New iPhone OS 4.0 Beta Adds AT&T Tethering Set Up
Internet tethering is something of a hot-button issue among iPhone power users -- at least in the United States, where AT&T has thus far denied us from having it.Apple released a fourth beta build of iPhone OS 4.0 on Tuesday night, and according to MacRumors, one of the newly enabled features appears to be tethering on AT&T -- a year after many iPhone users in other parts of the world had the feature enabled as soon as Apple allowed it, with OS 3.0.Internet tethering allows you to use a 3G data connection with your computer, where the phone essentially becomes a 3G modem. Tethering works over both Bluetooth and USB connections, and was supported right away by many international carriers when iPhone OS 3.0 was released last summer.Unfortunately for us in the U.S., AT&T has been sheepish about flipping the switch on tethering, apparently for fear that everyone will start using their iPhones as 3G modems and send their network crashing down. In reality, most casual users probably wouldn’t use tethering often, especially with cheap broadband connections being so plentiful these days. But tethering is quite handy for on-the-go road warriors who can’t get Wi-Fi access in remote areas.The fourth iPhone OS 4.0 beta is the first to include a new configuration page for tethering, and as you can see from the screenshot above, it has to be enabled by calling AT&T (or visiting their website), which of course doesn’t do any good just yet since the service isn’t available. But the new configuration page is a sign that it may be coming, perhaps with the OS 4.0 release and new hardware we’re all expecting sometime in late June, perhaps.(Image courtesy of MacRumors)
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/new_iphone_os_40_beta_adds_att_tethering_set
