun 8th 2009 5:33PM]

What about this, let people buy iphone in your contract without having to paid the rip off data fee.

[Kento Ito @ Jun 8th 2009 5:33PM]

On the day at&t launches tethering support for iPhone:

Flips swtich on,

Boom, nuclear explosion.

It's coming, better late than never. (hopefully)

[Josh Ladella @ Jun 8th 2009 5:34PM]

Come on Engadget! Just two more posts and you can fill up that "Breaking News" column on the right there! I know you can do it!

[Aaron @ Jun 8th 2009 5:35PM]

Megaton!

The iPhone continues to be at the top of its game! ;-)

[va jj @ Jun 8th 2009 5:38PM]

what? they're charging for tethering?

winmobile phone + internet sharing + laptop/pc + active sync = FREE

[LaughingMan @ Jun 8th 2009 5:41PM]

This is not true. AT&T has been intentionally breaking the tethering on some of their newer Winmo phones lately as well.

My boss got an AT&T Samsung Epix, and lo and behold, the tethering fails instantly. One call to AT&T support confirmed that they intentionally disabled the feature on that phone unless you pay up.

[jdotuk @ Jun 8th 2009 5:48PM]

Or S60 + joikuspot = free

[dantheman66 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:59PM]

It's a simple registry edit to fix ICS. They did the same thing to the Q9h with the 6.1 upgrade.

[somewonone @ Jun 9th 2009 5:58AM]

LaughingMan,

Yes it IS true.

Any and every WM phone on the market supports FREE tethering, most natively if you enable the right options that came with the phone, others if you install the right ROM, and even others if you want to get your hands a little dirty and change a couple of registry settings (it takes all of about 2 minutes to do this).

I'm tethering with my WM phone right now (comcast modem went out) and surfing using 3G speeds.

I've got my Touch Pro set up as a wireless router right now using WMWiFiRouter.
Both of my laptops in the house are connected to it as we speak ;)

Oh, and to add more injury to insult, a friend was over this past weekend, and he couldnt connect to the net with his iPhone via my router, so I told him, just connect to my phone instead.
He was left dumbfounded, shocked at the capabilities of my WinMo phone and then asked: "Do they have that phone for ATT too, and how much???"

[Newone @ Jun 8th 2009 5:38PM]

The more iMeh apple release is, the more they are going to overhype tidbits.