Apple in their unrelenting drive to take choice away from the consumer and rip people off whenever possible, has poked it’s greedily little finger in the eye of iPhone users today, with the release of the new iPhone Software 3.1 beta 2.
The release appears to be disabling a hack that allows users to use the iPhone 3G and 3GS as a wireless broadband modems for laptops and PCs, using their cell provider’s data plan.
This capability – known as tethering – was touted as one of the benefits of version 3.0 of iPhone software, when Apple sang its praises at its Worldwide Developers Conference last month. Unfortunately, Apple also announced at that time that the iPhone’s exclusive US carrier, AT&T, wouldn’t support tethering until it was damn well good and ready.
For those that can’t read between the lines, I”ll explain it simply. You can’t use tethering because of the anti-competitive and exclusive deals that Apple signed with certain mobile carriers. It means that services will not be offered as applications become available, instead allowing some third parties to dictate what you can or can’t do with your phone. It means that creative products and applications will be stifled until a proper way to fleece you out of your money has been thought-up. I would also hazard a guess, that this was not Apple’s own idea, but rather a special request by AT&T, and that should make it much more annoying. How does it feel iUsers (or should I say iUsed?) that some corporation was able to tell the manufacturer of your precious phone that they want certain features disabled. Does it feel like jailhouse love with no lubricant? It should.
If AT&T feels like taking a year or two “officially” allow tethering, because they might not want to upgrade their networks right way, well too bad for you iUser. Your phone provider signed an exclusive deal with a carrier and you can kiss their ass once you have passed over your hard-earned money.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/iphone_beta_disables_tethering/
www.system-network-solutions.com
Luckily, for those of us in Canada this doesn’t apply. Rogers gives us the ability to tether our hearts out. AT&T in the U.S. is a horrible carrier. I was in the U.S. a few weeks ago and their 3G speed is a joke. I’m not surprised that they won’t fully support tethering, the network is a disgrace.
Well, in reality, the AT&T data network is so crap it’s hardly suprising. I mean yes it sucks but if they had that extra load they’d probably choke under the bad width. When I was in NYC last month with my iPhone I couldn’t even use the AT&T 3G network. It was so sporadic and crashy I switched over to Edge and got better performance. If they can’t handle normal iPhone usage over their 3G network in New York City one of the biggest cities in North America how could they ever cover the combined usage of cell phones and PCs on their network? I think the thing AT&T customers really need to focus on is less the hampering of their iPhone product and more the shoddy infrastructure they have to put up with.