AT&T Confirms iPhone iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot, Pricing

AT&T will charge $20 per month for iPhone 4 users to take advantage of the iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot feature. The carrier has confirmed that full support for the Personal Hotspot will debut when Apple released iOS 4.3 firmware on March 11, 2011.

att iphone personal hotspot launch march 11

The native Wi-Fi hotspot has been available on Verizon iPhone 4 models since launch in early February. The feature allows up to three devices to simultaneously connect to the iPhone's cellular data connection via Wi-Fi. Additional devices can use the connection via Bluetooth and USB for a total of five at once.

In order to subscribe to the Personal Hotspot data plan, iPhone owners will have to be signed up for the DataPro offering, which costs $25 per month and limits data usage to 2GB. Adding the tethering plan brings the total data usage limit to 4GB and totals $45 per month in fees. Going over the limit runs $10 per gigabyte of additional cost.

The $20 cost and 2GB data cap on the AT&T Personal Hotspot plan matches that offered by Verizon Wireless on the CDMA iPhone 4. Currently, iPhone users on the AT&T network can only connect one device with a tethering data plan, either through USB or Bluetooth. The current plan also costs $20 per month but is more difficult to use and cannot connect multiple devices.

Those who choose to jailbreak their iPhones (including people who have older model iPhones) have other options for a Wi-Fi hotspot, although these are not supported by either AT&T or Verizon. An app on Cydia called MiWi creates a mobile hotspot without any monthly costs. The only drawback is that any data usage cap on your cellular data plan still applies, and the app itself costs $19.99.

Comments

Boy, when AT&T has you by the coinpurse they squeeze even harder, Unlimited Data plan users must give up that legacy plan to get tethering!?!?! puleeze! I’ll go to a WiFi hotspot or heaven forfend, JB my phone before I do that. This is getting ridiculous. 75-100 dollars a month isn’t enough for them, huh? There has to be a more customer friendly approach that satisfies both the customer and the carrier. They aren’t trying hard enough,

Screw AT&T. They've tried to fleece their customers for too long now. tethering should be included free of charge. Guess it's time to jailbreak my iphone.

I have jb my iphone 4 and had unlimited data. We were using it as a wifi hotspot when at&t contacted us just a few days ago and sd that we are now switched over to the 4gb data plan with tethering. It sucks either way you go.

Screw AT&T - I wasn't going to bother jailbreaking this time around, but reading this, I'll be once again right on the front line when 4.3 is JB'ed.

I've never jailbroke my iphone but AT&T pisses me off and I'm considering it for personal hotspot. It's not something I would use every day since I'm already shelling out tons of money for U-verse and high speed internet at home but it would be nice when I'm on an RV trip and I need to check my email or something on my laptop.

The truth is, I feel like streaming over their network 24/7 on my unlimited plan just to stick it back to them. Is there an app for that?

I've never jailbroke my iphone but AT&T pisses me off and I'm considering it for personal hotspot. It's not something I would use every day since I'm already shelling out tons of money for U-verse and high speed internet at home but it would be nice when I'm on an RV trip and I need to check my email or something on my laptop.

The truth is, I feel like streaming over their network 24/7 on my unlimited plan just to stick it back to them. Is there an app for that?