Rumor: iPhone tethering to cost $55 per month
June 19th, 2009
iPhone tethering is awesome, but will you really have to pay $55 per month for the privilege?
iPhone tethering is coming soon (or now if you’re up for a quick and easy hack), meaning you’ll be able to use your handset as a wireless modem for your PC. But at what price?
Rumors have been flying that AT&T will charge as much as $70 per month for tethering privileges, but now mobile-apps blog Appmodo is citing “a source with AT&T” that the cost will be $55.
Note to AT&T: Over my dead body.
Most of the people on this planet think you’re already charging too much ($70/month minimum) for voice and data. Now you want $55 more for tethering, which is really just an extension of the data plan we’re already paying for?
If that rumor pans out, you’d better have a thick skin, because the blogosphere will tear you a new one. And I will be leading the charge, as that kind of unmitigated greed makes my blood boil.
Now, if that $55 figure is for data and tethering, meaning you’re adding only $25 to the monthly bill, we can discuss it reasonably. That’s still way too much, but at least it doesn’t bury the needle on the Ridiculous Meter.
Over to you, readers: What’s a fair price for tethering? Interestingly, I just today used my hacked-for-tethering iPhone in a coffee shop where the Wi-Fi wasn’t working, and it totally saved the day.
So there’s value here, and consequently I’d pay an extra $5 for it–maybe even $10. (Actually, a pay-as-you-go option would be dynamite.) But $55? Come on, AT&T. Seriously?
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Posted in Iphone Atlas