A post over at MobileCrunch reveals that AT&T Mobility’s CEO, Ralph De La Vega has confirmed that an official way to tether the iPhone will be offered very “soon”. No dates or pricing information were specified. In fact, knowing AT&T, it is assumed that tethering would not be part of the standard iPhone package and will be charged separately.
Tethering is the process of creating a connection from a non-mobile device (e.g. desktop or laptop computers) to another mobile device (e.g. your iPhone), for the purpose of accessing wireless internet by the non-mobile device.
I have done tethering using my previous devices like the Treo smartphones and I generally liked this idea. For mobile warriors, the ability to carry only one device (in this case, the iPhone) that also acts as a modem is a blessing to say the least.
There are quite a number of tethering solutions available for the iPhone. Amongst them, a third-party application called NetShare, which appeared briefly on the iTunes AppStore before it was removed by Apple. If you could recall, that incident generated quite a lot of news in the Apple circle. Other solutions like PdaNet which turns the iPhone into a “true Wi-Fi router”, targets the jailbreaking community. Instructions to use the software is outlined at PdaNet’s website.
I’d love to see a Wi-Fi adapter tethering option. We know that both the iPhone and iPod touch comes with Wi-Fi built-in. Now, wouldn’t it be great if I could switch from tethering using my iPhone’s 3G/EDGE connection to tethering using a Wi-Fi connection when one is available? It would be useful for those whose laptops are not Wi-Fi enabled.
Also, what about those unlocked iPhones? It is said that firmware 2.2 would bring tethering into reality. Does that mean that my unlocked iPhone shall finally be able to do the same too?
Related Posts
