back to article US iPhone ready to be tied down?

The latest iPhone OS has options to enable tethering, not to mention a custom-dictionary editor and a control to stop the screen spinning around every time you lie down. The next version of Apple's iPhone OS is now in its fourth beta, and the interwebs are thrilled to see that it appears possible to use an iPhone as a GSM …

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  1. frymaster

    tethering fee

    there's no tethering fee for the hero, which also has it built-in

    of course, I'm on orange, where you only get 500 megs a month included anyway...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      HTC Desire

      comes with the software for Windows to do just that.

      Ubuntu (10.4) allows tethering to work out of the box too.

      +1 for Orange and 500MB free as well :-)

    2. Mr Brush
      Unhappy

      Title goes here

      But the Hero still lacks a user dictionary editor. Now iClone OS4 has one, HTC won't be able to add one for fear of Mr Jobs' lawyers.

      1. RegisterThis
        Megaphone

        Apple owns that?

        News to me ... I had an editable user dictionary on a Sony Ericsson many years ago ... and it was many years ago becaseu I dropped them ages ago ...

    3. Chris Pearson
      Go

      Over bluetooth maybe but....

      Plug in a USB wire and then go to:

      Settings > Wireless controls > Mobile network sharing.

      The usb cable needs to be plugged in for the option to be enabled though.

    4. Disintegrationnotallowed

      hmmm

      So how much do you get charged if you want 3gb, I cant find any figures for this anywhere? Based on what they charge for unlimited mobile browsing (well up to 1GB per month) then it would be at least £10.. And your 500mb is limited for both handheld and tethering, not 500MB for tethering and unlimited for mobile???

      1. frymaster

        well, yes...

        ...the whole point I was making is this isn't something the provider controls or limits, if you've got a hero there's literally no difference between tethering and normal (unless you do DPI and start sniffing the user agent of the browser)

        there are other networks that offer unlimited or pseudo-unlimited internet, though I'd imagine if you tried to use it as a replacement for your home broadband you'd get slapped around with their AUP pretty quickly

        I have no idea how you'd add more bandwidth on orange though, which is a shame (but that's my provider failing, not the phone)

  2. Neal 5

    Just to be pedantic

    Surely one connects a phone to the computer to act as a modem, the other way just doesn't make sense. One does not connect ones computer to the 'phone, perhaps an enlightened soul will provide the actual solution to which is the correct way to propose this marriage.

    My thought being, the 'phone is secondary. Also, would I be wrong in believing the iPhone, actually has internet connectivity already, why would one need to connect their laptop to their phone (or their phone to a laptop, anyway?).

    Horses for courses, maybe?

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. It wasnt me

      Did you even get past the the title of the article......

      ........before mashing your enraged fists into your keyboard?

  4. Piloti
    Jobs Horns

    Over priced pap.....

    So, the I-'Phone is still not as good as an entry level Nokia.

    Surely, it is up to the OWNER of the device to use it as best fits their needs ; if they want to use a device [Nokia, HTC, Apple et al] to a laptop for connectivity, why the hell not ?

    Also, the fact that the I-'Phone is latched is also a another very good reason not to buy what is essentially, a very average 'phone for £1500.

    Astonishing how people lap up this sort of restrictive business practice.

    1. Steve Todd
      FAIL

      Lets not let minor things like the facts get in the way

      Let's see, an iPhone 3GS 16GB on 18 month contract, 300 minutes per month from O2, £150 + £35/month. Total cost £780

      How about a HTC HD2. 400MB of standard memory, add your own micro SD for storage. 18 month contract with 300 minutes from O2, £150 + £35/month. Total cost £780 (plus your micro SD cards).

      Well what about a Nokia N86 then. It comes with 8GB of storage and on an 18 month contract it's £100 + £30/month. Great, that's only £640 you say. Bad news though, that doesn't include WiFi and 3G data. That's an extra £10/month for the two bundled. Total now is £820.

      The most that you could POSSIBLY spend on an iPhone is £1440, thats for a free phone, unlimited minutes and texts for £60/month on a 24 month contract. All those minutes, texts and data have no value whatsoever and the whole price is for the phone?

      There ARE cheaper, less functional phones on offer, but the price over an 18 month or 2 year contract doesn't work out vastly different.

      1. Disintegrationnotallowed

        Or

        the new Nokia X6 with 16gb with 3000 mins, unlimited texts and wifi/3g for 75 a month (over 18 months) at 1350 (hey kiss my ass koolaiders for that £90 saving)

        Dont expect to convert apple haters with simple facts, figures and numbers, they hate apple on principle, not because the facts make any difference

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        mine was free

        My Desire was free from orange on a £25 a month 24month contract with 500MB and some texty call bits.

        1. Disintegrationnotallowed

          which..

          Proving the point, £600 for your desire with limited mobile browsing compared to £780 for the iphone with unlimited, add in the £10 a month for unlimited browsing bolt on from orange (comparing apples to apples) and your desire is £840

          1. Nanki Poo

            I like this game...

            Free HTC Desire, 500mins 600texts (more than I ever use), 18mths, 'unlimited' t'internet £30pm = £540.

            Check mate.

            nK

            1. Disintegrationnotallowed
              Alert

              really

              From what supplier, 02, orange, tmobile, vodafone or 3 dont seem to be able to get me that price on that contract?

              Impressed you got at that price/length?

            2. Disintegrationnotallowed
              Thumb Up

              actually

              Managed to find at this price online, impressive tbh (although with t-mobile), i dont know how they manage it as t-mobile direct want to charge £380 for the phone on this contract, someone must be getting a good deal somewhere!!!

            3. Gangsta
              Jobs Horns

              Jailbreak location?

              @Nanki Poo

              I like this game...

              EPIC WIN!

      3. David Beck
        WTF?

        T-Mobile UK

        SIM free Nokia E55 £200 (Amazon), T-Mobile SIM only 30 day contract, 1GB data £10, 3GB data £15.00. The 3GB allows tethering.

        3GB costs

        12 month £380

        18 month £560

        24 month £740

        E55 is S60,noise cancelling (works properly with current firmware), GPS, free maps, wifi, wifi tethering app, SIP phone app, webkit browser (for those who have to browse but X /N series phone would be better for teen use), 100 gram phone. Removable battery, up to 32GB micro-SD, DLNA server and client, N-Gage platform games (teens better served by X/N), FM-RDS radio, limited number of fart apps but 30k others, Java, Flash, voice in (dialing, commands) and out (reads mail, sms). Apparently there are apps that involved undressed women and nobody cares. That is the phone is targeted at adults.

        And best of all you can do everything with one hand, it uses this new technology called a keyboard which means you can operate the phone single handed without having to remove your gloves or look at it (for phone calls).

        Comes without added hype.

        1. Disintegrationnotallowed
          Thumb Down

          Honestly

          You want to compare the e55 to an android/iphone type phone? no touch, no apps (yeah please don't try), using winmo (which just has to be the flakiest os), small screen, etc all for £200 less, jeez better to go for the bargain desire from t-mobile if they ship at the price shown on the net.

  5. Daniel Bennett
    Coffee/keyboard

    Custom Dictionary

    Is only available, seemingly, with Japanese Ten Key keyboard at the moment.

    Its a feature I requested and explained them for which seems like they've picked up on.

    Hopefully it will be available for all keyboards.

  6. Hitesh
    WTF?

    Completely baffling

    I've been tethering for years . . I've never considered that it was something that the phone manufacturer would actively disable?? . .

    oh well . . the joys of being an iphone owner . . clearly the telco's know that since iphone owners happily pay for apps that are otherwise free for the world + dog, that they would pay once more for the data that they have already paid for under their data plan . .

    . . I'll say it again . . baffling!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Erm...

    So, are we getting excited over a feature that has been present in Nokia phones, for, erm...well I can remember doing this in 2002 ....

    Come on, has El Reg been brainwashed by Jobs?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Pint

      Those were the days

      Nokia 3310 on the Orange OVP Virgin tariff calling an 0800 Internet number in 2001.

      In the end Orange changed the T&Cs and charged for 0800 numbers and the dialup ISPs went bust.

  8. Number6

    Tether Fees

    I object to paying a fee merely to use a better UI. If I'm using more data then by all means bump up the tariff, but it shouldn't make any difference to the telco whether I'm using a laptop interface or a smartphone to do things if I keep my bandwidth within the FUP limits.

    I did note that my branded E71 didn't even seem to have a tethering option, so I assume that my SIM was interacting with it to stop that, but now I've flashed the phone with generic software, it's available and works.

    Note to self: next time pay for a generic phone and use a different telco.

  9. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    FAIL

    It's crap

    The US mobile cell market is crap - no wait, sorry - I meant to say "self-regulated"

  10. Ron1
    Stop

    "Unlimited" data plans

    "Unlimited" data plans are the culprit (smart) phones nowadays lack DUN (Dial Up Networking - I wonder who invented the term "Tethering" - it is stupid!).

    The reason is unlimited plans are not really unlimited and a small percentage of DUN users will abuse their data plans to download movies, Linux distros, run p2p, etc on their PCs.

    The problem lies with operators - who lie when calling their plans unlimited. This is a matter for FTC, EU Comission & other regulators - operators need to put a monthly cap on their plans (and make it clear to their customers), then DUN will be no more a problem - the 1% who abuse their plans will simply hit the limit and face the consequences as they should (=pay more). The other 99% will happily be able to use DUN.

    No DUN is mostly the case with phones "originating" from US or with US based operators (I use "originating", because virtually ALL phones are designed in Taiwan and built in China by companies like HTC, Foxconn, Quanta, Compal,...). To list a few:

    Handspring/Palm Treo: Out of the box DUN only works from (Unlocked) Treo 650 onward; older Treos "officially" could not do it - it was however possible to do DUN on Treo180/270/600 wia IR and 650 via BT (Bluetooth) with SW like PdaNet and WModem. I'we got through a lot of pains to make DUN work on Treos 180s, 270, 600 and 650s I we had.

    iPhone: no DUN (either USB or Bluetooth)

    Android: no "real" DUN (=modem over USB or BT) - only USB DUN works with SW on PC on Unlocked phones

    PdaNet (www.junefabrics.com) enables BT DUN profile (no SW needed on PC side )& USB DUN (again with SW on PC side) - I think also for locked phones

    But PdaNet is annoying: it costs $20 to enable a basic feature all "normal" GSM phones have had since dawn of time (=DUN profile) and the annoying part is you need to run the PdaNet application on Android phone (I tested on HTC Desire) for the BT DUN profile to work.

    AFAIK, all "non US" based phones (SE, Nokia, LG, Samsung) with Bluetooth support the BT DUN profile by default.

    I was quite shocked to learn that Android platform, not even in it's latest incarnation (2.1) supports one of the most basic Bluetooth profiles - the BT DUN. This is simply inexcusable!

    Lack of out-of-the-box BT DUN was a showstopper for me buying the HTC Desire (which after testing it I, well, desire)!

    And to think I used to dream Android (being open) will also support the BT FAX profile (not many phones do, AFAIK) so I could (finally) send faxes from my PC via GSM through BT connection...

    I simply hate when progress is not only stopped but goes backwards.

    I remember my first GSM (Ericsson GA628 - "the brick" in 1998 - a simple, cheap and wonderful phone) - it had a modem feature by simply connecting it to a PC (or other terminal device) via RS232 and could dial data (or voice) calls through AT commands.

  11. Leedos
    Stop

    AT&T is worried about nothing.

    I believe tech savvy iPhone users who really want this feature, and would regularly use it, have already jail broken their phones and enabled the feature. As for the masses of iPhone users, they probably have never even heard of tethering it the first place and wouldn't use it if it was available from AT&T. I know that was the case with my own brother. His internet connection went down at his home. I suggested he jailbreak his iPhone and enable tethering. I believe his reply was "You can do that?"

  12. BlackMage
    FAIL

    Tethering in UK?

    O2 charges extra for tethering. How can that be justified? If you have a phone plan that allows unlimited data to the phone, what possible difference is there between data going to the phone and data passing through the phone to a computer? It's all just data flowing over the network... Not tethering my phone until the network gets rid of this artificial compartmentalisation of function.

  13. dave 93

    Turn your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot...

    but you have to jailbreak it first ;-) MyWi, I believe the app is called.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Works a treat...

      ...but you can almost see the battery draining, pretty much has to be run on a charger.

      Best use you'll make of $10 if you own an iPhone though. Pretty sure its one of the main reasons (along with My3G) why 10% of iPhones have now been freed from Appletraz.

      Can't imagine the telcos will ever be that keen on either......

    2. Doshu
      Thumb Up

      Yes it is!

      And it works like a charm.

      Now the sans-3g ipad gets to browse on the go!

  14. Michael Brown
    Stop

    An AT&T issue, not an iPhone issue

    Tethering has been possible on the iPhone for a year or so (ever since version 3.0 of the firmware), so the fact that it's not allowed on the iPhones on AT&T in the US is entirely and AT&T issue and has nothing to do with the capabilities of the iPhone.

    "Needless to say no other smartphone platforms have any problem with tethering, and most feature phones can do it these days too."

    That is just utterly unnecessary flame bait. The iPhone can and does do tethering perfectly well. As I said above, it's an artificial AT&T restriction which has nothing whatsoever to do with the phone.

  15. kierenmccarthy

    Not much point in San Francisco

    AT&T's network is so bad in San Francisco that tethering on the iPhone would step dangerously close to mockery.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Why pay O2 twice?

    I'm already paying O2 for my data so why should I pay them twice? Certainly never used to with my E61. If they can't get their price plan right that's hardly my problem.

    With that in mind I set about looking at how to use my iPhone as a modem, and lo and behold all you have to do is set up a network profile and it works. No jailbreaking or anything needed. O2 want to change me £10/month for a config file? F*** off! Anyway, tethering works fine for me and O2 haven't compained yet.

    Here's the link, or just google 'iphone tethering hack':

    http://richardlai.xanga.com/704930537/enable-tethering-on-iphone-30-313-maybe---too-easy-worldwide-carriers/

  17. FARfetched
    Black Helicopters

    Now THAT'S Weird...

    I could have sworn I just saw a tethering option in Settings > General > Network, with instructions for actually using it with USB or Bluetooth! This is with a plain old iPhone 3G, not jailbroken or anything. But of course I plugged it in (to try it with USB), it sync'ed, and now the option is gone??

    So it seems the tethering option is there, until you try to use it. *wubba-wubba-wubba* I'm not making this up.

  18. Radelix
    Pint

    <title>

    My Sprint Hero did before and after I rooted it. And to make use of my "unlimited" data plan I have wifitether installed for mobile hotspot capability. All for $78/month including all the taxes

    Ohhh and it makes calls to all US based mobiles without charging minutes either.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    Tethering Mac & iPhone works great.

    Internet tethering to Macs is available on jailbroken, unlocked iPhones. USB, instant connection, FAST, no apps needed, comes up as a USB-ethernet interface.

    Just works, and works great.

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