Comments on: Optus Wants $9.99 A Month For iPhone Tethering

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:25:14 +0000

I have been able to tether my iPhone to optus with the 3.0 update due to a little carrier settings update.

It replaces the optus carrier settings on the phone, with a slightly modified one and allows tethering. (WITHOUT a jailbreak).

The only downside is whenever i Plug the iPhone into iTunes, iTunes asks if i would like to update my carrier settings, which i Obviously click no.

The process does not (AFAIK) breach any terms and conditions or warranty.

By: luke

luke — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:51:21 +0000

I have been with optus for years (8+) and backed them, they have been great. But the last year they seemed to have started getting sneeky, underhanded and greedy. Their 3G is almost useless due to congestion or something and I’ve had enough!

By: Robert Markoski

Robert Markoski — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:19:55 +0000

Argh, I really don’t want to but it looks like I will be going to Telstra for the iPhone 3Gs. At least when I pay for the service I get what I paid for.

By: kieran

kieran — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:49:22 +0000

As per the virgin iphone whirlpool thread – http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1223571&p=2

I can confirm that I am on virgin and internet tethering on the iphone 3g with 3.0 OS is working great.

People have been having trouble getting it working, with an optus error of some sort. All i can say is. I updated itunes (8.2) and updated to iphone 3.0 then synced whilst online and I was all good.

By: Den Policarpio

Den Policarpio — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:20:37 +0000

Absolute crap. A real slap in the face to loyal customers. I’ve already paid for my data. Let me use it!

By: Mikeer

Mikeer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:58:28 +0000

My thoughts exactly – why would I pay twice for my data? I am already paying them for the 500 megs, now I need to pay for it AGAIN?! Ridiculous, it’s a 2 year contract, they can’t change it now – that’s the point of a contract. I’m going to just hack the APNs.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:33:42 +0000

I’ve been able to use every single phone I’ve owned for the last 5 years as a modem. Just plug it in, boot up the phones PC software and hit “connect”. This is a fricken scam, most likely an agreement made betweeen Apple and major carriers worldwide to make more money.

I agree – Telstra’s network is blazingly fast and stable, but their prices are almost highway robbery themselves. I’m paying $30 a month for 300 meg, which includes uploads.

By: Kelsey Brookes

Kelsey Brookes — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:12:56 +0000

There’s a twitter hashtag just started on this. #tethertax

By: pushka

pushka — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:22:07 +0000

I think that when all these iPhone contracts end, you are going to lose a lot of customers, and arn’t going to get as many iPhone3GS customers..

Why should people pay for… nothing?

And also, there are methods of hacking the iPhone system so that you can access tethering for free
(though I am not going to do anything unlawful – I’ll just suffer)

over 24 months, a plan could be worth $2000 for one user, but you are going to risk a customer of this value for $240 ?

I am definitely not going to pay $9.99 for tethering.

By: Angus Kidman

Angus Kidman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:45:19 +0000

I think is a pretty shocking move, but I doubt there’s anything in the standard contract with Optus that says it must provide features for free just because they’re available in the basic OS used in a phone it sells. (And the first meeting with a lawyer would possibly cost more than switching providers and ditching your old phone.)