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From the day the iPhone was first announced (way back in 2007), it was destined to be a success. In fact it’s hard to even think of another mobile device that generated so much hype and curiosity among fanboys and even fangirls. But the device wasn’t without it faults and the lack of standard features like MMS, Bluetooth Stereo support, Copy-Paste made mobile gurus scratch their ahead in wonder. Absence of tethering support was also considered the Achilles Heel of the iPhone by some, as Apple marketed the handset as a smartphone and there were many smartphones that offered this feature without any glitches.
While AT&T time and time again promised tethering, it somehow never seemed to deliver. Many got tired playing the waiting game and after the 2.0 firmware, chose to download apps that made it possible to run tethering services on the iPhone. Listed below are some of the apps that got the ball rolling and tried to changed the tethering scenario.
Note: if we have missed any of the notable iphone tethering events, please comment below.
August 2008
The NetShare app was a pioneer of sorts as it was the first official tethering app that made its way to the iTunes Store. However its glory was short-lived since it was subsequently pulled from App Store by Apple. Nullriver’s US$9.99 NetShare application allows iPhone users to share their cellular connection from their iPhone with other devices over a Wi-Fi network.
September 2008
While Apple continued having a tumultuous relationship with NetShare, another application cropped up to offer tethering services. The iPhone Modem app comes with its own MAC and iPhone client and lets you enjoy Internet connectivity without any glitches on jailbroken iPhones.
September 2008
Jailbroken iPhone seems to have all the fun. Don’t believe us? Then do check out the PDAnet app, which lets you enjoy full Internet tethering as it moonlights as a Wi-Fi router. The process is a little complicated but you are in luck as we have the how to guide right here. The PDAnet app is a favourite at iSmashPhone and we do think it’s the best way to enjoy tethering.
January 2009
All the above apps are well and good but the real question is how much will it cost when AT&T decides to take the plunge? According to an AT&T insider, iPhone users don‚Äôt have to worry much as the network won’t go beyond the US$10.00 price point for tethering which is quiet acceptable don‚Äôt you think?
March 2009
Another big question is if Apple is 100% behind tethering? According to Scott Forstall of Apple, the company whole-heartily support tethering but has its hands tied due to carrier policies!
‚ÄúWe’re absolutely supporting tethering in the client side in iPhone 3.0, but we’re working with carriers around the world to see when they can add tethering support on their networks.‚Äù
June 2009
During the 3GS announcement at WWDC 2009 (June 17th), the Powers Of Be at AT&T promised that they would introduce both MMS and Tethering by the end of summer. However the network failed to deliver on both ends. A number off cynics were not surprised since its AT&T in question.
If you thought the tethering drama is going to die a natural death, then think again! iPhone tethering hacks have been released as of 3.0 beta, but as of iPhone OS 3.1 firmware known tethering hacks have been killed! Of course a fix was found by an enterprising hacker and all was okay in the iPhone universe once again!
So what is the current status of tethering services on iPhone? Now that the Blacksn0w unlock (05.11.07 baseband) is available for iPhone 3GS, thinks do look positive (unofficially). Geohot used two utilities to unlock the iPhone and you can check out the how to guide here.
Its not unreasonable for smartphones users to expect Internet tethering from their devices. Hence its rather unfortunate that iPhone users got the short end of the stick due to network policies and politics. Its clear that AT&T has failed its customer base which may be due to mainly inadequate infrastructure. However at the end of the day, excuses don’t make for a satisfied customer base and we hope AT&T are genuinely working towards the tethering issue.
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this is a bullshit article. THey never promised a time frame at all..
PDANet works like a CHAMP. It takes less than two minites to jailbreak yer phone and it works.
RT
New material posted
When did AT&T promise tethering by the end of Summer??? I remember during the announcement of 3.0 they said MMS would be available by the end of Summer (ultimately missing the mark by 2 days) and then during the tethering announcement, European carriers were announced but AT&T was blatantly absent and the crowd even chuckled at that. Can you point out what point of the convention they announced tethering?
All you people are too much. Everyone complains about the AT&T network and it’s inadequacies, yet what would happen if Verizon has as many spartphones sucking as much bandwidth as on AT&T? Go do some searches, the gap between smartphones on both networks is huge, something like twice as many on AT&T. Would Verizon’s outdated and inferior CDMA technology hold up? I doubt, and everyone would be whining about Verizon.
I agree with Joe..they never did!
I’ve always wondered why they stopped it with the iPhone?? I’ve been tethering my windows mobile phone to my laptop for the past 3 years, with the inbuilt app (with no fee). Why does it matter the type of phone your using??
One important part of your timeline is missing; the date when nearly every other provider in the world except AT&T implemented tethering.
My provider, Fido (owned by Rogers) in Canada offered tethering from day one after OS 3.0 was released. I’ve quite enjoyed it.
If network, bandwidth, upgrade issues are the real reason AT&T has not flipped the switch for tethering, then why
are they pushing those netbooks so hard. If their system is already close to maxed out then they should be working
on getting everything tuned up to handel the current demand. They tell us we can’t have have tethering because the network can’t deal with the bandwith issues but please give us more money for a a netbook. I don’t think the issue is nothing more than greed. And I still don’t believe that if they ever do turn it on it will be just $10. They are not going to get it from me. I already pay more than I should be paying for net access and I refuse to pay even more. Their 3g at my home is ifffy at best. I don’t have the net at home because I refuse to
pay $100 a month for crappy dial up service. They should take some of the cash I send them evey month and use it to update their network to provide the level of service they advertise before they concider charging me extra for anything. Why woould I want to pay for a service that will not work where and when I need it?
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Where are all the class action attorneys when u need them? I specifically remember ATT reps telling me when I bought my iPhone 3GS over the summer that tethering would be out by 4Q09. Here comes 1Q10 and nothing. It’s a joke, iPhone users have to pay a premium for data now already n they want to charge even more for a feature that was supposed to be here by now?
I say class action lawsuit now. It was all over their marketing collateral. Why does Canada and Australia have tethering but not USA? I’m sure if the iPhone was on TMobile we’d have tethering by now. Why can’t they just activate it and have a fair use limit like Skype does with their World Calling Plan?