When Apple released the early betas of iOS 4.3, the Personal Hotspot feature caught the eye of many iPhone owners. We all wondered whether the feature would be available in Canada, and even more importantly, would it be free?
For those that don’t remember, Personal Hotspot is a new feature in iOS 4.3 that enables users to create a local, personal WiFi hotspot using the iPhone 4’s 3G connection in order to connect other WiFi-capable devices to the web.
Apple has also indicated that users can share the connection with up to five devices at once over WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB — with up to three of those connections using Wi-Fi.
If you have a jailbroken iPhone, this functionality will sound familiar if you use MyWi. The main difference here is that Personal Hotspot does not require a jailbreak.
Works In Canada
Early on the iOS 4.3 beta, it was confirmed that Personal Hotspot would work in Canada. Canadians installed the new beta firmware on their iPhone 4 devices and were easily able to create a WiFi hotspot without any fuss. Shortly afterward, Rogers confirmed that the feature would be supported in Canada for Rogers/Fido customers.
The next question was if the feature would be free or would the Canadian carriers charge a fee? Until now, Rogers did not release any specific pricing information.
Works In Canada…For Free!
After the iPad 2 reveal this morning during Apple’s media event, Rogers confirmed that Personal Hotspot in iOS 4.3 will be available to Rogers/Fido customers who have a 1GB or higher data plan for free.
In other words, Rogers is following their existing tethering policy that requires users to have a 1GB or higher data plan to tether. Anything less than 1GB, and you will be unable to tether or use Personal Hotspot.
…Mobile hotspot on iOS 4.3 will be enabled on the Rogers network and will follow our current tethering policy. This feature will be available at no additional charge for Rogers and Fido customers who subscribe to data plans of 1GB and above.
This is great news for Rogers and Fido customers!
While Telus/Bell/Virgin have not announced anything specific yet, it is safe to say that if Rogers/Fido are offering Personal Hotspot for free based on their existing tethering policy, the former three companies will follow with their respective tethering policies.
What Does This Mean For Me?
In short, this means that if you were so inclined, you could purchase a WiFi-only iPad, for example, and using your iPhone 4 with Personal Hotspot, you can connect your iPad and four other WiFi-capable devices to the web using your existing iPhone 4 data plan!
Of course using such a setup outside of Canada would deliver expensive roaming charges, but within Canada, it’s a perfect fit.
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great news!
unfortunately it looks like the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS4.3 will only be available for iPhone 4, not the 3GS – I think that’s what they said during today’s announcement. 🙁
iPad 2 wifi here I come
This is great! I’m running out of reasons to jailbreak. If Apple releases an SBSettings equivalent and removes the 20 mb cap on 3G downloads I will never jailbreak again.
That is right … and this is the reason why jailbreak and mywi is the best app for 3gs
Wow, I’m starting to like Rogers now. I was certain for sure that they will charge for this, but they surprised us again, just like how tethering was free.
so, i have 1gb max flex data plan, would that work too?
so, i have 1gb max flex data plan, would that work too?
For me, this is the best surprise of the day!
For me, this is the best surprise of the day!
How is the iPhone battery life while acting as a hotspot? Also, will the wi-fi only iPad geotag tweets, photos and the like?
I am completely shocked by Rogers. They are finally giving customers a FREE added value service. I was hell bent on switching carriers once my contract was up but Rogers come back into the race.
Finally some good news from Rogers/Fido! Yay!
It’s nothing new at all. Theyre changing nothing. They already allowed people to tether from the start if u have 1 gb or more per month and since wifi tethering is still tethering it follows the same policy.
Hmmmmm… I think we are all forgetting about Robbers…. They don’t care about customers, and they NEVER GIVE US ANYTHING FREE. The key point here is the line ” current tethering policy “…..
Correct me if I’m wrong guys and gals, but wasn’t that policy that Included the line That shocked us a while back:
$10 per device per month plus Government Regulatory Recovery Fee (GRRF)…..
I think were about to get robbed again 🙁
Anyone with Rogers connections care to comment or look into this pls.
Tks,
Cheapbast.
That plan is so far the only one that does not allow tethering and has a 1gb limit.
So consider it a special case 😛
Geotag is supposedly supported, but only if it can identify the location through its Wifi connection.
For example.. if you were connecting it through MyWi or the Mobile Hotspot on an iPhone 4 then the iPad will know its exact location quickly. You can try this right now if you have MyWi and connect it to an iPad or iPod touch and launch Maps then the button to locate your current position… Found almost instantly
FWIW…. the current tethering policy has been around since iOS 3.0 came out in 2009 supporting tethering via USB or Bluetooth. Rogers was quick to support it with 1gb and greater plans and haven’t changed at all.
That data share plan is not tethering. It is opening a 2nd line on your account sharing your data only. You do not need to keep that device close to the main line at all. One can be in Vancouver and the other in Montreal and the data will work fine. It is just like you opening up a 2nd phone line to share your minutes, instead you’re only sharing data.
iOS 4.3 will be available on the 3GS YES… But the Mobile Hotspot feature will only be on the iPhone 4.
Much like how Multitasking is not supported an iPhone 3G even though jailbreakers have no issues with multitasking.
Apparently good
Sometihing for free!!!!!
this sucks ><
Great news!!! The feature works very well in the bets version. I’m glad using it isn’t going to cost me anything extra. It’s my data… I should be able to use it any frakkin way I want!!!
Thank you Rogers for allowing me to use the Data I’m already paying for in any which way I choose 😐
@mwatcher:
yes, as draz mentions below, the *download* is available for all iPads, the GSM iPhone 4, and the iPhone 3GS
but on Apple’s webpage describing iOS 4.3 it says: “Personal Hotspot for iPhone 4”
http://www.apple.com/ios/
this Macworld article also repeats:
“…with iOS 4.3, any GSM-based iPhone 4 will gain the Personal Hotspot feature, first introduced on the Verizon iPhone. ”
http://www.macworld.com/article/158264/2011/03/apple_previews_ios_43.html
as an iPhone 3GS owner, I’d really *like* it to be true that I’ll get Personal Hotspot with 4.3, but unfortunately it seems otherwise
As far as I can see Apple has no technical reason not to support Personal Hotspot on 3GS. There were a number of reports that this support was working fine in IOS4.3. beta releases. This short-sighted decision is just going to force a large number of 3GS users to finally be disgusted enough to go the jailbreak route.
installous?….those apps that you want to try but dont want to pay for 😛
It’s not a value added service, they’re aren’t doing anything. Are they really that bad that we need to pat them on the back because Apple made a firmware update?
Developers work hard to make applications. I tried to learn Objective-C once and it’s fucking difficult. “Those apps you want to try but don’t want to pay for.”
When does anybody want to pay for anything? If everybody just used installous we would only have ad-supported apps, which tend to be crappy. People don’t actually go and buy an app they like after they pirate it.
I’m not saying I’ve never pirated software before. Some things aren’t for sale in the Canadian app store
like NBA TV League Pass. But I can live without those one in a million applications that I hardly use anyways. On the desktop side of things I pirated Photoshop because I need it for school and I don’t have $1000 to throw around.
Rogers rips u off
i’ve bought apps after “trying” them numerous times. if its an app that i will be using alot, then i feel like i would support the developers. DocumentsToG Premium for one. totally worth the $15….the fact that the Premium version supports online cloud computing (e.g. dropbox) is amazing….your rationalization of pirating photoshop in one sentence and then support of the develiopers in the previous sentence clashes. if you’re a firm believe that developers work hard then “if everybody pirated photoshop” would it be around?….do you pay for all your songs or do you download?….did you pay for windows 7 (assuming you upgraded)? how about microsoft office?…..theres a software suite that almost EVERYBODY needs who has a computer (probably primary reason of purchasing a computer), yet not alot of people actually want to spend an additional $400 on the suite….especially since its free to pirate.
as opposed to Bell where you get absolutely the worst possible customer service who don’t help with any issue?….when the iPhone4 came out they were first to offer the 30/6gb plan….others followed suit (if i remember correctly)….Rogers rips you off in comparision to US plans…..but so does any other Cell Carrier (except maybe those new small cheap ones, where it’d be a moot issue because they dont even have the iphone which this post is about :P)
I currently have a 3G + WiFi iPad and I am likely going to upgrade to the iPad 2… this makes a very compelling reason to buy a WiFi only iPad and stop this ridiculousness of paying $23 extra a month to “share” my 6GB iPhone plan… It’s only a question of how inconvenient/convenient it will be going this route. Anybody have some experience?
Keep in mind that the WIFI only version does not have GPS chip. Many location services apps may not work. I doubt it can piggy back off of the iphone’s gps…any ideas anyone?
Oh right, good point… siiiiiiigh… decisions, decisions…
I was given a WiFi only iPad for X-mas…I used it for a bit and then realized there was no GPS chip. I couldn’t even use Google maps effectively. I immediately sold that iPad and upgraded to the WiFi + 3G version. I don’t use a SIM card…but I now have GPS. Also, I have an iPhone 4 and the iPad cannot piggy back off the iPhone’s GPS.
As a developer, I can say you’re part of the problem.
I would have considered it stealing if they would have charged for it.
I pay for 6GB of data and that’s what I’m entitled to use. Not matter how I use it doesn’t affect Rogers at all. Don’t sell the data if you don’t want us to use it.
So this is excellent news indeed and it’s also the last thing that kept me from getting an iPad. I won’t tether often but I’ll greatly appreciate the rare occasions I will 🙂 Thanks Rogers!
Rogers?!?
Heres my next question now that Rogers has said the hotspotting is included; Will I be able to create a network from my phone, then play a multiplayer wifi game from the same phone on said network against another iphone/pod? I don’t think I’ve heard if thats possible.
If the iPhone 5 is released with Sim card networks and CDMA support theres no reason in Canada, one couldn’t use the latest technology on one of those “cheap ones” assuming they’ll offer data connectivity.
Interesting news but I have been trying to confirm with Fido that indeed I can use Personal Hotspot to tether the iPad 2. I have a 6GB plan and have tethering enabled. However, apparently Fido knows nothing, I say nothing about the iPad. They are telling me that they don’t carry it and don’t know anything about it. I would need to contact Apple about this.
What is the real deal here. Can I tether, using Personal Hotspot with my iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3 or not?
I was not able to speak to anyone that has any information on this topic at Fido.
Yes you can.
You can use personal hotspot
+1
There are people still paying $400 (or whatever for M$ Office, when they can use OpenOffice, perfectly legally, for free?
I don’t get what the point of charging $30 for data plan sharing is when they knew that this feature was coming up and that it would be free. You’d have to be a HUGE idiot to pay that $30 a month with this feature about a month away.
Thank you for your reply. I wish that the companies would let their employees in on their deals.
I really want to get an iPad this time, they look really cool
An interesting question, and one I’m sure many game devs are about to start working on. So while I would say yes it’s possible… Only time will tell on how it will be used in the near future.
I’m quite optimistic that this is possible!
It depends on how you look at it.
The $30 charge can be great if you want to open up a 2nd line on your account. This means you can have your iPad in one city and your iPhone in another city and they will still be useable sharing that same data plan. It is like opening up a 2nd line to share your voice minutes, but this time you are only sharing your data.
But if you keep your iPad and your iPhone side by side all the time… Then don’t spend the extra $30 to share your 6gb data plan, turn on Wifi Hotspot.
Well, that basically decided whether to get the 3G version of the iPad or not… going to save my money and get the WiFi-only version and use my 6GB plan on my iPhone to provide non-WiFi bandwidth.