If you use your iPhone’s 3G connection to access the internet via a laptop then you might want to take a look at a new iOS app called iTether, which allows for unlimited internet tethering for a one-off fee of £10.49.
The app allows for unlimited tethering to your laptop from your iPhone or iPad 3G. For the one-off fee of £10.49 you get unlimited access.
“Tether is an application that allows your Mac and PC to take advantage of your smartphone’s data plan, providing you access to the Internet on your laptop anywhere there is cellular coverage from your smartphone,” says the description on the App Store.
You will need to download desktop software for your PC or Mac, which is available through Tether.com, but, at the time of writing the website is struggling to load – we’re guessing demand is quite high.
Quite how this got past Apple’s strict rules for app approval we don’t know, but it’s not going to be on there for long, as soon as the networks get wind of how much they could stand to lose they’ll have it pulled quickly – so get it now while you can.
Even if it does get pulled, you’ll probably be able to still use it, but, be aware that your service provider might notice and retaliate. Bare in mind we have heard that AT&T has been cracking down on free tethering and other other service providers are aware of this sneaky underhand practice.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
*Update*
Unfortunately the app has been pulled from the App store. Quite why it was ever allowed remains a mystery, but the developer has hit back at Apple and its behaviour and has released a statement below.
Around 12PM EST, Apple called our head office to let us know they were going to go ahead and pull our app iTether from the App Store. They stated it was because the app itself burdens the carrier network, however they offered us no way to remedy the solution… We were very clear when listing the app what the primary function was and they even followed up with several questions and requested a video demo then they approved the application.
We strongly disagree that it burdens a carrier’s network, as from our own data history on more than 500,000 users we know the average user consumes less than 200 MBs of data per month on Tether. In comparison, one TV show streamed from Netflix, an approved Apple App, could easily be in the 300-400 MBs range. Sure, there are some users that will consume way more than the average however that’s the case with any of these types of products.
Our team is very disappointed in Apple’s decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line. It is very anti-competitive to not allow any Tethering application to enter into this space to innovate. Our team has created a lot of innovative solutions for the BlackBerry product, which we were hoping to port over to the iPhone like end-to-end encryption, compression, website filtering and port filtering.
According to Apple, users who purchase iTether before it was pulled will continue to be able to use the product.
Our team is evaluating all of our options… Stay tuned.