Sharing the iPhone’s 3G Internet connection with another device, known as tethering, has long been a requested feature for the iPhone. And it’s a long time in coming, as it’s been available for years on competing devices like the Blackberry. So when is the iPhone getting tethering? According to Apple and AT&T, soon.
When Is the iPhone Getting Tethering?
At the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Peak event in March 2009, Apple executives said the ability to tether will be built into the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software due out in late June to early July 2009. Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone Software, said it will be up to AT&T and other phone carriers to turn on tethering for the iPhone:
We’re absolutely supporting tethering in the client side in iPhone 3.0, but we’re working with carriers around the world to see when they can add tethering support on their networks. But we are building that support into iPhone 3.0.
Developers with access to early betas of the iPhone 3.0 software have already stumbled on the “hidden” tethering feature. There are even step-by-step instructions for developers on how to turn on iPhone tethering.
AT&T Wireless & Tethering
Up to this point, AT&T has been pretty tight lipped about tethering and the iPhone. The only evidence that AT&T is considering it for the iPhone is a secondhand account from the blog MobileCrunch stating that in November 2008, AT&T’s Ralph De La Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, told the website TechCrunch that consumers will be able to use their iPhone’s as wireless modems sometime in 2009.
Turning on tethering would now be without its obstacles for AT&T. iPhone users already lead the smartphone world in terms of bandwidth usage. In fact, according to T-Mobile of the Netherlands, iPhone users transfer 30-40 times more data than the average smartphone user. iPhone users in the Netherlands average 640mb of data transfer a month.
Previously, AT&T has had problems handling sudden spikes in data usage from iPhone 3Gs on their wireless networks. At the 2009 South By Southwest tech conference, thousands of iPhone users brought AT&T’s network to a halt, forcing AT&T to add more capacity. A tethered laptop would presumably cause more bandwidth to be used and thus put even more of a strain on AT&T’s network.
How Much Will It Cost?
AT&T already offers tethering plans for various PDAs and smartphones, including the Blackberry. Tethering currently costs an extra $30 per month on top of your current data charges (bringing the possible iPhone monthly data charge up to $60, without text messages included).
Unfortunately, tethering also adds a 5gb data transfer limit to your account. The current iPhone/AT&T data package includes unlimited data. Once you run out of the 5gbs, it costs $0.49 per megabyte. You probably won’t be watching many YouTube videos in HD with those kind of data rates.
While tethering may end up being an expensive proposition, it could also be a liberating technology for those stuck behind corporate firewalls and filtering software. The fact that the iPhone could create a walking bubble of personal Internet connectivity is something I look forward to.