We knew it was coming, but AT&T has just confirmed that their network will support iOS 4.3’s new Personal Hotspot feature (previously a Verizon iPhone exclusive) starting on March 11th.
If you are already a $25 DataPro plan subscriber (which nets you 2GB of usage) and also have the $20 a month tethering option, you’ll be updated to AT&T’s new plan automatically when the change pushes out next Friday.
Verizon iPhone users, of course, get unlimited data, but the Personal Hotspot capability costs $20 for 2GB of data to up to 5 connected devices. AT&T’s plan, on the other hand, gives you 4GB total data to play with: either 4GB through your iPhone 4 alone, or 4GB parceled out between the iPhone 4 and the devices connected to it via Personal Hotspot.
Ultimately, AT&T’s implementation of Personal Hotspot seems like a better deal for extreme road warriors, while Verizon’s seems better for regular users. Which plan do you prefer: AT&T’s implementation, or Verizon’s?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
50 responses to “AT&T Will Support iOS 4.3’s Personal Hotspot Feature On March 11th”
Does anybody know how this is going to work for UK users?
I haven’t been able to find anything about those of us who were grandfathered in on the Unlimited Data from AT&T? If I want to upgrade to the Tethering/Hotspot, will I have to switch to the 2GB plan?
I prefer MyFi. Suck it, carriers.
Good news. Competition works.
I’m hoping that this can be enabled on a month-to-month basis. Anyone read anything regarding this for AT&T?
i prefer neither. the amount of people that tether and the amount that they tether should NOT require an extra 20$/month. i’ll stick with my jailbreak, thank you.
Heard from a source at Apple that the answer is unfortunately YES.
Yes you have to switch to one of the current plans in order to support tethering.
I am also grandfathered, although my usage is way less than 2GB, so I’m essentially throwing extra money at AT&T.
Still astounded that this is a separately billable item. If they charge me for 2GB of data, why should it matter if it’s used by my iPhone or by some tethered device? Just a way to collect yet another toll.
Does anyone know how this will work for the “unlimited” data plan users that are paying $40 a month already?
I’m curious, does the JailBreak tether method still use massive amounts of juice? Last I checked, JB tethering drained the battery faster than a connected charger could keep up.
Yes, the feature is non-contracted, and prorated for cost with AT&T. Also, the AT&T deal is good since it’s 4GB for data from the device with or tethering. Verizon is counting the data to the 2GB allotment when the feature is on, even when the device is using the data itself, or as part of the 5 tethered units. In other words, when tethered, the unlimited plan is only 2GB for the duration that the tethered function is enabled. Then $10 per GB after the initial 2GB. That means your paying $50 for 2GB w/ Verizon, while $45 for 4GB w/ AT&T. At 4GB, you’ll have paid $45 for ATT and $70 for Verizon.
So you still need the base data plan, and then you pay for the MiFi on an additional contract, with another data plan cost. Have you done the math?
yea it still kills it pretty fast, but not faster than the charger can keep up as far as i’m aware. if i’m tethering to my laptop i usually just plug it in and it’s fine.
I think I’m in the same boat. I have the enterprise data bundle, which is unlimited data. But, even though I have UNLIMITED data (and I also don’t use more than 2 GB), AT&T still wants me to pay more for tethering and for an iPad plan? What do they do with all this money?
why can’t you use iPad 3G as a hotspot?
mifi isnt a monthly charge. its a jailbreak app.
Diner
Apple always bring some exclusive device. iPhone 5 is one of them. It’s coming………
http://fms.nu/fKiL5P
Are you ready to buy it? For more help go to the above link.
The iphone is soooo stupid… The 3g did not have a video camera when all others had one and now the last to not have 4g already…sooo last year. wtf where they do that at? Steve is OLD and Slow..Just plain OLD FASHION… It’s 2011 and this is their 2nd/1st and only phone that had a video camera..smh even the cheap prepaid phones had a VC… get out of Steve’s world cause he’s about out himself.
I have indeed done the math. Monthly data plan + one-time $20 fee for MyFi < Monthly data plan + monthly $20 fee.
There’s no reason a carrier should be in control of my device beyond whether or not it connects to their network, and arguably how much data it uses. Neither of these things are a function of tethering. In fact, I rarely go over 150MB/mo, which makes an additional tethering fee all the more insulting.
Will Apple make the CDMA (verizon) Iphone able to do the hotspot share? Or will we have to wait for another update?
Yes – I have an unlimited data plan grandfathered in, and I paid for MyFi once. Pretty simple math really. Do you know WTF you’re talking about? No.
Cheaper. You’ll have tethering as you always have – without getting gouged for the service like us Yanks.
re:”Still astounded that this is a separately billable item”
I’m not.
I haven’t seen a single reason to upgrade my Iphone’s OS once since ATT seems to torpedo any new feature that’s implemented (want to finally tether? Give us a ton of money – oh you want to tether your iPad – nope. Oh you can finally tether the iPad – for a ton of money extra a month. Thanks MyFi and jailbreak. I can tether my iPad when I’m away from Wfi on the rare occasions when I am without paying 1/5 the cost of my phone bill tacked on.
Do you even know how much faster 3g is than 4g? I can’t imagine its like dial up to broadband.