AT&T Cracking Down on MyWi Tethering?

[Fausty82]

When it comes to business law, as well as contracts, there is only the hard line. The line isnt fussy just because you disagree, and if you do disagree you had the chance to voice that before signing the contract. It's as simple as that. Either agree and follow the terms of the contract, or don't and accept the consequences spelled out in that contract.

Do I agree with the contract from a personal opinion, not so much. It could be better and more reasonable, however, I made the decision that I could deal with the contact. It will take far more than a few people that disagree with the contract terms to change AT&T's position. It would take a mass of people to do so, a majority of AT&T's users, and will that ever happen? Nope.

My suggestion to everyone out there is to take some initiative, read your contract start to finish, and become knowledgable in what you signed. If you already have, good on you, defend yourself if you have found that you have a defendable position.

Exactly. And whether or not we consumers take the "hard line", we know for a fact that AT&T is... and based on the contract that we all (at least all AT&T customers) signed, they are within their rights to do so.

While I agree that the contract may be excessive, we all willingly signed it, so that becomes moot very quickly.

 

[BLiNK]

macharborguy, unfortunately everything you have mentioned is indeed exactly right. in fact, even if the whole entire jailbreak community were to try to change AT&T's position it would most definitely not make a difference

i recently jailbroke again and have not loaded MyWi back onto my device... yet

that being said, i guess all i can really say is it was a good run and i am money ahead?

however, what frustrates me is the fact IF i do decide to use AT&T's tethering option i will lose my unlimited data plan

 

[Fausty82]

however, what frustrates me is the fact IF i do decide to use AT&T's tethering option i will lose my unlimited data plan

... and that, my friend, is the rub.

I am sure no one has any doubt on where I stand on this issue overall, it really bothers me that AT&T wants to have their cake and eat it too. Yes, using the tethering apps without paying for tethering service is a violation of the ToS, and therefore, is morally wrong (IMHO), I can see the other side if the issue - that AT&T is forcing/daring you to use them.

You are paying $30/month for "unlimited" data (that's a whole 'nother discussion), but NOT letting you tether for that $30. And IF you do play by their rules and get a tether plan, you CANNOT have "unlimited" data. That is just plain stupid. AT&T needs to get off the dime and state their position: either you get "unlimited" data for $30 or you don't. They should charge $30 for unlimited data and let you use it however you want. Or they give you 2GB for $20 and let you use that however you want. But the whole concept of charging $20 for tethering AND $20 for 2GB (and $10/GB for overage) is flat out wrong on so many levels...

 

[smileyboy]

I only do 3-7 gbs a month. I didn't get a letter or text, my friend did he uses 80-90gb a month.... I didn't think that was possible.

 

[twild]

I want to jailbreak to be able to tether my ipad, but after reading this I'm not too sure :S

 

[sting7k]

Thanks but I feel that you are taking a hard line.
I pay 45$ a month as my work requires an enterprise data plan.
For a very infrequent use of tethering I should lose this and go to a 2 gb cap??
I use very little data.
It's a shame that AT&T is so big that a real dialog between users and the company is not possible or that a real contract vs a "one size fits all" cannot be done

What do you mean real contract vs. one size fits all cannot be done?

They did the one size fits all model for over 3 years and we almost brought the network down with exploding data use. It's supply and demand. Demand is high for mobile data and supply is low. They are going to charge more for those who use a lot.

They don't care what you think it should be because you are telling them it's ok by paying them every month. It's nothing personal, it's business. Take your money else where and they will get the message.

 

[bumblbe]

One size fits all

What I mean is that I am on the $45/month enterprise data plan (unlimited) for my work.
The tethering data plan is $45 for 2 gb but is not the enterprise plan.
I cannot tether and keep the enterprise plan.
If I did get the tethering plan AT&T would not make more money.
If this was a deal negotiated between 2 parties, I'm sure that we could reach an understanding, but as I cannot directly deal with an AT&T contract negotiator I cannot resolve this legally.

 

[swampbaby]

I have a question: for those of you who say that theft of paid apps aren't condoned here within this forum (which I agree with by the way) then why is it that so many of you swear by MyWi and othe tethering apps available via Cydia? Wouldn't the use of said apps count as theft of data that we aren't paying for from our carriers?

 

[Scatabrain]

I have a question: for those of you who say that theft of paid apps aren't condoned here within this forum (which I agree with by the way) then why is it that so many of you swear by MyWi and othe tethering apps available via Cydia? Wouldn't the use of said apps count as theft of data that we aren't paying for from our carriers?

I pay for tethering currently but i kind of understand the idea that the carriers are porking people for tethering when their bill is way high already. To steal an app is taking money from the little guy making an honest buck rather then a really big bully taking advantage.

Some people cite huge #s thru miwi. Thats just not smart and crosses the line OMHO. They will certainly eventually get caught.

As much as it stinks that ATT is cracking down they could have done it in a much less nice way by delivering a $1000 bill or more for the usage off of the plan. Big red has done that to people occassionaly in the past.

 

[swampbaby]

I agree with you. I was just questioning why so many would praise MyWi in the way that that they do. I'll be honest I've bought the MyWi app and am grandfathered in on AT&T's unlimited data plan. Does that mean I'm using MyWi every waking moment of the day using up crazy amounts of data? No. I've used it a couple of times in the past but always find myself turning it off after a few minutes of use as I feel guilty using a "privilege" that I'm not actually paying for.

Do I think AT&T's pricing structure for those of us who want tethering is fair? Hell no. Not by a long shot.

 

[crystus]

It is more like pirating an app which is against the law vs using tethering which is a violation of a contract provision. You can go to jail for using a cracked app but you won't go to jail for tethering and breaking the contact provisions. It boils down to criminal law vs contract law.

 

[Ipheuria]

I agree with you. I was just questioning why so many would praise MyWi in the way that that they do. I'll be honest I've bought the MyWi app and am grandfathered in on AT&T's unlimited data plan. Does that mean I'm using MyWi every waking moment of the day using up crazy amounts of data? No. I've used it a couple of times in the past but always find myself turning it off after a few minutes of use as I feel guilty using a "privilege" that I'm not actually paying for.

Do I think AT&T's pricing structure for those of us who want tethering is fair? Hell no. Not by a long shot.

They are praising MyWi because the way you're thinking about it is not the same. When you pirate an app, you take the app for free. You don't pay anyone or anything. When you use MyWi you have paid for the data, in some cases unlimited. So you have paid for the data you're using you just haven't paid for the way you're using it and that is what is stupid. So you see that it's different. This would be like if you paid $30 for a universal app but the dev said although the app is universal you can only use it on an iPad. If you want to use it on the iPhone then you have to pay $10. So then it's like well why is the app universal?

 

[slalomskie]

I'm less then 4 gig a month and less then one gig on tethering. But. I got the text this morning less then thirty minutes after I tethered with PDA net to down load 5 megs of email.

 

[fivebawdy]

Heavy hitters, done. Now go after the rest...

Damn...I'm assuming ATT's strategy on unauthorized tether'ers was to go after heavy hitters, then moderate to low data users. True to their ways, no mercy for any of their customers.

 

[smileyboy]

I still haven't gotten any letters or text yet... I hope it stays that way. I usually only tether my iPad and every once in a while my MacBook air

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[slalomskie]

I received the text but not the letter (yet).

1. Has anyone received both the letter and the text but ignored them and continued to thether? What has happened?

2. Has anyone been automatically enrolled by AT&T?

 

[BrindawithanI]

There's another thread around here

http://forum.tipb.com/iphone-forum/210849-update-t-crackdown-mywi-tethering.html

where someone got the text but has never tethered. Says he does use a lot of data though. Interesting...

 

[fivebawdy]

Called ATT about the text and email, many have dismissed them as scare tactics, but I'm not bout to call their bluff. I think their ability to detect unauthorized Tethering is more sophisticated then just merely assuming heavy data traffic = MyWi. I'm curious to find out if modifying the TTL (for Windows only) could circumvent ATT's detection. In the meantime I'll be slingboxing gigs and gigs of data on my unlimited plan.

 

[slalomskie]

What was the result of your call. Did they say you had to sign up?

 

[fivebawdy]

I called pressed '0' to speak to 'operator' and voice message immediately notified me of (paraphrased) 'potential change to my account etc...'. Asked CSR about the text and email re: unauthorized Tethering, and that there must be some mistake since I haven't done any of the such (not true), they told me that ATT has 'detected' this kind of activity and that my data plan would automatically change if unauthorized Tethering continues after the date specified in the email, which is today. So I'll cease and desist and not call their bluff to keep my unlimited dats plan as is, ToS is on their side.