AT&T announced Wednesday that it will soon add Mobile WiFi tethering. The $20 feature will first be available February 13, with the HTC Inspire 4G. Smartphones can be bundled with the $25 AT&T 2 GB data plan, for a total of 4GB for $45 per month.
AT&T’s mobile tethering plan will be an option on the company’s upcoming HSPA+ 4G smartphones, such as the HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Atrix 4G, and the Samsung Infuse 4G. “We are working on bringing it to the iPhone,” an AT&T spokesman said. “But we have nothing else to share at this time.”
Currently AT&T charges $25 per month for 2 GB of metered data. The new $20 monthly tethering fee, however, does not eat out of the same 2 GB data cap each month. It adds an extra 2 GB of data, so, for $45 a month, you get a total of 4 GB of metered data plus the ability to tether.
Verizon’s tethering plan also costs $20 per month and includes a 2GB data on top of the $20/mo phone data plan. But each additional gigabyte of data, costs twice as much on Verizon — $20 per GB vrs $10 per GB under AT&T’s plan.
It’s not for data hogs.
The chart (above) shows my Clear WiMAX usage last month. My $40/month mobile WiMAX plan has replaced my DSL service. It’s truly unlimited. No overages.
- On AT&T’s HSPA network, my 55 GB/month usage would cost; $25 for 2GB, then $20 for an additional 2 GB on the tethering plan. If I used 50GB over that 4GB, that’s $10 per GB or $500. My cost would be: $45 + $500 = $545/month.
- On Verizon’s (slow) EVDO Rev A tethered service, my 55 GB/month usage would cost; $30 data plan + $20 2GB tethering option ($50 total). If the overage were 50GB, that’s $20 per GB or $1,000. My cost would be: $50 + $1000 = $1050/mo.
Most cellular users will probably be fine with current data caps. But tethering opens up a can of worms. Faster networks make it easy to rack up horrendous overage fees.
Cellular tethering – restricted to 3G data speeds – provides only 300-500 Kbps (1/10th the speed). It’s understandable that 3G data costs are high – they don’t have the capacity and need to restrict data hogs. But obfuscation and misrepresentation of “unlimited” data is standard operating procedure. There is no “unlimited” cellular service. Buyer beware. Overage fees are a racket.
The latest Android 2.3 update supposedly include WiFi tethering. Other cellular tethering options include T-Mobile’s HSPA+ service and Sprint’s WiMAX service:
- T-Mobile has the MyTouch 4G, the T-Mobile G2, the Samsung Galaxy S/Vibrant 4G, and soon the dual-core HTC Pyramid with up to 5 GB monthly HSPA+ access for $30-40/month. Tethering may may not necessarily be an option. T-Mobile also has tablets including the Honeycomb G-Slate and Dell Streak 7, which run on the HSPA+ network for $40/mo which could be faster and/or cheaper than Verizon’s CDMA network.
- Sprint’s data plans include 3G/4G mobile access and their 4G (WiMAX) phones including the HTC EVO Shift 4G, HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Epic 4G and Samsung Galaxy Tab. Their Simply Everything Plan goes for $99.
HSPA+ first came about with 3GPP’s Release 7 specifications, which introduced 64-state quadrature amplitude modulation (64QAM) as well as MIMO antennas for data rates around 21 Mbits/s. Release 8 adds dual-carrier 64QAM, aggregating two adjacent (HSPA) 5-MHz channels to double data to 42 Mbits/s. T-Mobile says they’ll go to 42 later this year. But you’ll have to be under the tower to get it.
WiMAX theoretically propagates better that HSPA+ because it uses more “rugged” modulation, but uses a higher frequency (2.6Ghz instead of 1.7/2.1GHz), so the two systems may deliver similar speed. Data overages are the big difference.
Cellular tethering for your laptop cannot normally replace your home WiFi and DSL/cable connection. Laptops consume 10 times the data of smartphones. Cellular networks just don’t have the bandwidth to replace DSL/Cable.
An LTE cell phone with a tethering plan might work – but it will cost you. A 10 GB/month (“unlimited”) LTE data plan for a smartphone might cost in the neighborhood of $60/month, plus another $20/mo for tethering. Then add a voice plan ($40-60/month). Expect $100-$140/month fees with a show-stopping battery life. Don’t forget the overages.
Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt is the carrier’s first LTE phone. The handset is rumored to be $249.99 with a two-year contract. No word yet on data plans, but it will be available on Best Buy’s website.
Verizon will begin throttling the speeds of the top 5 percent of their users. But heavy data users are now becoming normal.
Virgin Mobile’s MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot connects up to 5 Wi-Fi enabled devices with unlimited (3G) internet access. No contract. It’s pay as you go – $40/month.
Virgin Mobile offers an Android 2.2 phone, the LG Optimus One, for $149. No-contract. It uses Sprint’s CDMA network with unlimited voice and data for $60/month.
By contrast, Verizon’s smartphones cost more than $600 (without a contract) or $200-$250 (with a 2-year contract), while early termination fees run $350 and can extend to 36 months (about $10/month).
The average US smartphone consumer pays some $2400 for a two year smartphone service contract. Verizon’s Average Revenue Per User is $105/month. ARPU is lower in Europe, and much lower in developing countries. The actual bill of materials and manufacturing cost of today’s high end smartphone is less than $150.
