Tethering, MMS Hack Broken By iPhone 3.1 Update

Leander Kahney ()

tethering

A popular tethering hack that allows your computer to access the internet via your iPhone’s cell connection is broken with the iPhone 3.1 update. The update also disables MMS messaging enabled by the same hack.

The hack is enabled by changing iPhone’s AT&T carrier file. It’s easily enabled by visiting sites like BenM.at using mobile Safari on the iPhone, and appears under the Network settings. The option is removed under 3.1.

AT&T will roll out multimedia messaging for the iPhone on Sept. 25, but hasn’t given a release date for tethering, saying only it will be available “in the future.”

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About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, iPhone, News |

  • Coty

    I used this same hack under 3.0.1 to enable tethering, and after updating to 3.1 I still have the tethering and MMS functions.

  • Phillip

    I have updated to 3.1 and I still have tethering as an option in the Network Menu.

  • Slapguts

    The option under network shows up, but disappears as soon as you try to use it.

  • Gene

    Hmm.
    I have a stock, unhacked, un-jailbroken 3GS.
    3.1 added a new section for tethering data transferred to General > Usage.

  • jb

    Upgrading to 3.1 will also break voicemail if you had applied the tethering hack. There is no longer an option to change the voicemail server to acds.voicemail.

  • James

    I have a 3G with 3.1 and I still have the tethering without any issues. My phone has never had MMS, but also my phone is not unlocked or hacked/jailbroken in any way.

  • Matt P

    FYI

    I have 3.1 and an iPhone 3Gs. I upgraded and my tethering still works 100%. I used it yesterday with no problem when the wifi went down during a power outage during last nights storm in Dallas. Even with the storm I still had a pretty decent connection speed tethered to my 3Gs.

  • http://www.josueoceja.com.mx Josue O

    I upgrade to 3.1 today, and i’m lost my tethering option… , and my ohone never been jailbroken…. any suggestion to have tethering again???

  • Rob

    I will be happy to upgrade to 3.1 if and when AT&T adds official tethering or there is a workaround that is reliable. Until then, unofficial on 3.01 will do just fine, thank you.

  • Leung

    Tethering works here in Hong Kong with 3.1. Using it now to post this comment. “Three” is the operator here. Don’t know how long this will last since tethering pulls a lot data & Three’s plan goes to 500MB/month before going unlimited so they don’t expect many people to go over 500MB. I can go 500MB in a day.

  • Ivan213

    I use to have thetering on my iPhone 3g 3.0.1 but now with the new 3.1 I losted and I realy wann it back, someone can helpmeet to get it againg ….

  • PHILIP

    I use to have thetering on my iPhone 3g 3.0.1 but now with the new 3.1 I losted and I realy wann it back, someone can help me get it back ? i really need it for work please

  • macjunkie

    after upgrading to 3.1 tethering will still be enabled but once you sync it for the first time with itunes 9, it will disable it and remove it.

  • Jay

    jb, I’m having the same problem (no option to change back to acds.voicemail). Have you found any solution?

  • YO1

    I update to 3.1 and I cant to use Internet Thetering, please HELP!!

  • http://iphonespotlight.com Michael Masek

    For anyone who has had their visual voicemail broken since the 3.1 update try this solution. I do not know if this will work outside of AT&T.

    So the problem seems to be that if you installed the hacked ipcc file (either through help.benm.at or manually uploading the file through iTunes) and then updated to 3.1, not only would the 3.1 update disable the tethering/mms, but it would also corrupt the carrier file, therefore breaking visual voicemail. I have tried every method out there including resetting the network settings, removing Profile settings, restoring my iPhone (seven restores including a downgrade to 3.0) as well as spent more than four hours on the phone with AT&T and Apple but to no avail. Here is what finally worked for me. And for those interested, this was done on my iPhone 3GS 3.1OS.

    1. Perform a system restore on your iPhone.
    2. After the restore, choose the option to setup as a NEW iPhone.
    3. Perform a “Restore from Backup…” in iTunes (in iTunes, right click on your iPhone and select Restore from Backup…)
    4. Open safari on your iPhone and navigate to http://help.benm.at/generator.php
    5. Enter wap.cingular in the APN field for both Mobile Internet and Visual Voicemail. Leave the rest of the fields BLANK and click GENERATE!.
    6. When the Install Profile page opens, click Install and the then Install Now on the confirmation warning.
    7. After it finished install, go back to your home screen.
    8. Perform a HARD RESET by holding down the Lock and Menu buttons (power and home buttons)until the iPhone reboots and the Apple logo appears on the screen.

    You should now have visual voicemail AND mms working on your 3.1 updated iPhone! I understand the frustration of the whole process and sincerely hope this works for you!

  • Hate ATT

    Ahhh!!! I use my iphone for business and my customers are wondering why the heck I haven’t returned their voicemails for days. Turns out that Apple broke my voicemail and the precious tethering that lets me work on the go. ATT and Apple both suck. I’ll have to try Michael Masek’s directions on fixing this. If it doesn’t work then I’m screwed and will need to jailbreak or something.

  • Jeff

    I’m still on 3.0 and itunes 8.2, but having problems.

    I purposely chose to nut update as I didn’t want to lose tethering. One day, my voicemail just quit. ATT / APPLE were no help, so I uninstalled the modded carrier profile. Voice mail came back after having ATT reset it and tethering was still there. The profile just unlocks it and I read that you dont need to keep the modded profile once the feature is unlocked.

    Anyway, my tethering just disappeared!. I’ve not updated anything on my macbook, still on old 8.2 itunes, no syncs, and iphone 3.0. it went away over the air somehow.

  • Z

    hmm…… TO: Michael Masek, thank you for the instructions but my phone VVM is still not working…… I do have MMS working though…… and Tethering option is still not there…… :(

  • Randy B

    I have a iPhone 3g updated with 3.1 and my tethering and vvw was broken. I tried Michael Masek’s instruction with no luck but I went into Settings – General – Profiles and deleted both profiles in there and now i have my vvw but no tethering and still no mms.

  • LJ

    I just tried Michael Masek’s solution and it DID restore my vvm. (thanks, Michael!) Btw, I called AT&T multiple times and they were useless. I haven’t yet tested MMS, though I don’t use it much anyway so don’t really care. Tethering still doesn’t work, at least until someone figures out a good hack for it on 3.1…

  • ike

    i tried 2 or 3 times did not work for me. so i reset my phone back tp factory settings. i tried another one and had the option to send mms and add the pic andall worked but would not send

  • Scott

    Can we move back to 3.0.1 from 3.1 or are we locked in?

  • guy

    masek’s instructions worked on my 3GS 3.1. although obviously i lost tethering capabilities. if i didn’t add the mms hack before, can i add it now or did the update cancel that functionality as well…

  • Kristi s

    I did what Randy b suggested with deleting the profile and my voicmail now works again… Very simple

  • Apple

    Forget all the restore crap. Go to settings, general, then profile and remove the profile. I removed it and got 17 vvm from the prior week.

  • JaeD

    I’m in the “lost tether” camp, too, using the 3G (no “S”) phone.

    I did notice that in addition to losing the tethering activation switch, I also GAINED an information subsection in the “Usage” summary specifically for sent/received tethering data.

    This is encouraging as it suggests the option may come back some day “soon”…but also discouraging since one reason you’d need to track it by itself (beyond just calling it “data”) is because it’s being billed separately. This will make me very, very angry, given what I already pay for a data enabled phone.

    Still, it’ll probably be cheaper than getting $4 blends just to use the coffee shop wireless. Ho hum…

  • pgurlatl

    Restore back to your 3.01 IPSW file and then re-apply the tethering hack.

    To do that in Itunes, press the shift key on your pc or laptop while clicking on the update button and browse for the file on your computer.

  • trick

    I just removed the help.benm profile and got my voice mail back and still have tethering. (apple 3g)

  • Lindo

    I’m lost without teathering… Most iPhone
    users from the rest of the world tether… And
    is included in thier plan… I heard that AT&T is
    going to charge 60$ on top of the iPhone
    plan!!! Someone pls hack 3.1 already!! Or let’s
    make a revoution!! Hehe

  • Liam

    @ Michael Masek. Thanks mate thats the only thing that worked for me.

  • Ted

    if you lose your visual voicemail from this…
    go to settings, general, profiles then delete profile
    then go to settings, general, reset, then reset network.

    very simple and quick : )

  • Mikey V

    I enabled mms and tethering. not jailbroken. 3.01 updated phone, not 3.1.

    I deleted the profile. Stil no VVM. Still have mms/tether.

    Reset network settings per Ted above. Phone reboots.

    Now — says “searching” instead of “ATT”. So follow that advice with caution. Now I’m fixing a bigger problem.

  • Mikey V

    Ok. Another reboot fixed it and I can connect to ATT

    Lose MMS and Tethering, VVM back.

  • Crimson

    Just delete the AT&T unoffical carrier file from your phone after updating from 3.1 and VVM will work again.

  • Jack Lantern

    Updated iPhone to 3.1 and the latest iPhone configuration. Lost my internet connection, but now could send MMS.

    Thanks to Michael Masek, my internet connection was restored. Tethering disappeared from the Network Settings, though after I tried to use it.

  • Keem

    I so much cherished the Tethering on my iphone 3.GS but after upgrading from 3.0 to 3.1 I lost this feature. I will appreciate any help to get it back. At&t sucks!

  • BelfastBobby

    How’s this for any easy way to get your iphone tethered!

    I have an 3GS iphone 3.1 which I had unlocked through Telstra for a fee and while Telstra is not providing the tethering service I found a way around it.

    All I did was to purcahse another carrier’s pre-paid SIM that does provide the service and then connected to iTunes and presto tethering was up and running. It’s still working even when I put back my original SIM card.

    What this proves is that tethering is BUILT IN already on your iPhone and when you connect to a carrier that does provide tethering it activates it automatically when you are charging your iphone.

  • Sinjin

    As everybody has been stating, tethering is now gone with the upgrade. Visual VM also was broken. Per Ted’s Advice (thank you Michael Masek for your detailed advice as well) I removed the ATT profile and then reset the network settings. VVM did not work completely at first. It would just search when I tapped the VM to play. I had to do a hard reset (Perform a HARD RESET by holding down the Lock and Menu buttons (power and home buttons)until the iPhone reboots and the Apple logo appears on the screen.) and then the VVM worked fine. Whew! I have also tested the MMs and everything works now. Thanks to everyone for the advice and help. This type of collaboration is what the internet is all about!!

  • Uwe

    I think it is criminal to sell a phone with tethering, and then just take it away at will. Apple should be charged for theft!

  • Ben Christensen

    When I ugraded to 3.10 my tethering disappeard. I have yet to see anyway around it that doesn’t require a fair bit of technical know how.

  • Mike Alport

    Tethering did work on Vodacom in South Africa by using the instrictions: http://www.marcforrest.com/2009/06/22/enable-vodacom-iphone-mms-tethering-2/ and still worked when I upgraded to 3.1.2 but stopped when I synced to iTunes.

    But tethering was restored after I followed the instructions (and taking a deep breath): go to settings, general, profiles then delete profile
    then go to settings, general, reset, then reset network.

  • http://cydia seeingsounds

    im using jailbroken iphone 3Gs firmwire 3.1 to tether right now as i write this using the free trial of mywi last day on trail so i plan on purchasing as soon as i find a credit card wish there was a free way of doing this….o well 10 bucks is waaay better than a monthly internet bill !!