AT&T to cave on tethering, too?
By Ronald O Carlson
At the Worldwide Developer Conference there were snorts of derision and jeers each time AT&T’s logo failed to appear among the carriers that had pledged to support the new MMS and tethering functionality in iPhone OS 3.0 at launch. Since the show, the Mac blogsphere has been alive with rumors that Apple’s oft criticized and widely ridiculed U.S. wireless partner would charge egregiously for both services. As of today, those rumors have been mostly, sort of—oh, let’s wait and see—quashed by Ma Bell.
AT&T’s iPhone 3G S News page on Facebook, which is a rather round about way to address the issue, states that following vis-a-vis tethering:
There are a lot of reports out there, but wanted you guys to know that rumors of $55 tethering plan on top of an unlimited data plan are false. We’ll have more news to share when the iPhone tethering option is closer to launch.
See also:
— How to: Easy iPhone OS 3.0 tethering for AT&T subscribers
— AT&T: ‘We’ve been very happy with our pricing’
— AT&T: ‘Yes, we are thinking about gutting the iPhone data plan …
— Apple, Verizon said to be aiming for 2010
That little snippet, however vague, is an effort to quash the ongoing iPhone subscriber revolt as exemplified by the large number of “how to” articles on activating both tethering and MMS functionality for free. Moreover, whereas most articles advocating that Mac or iPhone users break a user agreement elicit at least some condemnation of scofflaws, recent days have seen almost universally virulent attacks on AT&T by blog comment and message board posters.
Further, as is plain from the above Facebook statement, AT&T hasn’t said what they will charge for tethering. Obviously, $55 and up are right out, but they’re probably focus grouping every price from $54.99 on down to find what they consider to be an acceptable balance between double-dipping on their so-called ‘unlimited data plans’ and subscriber rage.
Like today’s attempt to quash the tethering protest, AT&T earlier made a vague statement about how it plans to charge for MMS, saying only that those with the texting add-on wouldn’t be billed further. The carrier hasn’t said what it will charge those without texting.
There’s slow…
And, then there’s AT&T’s, shall we say, “delayed” reaction to the boiling revolt by the company’s highly prized iPhone subscribers, almost half of which are new customers and all of which deliver among the highest per line monthly charges in the industry. I really wonder if there’s any chance they’ll recover from this?
Thereupon, Verizon management must be watching these proceedings and rubbing their hands in glee (link above) with anticipation…
What’s your take?
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