Are you one of those iPhone users who sits in a Wi-Fi-less diner and tethers an phone to a laptop to get on the Internet? If so, the AT&T tethering police may come knocking at your virtual door — if they haven’t already.
AT&T has launched an official crackdown on smartphone users who have been tethering to their laptops illegally, using up precious bandwidth that generates revenue from paying customers. AT&T sells tethering plans and the company expects smartphone users to pay if they want to connect mobile devices.
AT&T’s E-Bust
AT&T first sent text messages to customers illegally tethering. One of the messages reads, “AT&T Free Msg: Did you know tethering your Smartphone to a computer requires a tethering plan? Pls call 888-860-6789 for details or visit att.com/dataplans.”
Those simple text messages were followed by e-mails with a more serious tone. The bottom line is this: If AT&T customers don’t stop illegal tethering, AT&T is going to stop it for them. The wireless carrier will start auto-charging customers, beginning March 27.
“Many AT&T customers use their smartphones as a broadband connection for other devices, like laptops, netbooks or other smartphones — a practice commonly known as tethering. Tethering can be an efficient way for our customers to enjoy the benefits of AT&T’s mobile broadband network and use more than one device to stay in touch with important people and information,” reads AT&T’s e-mail.
“Our records show that you use this capability, but are not subscribed to our tethering plan … if we don’t hear from you, we’ll plan to automatically enroll you into DataPro 4GB after March 27, 2011. The new plan — whether you sign up on your own or we automatically enroll you — will replace your current smartphone data plan, including if you are on an unlimited data plan.”
How Does AT&T…
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