AT&T warns users they’ll be charged if the continue unauthorized tethering

AT&T confirmed Friday that it has contacted a small number of its smartphone users and ordered them to stop tethering their phones without paying for AT&T's tethering service or the carrier will automatically add tethering to their monthly bills.

"We are sending emails, letter and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren't on the required tethering plan. Our goal is fairness for all of our customers," an AT&T spokesman said in an email.

The alerts give users the option to stop tethering and continue on their current plan, call AT&T and add tethering to their plan, or risk having AT&T automatically bump them to a tethering plan.

AT&T said the warnings impact a "small percentage of our smartphone customer base."

According to Ars Technica, users have until March 27 to make their choices, after which the automatic tethering plans will go into effect.

AT&T smartphone users have the choice of 200MB for $15 per month or 2GB for $25 per month. A DataPro plan adds 2GB for $20 extra per month for a total of 4GB for $45 per month.

Click to continue reading AT&T warns users they’ll be charged if the continue unauthorized tethering

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AT&T iPhone tethering plan to launch this week?

It seems that the days of silly iPhone tethering workarounds may be coming to an end (for those who are willing to pay for it.) Rumor has it that AT&T might finally launch an iPhone tethering plan, which would allow owners of the iPhone 3G to use the phone as an Internet access point. Now, we know that MacWorld 2009 kicks off tomorrow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the tethering plan will be announced there, but as our friends at Ars bring up, the functionality would likely require an iPhone OS update, and that in and of itself might be newsworthy enough to be mentioned tomorrow morning, if all of this comes to fruition.

The costs may outweigh the benefits, depending on your travel schedule and how much you’d plan on using the tethering option, as we are expecting the cost to be at or around $30 per month. A little spendy, we think, unless you plan on using it frequently - but then the issue of the iPhone battery comes in to play. Sure, you can plug it in to a USB port, but unless your notebook is plugged in to a power source, then you are using up extra notebook battery life. Or, you could just use a Mophie Juice Pack.

The fact that there was never an official tethering plan for the iPhone has always been odd to us, since other AT&T smart phones have those plans ready from the get go. Let’s hope this rumor rings true.

Read More | TUAW

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How to tether your iPhone 3G to your laptop

With the launch of iPhone 3G, many have been waiting and hoping for a method that would allow tethering of the iPhone to a mobile computer like, say, a MacBook. Well, lucky for your mobile warriors, that time has finally come - it’s just takes a bit of work to get it functioning. Do remember, though, that AT&T isn’t offering any sort of tethering plan with the iPhone, so if you get caught, you may be forced to pay a bunch of money out of pocket. Or your service could be shut off. Still, if that isn’t something that matters to you, then click on through for the instructions, provided by my pal Nate True. He took a bunch of different pieces of software and solutions, and mixed them together into a powerful concoction that allows you to use your iPhone 3G as a modem by way of 3Proxy, Terminal, and WiFi. Now all we need are batteries for the iPhone 3G that don’t die in a matter of seconds.

Read More | Cre.ations.net

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