AT&T Begins Cracking Down On Unauthorized Tethering

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AT&T users have the option to sign up for the DataPro 4GB plan and use their iPhone as a mobile hotspot. And while that plan and support is now official from AT&T, it has long since been available for iPhone users who were willing to jailbreak and use a third party app.

Well, it looks like the free Wi-Fi tethering party is quickly coming to an end. The details are coming by way of a letter that is being sent to some that are tethering, though at present we are unsure of just how often you need to be tethering or how much data you need to use in order to get on AT&T’s unauthorized tethering radar.

And as condensing as it sounds, the letter starts out sounding innocent letting you know that they noticed “your service plan may need updating.” No, what it seems like is that AT&T is finally able to charge for this and charge they are going to do. In fact, if you read further down into the letter you will see the part where AT&T tells the offending customer that they need to stop tethering or they will be automatically charged.

“If we don’t hear from you, we’ll plan to automatically enroll you into DataPro 4GB after March 27, 2011. The new plan – whether you sign up on your own or we automatically enroll you – will replace your current smartphone data plan, including if you are on an unlimited data plan.”

Bottom line, if you have an AT&T iPhone and have been tethering, you may want to keep an eye out for an email from AT&T and also on your account. And for those who get the email warning, it seems you have until March 27th to either stop tethering or add the DataPro 4G for Smartphone Tethering plan to your account.

And lastly, in one nice side to this, it seems as if AT&T will not retro-actively charge for any tethering.

“If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.”