Confirmed: Personal Hotspot feature coming to all iPhones in iOS 4.3 | Hacker News Reader

Confirmed: Personal Hotspot feature coming to all iPhones in iOS 4.3

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68 pointsVoid_55 comments

Is "confirmed" really the right word to use when its one anonymous source?

But they had a screenshot! </sarcasm>

Now officially confirmed to be in iOS 4.3 Beta 1 which was released today.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/12/ios-4-3-beta-arrives-for-...

As an alternative to waiting for this official release, jailbroken iPhones have been able to do this for a while now, with no tethering fees from your carrier.

The term "HotSpot" bothers me..

1) because its more descriptive to call it WiFi Router 2) calling it HotSpot means they get to tact on another fee for that feature. Maybe something like: $14 - for tethering enabled, another $20 - to enabled HotSpot.

It's just a name. They could call it wifi router and still charge you $20.

I don't understand your train of thought.

Can I assume that my unlocked iPhone 4 bought straight from Apple will let me use this with any carrier? (in Canada)

I would guess that it works the same as tethering. (Well, it is tethering, only via Wi-Fi and not Bluetooth or a cable.)

Carriers can turn tethering on and off so I also wouldn’t expect this to work with every carrier. It has been possible to circumvent these carrier preferences in the past, though. I just don’t know whether that’s still possible and whether that will be possible in the future.

Afraid not. Unlocked just means you can use whatever GSM carrier you wish. Carrier-dependent features (MMS, tethering) are controlled by IPCC files (known as 'Carrier Updates') which are downloaded depending on the carrier you are using.

In the old days (3.0 and below) you could get access to features unsupported by AT&T (MMS, tethering..) by modifying a carrier file and applying it to your phone via iTunes, no jailbreak required. As of 3.1 however these files are now signed to prevent tampering.

I just this morning created a new carrier file with APN settings - including turning on tethering - for my iPhone, since my network in the UK apparently fiddled some settings somewhere and my iPhone had no internet access yesterday.

Signing doesn't appear to be an issue.

Given that our carriers (Fido, Telus, Bell, Rogers) don't charge extra for tethering (inexplicably), I would imagine this feature isn't going to be restricted on our networks. Your phone's unlockedness, however, doesn't affect the matter at all, as the limitation is determined by the network itself (or rather, by the carrier updates to support the networks themselves).

Any idea if this will be an extra service and cost like tethering? The article is light on details.

Entirely up to the carriers, just like tethering.

It shouldn't be anything to do with the carrier. The carrier should be a pipe. Why is the carrier market in the US so terrible compared to other places? I guess same reason that internet access itself is so bad in the US. The market needs a serious shake up and some real competition.

I'm glad I switched to Android. Personal hotspot has saved me a couple of times in the last year.

I believe it is a carrier preference and not device specific. Android tethering can be disabled as well.

'Tethering' is device-specific. If it can be disabled on your device it's only because your device has been made to the specifications of the network.

In theory the network could use packet inspection to determine if the data was originating from a desktop OS instead of a smartphone OS, but in practice no one does this. The network doesn't see any difference between bits requested by your phone's browser and bits requested by your computer's browser using your phone's connection.

Not that I agree, but the carrier does not wish or intend to become a pipe. The carrier wants to be vertically integrated, where it controls the entire mobile user experience. iPhone and Android have chipped away at this concept pretty quickly, but some notions of it still remain, e.g. restrictions on tethering.

Definitely. I understand the business reason they want to encroach past what people actually want.

When I attended Google I/O last year we got given a free HTC EVO. Fantastic hardware, but the thing was so laden in Sprint crap I felt dirty just holding it.

It was like going back in time to the days where you got an ISP and they gave you a CD with a version of Netscape that included their own toolbar, and all their crappy bookmarks etc etc

Imagine if your electric company charged extra if you wanted to plug in a certain device to your home electric supply... Oh you want to plug in an xbox?? You'll have to purchase our special xbox electriciy plan for extra or we won't allow it to work.

They provide electric, we pay for what we use. The same should hold for data providers... We pay based on what we use. How we use it is none of their business.

I live in India, and I pay a grand total of $5 a month for 2Gb(that's right) of data and I don't even know how many minutes and SMSs(no charges for incoming, btw). I am always shocked when I hear of people paying over $60 a month for a phone that they don't even own. The telco industry in India is ridiculously cut-throat because of their fungibility. I think over 90% of all mobile connections are prepaid here. Its working out beautifully. We also get really weird plans, like Rs.10($0.2) per website per month you access. Since there is competition and the telcos know their place, nobody gets riled up about this. It actually works out really cheap for a lot of people I know.

On the other hand, you guys are talking about LTE, and we still don't have 3G, so what do I know?

Let me get this: you pay $5 total for 2 gigs data and $LARGE_NUMBER voice minutes and SMS's? Can you give more details.

Sure. I own a G1, and I use it on the Airtel network. Call costs are 1paisa/sec(1 paisa is 100th of a rupee) to anywhere in the country, I don't even know how much an SMS costs, low enough that I don't notice. I pay Rs.98 a month for 2GB of GPRS data, which has quite a bit of latency, but enough speed for low quality Youtube streaming on EDGE. In total, it works out to about $4.5 a month. Unbelievable, right? This is actually the result of some pretty aggressive regulation by the Government, but also great competition. In fact, the Government recently mandated that the telcos make it possible for a person to switch networks without losing their phone number, further eliminating any semblance of lock-in they might have had. The downside of all this is that it has hindered the rolling out of 3G networks throughout the country. Personally, I would rather have a competitive, cheap telco market than a dysfunctional, expensive and confusing market even though it seems to lead to better technology.

>It shouldn't be anything to do with the carrier. The carrier should be a pipe.

Blame bandwidth delusions all around for that.

Carriers price on the assumption that while your caps are high, they really want your usage to be low. This is simply a response to customer delusions that the pipes are boundless and free (which is not true on landlines, and is enormously untrue in the wireless spectrum): See all of the salivation over the supposed unlimited plan Verizon might offer.

So my cell plan gives me 5GB. In an average month I seldom use 500MB (I'm always around wifi it seems), and that's exactly within their expectations. If I start tethering my phone, however, my average is going to go way up.

If carriers priced simply on throughput -- say $0.10 a MB or something -- they would be overjoyed to turn on and encourage all of the tethering you could ever want.

I strongly agree (despite accidentally down voting; curse hn's "no take backs!"), but how would you propose competition arise? The existing infrastructure gives existing players a massive (perhaps insurmountable) advantage.

You have to pay extra for tethering on an iPhone?

Only in the US, to my knowledge.

In Italy, too.

And the UK on some networks. O2 for example charge more, 3 just take it out of your phones data allowance.

Not on TMobile...

Canada too, with Rogers. Tethering is not allowed on the default data plan (500MB). You have to pay for 1GB (an extra $10 or $15 / month, I think) if you want to tether. I tether all the time and only use about 300MB of my 1GB plan, so I get really pissed when they use their excuse that "you need to have a full 1GB to tether or you'll run out!!11!". Fuck Rogers.

Yeah but your paying for more bandwidth, in the U.S. you pay and get nothing for it.

Well, not really. I don't use the extra bandwidth provided, nor do I want it. The only reason I pay the fee is to tether, and I gain no other advantages from that. Sure, my limit is higher and many others might enjoy the extra breathing room, but on a personal note, I only pay the extra fee in order to tether.

On Polish Era network it's free but disabled by default. You have to call an actual human being to get it enabled.

No, you have to pay extra for tethering on AT&T. Though that is effectively the same thing in the USA, at least up to now.

I believe it remains to be seen how many pounds of flesh Verizon will try to extract from iPhone tethering customers.

The real kick in the teeth is that paying AT&T to enable tethering doesn't actually get you any extra data, it just allows you to use the data you're already paying for in a different way.

At least with Verizon's current tethering charges (on Droid), you get an additional unlimited-but-really-5GB of data for your $30 charge. I imagine that iPhone will be the same.

"it just allows you to use the data you're already paying for in a different way"

This is what really irritates me. I have no problem with phone-carriers charging for services and making a profit. But this is so arbitrary! A packet is a packet is a packet!

Yeah, this is especially painful as a long-time iPhone on AT&T customer. If I want to tether, I have to pay more a month and I lose my grandfathered unlimited data plan.

It will probably be $20 per month on Verizon. That is what it charges currently for other phones.

Verizon did make this service free on the Palm Pre, so it's possible it could be free for the iPhone 4 as well. But I think that was more because the Palm Pre was unpopular whereas the iPhone will be plenty popular.

Is there anyway to do this with the HTC incredible on Verizon?

Very nice news! Seems Apple taking competition seriously this time.

So I guess 3G iPad sales are about to drop?

Probably not... using the iPhone as a wifi AP is going to drain the battery even faster, and one would imagine there are a lot of people who want an ipad but not an iphone.

I have the iPad Wifi only version, I did purchase an HTC Desire to tether but the battery life was just abysmal so sent it back for an iPhone4. If tethering on my iPhone has any similar type of effect on battery life as it did on my HTC I just won't bother paying the extra tariffs.

I tether my iPhone 3G to my MacBook Pro on occasion and never have any worry about battery drainage. When wired, I'm also constantly charging while it's tethered over USB, which is irrelevant for iPad tethering.

When I do have to wirelessly tether it, I'm usually not connected for more than an hour, and it is honestly equivalent to watching an hour long movie in iTunes or playing a game for an hour.

I honestly don't understand why tethering gets such a bad rap for battery drainage, when from my experience, _using_ the phone drains it just as quickly. Sure, it uses the network more heavily, but it shouldn't be doing a whole lot more.

I doubt it. While logic might support this, the user experience won't.

The beauty of 3G iPad is the instant on, instant access nature of the connection. Currently getting a connection on my Mac via iPhone tethering takes about 20-30 seconds. I'd rather pay $14.99 and have it all the time, like I do on the iPad. The experience is far superior.

Why is this news? I thought this had been available on AT&T for sometime... and Verizon has had this feature for well over a year (really, longer for plain ole tethering) on Android phones.

Or is it just the distinction between tethering and "personal hotspot"? I suppose I'm used to my free "Wireless Tether" as "tethering" where it more meets Apple and Verizon's description of "personal hotspot".

Whatever, they just want to call it that to make it seem more justifiable that VZW's going to charge extra for it.

You could tether one computer via cable or Bluetooth. This is up to 5 with wifi.

And this almost certainly means that I can finally tether the wifi iPad to the iPhone, an inexplicable omission that has always been annoying.

Technically you could then share the connection using your computer, but that requires you to use a computer and have some knowledge. Right from the phone is a definite step up.

Not to mention that it´s free on Verizon´s webOS phones. Virtually all of the smartphones that had a wifi card in the Verizon store when I last went had Wifi-tethering, although it usually cost extra. Not to mention that bluetooth and USB tethering has been available for ages, although not as fast (in case of Bluetooth) or convenient.

You can't use tethering with iPad.

Where Android leads, iOS follows. Welcome to the future.

I'll remind you that the iPhone paved the way for the generation of smart phones that Android is a part of.

I think the parent was meant as sort of a "Now the student has become the master!"

I agree with that statement, however the situation has now reversed. Disclaimer: I own an iPad and an Android phone. I still prefer Android over iOS, its faster and its more flexible.

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