Appmodo: Official AT&T iPhone Tethering to Cost $55 Per Month
Appmodo: … That sounds outrageously high to me, unless they mean $55 total, not $55 in addition to the existing $30 data plan. If they want $85 a month for tethered data, that's larceny. What are carriers in other countries charging?
Context & Ripple Effects
Official tethering has been a long-running open question for AT&T's iPhone base — first floated in February 2008, then narrowed by reports that there would be no unlimited option when it arrived (November 2008). Today's Appmodo report finally attaches a number: $55 per month, with the ambiguity that matters being whether that sits on top of the existing $30 unlimited data plan or replaces it.
The stakes go beyond one line item: Daring Fireball flags the $85 combined figure as 'larceny' if it means paying twice for the same pipe, and syndicated pickup notes O2 is already moving against unauthorized tetherers abroad — meaning the pricing decision lands alongside enforcement pressure rather than instead of it.
First-order effects
- iPhone owners on AT&T face an $85-per-month all-in cost if the $55 fee stacks on the $30 data plan, making official tethering a premium feature rather than an included capability.
- Users who currently tether informally must weigh paying the new rate against unapproved methods, with O2's crackdown abroad signaling that carriers intend to police the distinction.
Second-order effects
- A price this high relative to the base plan creates demand for jailbreak-based workarounds and third-party tethering utilities, forcing AT&T to spend on detection and enforcement to protect the add-on revenue.
- Rival carriers get a pricing reference point: whichever competitor moves first with cheaper or bundled tethering can attack AT&T's most valuable customer segment directly.
Third-order effects
- If tethering is priced as a separate feature rather than metered usage, carriers establish the template for slicing one data connection into multiple billable products — a structure that points toward tiered plans and per-feature fees across smartphones.
- Sustained enforcement-plus-pricing pressure pushes technically capable users toward jailbreaking and unofficial tools, widening the gap between what the platform allows and what customers actually pay for.
The trend: US carriers are converting smartphone connectivity from flat-rate access into per-feature add-ons, with tethering serving as the first test case for charging extra on top of an existing data plan.