AT&T to allow iPhone tethering: $10/month

By Leon Bailey on Tue 13 January 2009

Another hour, another Apple iPhone rumour – this time tethering. Is US carrier AT&T set to allow Stateside iPhone owners to use their handsets as 3G modems?

According to Macblogz, AT&T is ready to toll with a tethering plan that would extract US$10 a month from users who want to connect their notebooks to the outside world via their iPhones. And, while we’ve marked this as a rumour, it seems to have come straight from the horse’s mouth. More after the cut.

Macblogz’s Aviv has posted a bunch of quotes that he attributes to contacts at AT&T. The pertinent part reads: 

The biggest piece of information we learned was that AT&T is playing around with a $10 price-point. This made my eyes light up and I asked them how they could get away with charging a third of what was initially reported.

Here’s the response I got. "iPhone tethering is primarily an AT&T offering, but it involves Apple at least wanting or allowing the service, which they do. If it doesn’t function as expected, I know of a few people who may lose their jobs," my colleague explained.

"While you may think it’s as easy as streamlining our Blackberry tethering service over to the iPhone, it’s not. Connection may be tied into iTunes, and Apple is incredibly controlling when it comes to this space."

So, make of that what you will. The full report is over at Macblogz – link below. Next, iPhone tethering on O2? Of course, if you were lucky enough to snare Netshare during the brief time it existed on App Store,  you’ve been tethering for months.

[via Macblogz]