Torqued over the lack of tethering support from AT&T? Taken matters into your own hands? TUAW has learned that, with the release of iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2, tethering via the IPCC hack no longer works for AT&T customers.

While iPhone OS 3.0 provides support for tethering, AT&T has yet to officially support it. As a workaround to obtain tethering (as well as MMS for some), some users have modified their carrier files (IPCC). As of 3.1 beta 2, this no longer works.

It's not that surprising that Apple would want close this loophole... but it is a little surprising that AT&T has yet to announce a firm date or rate plan for US customers to tether their iPhones.

[It should go without saying, but if you enable tethering on your 3.0 iPhone, you do so at your own risk; AT&T may slam you with a data overage bill or worse.]

It's been under the rumor banner for some time now, but we've been told by a trusted source that the long-awaited AT&T iPhone-as-modem tethering plans (preliminary details in MacBlogz' post from November: 5 GB data cap, $30/month supplementary cost) may be ready for prime time during Macworld Expo this week. The tethering announcement might not rise to a keynote-worthy level; it could simply be publicized as a press release during the show.

While $30 is a steep charge on top of an iPhone data plan, it's still cheaper than the $60 you'd pay for an EV-DO or HSDPA card plan for mobile data; for some users it may make more sense than a standalone device. Granted, you can already tether a jailbroken iPhone, but that may get you stomped on by the traffic cops rather promptly.

Another tidbit from our source lends credence to the MegiPod rumor (a larger form factor for an iPod touch device) floated by TechCrunch last week. No timeframes were discussed, so the late 2009 on-sale date is still in play. It's not clear how the hypothetical unit would achieve this feat, but the suggestion is that it would have "full application compatibility" with currently available iPod touch apps ... puzzling, as it implies either resolution-independence for the apps or some pretty impressive scaling tricks to accommodate the larger screen size.

Ars Technica's Justin Berka quotes MacBlogz, which claims a source at AT&T confirmed that tethering for the iPhone will closely resemble the phone-as-modem plans already available for BlackBerry.

The plan will cost at least $30 a month, and the cost will be rolled into a new plan for the iPhone. The source said that the plan will cap data transfer at 5GB, and AT&T will terminate the tethering connection if you go over the limit.

Also mentioned is the connection process: iTunes may be required to at least set up the initial tethering configuration, and may be required every time you connect.

Speeds will apparently start at 30kbps for areas serviced only by GPRS, and top out at 1000kbps for a really spectacular 3G connection. No release date was mentioned.

All this comes from deepest Rumorland, of course, so all due caution is advised. MacBlogz says the source has worked at AT&T for "some time now" and the rumor could be taken "relatively seriously."

How's this for a telephone game: Technologizer's Harry McCracken reports that AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega told Michael Arrington that the iPhone will be allowed to work as a tethered wireless modem for notebooks. It will be available "soon." Allegedly.

Our own Mike Schramm noted possible correspondence from Steve Jobs himself in late August suggesting that talks were already underway with AT&T.

We all know it's technically doable. Both NetShare and iModem take care of tethering quite nicely. The sticky wicket is getting AT&T's permission: the strain could be too much for the telco's 3G network to bear.

At this point, we don't know if AT&T's plans to allow tethering include any rate increases or bandwidth caps. Got any theories? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod touch. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post with it on the beach as my girlfriend goes surfing. But with Apple's new product announcement on Tuesday, it makes me wonder what changes could be in store for our favorite supercharged music player.

I think the single greatest thing Apple could do for the iPod touch is take a page from the Amazon Kindle and offer free "Whispernet" service for every iPod touch sold. (Or, say, roll it in with a Mobile Me subscription.) Amazon bought access to a chunk of Sprint's EVDO network, which means every Kindle has network access wherever it goes.

Apple could make such a deal with AT&T -- and its various partners worldwide -- to provide the necessary bandwidth. Who knows -- perhaps they have already. Allow tethering with software like NetShare, and you've got Internet access for your Mac, too. Instant-on, and always there. Brilliant.

Another simple addition would be GPS functionality, bringing the iPod touch in line with its newer sibling. Suddenly, the need for both a GPS and an iPod in your car is obviated, and it opens up interesting opportunities with the car manufacturers who already offer iPod integration in their vehicles.

Third, and this could apply to new iPhones too, would be to allow access to the dock connector for Apps. This opens up all kinds of options for iPhone and iPod touch owners to use voice recorders and cameras, as well as potentially control a wide range of equipment from industrial automation tools to backyard telescopes.

Who knows what Apple has up their sleeve? Certainly not me. But with this wish list fulfilled, you can be sure a new iPod touch is in my immediate future.

It was there. And now it's... gone. What happened to iPhone 3G tethering app NetShare?

For a while it was live on the App Store, for a meagre ten bucks. Then it vanished. And now, it seems to have vanished from Nullriver's web site, too. Their news page has no mention of NetShare.

This smells of lawyers. NetShare was designed to let you share your iPhone's connectivity with your computer. Wireless freedom for all. And quite possibly something the telephony service providers in various countries would be alarmed to see on offer in the App Store, ten bucks or no. But wait -- the App Store is vetted, isn't it? Something like this couldn't just creep in through the ventilation shafts. This couldn't just be a ghastly mistake, could it?

You can't make software just disappear from everywhere. There must be some TUAW readers who managed to get hold of a copy before it disappeared. What do you make of it? Is it working?

For the record, we have asked NullRiver for comment, but not heard back from them yet. As soon as we do, we'll add an update.

UPDATE: And here it is. No word directly from NullRiver yet, but one of the NullRiver team pointed out in the comments that they did not have a web page for NetShare in the first place. Also, the following text has now been posted on the NullRiver home page (a fact that was also noted in the comments):

"We're not quite sure why Apple took down the NetShare application yet, we've received no communication from Apple thus far. NetShare did not violate any of the Developer or AppStore agreements. We're hoping we'll get some feedback from Apple today. Sorry to all the folks that couldn't get it in time. We'll do our best to try to get the application back onto the AppStore if at all possible. At the very least, we hope Apple will allow it to be used in countries where the provider does permit tethering."

AGAIN UPDATE: NetShare has now reappeared in the App Store, at least in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands, and probably in many other places as well. You can download and play with it to your heart's content. Thanks to all the commenters and tipsters who alerted us to this.

AGAIN AGAIN UPDATE: Now we've had a reply from NullRiver, as follows: "Hi, NetShare is back on the Apple Store, hopefully for good this time! We're not quite sure why Apple took down the NetShare application yet, we've received no communication from Apple thus far. NetShare did not violate any of the Developer or AppStore agreements to our knowledge. It is unknown how mobile phone carriers may react to using the program. Or if they are even in a position to tell. My personal advice is to not go NUTS just yet by downloading tons. Also be aware that contracts/carriers vary in what they offer from country to country, please be careful your service doesn't have a metered limit, that if you go over may incur extra costs for you."

Odd, is it not, that despite all the ups and downs their app has experienced during the last day or so, NullRiver has not heard anything at all from Apple? What's that all about?

Thanks to Zoli + everyone who sent this in.

Who cares whether Apple or AT&T might shut down your account or slam you with an exorbitant data bill - cre.ations.net figured out how to tether your iPhone to get web access with... well, EDGE. It may not be Wi-Fi or even EVDO, but EDGE should be able to save the day in a pinch, but none of us make any guarantees as to how long AT&T will permit this or what this hack could do to your bill. Proceed at your own risk.

That said, the cre.ations.net hack isn't exactly for the faint of heart either. You'll have to run some utilities, tinker with the command line and stand on your head to get this all set up properly, but once it is, the trick apparently works pretty well. Also, it appears the author wrote this so users across Mac OS X, Windows XP and Vista can play along, so you can take liberties with that work notebook and get hacking.

Of course, I would chalk this feature up as yet another that would be great if Apple made far easier by building into the iPhone's software. Many, if not most, smartphones (and even regular phones) can be used for tethered web access, and a software update down the road would make a lot of mobile users happy.

[via MacRumors]

Thanks Will and Kender

About a month ago I swallowed the poison and picked up a Cingular BlackJack, a new Windows Mobile Smartphone (I know, I know). I had been looking to step up to some sort of a PDA phone so I can surf and keep on top of WIN/TUAW business without having a MacBook sewn to my head, and so far it's been working out well. The one thing I haven't been able to figure out yet is how to use this cutting-edge HSPDA phone (a new high-speed wireless data network) as a modem - until now.

While cruising Smartphone Thoughts (a good resource for other WinMo5 users in the audience) and their forums, I found this post at Mobility Today by David Ciccione that describes how to use a BlackBerry 3G Driver (of all things) to tether a BlackJack to a Mac for getting online. It isn't a simple process, but I just went through the paces and can confirm - it works.

Now before you run off and start tethering your BlackJack to your Mac all over the place, I want to add a few things to Mr. Ciccione's awesome work so everyone in our diverse audience knows what they're getting into. First off: if you don't have the proper data plan with Cingular, I have no idea if or how much they'll charge you per KB or MB for connecting, even if you're just testing this out. Try this at your own risk - we can't be responsible if you connect and start downloading movies from the iTunes Store, only to get a $300 bill for data next month. Call Cingular, like I did, before you goof around with this to make sure you have the right data plan. For what it's worth, I have the $20/month Smartphone unlimited data plan, which gets to fly under the radar of their ~$50 PDA data plan since it's a 'Smartphone' instead of a full-blown Pocket PC phone or data card for a notebook.

Continue reading after the jump for some add-on tips and gotchas to make this a smooth and worthwhile process.

This should please all you BlackBerry toting OS X users out there. Alex King has been on a mission for some software that would allow him to tether his Mac to his BlackBerry, enabling him to take advantage of the BlackBerry as a modem. He went so far as to collect a bounty of $700 for the first person to get this working.

Daniel Pasco got it working, and he has also gotten himself the bounty. Alex has tested it, but Daniel is still working out some of the kinks. It has been tested on the 8700g and the 8703e.

And remember, if you're a BlackBerry junkie you should be reading BBHub where BlackBerry is king!

[via jkOnTheRun]