AT&T CEO Ralph De la Vega has confirmed after months of speculation and rumors that the carrier and Apple will officially offer the capability to use the iPhone 3G as a modem.
Speaking at the Web 2.0 internet summit this morning, the CEO confirmed that it would be available soon, but did not give a specific timeframe.
Tethering has been a contentious issue for both Apple and AT&T ever since the launch of the iPhone 3G, since the device highlights the lack of infrastructure necessary to serve up enough bandwidth to owners of the devices, who use heavy amounts of data thanks to the data access included in the service plans at the expense of network stability and quality, with many reporting poor speeds and service quality.
Many areas outside of AT&T flagship markets are now and have been using a tiered access system depending on account type to determine priority between users as a sort of QoS implementation to ensure that users with iPhones and contracts are given priority access to 3G service over other postpaid and prepaid users, with varying degrees of success.
Unnofficial avenues exist for 3G tethering with JuneFabrics offering its venerable PDAnet application via Cydia for jailbroken iPhone 3Gs as well as iModem, but most that want the ability to tether want an officially supported method for doing so, or simply do not want to deal with the idea of jailbreaking, no matter the simplicity of the operation.
Another issue is Apple’s long-standing, if tacit prohibition of 3G tethering solutions on the App Store, with NetShare by developer Nullriver becoming a very well-known application due in part to its cycle of availability/unavailability which PhoneNews.com covered earlier this year.
This still does not address the most important question: If AT&T and Apple do indeed offer an officially supported solution to tether to a laptop or MID-type device, will the carrier be able to handle it, or will AT&T learn T-Mobile’s hard-learned lesson and watch as the network is brought to the point of near catastrophic failure as thousands, maybe tens of thousands take advantage of the service across the country when the service is officially announced and launched?
I vote for the catastrophic failure. AT&T doesn’t seem to be able to keep up with their current network traffic here in Baltimore, this is just gonna make it even more interesting.
[…] AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega today confirmed that iPhone owners will soon be able to use the phone’s 3G connectivity to tether to laptops to access the web. Tethering is a major advantage for 3G phone owners and this will open the iPhone up for that purpose. No exact date was mentioned by de la Vega for tethering enablement but it is great to get confirmation on this front. […]
Does it bother anyone besides me that the author mentioned “to ensure that users with iPhones and contracts are given priority access to 3G service over other postpaid and prepaid users?”
Why should a particular kind of phone ensure priority access to data? Does this mean (surely not!) that WinMo data users are of less importance than iPhone data users?
While I understand that the iPhone makes data acess easier than some other interfaces, this continued trend to prioritize certain types of phones access to hotspots, bandwidth or other utilites is something I hope will not continue.
It is believed by many, but still can only be confirmed by testing (in an overloaded market) that Apple forced AT&T to give iPhones priority over other postpay MEdia Net and Smartphone & PDA Connect customers on AT&T. This was to ensure that Apple could tout that the iPhone would load pages quickly, even on an overloaded area of AT&T’s network.
It does appear that mobile broadband cards (using the isp.cingular APN) are still at the highest of priority. Conversely, prepaid customers appear to be at the lowest priority. Or, to make it even easier, ordered as below:
1) Mobile Broadband Cards, isp.cingular, etc
2) iPhone & iPhone 3G
3) MEdia Net, wap.cingular, Smartphone/PDA Connect, etc
4) GoPhone
When you look at the order, it starts to make sense. Aside from iPhone (again, mandated by Apple), AT&T is QoS’ing the network in the order of how much the customer pays. The more you pay for service, the more reliable the service is. I don’t really have a problem with that… it’s not like a hard bandwidth cap.
If a provider becomes so overloaded that the lower services aren’t usable, the provider would lose those customers to another competitor.
In the world of Net Neutrality, tiering customers based on priority is really the only choice that operators have. The other alternative, the new 5 MB cap on GoPhone customers, is one that AT&T seems to be okay with as well. I’d rather have the former imposed… and still be an AT&T customer.
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[…] details have surfaced regarding the forthcoming iPhone 3G tethering capability which PhoneNews.com previously reported […]
[…] areas, all the available channels are already in use so adding more capacity isn’t possible. AT&T is already doing doing data shaping, giving users with iPhones highest priority, followed by postpaid users and finally prepaid. […]
I knew hate e&t was throttling my data!
I’ve had the “UNLIMITED PDA CONNECT” plan for the past 2 years.
Initially I was tethering without paying extra, and my connection speed on Windows XP Home Edition was approximately 230 Kbps. After some consideration I decided to comply with at&t terms of use & pay $70. per month to legally tether my phone (Blackjack I at the time) to my PC.
Then the iPhone was released.
My connection speed while tethering dropped to an abysmal 9 Kbps. I discontinued the tethering option after a few months due to an inability to justify the added expense for less service.
Since then, I have upgraded to the SGH-i617, at&t rolled out 3G in my area, and I have been relegated to non-tethered connection speeds between 20 Kbps – 500 Kbps, with the fastest speeds achieved in town on 3G. (all tests used BBR mobile speed test)
Just a few days ago, at&t experienced a statewide outage in my area (Hawaii,) & upon contacting customer care I was told that my device was a “tier 2” device.
“Tier two device!”
So at&t HAS been throttling my data!
I have spoken with people in other parts of the US who tell me that their connection speeds are more than double the speeds I have been getting.
Looks like I should have bought the iPhone…
If I wanted data only from an iPhone 3g, would I be able to do that? pref without signing a contract. I have an iPod Touch 2g 32gb and I love it, but would love to have internet everywhere without wifi. I love t-mobile though and don’t want to leave it, nor do I want my primary phone to not have a keypad (I’ll stick with my N76 for now). Being able to tether w/ my laptop as well would be a nice plus.
[…] point by the iPhone. The operator recently dropped unlimited data packages for prepaid users and reportedly has a tiered access system model with iPhones getting the highest priority, followed by contract customers, then prepaid […]