AT&T Warns iPhone 4 Jailbreak Users: Stop Tethering or Pay

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AT&T has today begun sending out its second warning to customers who it believes are illegally tethering their iPhone 4 using jailbreak, demanding they either stop tethering, or pay the price. In a stern SMS to select subscribers, the carrier warned that those who don’t pay and continue to tether their phones illegally would be automatically upgraded and charged for its $45 per month tethering plan.

The message is surely aimed at iPhone jailbreak users, who can gain easy access to apps through Cydia that allow them to use to tether their iPhones to their laptops, iPad 2, and any other Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connected device, to share its data connection. Of course, without signing up to a tethering plan with their carriers, these users are using their data illegally.

The $45 per month tethering plan – which AT&T says customers will be upgraded to – is a full $25 per month more than a regular iPhone data plan. It provides customers with 4GB of data between an iPhone and any tethered device.

AT&T issued its first warning to iPhone users via SMS and email back in March, but it wasn’t so forbidding back then: it simply reminded culprits that tethering required an additional plan, and how they could sign up for one. Clearly – and unsurprisingly – many customers ignored the polite message and continued to take advantage of jailbreak hacks anyway, forcing AT&T to take things a little more seriously.

I’m sure anyone who’s jailbroken their iPhone has toyed around with tethering at some point – I know I have. It’s so easy to find tethering solutions, such as the MyWi app, that you can’t help but try them out for a bit of free data on your iPad while you’re out and about. Thankfully, some carriers – such as O2 in the U.K. – now include tethering in their iPhone plans as standard.

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  • Got2bejoking

    What right does a mobile company have to tell its users that it costs an extra $25 per month to unlock a feature already built into the device that the user owns? A feature not even designed by AT&T. If the user has purchased 4GB of data they should be able to use 4GB of data no matter the device.

    AT&T should take the approach that if a user tethers they will hopefully go over their data plan and upgrade.

    How about a “AT&T iPhone Friends Plan”. You can use contacts A-L with your included plan and for an extra fee you can access contacts M-Z.

    Sending draconian txt messages to your customers seems like a sore loser approach. Poor Randall Stephenson.

  • Wow

    I tether via MyWi On-demand to my iPad often and did not receive first warning or second. Not sure how they are targeting. I’ve used 1.6GB of data this month with 4 days left. ???

  • Jjhanes

    AT&T’s earnings per share is up 25.9% from this time last year, and they enjoyed a prosperous $30.8 billion in revenues this quarter, (up $194 million from last year). We already pay a fortune to use their service, they can just eat it!

  • http://twitter.com/NoelSarah Noel

    Who is getting these warnings? Is it only people who use the tethering on a regular basis? I only do it once a month or so (in case of an internet outage or a trip out of town) and I haven’t been warned.

  • SODAPOPHEAD

    Poor AT&T, THEY MUST BE BROKE, treating your customers like that.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DR5GDPH23RGBMJJ3NBVN4M7YTQ Shinedown

      No…It’s the fact that people tethering use more data than those who don’t…and since they are breaking the terms of service by tethering without paying for it they should be re-rated…I have unlimited data on my HTC Inspire 4G and I use around 4 GB of data a month without tethering most of the people who tether use 10-20GB of data a month…they should either stop doing it or pay to use it

      • Takeobills

        shut up idiot

        • Guest

          there is nothing in the terms that says you cant tether with out the tether service in the at&t services , iam pretty sure its against the law for at&t to add a service on the bill forcefully with out the account holders consent : ] or if they do than class action law suit and sue for att stealing credit card money

      • http://twitter.com/xkitox kito

        seriously? I tether with my droid and dont use anywhere near 4GB a month, what in the world are you doing with your phone? I barely get past 1GB with tethering….not sure where you’re getting your “facts” from bro.

      • http://twitter.com/xkitox kito

        seriously? I tether with my droid and dont use anywhere near 4GB a month, what in the world are you doing with your phone? I barely get past 1GB with tethering….not sure where you’re getting your “facts” from bro.