Got a threatening letter regarding tethering and my unlimited data package for my iphone

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@Goodman7 wrote:
I got the same letter too!!Makes me very dissatisfied with AT&T.Im out as soon as a better carrier comes along with other millions of customers.This all started because of greed!!Verizon and AT&T are in bed together concerning the data plans because they know Sprint is sorry and also slows down speed too...So with all that being said my friends...just be patient because companies like republic wireless will be popping up now because ALL the main carriers have became consumed with major greed.I dare say it's a racket between all 3.There is too much demand for unlimited data for it to be only limited
plans.Patience is key.....AT&T SUCKs!!

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You might try Cricket - oh wait they do the exact same thing. Bottom line, unlimited data, be it broadband or wireless is as dead as the dodo bird.  If you are going to be waiting for a better carrier to come along you will be with att for a number of years. Unfortunately the churn numbers for ATT do not support the theory of "millions of people", inducstry average is about 3 percent chrun, ATT has maintained a little over half that percentage.

You realize that republic wireless actually buys tower bandwidth from sprint right? The only reason they can offer the low price that they do is they utilzie what is called Hybrid calling technology, ot means that if there is public wifi avaialble it wil use that instead of cellular - the caveat there being if your non-wireless utilization is to high, they will boot you (you get 300mb of cellular data allotment). If you think a company like republic wireless is the answer you are sadly mistaken. According to this 5th estate review of the company, they seem a little more greedy then the top 3 tiered carriers

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57320773-251/republic-wireless-unlimited-android-phone-for-$19-per-month/

Got the same letter, My phone is "jailbroke" and I did tether one weekend when my house internet was down. I didnt realize unlimited was just a sales pitch, but so be it. I received a text making me aware of the fact that tethering was against my service agreement so I stopped. A month later i get the letter from AT&T and I call them. The Lady preceeds to tell me that I must update my phone to the latest firmware or my plan will be changed. What!!! I told her that I had thethered and had stopped when I received the text and that I did not appreciate the threats from AT&T and that my phone was jailbroke and that it is legal to do so. She imediatlely backed off and said since I new that I was tethering and had stopped i had nothing to worry about. Someone said that this is not a conspiracy by AT&T, BULL!

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@BadBadLeroyBrown wrote:

AT&T does....look in their Wireless Customer Agreement. It's spelled out pretty clearly that 5GB is the limit of even the "unlimited" data plans. One way or the other, they'll get people who are regularly using more than that amount of data - either by notifying them that they'll be required to change or by throttling them (although I'm not sure if AT&T, unlike T-Mobile, does that).

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5gb?  I was throttled at 4.5 last month and will be watching closely this month to see exactly when I hit (if I hit) that number again.  If you think I'm paying more than $30 for a data plan that's crazy.

"Tethering means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices."

What he is doing is NOT tethering. He is not sharing the Internet connection of the phone with other devices-- he is sharing the screen of the device, and sharing the audio of the device. In this setup, the television isn't capable of connecting to the Internet via the phone, it cannot send or receive IP packets. What he is doing is "tethering" inasmuch as it would be tethering if he pointed a video camera at the screen of his phone and used that to show the screen on a TV. The support rep he spoke to is just trying to get him off the line with a bogus explanation.

IF, on the other hand, he tethered an Internet-capable television OR DVD-player, which streamed Netflix via the Internet-- THAT would be tethering. That's an example of tethering a device other than a computer.

"What you are doing is tethering. Plain and simple." What you are saying is wrong. Plain and simple.

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@wingrider01 wrote:

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@kdfederer wrote:
When you hook your phone to another device, that is "tethering"
Here is the definition of tethering "Tethering means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices."
It doesn't say computer, it says other devices. What you are doing is tethering. Plain and simple.
If you were watching on your phone, that is not tethering.

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Appears that connecting to a bluetooth device to stream audio to the radio in cars or a tv is being considered as tethering also, since the bluetooth device has it's own unique MAC address, so streaming Pandora to your MS sync equipped car is tetheirng., which by the definition is correct

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So if I run netflix on my iphone, and run that to a TV, this is "by definition" tethering? That's news to me...I guess they've decided to change the definition of another term?

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@Captain Quantum wrote:

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@wingrider01 wrote:

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@kdfederer wrote:
When you hook your phone to another device, that is "tethering"
Here is the definition of tethering "Tethering means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices."
It doesn't say computer, it says other devices. What you are doing is tethering. Plain and simple.
If you were watching on your phone, that is not tethering.

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Appears that connecting to a bluetooth device to stream audio to the radio in cars or a tv is being considered as tethering also, since the bluetooth device has it's own unique MAC address, so streaming Pandora to your MS sync equipped car is tetheirng., which by the definition is correct

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So if I run netflix on my iphone, and run that to a TV, this is "by definition" tethering? That's news to me...I guess they've decided to change the definition of another term?

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can depend on how you hook it up - not sure if there are and tv's that have a bluetooth connection out yet, but if you USB it, there is no new MAC address. As far as "changing the definition of tethering" have not seen the official carrier definition of tethering, been unable to find it on any of their agreements, so have no idea if it has been changed or not. Every hear of the term "speculation" on a subject?