John Paczkowski

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AT&T to Unauthorized iPhone Tetherers: “We’ve Noticed Your Service Plan May Need Updating”

March 18, 2011 at 7:15 am PT

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AT&T has an ultimatum for anyone using MiWi to add unauthorized tethering support to their jailbroken iPhones: stop it immediately or be automatically enrolled in the carrier’s AT&T’s DataPro plan, which includes an additional $45 per month in tethering charges. Earlier this week, AT&T began sending warning messages to customers it suspects of unauthorized tethering, suggesting their plans, ahem, “may need updating.”

We’ve noticed your service plan may need updating.

Many AT&T customers use their smartphones as a broadband connection for other devices, like laptops, netbooks or other smartphones – a practice commonly known as tethering. Tethering can be an efficient way for our customers to enjoy the benefits of AT&T’s mobile broadband network and use more than one device to stay in touch with important people and information. To take advantage of this feature, we require that in addition to a data plan, you also have a tethering plan.

Our records show that you use this capability, but are not subscribed to our tethering plan.

… If we don’t hear from you, we’ll plan to automatically enroll you into DataPro 4GB after March 27, 2011. The new plan – whether you sign up on your own or we automatically enroll you – will replace your current smartphone data plan, including if you are on an unlimited data plan.

If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.

In other words, register for our $45/month 4GB tethering plan or we’ll register you for it ourselves.

Unfortunate news for folks who contend that they should be allowed to use the wireless data service they pay for in whatever way they see fit, whether it be on their phone or a device tethered to it.

Tagged with: Apple, AT&T, data, DataPro, Internet, iPhone, John Paczkowski, tethering

comments so far. Add yours.

  • Anonymous

    Good for AT&T. Consumers pay for things they want, and if they don’t want them they can make that choice as well. I see this as a courtesy on AT&T’s part, yet it’s a business and is therefore well within its rights to mandate this.

  • Anonymous

    Good for AT&T. Consumers pay for things they want, and if they don’t want them they can make that choice as well. I see this as a courtesy on AT&T’s part, yet it’s a business and is therefore well within its rights to mandate this.

  • http://twitter.com/issandhu Inderpreet Sandhu

    Question though, what’s the difference between using your data plan via your phone or via a device tethered to the phone. The type of data flowing does not change, your monthly usage cap remains. What is the rationale for charging a monthly plan to tether?

  • Anonymous

    @bigdog0319
    You are so wrong. If you aren’t using more than the amount of data you’ve paid for, then why should I pay AT&T more for the ability to access that data with other devices? The technology exists, it’s AT&T who is just trying to squeeze their own customers out of more money. It’s not like it costs AT&T any more money to provide data to other devices. I’m paying them for the broadband wireless connection. I should be able to use that connection in any way I see fit.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JCOY5HZVTYRL5KK7S6WYLEUOIE Kimberly

    If you’re using a product that you are not paying for it is stealing. Why is that so hard for people to understand?

  • http://twitter.com/BenjaminZAMayo Benjamin Mayo

    The carriers get more money.

  • Anonymous

    What “product” are you referring to? There is a data limit, why does it matter how it is used. If they want to limit that 2GB of data, that is well within their rights. If I buy a book and read it twice, do I pay twice?

  • Anonymous

    How is that any different then my home connection, At home I can connect as many devices as I want since I am paying for a (“pipe”) broadband connection. I am paying for a wireless connection for data, it should be up to me how I use it, we don’t get charged for the amount of appliances I have connected to my electrical outlets.

  • http://twitter.com/issandhu Inderpreet Sandhu

    But with the cap and overage charges, they are already charging extra. There is no justification to charge another monthly fee.

  • http://twitter.com/issandhu Inderpreet Sandhu

    Not to sound like an echo in here, but that’s the point. Tethering is not a product – if so, then I would have to pay for every PC connected to my home wi-fi network.

    I can understand usage caps and charging for extra for overages, but charging for the ability to use another device to access a data pipe I already pay for? Makes no sense to me (non-business sense that is).

  • http://twitter.com/rollinsio Michael Rollins

    Double charging for data is duplicitous and deceitful. If I pay for 2GB of data a month, I should be able to use it as I see fit. This is just yet another way for AT&T (and any carrier) to game more money out of me. Plain and simple, it’s my data, I pay for it, I should be able to use it as I choose.

    Lucky for most of us jailbreakers there’s an alternative. MyWi uses the native tethering support on the iPhone which does some specific things to let the carrier know that tethering is active. However, PDAnet uses it’s own tethering stack, not the native iPhone tethering support. I don’t believe that AT&T can detect that connection.

  • http://twitter.com/ditdahman J Roden

    Hope this helps.

    Unlimited plans are for iPhone only.
    Tethering is offered only via a non-unlimited plan.

    Therefore, tethering on an unlimited plan is not a product offering. The target appears to be those tethering AND have an unlimited plan.The request appears to ask the customer to chose one or the other.

    Just guessing, my intuition says those that received the letter likely are 10′s of GB users.

    JR

  • Anonymous

    Actually, Inderpreet, they are not already “charging extra”. As Benjamin said, the folks who are in the 2GB plan use, on average, considerably less than that. What that effectively means is that the 500GB customers are subsidizing the 1.95GB customers. The only way to eliminate that cross-subsidy would be to charge by the byte all the way up the chain.

  • Anonymous

    And I want a pony, @mdub311. The fact is you did not pay for a plan that “lets you use data as you see fit.” You paid for a plan with certain terms of service. They can offer the more restricted plan at a lower price, because they can better predict the aggregate cost of that service. There’s a reason why true “all data is equal” plans cost more.

  • Anonymous

    That’s fine. So go buy a plan that offers a true data-agnostic rate.

  • Anonymous

    “Why does it matter how it is used?” Because how it is used affects the cost of providing that service. If everyone could freely tether off of the standard 2GB plan, it would affect the aggregate usage patterns of users in that plan, and therefore it would affect the cost of serving that plan. It’s quite likely they would bump up the cost of the 2GB plan to suit.

  • Anonymous

    People who tether typically consume significantly more data than those who do not. I know you keep saying that’s covered by the overage charges, but that is simply not the case. The fact is that the price point for the data service was set based on assumptions about the aggregate behavior of the customers who use it.

    Unauthorized tethering screws with those assumptions. A data plan that is truly agnostic to tethering would likely cost more than the current plan. And of course, that would suck for all the customers who don’t give a rat’s ass about tethering.

  • Anonymous

    Did you read the article, Michael? They are going after unauthorized tethering a la MyWi.

    And they’re not double-charging for data, BTW, at least not anymore, because the DataPro plan comes with 4GB of data. What they’ve effectively done is require that you subscribe to at least a 4GB plan before you get “data agnostic” service.

  • Anonymous

    So many commenters here seem to think that it’s a simple matter of “I paid for the data, I get to use it how I see fit.” That is, of course, absurd. You did not pay for a certain number of bits. You paid for a data *plan*; and the data cap is only one of many restrictions that plan enforces.

    Those restrictions allow AT&T to make strong analytical assumptions about the behavior of users on that plan, and therefore to better predict how much that plan is going to cost *them*, and therefore how much they should charge their *consumers* for it. Violate those restrictions, and those assumptions are no longer operative; and if enough people do that, AT&T’s costs go up. And guess who pays for that?

    Now, if you really WANT a plan that works in a truly data-agnostic fashion—that is, one that lets you use the data any way you see fit—then you’re welcome to get one! AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, you name it, they’ve got plans like that. DataPro 4GB is one of them on the AT&T side.

    You just have to pay for it.

  • http://twitter.com/issandhu Inderpreet Sandhu

    So, internet browsing on a laptop is different than internet browsing on a phone (assuming I visit full sites vs. mobile sites)? I understand that you can do more with a tethered device than a mobile, but with smartphones being capable of bridging that functional gap, the usage pattern gap will shrink as well.

    What would the justification be then?

    You bring up good points, but I still don’t understand how having overage charges does not account for the cost of tethering already. Bytes are bytes and the only thing that the network should know is how much is being used and charge accordingly.

  • Anonymous

    Are you a shill for AT&T? It sure sounds like it from your multiple posts..

  • Anonymous

    Nah. In fact I own a license to MyWi. I’m just realizing the gig is up.

  • Anonymous

    The simple answer for AT&T is to changes the limit and cahrge more for the 2GB limit – it should not matter how that data is used. This is why carriers are still in the stone age in so many areas.

  • Anonymous

    Michael’s point is that AT&T can see users with MiWi, but can not see the teathering through PDAnet, thus use PDAnet to avoid the issue.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, my mistake, and my apologies, Michael. That said, I am not certain they are specifically detecting MyWi use. It seems to me that it might be possible to sniff for packets that they can conclusively state would come from a computer or an iPad.

  • Anonymous

    Michael, please disregard the first half my post; I did not understand yours correctly.

  • Anonymous

    Inderpreet, it’s not that browsing on a laptop is different than browsing on a phone in an specific way. Rather, it is that the statistics of a typical tethering user differ from the statistics of a typical non-tethering user.

    For instance, suppose an average non-tether user in the 2GB plan consumes 1GB, but an average tether user consumes 1.8GB. The price for the 2GB plan were based on the 1GB average. That means people who use less than 1GB are effectively cross-subsidizing those who use more than that.

    If everyone was a tethering user, then AT&T would have 80% more data to deal with. That means the 2GB plan would be significantly more costly, and they would have to raise the price for everyone. Overage charges alone can’t deal with that.

  • Anonymous

    @jack420, I don’t get it. You’re saying that the solution is need to charge more for all *non-tethering users* between 250MB and 2GB, so that tethering doesn’t add an extra charge? What do you think those non-tethering users are going to think about that?

  • zps

    the whole idea that tethering is “extra” is outrageous.

  • Anonymous

    Back when you had to pay $20 for tethering and they didn’t give you ANY extra data for the privilege, I agreed with you. We had debates on other DigitalDaily threads back then, in fact. But now, you’re not paying *just* for tethering, you’re also getting an extra 2GB of data for that $20. That does make things a bit more reasonable, in my view.

    My problem with it (yes, I do have a problem with it) is that it’s an either/or option. I tether only occasionally; most of the time I am close to a WiFi hotspot so I don’t care. I’m not going to pay $20/month so I can tether once every couple of months.

  • zps

    you have already accepted the concept of tiered or limited data? i have not. that being the case, paying more for the same connection infuriates me.

  • Anonymous

    Fair point. But switching to Verizon’s unlimited plan won’t help you either, as they also charge $20 for tethering.

  • Anonymous

    I was on an iPhone and before I started tethering via MyWi I was using upwards of 50GB/Month on my Unlimited Data Plan key word there is unlimited. Then the iPad came out and I started tethering when it wasn’t available on the iPhone and my data usage had went down to about 30GB/month. I have since then switched to the HTC Inspire 4G and the only way for me to tether would be to root it or go to a 4GB plan for $45/Month instead of my $30/month Unlimited plan. I have since found a way around it without rooting and I’m tethering on my Unlimited plan but I’m down to about 10GB/month. I have a data usage calculator on my phone and I’m using less than 100MB/month on tethering can you tell me why I should go down to a 4GB plan and pay a ridiculous amount of money when it’s not the tethering that is taking me over the top.

    If I went to the $45/month 4GB plan I would be paying $105/month for 10GB of usage instead of $30. If I used what I have used in the past around 50GB/month then I would be paying $505/month and that is not coming from my tethering.

  • Anonymous

    I think this is another backhanded way for AT&T to drop more loyal customers from unlimited data plans.

    What BS about exceeding phone data vs. tethering data! My actual phone data has never exceeded 1 GB/month and I only do occasional tethering. I agree that if my plan says I can use up to x GB in a month it shouldn’t matter if I do it via phone browsing or tethering.

    If you read carefully, AT&T’s threat, er notice says that they will switch you to a 4GB plan and you will LOSE your unlimited data plan. Of course, you have to read very carefully to realize this.

    My workaround. Connect my iPod Touch via ad-hoc wifi to my smartphone using one of the many apps out there. This also gives me the option to tether my laptop via USB or WiFi as necessary and use MY data plan as I see fit (within T&C’s of course). And that is why I use Sprint.

  • Anonymous

    I hate to say it, but if you are using 1.5GB/day, then you deserve to be booted off the wireless network, even if a carrier offered “unlimited” data.

  • Anonymous

    They do offer unlimited data, I’ve been paying $30/month for it for 3 years now. It all gets balanced out, people on my plan have also been making $30/month payments for three years and their total data usage over the 3 years is less than 100 MB. I don’t see why this is such a big deal to people, it works the same way at your house. If everyone was using 100 GB/day on the same ISP it would take them down, but everyone doesn’t do that so it all balances out.