[war-eagle75]

Man, ATT is really tickin me off with all these caps on DSL and now TETHERING???

From BGR:

AT&T has started to issue warnings to customers unofficially tethering their smartphones to its network. In an email to unauthorized tetherers, the company writes, “Our records show that you use this capability, but are not subscribed to our tethering plan.” The correspondence goes on to note that users will be automatically enrolled in the $45 per month “DataPro for Smartphone Tethering” plan if they ignore the warning. “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,” the email continues. The standard DataPro offering is $25 per month and provides users with 2GB of monthly data, although some users are still clinging to a discontinued, $30 per month 5GB data plan. It is safe to assume that a large portion of the unofficial, tethering populous is jailbroken iPhone users and rooted Android users. “If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.” A copy of the email tethering-cheaters are receiving is after the break.


Dear [Name of Account Holder],

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 you would like to continue tethering, please log into your account online at Cell Phones and Cell Phone Plans - Wireless from AT&T, or call us at 1-888-860-6789 Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. CST or Saturday, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. CST, by March 27, 2011 to sign up for DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering. Here are details on the plan:

DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering

•$45 per month (this gives you 4GB in total, combining both your smartphone data plan for $25 and the tethering feature, $20)
•$10 per each additional GB thereafter, added automatically as needed
•Mobile Hotspot capabilities are included for compatible Smartphones
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.

It’s easy to track your usage throughout the month so there are no bill surprises. For example, we send you free text messages when you reach 65, 90, and 100 percent of your plan’s threshold. If you would like to monitor your account more closely, go to Wi-Fi Data & Tethering Data Plan - Wireless from AT&T to learn about other ways to track your data usage.

As a reminder, our smartphone data plans also include unlimited usage of Wi-Fi at no additional charge. AT&T smartphone customers can use Wi-Fi at home or on-the-go at any one of our more than 23,000 U.S. hotspots already included in your data plan.

Thank you for bringing your account up to date. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve your mobile broadband needs.

Sincerely,
AT&T

[i7guy]

Free tethering has been discussed ad nauseum. It shouldn't be anybodys surprise the wireless providers want their due.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cannedoscar74#IM]

To the best of my limited knowledge, though, one party can't change an existing contract without both parties agreeing to the change. In other words, a quick demand to speak to the legal department, has always gotten my contract cleared -to switch networks or upgrade a device.

Could end up good for both Apple & RIM's newest models. Or most likely ATT's sneaky way of killing everyone's grandfather.

[DenverRalphy]

To the best of my limited knowledge, though, one party can't change an existing contract without both parties agreeing to the change. In other words, a quick demand to speak to the legal department, has always gotten my contract cleared -to switch networks or upgrade a device.

Could end up good for both Apple & RIM's newest models. Or most likely ATT's sneaky way of killing everyone's grandfather.

Except that there's no change in the contract. Tethering and its fees have been included in any major carrier's service contracts for well over 2 or 3 years. You would find yourself in breach of contract by tethering outside of the contract's stipulations, and by doing so you rendered your own contract null and void. In a nutshell, you would have screwed yourself.

[i7guy]

Doing a web search for Verizon Wireless Customer Agreement yields the following policy regarding tethering:

Terms & Conditions

It's very clear but whether VZW knows one tethers and wants to enforce this policy I guess is TBD.

[the_sandman_454]

I fail to see how anybody can blame them for it. I don't know if it mentions it in ATT's contracts, but Verizon's contracts are quite clear about it.

If I was selling a service and people were cheating to use the service without paying for it, I would be pushing to enforce it anyway.

Makes me wonder how they're catching folks, whether it is simply the quantity of data individuals ae consuming while tethering excessively, or if they have a way to sniff out the sort of data folks are using ie Flash based games being sent to devices (BB's and iPhones) that don't have Flash capability, etc. If the former, then it's easy, keep cheating a little but do it less. If the latter, then theoretically everyone has a fairly high potential for being caught whether they use a lot or a little free tethering.

[barbarianthemadserb]

Frig ATT and Verizon both! This burns my ****. It's MY phone and MY plan and I pay for data. WHat difference does it make if I tether to my laptop or not? I am paying for the data. Period! Att and Verizon both are blood suckers! I know I know... someone will come back and give me that legalese talk about signing a contract with said providers. It may be going against the contract I sighned but it is unethical of these providers to tell us what we can do with our phones. CHees, it burns my ****.

[the_sandman_454]

Frig ATT and Verizon both! This burns my ****. It's MY phone and MY plan and I pay for data. WHat difference does it make if I tether to my laptop or not? I am paying for the data. Period! Att and Verizon both are blood suckers! I know I know... someone will come back and give me that legalese talk about signing a contract with said providers. It may be going against the contract I sighned but it is unethical of these providers to tell us what we can do with our phones. CHees, it burns my ****.

How is it unethical? They're providing consumers with a paid for service. You're agreeing to terms when you sign up. Included in the terms is a list of what you can and cannot do. If you don't like the terms, sign with a carrier who has better terms.

It would sure be very nice if they offered free tethering, but they don't. I assume their choice is either to charge extra to those who wish to tether or charge everyone more to cover those who do it anyway and alienate customers that way.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like it, but it is what it is and if it comes down to it, tethering without a tether account is something they can penalize you for up to and including terminating your contract and leaving you on the hook to pay the ETF. And it is their right to do it just like it is your right to get your service from someone with a more favorable policy.

[andyahs]

Frig ATT and Verizon both! This burns my ****. It's MY phone and MY plan and I pay for data. WHat difference does it make if I tether to my laptop or not? I am paying for the data. Period! Att and Verizon both are blood suckers! I know I know... someone will come back and give me that legalese talk about signing a contract with said providers. It may be going against the contract I sighned but it is unethical of these providers to tell us what we can do with our phones. CHees, it burns my ****.

I would say it's their phone and their plan....

[K Bear]

Looks like for now, only T-Mobile Blackberry owners can tether for free.

[gravymonster]

How is it unethical? They're providing consumers with a paid for service. You're agreeing to terms when you sign up. Included in the terms is a list of what you can and cannot do. If you don't like the terms, sign with a carrier who has better terms.

It would sure be very nice if they offered free tethering, but they don't. I assume their choice is either to charge extra to those who wish to tether or charge everyone more to cover those who do it anyway and alienate customers that way.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like it, but it is what it is and if it comes down to it, tethering without a tether account is something they can penalize you for up to and including terminating your contract and leaving you on the hook to pay the ETF. And it is their right to do it just like it is your right to get your service from someone with a more favorable policy.

We get it that companies will charge more for crap if they can... but the point is this doesn't seem too different than a restaurant manager noticing me putting a piece of my steak on a dinner roll and then rushing over to present me with an additional bill for a "sandwich" because I have now apparently also enjoyed a sandwich within the restaurant.

[the_sandman_454]

We get it that companies will charge more for crap if they can... but the point is this doesn't seem too different than a restaurant manager noticing me putting a piece of my steak on a dinner roll and then rushing over to present me with an additional bill for a "sandwich" because I have now apparently also enjoyed a sandwich within the restaurant.

Your example doesn't work in this case, because here, "The restaurant" told you up front that if you want to make your steak into a sandwich while you're in their establishment that they'll charge extra for it. By placing your order and remaining in the restaurant, you agreed to their terms including an added charge for "extra features".

It isn't as if they're being sneaky and hiding the extra charges. They're right up front for everybody to see.

If they didn't say one way or the other and then tried to charge more that's one thing but when they tell you upfront and you still sign the contract agreeing to it, that's another matter.

[gravymonster]

Your example doesn't work in this case, because here, "The restaurant" told you up front that if you want to make your steak into a sandwich while you're in their establishment that they'll charge extra for it. By placing your order and remaining in the restaurant, you agreed to their terms including an added charge for "extra features".

It isn't as if they're being sneaky and hiding the extra charges. They're right up front for everybody to see.

If they didn't say one way or the other and then tried to charge more that's one thing but when they tell you upfront and you still sign the contract agreeing to it, that's another matter.

No no no... We're not complaining about what's in the contract. You're exactly right that they're totally entitled to what they're doing legally speaking. It doesn't make it any less dickish though.. I agree completely that I signed a contract that allows them to do what they're doing. My point, and what the guy ranting before me was trying to say, was that at the end of the day they're basically double-charging for the same product.. whether we agreed to it or not.

[DenverRalphy]

Frig ATT and Verizon both! This burns my ****. It's MY phone and MY plan and I pay for data. WHat difference does it make if I tether to my laptop or not? I am paying for the data. Period! Att and Verizon both are blood suckers! I know I know... someone will come back and give me that legalese talk about signing a contract with said providers.

It may be your phone, however your plan only extends to the data that you use with your phone.

The data is their data, and you are not paying for data used for other devices which will potentially consume large amounts of data far above and beyond what any rational person could reasonably expect would be used on a handheld device.

It may be going against the contract I sighned but it is unethical of these providers to tell us what we can do with our phones. CHees, it burns my ****.

By what definition? They're not telling you what you can or cannot do with your phone. You can do whatever you wish. All the carriers are dictating is what you can do with their services. You are completely free to take your phone and use it on your network. If by chance you don't have your own network... well then, guess you've got to abide by the rules when playing inside somebody else's house.

[DenverRalphy]

We get it that companies will charge more for crap if they can... but the point is this doesn't seem too different than a restaurant manager noticing me putting a piece of my steak on a dinner roll and then rushing over to present me with an additional bill for a "sandwich" because I have now apparently also enjoyed a sandwich within the restaurant.

This is just silly, and flawed in it's logic.

A more accurate analogy would be a restaurant offers an all you can eat steak special, you stuff a bunch of steaks in your pockets to go (to eat later), and you then allow other people to sit at your table and partake of your steaks on the same dime. Of course it would be completely reasonable for the manager to come over and charge for the consumption outside what your own belly was capable of in one sitting.

[n8ter#AC]

T-Mobile did the same thing a couple months ago. They started sending out texts and blocking tethering for people not on the plan. Legally (via the contract) they can just adjust your account to include it. The fact that they're letting you know ahead of time is nice of them.

Stop crying about it, and learn to be on the up and up. Carriers have been cracking down on tethering for months.

I guess next month someone will be crying because AT&T put a more expensive data plan on their bill because they thought their unlimited feature phone data plan they had would work flawlessly in their Motorola ATRIX 4G...

Get over it, pretty much.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

Looks like for now, only T-Mobile Blackberry owners can tether for free.

I've tethered here and there when the internet in my home goes out.. and they haven't charged me nor said anything about it... I hope it stays that way

[homer1475]

Cheat the system and the system fights back, then you whine about being caught cheating.

If you read your contract(most people don't, then complain when they do something they shouldn't be doing. Basically what this thread is aimed at doing) it clearly states what you can and can't do regarding tethering without a tethering plan. Bout time they started catching people chewing up all the bandwidth for free.

[sleepngbear]

It may be your phone, however your plan only extends to the data that you use with your phone.

The data is their data, and you are not paying for data used for other devices which will potentially consume large amounts of data far above and beyond what any rational person could reasonably expect would be used on a handheld device.

I can see the carriers' concerns if you're on an unlimited data plan, and it makes sense to add a fee for tethering in that case. But what I -- and apparently many others -- have a hard time swallowing is a tethering charge on a limited data plan. You're already capped, and you're going to get charged extra for going over your limit, whether that's on your phone or through it. I mean, if I'm paying for 2 gig, what difference does it make to them how I use it up? Unless their concern is that I'm more likely to use it up if I'm tethering another device; but still, if I'm paying for 2 gig, I shouldn't get charged extra just because some of it is on a second device. It's not like your phone can all of a sudden demand more bandwidth with something being tethered to it. 3G is 3G, and 2 gb is 2 gb.

I understand that that's just the way it is, that's what I signed on for, and if I want to tether, I'm going to have to pay extra for it. And with AT&T, it becomes a 4gb limit, so you do get that. But I've yet to see any justification for the fairly exorbitant increase on a data plan that's already limited, especially for someone who who may only need to tether occasionally and will never use anywhere near that limit.

[barbarianthemadserb]

No no no... We're not complaining about what's in the contract. You're exactly right that they're totally entitled to what they're doing legally speaking. It doesn't make it any less dickish though.. I agree completely that I signed a contract that allows them to do what they're doing. My point, and what the guy ranting before me was trying to say, was that at the end of the day they're basically double-charging for the same product.. whether we agreed to it or not.

Again, Gravymonster, this is an excellent point you make and I agree 100%

[barbarianthemadserb]

This is just silly, and flawed in it's logic.

A more accurate analogy would be a restaurant offers an all you can eat steak special, you stuff a bunch of steaks in your pockets to go (to eat later), and you then allow other people to sit at your table and partake of your steaks on the same dime. Of course it would be completely reasonable for the manager to come over and charge for the consumption outside what your own belly was capable of in one sitting.

No, you are wrong! My data I paid for and I can (within the limits of my data plan such as 5megabyte) take it any way I want to whether I give MY data to someone else or for my own usage. YOUR analogy IS flawed and wrong as can be!

[DenverRalphy]

No, you are wrong! My data I paid for and I can (within the limits of my data plan such as 5megabyte) take it any way I want to whether I give MY data to someone else or for my own usage. YOUR analogy IS flawed and wrong as can be!

Shouting doesn't make your logic any more sound.

It's not your data traffic/bandwidth, it's the carriers. And no you can't just go and share your data consumption with other users. You pay for the right to consume bandwidth on your carrier's network under their terms. Their terms are simple... You can consume bandwidth for use with your phone/device. It's not for use with other devices you may have and it's not for shared use with other user's devices (excepting of course you paid for the extra consumption, and in your case you haven't).

As much as people would like to kick and scream about the evil corporations milking the consumer for as much as they can; The reality is simple, if tethering were allowed willy nilly, the pricing plans for unlimited data consumption would skyrocket. Despite what you may think, wireless carriers don't have an infinite amount of bandwidth that can accommodate as much consumption as every user could possibly squeeze out. AT&T and their network problems resulting from too much consumption is a testament to that.

[DenverRalphy]

I can see the carriers' concerns if you're on an unlimited data plan, and it makes sense to add a fee for tethering in that case. But what I -- and apparently many others -- have a hard time swallowing is a tethering charge on a limited data plan. You're already capped, and you're going to get charged extra for going over your limit, whether that's on your phone or through it. I mean, if I'm paying for 2 gig, what difference does it make to them how I use it up? Unless their concern is that I'm more likely to use it up if I'm tethering another device; but still, if I'm paying for 2 gig, I shouldn't get charged extra just because some of it is on a second device. It's not like your phone can all of a sudden demand more bandwidth with something being tethered to it. 3G is 3G, and 2 gb is 2 gb.

I understand that that's just the way it is, that's what I signed on for, and if I want to tether, I'm going to have to pay extra for it. And with AT&T, it becomes a 4gb limit, so you do get that. But I've yet to see any justification for the fairly exorbitant increase on a data plan that's already limited, especially for someone who who may only need to tether occasionally and will never use anywhere near that limit.

The difference is quite simple.

The carriers need to monitor and control the flow of traffic through their network. An effective way to do this is to offer a price point to act as an incentive to encourage the user to limit their consumption on the network. If you wish to have the ability to consume more, then you've got to pay a premium to get it. Tethering opens a gateway to higher consumption which could (and most probably would) increase consumption and costs for the carrier.

If the carriers had an unlimited supply of bandwidth, or if the cost were negligible enough, that they could make more money by offering you a discounted price per GB if bought in higher volume for consuming as much as you could possibly squeeze out, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to do that.

The alternative to what they're doing now would be to increase the base cost of the consumer's data package to a point that would have most smartphone users reeling back on their heels.

[bulls2213]

I've tethered here and there when the internet in my home goes out.. and they haven't charged me nor said anything about it... I hope it stays that way

haha same. hopefully they won't crack down when the playbook comes out.

[K Bear]

With the merger, say bye bye to free teathering on T-Mobile for Blackberrys.