AT&T holds back on data tethering for iPhone, cites potential traffic spikes

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Date: Thursday, April 29th, 2010, 04:59
Category: iPhone, News

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You’ve wanted data tethering on your iPhone for years now.

And AT&T may one day provide this.

Per MacRumors, Engadget received a comment from AT&T stating that installing data tethering could create high traffic usage that could hamper network performance:

“iPhone tethering has the potential to exponentially increase traffic, and we need to ensure that we’re able to deliver excellent performance for the feature –over and above the increases in data traffic we’re already seeing – before we will offer the feature.”

Tethering is the process of using your iPhone as a wireless internet modem for your other devices such as your laptop.

Feel free to hurl your two cents in on this one.

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  • msingh

    So they didn't know that when the original feature was announced, and committed to last 'fall' as the delivery date? What pray tell was the original math? Add tethering and usage would go….???

  • Tire of AT&T

    Let's hope T-Mobile is a player in the iPhone sweepstakes. Verizon's infrastructure will make enjoying the iPhone problematic. Web only, data only crap. Verizon needs GSM.
    Keep acting stupid AT&T, see how many customers you lose. People will take their phone numbers and leave when you are not the only game in town.

  • Joe Johnson

    ATT should never have promised tethering “within the year” (2009). You never promise more than you can deliver. Apple should open up iPhone sales for T-Mobile and Sprint.

  • ChetBudney

    It's simple – AT&T will begin to offer tethering on the iPhone, the day after they get their quarterly report. (the one for the quarter AFTER Verizon & T-Mobile start selling iPhones) Two reasons – One, they won't have us bent over a stump anymore, and Two, because all those departing customers will leave them with lots of spare network bandwidth…

  • Jonathan

    As I think about tethering … I'm thinking that AT&T believes its' time of usefulness as an internet avenue for devices w/ out WiFi access is coming to an end. You can now buy cellular HotSpots that can provide the “internet avenue” function for not one but up to FIVE users. The user of Skype type software could still have the best of both modern uses for cellular connections. A similar HotSpot could be created by the user of a tethered cpu w/ WiFi who then shared the connection created by the tether. But how often does that happen? I'm wondering if AT&T is waiting to see if the adoption of such Mobile HotSpot devices will negate the need for individual tethering to the point that they can JUSTIFIABLY ignore the, hopefully, much smaller group of customers who would STILL be requesting it.

    Remember … AT&T needs to save bandwidth for two data hogs now. The iPhone AND the 3G iPad. Ye Ha! Apple is making the big boys wiggle in “catch up mode” discomfort and I'm lovin' it!

  • KJ

    Can't this be implemented with a choke on the bandwidth, such that network performance degradation is minimized? Priority goes to iPhone specific data needs, with tethered data being throttled. You can't satify everyone, but if expectations are set for tethering performance, then the consumer can decide if that is a service they want/need. This should be about consumer choice.