So Close, yet so far. Apple’s iPhone software now officially supports tethering, but AT&T doesn’t. Tethering is the ability to share  the your cell phone’s internet connection with a computer. Verizon’s been doing it for years. Apparently AT&T is scared of it. According to Apple’s web site, the 3g and 3gs can now offer tethering. “Surf the web from practically anywhere” they claim. Anywhere, except that little country that is apple computer’s home country. I think it’s time for Apple to break their contract with AT&T and look to another provider that is not afraid to offer usable internet services. Whatever it would cost them to break the contract would probably be made up in a heartbeat from all of the new customers. I know I would be one of them.

The pertinent text of Apple’s announcement:

Internet Tethering Surf the web from practically anywhere. Now you can share the 3G connection on your iPhone with your Mac notebook or PC laptop. Tethering is not currently offered in the U.S. and some other countries. See your carrier for availability. Learn more about Internet tethering

The iPhone is a darn cool tool, but I’m not going to pay for and carry one around and still have to pay for and carry around another device to connect my laptop to the internet when I’m out on the road. I’ll just wait patiently with my Motorola Q from Verizon.

Before I get a bunch of posts on this, I know that the iPhone can be jailbroken. We’ve done it and it works quite well to tether with it. I’m just real leery of signing up for a two year agreement and dumping my currently tetherable PDA on the off chance that Apple (or AT&T) will come up with a way to stop jailbreaking or rendering tethering unusable. At that point I’d have a pretty $200 paperweight.

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©2009 The Business Identity Factory. All Rights Reserved.
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If you liked this article, we'd love for you to share it, post it on your site or blog, or even use it in your newsletter. All we ask is that you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. All the links must remain in this article.

© 2009 The Business Identity Factory. All Rights Reserved.
http://BusinessIdentityFactory.com
"Helping businesses define and express their brand"