Reposting complaint about no modem usage (tethering).

[whateverandever]

Contradicting me doesn't make you right. And you most assuredly are wrong.

<3 People posting with no information calling me wrong.

Data you use while tethered is not included at all. Thus, it is all overage. It's similar to sending SMS messages on an account that doesn't include them.

Find me a place that says there's a difference between tethered data and normal data. Is it in your bill? No, it's not. AT&T treats data as data as data as data. It makes no differentiation in your bill on how you spent it.

And it's not at all similar to using SMS messages on an account that doesn't include them, good try with your simile there. A better comparison (if you were actually right) would be using MMS on an unlimited SMS plan where MMS was not included -- but that's still pushing it.

 

[Twinkie]

<3 People posting with no information calling me wrong.

Find me a place that says there's a difference between tethered data and normal data. Is it in your bill? No, it's not. AT&T treats data as data as data as data. It makes no differentiation in your bill on how you spent it.

And it's not at all similar to using SMS messages on an account that doesn't include them, good try with your simile there. A better comparison (if you were actually right) would be using MMS on an unlimited SMS plan where MMS was not included -- but that's still pushing it.

You're really coming unhinged here.

I've already found you precisely where it says there is a difference. I went so far as to quote it, and give you a link to it.

That fact that you can't bring yourself to owning up to being wrong, won't make you any less wrong. Your magical interpretations aren't worth the pixels they're written on.

There's a very good reason that AT&T sells plans specifically for tethering. Though I would suppose you're delusional enough to believe that those plans exist solely for suckers. Or at the very least, that you'd use that as some lame retort to try and distort the reality that you can't handle being corrected.

I have no doubt you will continue to post misinformation to hide the fact that you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Phobophobia]

The AT&T contract says that if you tether on a plan that doesn't explicitly support tethering, they can bill you per kb.

 

[whateverandever]

There's a very good reason that AT&T sells plans specifically for tethering. Though I would suppose you're delusional enough to believe that those plans exist solely for suckers.

Yes. AT&T sells those plans to make more $$$.

The rest of us will save money. You are a sucker.

 

[whateverandever]

The AT&T contract says that if you tether on a plan that doesn't explicitly support tethering, they can bill you per kb.

Care to point out where, precisely, it says this?

 

[jwtseng]

Questions about bluetooth DUN.

Does "tethering" include using either a USB cable as a physical connection to a laptop as well as using Bluetooth DUN?

Is there any difference in the whole "legality" of issue if one does not use EDGE or 3G and simply uses the 1x network? My understanding is that this only counts against the voice minutes, albeit at a MUCH slower speed. However, this would suffice for my needs, and indeed, this is what I do with my verizon phone right now.

Any pointers to which phones might be able to do this Bluetooth DUN on the 1x GPRS network for ATT?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[whateverandever]

Does "tethering" include using either a USB cable as a physical connection to a laptop as well as using Bluetooth DUN?

Is there any difference in the whole "legality" of issue if one does not use EDGE or 3G and simply uses the 1x network? My understanding is that this only counts against the voice minutes, albeit at a MUCH slower speed. However, this would suffice for my needs, and indeed, this is what I do with my verizon phone right now.

Any pointers to which phones might be able to do this Bluetooth DUN on the 1x GPRS network for ATT?

Thanks for any advice!

Just tether with a nice 3G phone and if AT&T complains just stop

 

[Twinkie]

Does "tethering" include using either a USB cable as a physical connection to a laptop as well as using Bluetooth DUN?

Yes.

Is there any difference in the whole "legality" of issue if one does not use EDGE or 3G and simply uses the 1x network?

No.

My understanding is that this only counts against the voice minutes, albeit at a MUCH slower speed. However, this would suffice for my needs, and indeed, this is what I do with my verizon phone right now.

That's only true on CDMA networks, where CDMA is capable of supporting a ~14.4 connection over voice.

 

[jwtseng]

Great...thanks for the very helpful info! So, one last question... Is the Nokia 6126 a decent phone? or would I do better with the Sony W300i?

 

[whateverandever]

Great...thanks for the very helpful info! So, one last question... Is the Nokia 6126 a decent phone? or would I do better with the Sony W300i?

Pick up a Samsung Sync (A707) in addition to your iPhone if you just need a decent backup phone that can be used for tethering.

 

[meagain]

I appologize for the dumb question....

If one buys say the above 3g Samsung, then pops an activated iPhone SIM in it for tethering...... Does one get 3g speed out of the Samsung or EDGE? Thanks!

 

[Goldenbear]

...Which part of "Yes, people have tethered with the $19.99 Smartphone and $39.99 PDA Connect plans, but people have also been billed per-KB when Cingular catches them" confused you?

If you try tethering to isp.cingular instead of wap.cingular or use more data than a phone would reasonably use pulling WAP pages and downloading J2ME apps, you're basically inviting them to bill you per-KB.

Why is it that some people are so incapable of sharing their thoughts and having a mature discussion, without acting like an @ss while hiding behind your computer screen?

The original post said nothing about Smartphones or PDA Connect plans. As I said, I used my previous phone without EVER paying per-KB. In fact, the Cingular rep I spoke to assured me there was no charge what-so-ever for what I was doing.

 

[feelthefire]

Why is it that some people are so incapable of sharing their thoughts and having a mature discussion, without acting like an @ss while hiding behind your computer screen?

The original post said nothing about Smartphones or PDA Connect plans. As I said, I used my previous phone without EVER paying per-KB. In fact, the Cingular rep I spoke to assured me there was no charge what-so-ever for what I was doing.

This depends ENTIRELY on the phone used to tether. Some phones can tether "blind" that is, there is no differentiation between the data that is used on the phone itself and data that is used over tether. Smartphones sometimes have the ability to "mask" tethering so that it looks like the data useage is coming to the phone itself. Others do NOT have this ability at all and the connection is visible as a tether connection due to the way the data is accessed. If that is the case, it is visible to AT&T, and they can nail you bigtime for it.

My current phone can tether blind (also don't have AT&T) but a lot of regular non-smart handsets cannot tether blind (a900m on sprint can, I know that) and what typically happens is you get a warning on your account with overages charged, and if you do it again they cut off your service and won't reinstate your account unless you sign a clause explicitly stating that you understand you cannot tether on the plan you are signing up for and are agreeing to any overages charged.

 

[jwtseng]

EDGE speed complaints aside, it occurs to me (and by no means do I think I'm the first to think of this) that all of this tethering tit for tat can be avoided by a software update to enable the iPhone equivalent of "internet sharing" in OS X. Then you could have iPhone internet access via EDGE and share it with a laptop over wifi. That would be a more than acceptable solution for me!

 

[Yankees 4 Life]

If we can't use the iPhone itself to tether, in the rare instances that we might wish to subject ourselves to this on EDGE... I have a question.

If the SIM from the iPhone will work in other AT&T-capable phones, couldn't said BT-tetherable phone be placed in the laptop bag? Then, when the need to tether arises, just swap the SIM and tether away? I'm not interested in legal/contract reasons why not to do this (I am a GeekLawyer after all, let me worry about that). I want to know if there's a technical reason this wouldn't work.

Something tells me that we'll be seeing a flood of cheapo phones on Ebay with this ability in due course -- if not already.

sounds like a brilliant idea

 

[whateverandever]

EDGE speed complaints aside, it occurs to me (and by no means do I think I'm the first to think of this) that all of this tethering tit for tat can be avoided by a software update to enable the iPhone equivalent of "internet sharing" in OS X. Then you could have iPhone internet access via EDGE and share it with a laptop over wifi. That would be a more than acceptable solution for me!

Uhmm, that's tethering... and since AT&T doesn't want you doing that on a $20 data plan, I doubt you'll see such a software update.