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Telecommunications Optus slugs iPhone users for tethering
Telecommunications Optus slugs iPhone users for tethering | Optus slugs iPhone users for tethering |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 18 June 2009 | |
  
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This capability can be particularly useful for someone who mainly uses wireless broadband on their phone and only occasionally needs to connect a computer that way. According to Optus, the 'iPhone as Modem' feature will be available to post-paid customers from June 22 for $A9.99 per month. Activating this 'feature' merely enables tethering - the data comes out of the allowance included in the customer's plan or topped up separately. So Optus is really asking its customers to pay ten bucks a month for nothing, since the tethering capability is built into the iPhone. The only reason carriers have any say in the matter may be to allow those that offer an unlimited data plan (notably AT&T in the US) to disable tethering, as such plans are priced according to the likely data usage on the handset. Performance issues aside, if you could use your phone as a modem, why pay separately for fixed broadband? But where data is charged by volume, there's no good excuse for charging extra for tethering, especially if it's allowed with other handsets without a fixed charge. We have no first-hand knowledge of whether the technique really works (and if it does, how long it will take the phone companies to find a workaround), but you'll find instructions over at Whirlpool for unofficially enabling iPhone tethering on Optus. You may find it easier to jump to the end of the thread and work back, but whatever you do is at your own risk and responsibility. |
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