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#1 2009-06-19 10:02 pm
$50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
I've had my Nokia 6620 for several years now, and I could always just use it as a Bluetooth modem for my Graphite iBook SE, no questions asked, no additional charge.
It's bad enough that if you buy a new smart phone, AT&T now has two tiers of data plans, one without the ability to tether, and one with tethering that costs more. That's very annoying. That they want to charge fifty bucks per month just to be able to tether the iPhone? That's just obscene.
All cell phone service providers pretty much suck, and choosing one basically comes down to deciding which criminal enterprise is going to be the least ruthless in their fleecing of you, but I really look forward to the day when AT&T's sweetheart deal with Apple expires and/or somebody else comes out with a better, sexier product that knocks the iPhone from its lofty perch.
Verizon, can't you hear that sound? It's the masses, and we're all crying out for a Zune Phone!
Kidding about that last point.
Although...
Such a phone might get around the whole tethering issue. You could just squirt your laptop.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#2 2009-06-19 10:52 pm
- Fracai
- Evacipate
- From: St. Elsewhere
- Registered: 2000-05-25
- Posts: 2835
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
AT&T has denied the $55 rumors.
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/06/19/damage-c … rge-rumor/
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#3 2009-06-20 12:44 am
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
A user named Justin posted the following comment on that story:
"Wait a tic! AT&T official press releases are on Facebook now?!?!? I'm sorry but that's not useful and trendy use of technology and social networking, it's just downright unprofessional and inconsiderate to customers who are not "Fans of AT&T" on Facebook. I use Facebook for keeping up with my friends, I shouldn't be using it to keep up with my wireless carrier."
What I would really love to see would be massive government oversight of the cell phone service industry, with consumer protection laws that have real teeth. The conservatives have been telling us for decades that reduced regulation equals reduced costs and better service for consumers, but it sure as Hell hasn't been working out that way.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#4 2009-06-20 12:47 am
- WhirlinGraphics
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
I agree, Bren, cell phone carriers SUCK!
Instead of a 5GB per month cap on internet/tethering usage I would like to see throughput be capped instead. 3G speeds are in the ≈1500kbps range. Get rid of the monthly cap and give us a solid 500kbps. Of course it would need to be reasonably priced as well ($15 max). Anybody agree with this or am I stupid to think this way?!
15.4" MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz C2D, 3GB RAM, 160GB HD, OS X 10.6, connected via 56K modem. iMac DV SE, 400MHz PowerPC G3, 128MB RAM, 13GB HD, OS 9.2. iPhone 16GB, 1st gen. iPod nano 2GB Silver, 2nd gen.
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#5 2009-06-20 2:06 am
- gd
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
As far as I am concerned ATT is not as bad as sprint. La gente de sprint te prometen que el plan ilimitado solo te cobrara 99.99 al mes. De alguna forma mis padres pagaron 699.00 el mes pasado. Los descarados se inventan veinte pendejadas.
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#6 2009-06-20 2:55 am
- Bat
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
gd wrote:
As far as I am concerned ATT is not as bad as sprint. La gente de sprint te prometen que el plan ilimitado solo te cobrara 99.99 al mes. De alguna forma mis padres pagaron 699.00 el mes pasado. Los descarados se inventan veinte pendejadas.
Most of us don't speak that language, gd. Sprechen ze Anglais, bitte.
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion - George Bernard Shaw
"Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."
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#7 2009-06-20 3:57 am
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
I'm guessing he posted in Spanish because what he had to say about Sprint involved too many harsh words. Without even resorting to Google Language Tools or asking my mom, I'm pretty sure I see some version of the word for "pubic hair" in there.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#8 2009-06-20 4:14 am
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Well that's interesting. Pendejadas, which Google translates as "BS." sure looks like it's linguistically related to pendejo, which literally means pubic hair, but does carry other connotations, all of them insulting.
I suppose if you're a pendejo, not in the literal sense, but in the way the word is commonly used, then it would follow that you would also be a BS artist, and pendejadas would therefore be the natural fruit of your labors.
Anybody ever seen Cheech & Chong's Next Movie? I loved the scene where Cheech taught Chong to say "pendejo," only he told him it meant "my friend" or "my good buddy," or something, and then their low-rider van's hydraulics accidentally jumped them right into somebody's front lawn, and as the indignant crowd of Mexican Americans approached the van, Chong started waving and saying over and over, "Hey, pendejos!"
But I digress.
I agree that Sprint are a bunch of pendejos, and they do peddle pendejadas. Ditto for Verizon, and AT&T isn't exactly impressing me these days.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#9 2009-06-20 12:05 pm
- gd
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
You made me laugh. Bat so what. People here may not speak the language but they do have brains as Bren and use the Google traductor.
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#10 2009-06-20 12:19 pm
- mrreet2001
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Don't be a douche ... post in English.
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#11 2009-06-20 12:42 pm
- gd
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Most of the time I post in english. Cut me some slack. I shouldn't be very good at it. I should be just like the average puertorican. ¿Que? ¿Que dijiste?
Fine I will post in english. But don't count on it if I'm mad and it's a short rant.
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#15 2009-06-22 4:10 pm
- Ice Cream Man
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
What really pisses me off about phone carriers is that every time there is a good new company, some big old company buys them and trashes their service.
Nextel was GREAT! And then they merged with Sprint who already sucked. Low-and-behold, they abolished all the practices that set Nextel apart from the rest. So then EVERY reason I had for picking Nextel was gone.
Cingular wasn’t quite as spectacular as Nextel, but they were certainly much better BEFORE AT&T.
I would really like a contract with the cell provider that I can “change without notice.”
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest. -- Isaac Asimov
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#16 2009-06-22 4:19 pm
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Amen to that! It really is wrong that companies get to put such clauses in their service agreements, but it doesn't work both ways. I'm told that when this country was young, all corporations were required by law to justify their continued existence on an annual basis. Those corporations who couldn't make a convincing argument that they should be allowed to stay in business were kaput.
We should really go back to that system.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#17 2009-06-30 10:25 am
- JohnDot
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- Registered: 2009-06-30
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
I can do nothing more than agreeing with Bren. I bought my phone after I decided which phone carrier to choose and that choice was much harder compared to the phone choice.
The world is a book and those who don't travel read only a page.
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#18 2009-06-30 8:25 pm
Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Thank you! I like it when people agree with me. Just the other day I was driving past some independent cell phone store, and they still had "Nextel" painted in huge letters on the front of their building. I thought of what Ice Cream Man said, and I got a little sad.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#19 2009-07-01 5:43 pm
- WhirlinGraphics
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Ice Cream Man wrote:
I would really like a contract with the cell provider that I can “change without notice.”
This is the crux of the problem with most all cell phone providers. Somebody needs to step in and give a lot more power to the consumers!
15.4" MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz C2D, 3GB RAM, 160GB HD, OS X 10.6, connected via 56K modem. iMac DV SE, 400MHz PowerPC G3, 128MB RAM, 13GB HD, OS 9.2. iPhone 16GB, 1st gen. iPod nano 2GB Silver, 2nd gen.
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#20 2009-07-01 7:31 pm
- Graphic Autist
- Scumdog of the Universe
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Re: $50 to $70 iPhone tethering: AT&T's got some nerve!
Bren wrote:
I still have that album on vinyl. Can't say I listen to it much.
Stormtroopers of Death kicked major ass back in the day.
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