Data Cap on Tethering? (safety question)

[The Doctor's Who]

Alright, so I just finished jailbreaking my phone. Everything works great! TiPB forums have been a huge help. Ya'll rock.

I've a last question though, and it has to do with tethering.

I've heard some horror stories about people who've tethered and then been slapped with a huge bill by AT&T.

I've tethering right now, just surfing webpages. I'm a little nervous about looking at video. . .

How much data is safe to use? I really would like to know.

 

[big9erfan]

I think the unofficial cap is 5GB, that's when AT&T starts to get suspicious.

 

[The Doctor's Who]

I think the unofficial cap is 5GB, that's when AT&T starts to get suspicious.

Is that 5GB a month or 5GB a day?

 

[sargd66]

5GB a day, lol. No it's 5GB a month and then they may watch you. That's still alot.

 

[ElectricDoodie]

I use about 1GB a month, without tethering.

 

[The Doctor's Who]

I use about 1GB a month, without tethering.

Hm, before I tethered I would normally use 3-4GB a month. I watch a lot of YouTube in HQ (Javascript hack) over 3G. Eats up a lot.

 

[The Doctor's Who]

5GB a day, lol. No it's 5GB a month and then they may watch you. That's still alot.

*sighs* Shame, I'd have liked the 5GB a day rule. Without tether, I use about 3-4GB a month. . . lots of HQ YouTube and Veoh over 3G.

Oh well, I'll just keep an eye on my usage.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Diff]

I'm new to the iPhone (3gs purchased last Friday) and I plan on jailbreaking my phone (Yep, didn't dl 3.1.3). So much of the conversation around JB and tethering is a little foreign to me.

>> I've heard some horror stories about people who've tethered and then been slapped with a huge bill by AT&T.

I don't understand this? Let's say I dl PdaNet. Can one avoid this issue, tethering a lot, near or over the 5GB limit, by turning PdaNet off? Then again, don't know if there is a "On/Off" feature.

~ Thanks ~

 

[flyingember]

The 5gb limit is not a published limit.

You could get hit with 4gb per month consistently. Only ATT knows for sure their threshholds

 

[The Doctor's Who]

I'm new to the iPhone (3gs purchased last Friday) and I plan on jailbreaking my phone (Yep, didn't dl 3.1.3). So much of the conversation around JB and tethering is a little foreign to me.

>> I've heard some horror stories about people who've tethered and then been slapped with a huge bill by AT&T.

I don't understand this? Let's say I dl PdaNet. Can one avoid this issue, tethering a lot, near or over the 5GB limit, by turning PdaNet off? Then again, don't know if there is a "On/Off" feature.

~ Thanks ~

Sure you can turn PdaNet off! You can turn your cellular network off as well. It all adds up the same, whether your on your 3G tethered of untethered. Make sure you download MyWireless app from AT&T, you can can clock your month's worth of data usage from there.

This is really only a problem for those who stream lots of high quality movies over their 3G. Most people don't clock 5GB a month. It depends.

 

[Diff]

Big learning curve getting into JBing a iPhone. Have not done it yet because there are some unanswered questions remaining for me. The tethering requirement is one.

I (Incorrectly ?) thought you must have the tethering option with a new 3GS iPhone w/the 3.1.2 software. Tethering application choices are: MyWiFi or PdaNet. My understanding was that "tethering" allows you to restart JB if you lose power or you turned off your.

(Don't understand why you simply can't usb your iPhone to your PC (That's what I have, not a Mac.) & click on BlackRa1n? But hey, I'm new to all of this.)

So, beyond the necessity to restart BlackRa1in, the tethering option has more functions or capabilities?

Thanks for the enlightenment!

 

[LVCIFER]

Ok, heres the deal. The word "tether" has multiple meanings, and in these situations, it just so happens that the iPhone uses a few of them.

A "tethered jailbreak" doesn't have anything to do with INTERNET tethering. A tethered jailbreak means that when you reboot, turn your iPhone off, or run out of power, when you turn it back on, you'll get the "Connect to iTunes" screen. If you ignore all of those messages, and simply connect your iPhone to your PC with the USB cord, you just simply run blackra1n again and there you go. The word "tether" basically means "to attach to". So a 'tethered jailbreak' means that in order to reboot/restart your iPhone, you need to have it attached to a computer, where you can then run blackra1n.

INTERNET tethering means that you can TETHER ('attach') your cellular signal to your computer, thus 'giving your laptop internet' through your cell phone. In the US, the iPhone cannot do this, so you are left with PDAnet, or MyWi. PDAnet is $30, while MyWi is $10. MyWi will also allow you to do something unique - you click a button on your cell phone, and you turn your iPhone into a Wireless High Speed modem. What does that mean? If your laptop can connect to WiFi, you simply connect to your iphone via WiFi, and voila, your laptop now has your cell phone's internet.

I hope I cleared a few things up for you. In short, you don't need any 'tethering applications' to properly run your 'tethered jailbreak' with blackra1n.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, there are no such things as stupid questions.

 

[Diff]

Great!!

Much more clear from what I've come across in my research/readings on tethering.