John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

AT&T to Unauthorized iPhone Tetherers: "We’ve Noticed Your Service Plan May Need Updating"

AT&T has an ultimatum for anyone using MiWi to add unauthorized tethering support to their jailbroken iPhones: stop it immediately or be automatically enrolled in the carrier’s AT&T’s DataPro plan, which includes an additional $45 per month in tethering charges. Earlier this week, AT&T began sending warning messages to customers it suspects of unauthorized tethering, suggesting their plans, ahem, “may need updating.”

We’ve noticed your service plan may need updating.

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. To take advantage of this feature, we require that in addition to a data plan, you also have a tethering plan.

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.

If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.

In other words, register for our $45/month 4GB tethering plan or we’ll register you for it ourselves.

Unfortunate news for folks who contend that they should be allowed to use the wireless data service they pay for in whatever way they see fit, whether it be on their phone or a device tethered to it.

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik