Tethering might be supported by iPhone

Posted by David on February 15th, 2008 at 01:39am Comments

An internal AT&T document reveals that tethering might be allowed on an iPhone, meaning the use of the iPhone as a modem. It is unknown whether this is a flaw in design or it was left there for a specific reason.

This document comes from Boy Genius Report’s informants, and is targeting customer service staff of Apple. It mentions the concept of tethering quite a few times.

The paper alleges that customers who try to tether the device to a computer are asked to accept a new two-year contract regardless of any pre-existing agreements. This problem has been known long by AT&T and they will reset the contract’s start date for the customers affected by this problem.

“Please advise all customers that to complete the tethering process of their new iPhone they will be required to accept a new two-year agreement including the [Terms and Conditions],” the message reads. “However, their agreement will not be extended from their original iPhone activation or upgrade date.”

AT&T’s meaning is unclear since reference to tethering might mean some stage in iTunes activation, or users upgrading to 16GB iPhone. However the way tethering is used is quite unusual. Tethering essentially means, that you can use cell phone as a modem for your laptop or PDA through cables or wirelessly.

Apple has not announced any plans to offer data tethering for the iPhone. Such feature would be useful by frequent travelers without reliable sources of Internet access, and it was requested from Apple by some of its current and future customers.

Apple said that it is aware of the issue regardless of its exact nature.

Thanks: AppleInsider

Related posts:

1. AT&T says it will allow iPhone tethering in 2009
2. Rogers / Fido iPhone tethering promotion extended to 2010 in Canada
3. iPhone 3GS in Canada: update (tethering, pricing, upgrades, etc)
4. iPhone 3GS activation woes: MASSIVE FAIL in Canada and USA
5. Global iPhone 3G activation problems

Care to rate this iPhone World article? Current news rating:

Filed Under: Apple News+ News+ iPhone News+ iPhone Rumours

comments