AT&T Starts Sending Letters to Jailbroken Tetherers, Will Automatically Charge Fee

If you’ve jailbroken your iPhone and installed a tethering app like MyWi, be warned that AT&T is reportedly sending letters out to others who have done so saying “we’ve noticed your service plan may need updating.” According to a letter posted by the blog OSX Daily, AT&T has begun detecting the practice of unauthorized tethering and is going to start charging people doing it under official tethering subscription plans later this month.

Is this an unjust restriction on the use of data we’ve already paid for? Is it a logical move to keep the whole of the network sustainable at a time of heavy demand? Is it, in a way, good news to know that despite the fact that it’s a violation of your contract – you’ll still be allowed to use tethering if you just pay a small monthly fee? That really depends on your perspective.

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Here’s what tethering subscribers are asked to pay:

DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering
• $45 per month (this gives you 4GB in total, combining both your smartphone data plan for $25 and the tethering feature, $20)
• $10 per each additional GB thereafter, added automatically as needed
• Mobile Hotspot capabilities are included for compatible Smartphones

People in the bandwidth business may not feel this way, but I feel most inclined to say that bandwidth needs to be as cheap, reliable, high-speed and available as it possibly can. In a time when economic and cultural growth and development are so impacted by connected activities, it seems essential that business and cultural activities can be performed as quickly and easily as possible anywhere and at any time. Especially if I’m already paying for the data.

What are your thoughts, readers?

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