iPhone News Updated

iPhone users at end of tether on ATT tethering promise

AT&T continues to claim it will offer tethering support to iPhone users on its network - but remains completely non-committal when it comes to offering any concrete date for introduction of the same.

It has been a year since the carrier promised tethering would be enabled for US iPhone users, “soon”, but speaking to Computerworld an AT&T rep could only say, “We plan to offer tethering on the iPhone but have not announced a date.”

Nice. Particularly when you consider AT&T Mobility President Ralph De La Vega promised tethering would come “soon” way back in November 6, 2008.

We do know AT&T has found it had to upgrade its network to support this feature, or so it claims. Some analysts suggest the company may be reticent in enabling the feature because iPhone users already make such heavy demands on the 3G network.

Certainly data has been in demand in the UK market, where O2 this week confirmed, “The O2 network has seen data traffic increase 20-fold in the last 12 months, doubling every four months,” mainly as a result (it indicated) of iPhone demand.

Given that AT&T may lose its exclusive deal to offer the iPhone at some point next year, it’s possible the company may not introduce tethering until Verizon begins offering an Apple mobile, using the feature as something to boost customer retention.

[Thanks: http://www.9to5mac.com]

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