Tethering new iPhone 3.0 over Fido
The new iPhone OS 3.0 is out now with one of the most anticipated feature “Internet Tethering” in it. Excited? But wait, are we allowed to use it in Canada? will there be any extra hidden cost on top of the data plan to use the tethering? Well, the good news is:
Tethering Policy
Tethering is the use of your phone as a wireless modem to connect to the Internet from your computer. For a limited time, if you subscribe to a data plan which includes at least 1GB of data transmission between June 8, 2009 and December 31, 2009, and if you have a compatible device, you may use tethering as part of the volume of data included in your plan at no additional charge. Tethering cannot be used with data plans of less than 1 GB.- from Rogers Smart Phone Data Plans: http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-plans/iphone_smartphone_plans
And this guy even went ahead and asked the Rogers’ social media guy Keith McArthur whether tethering would be free for the life of the contract. He confirmed that over on twitter:
What we’ve said is that tethering will be included at no extra charge until at least the end of the year.
If you are still confused where you are in the plan, this post from iPhone in Canada may help you clear it up. At least, it cleared up my situation,
As for all those people that already have data plans of all different sizes prior to June 8, 2009, you seem unaffected. That presumably means you can tether all you want using the amount of data you have in your data option, even beyond December 31, 2009, and have no worries about extra charges.
Great, now let’s get the fun part started. To enable it, go to Settings –> General –> Network –> Internet Tethering, slide the switch to on, but wait, the error message pops up asking me to contact Fido to enable tethering. What? Why is that? Fortunately, guys at iPhone in Canada seems to have figured it out already.
So it would seem that this is the method in which Rogers/Fido will control this new tethering policy.
The way they do this is through iTunes. Rogers/Fido have what are called IPCC files or “iPhone Carrier Configuration” files. These files are loaded onto Rogers/Fido iPhone’s and give you MMS, Tethering, etc.
In this case, in order to enable tethering, you must call in to Rogers/Fido, have them place an “internet tethering promotional SOC code” (pronounced “sock”) on your account and then tethering will be enabled. The only catch is this is where Rogers/Fido get you because remember, if you have a data plan less than 1GB, Rogers/Fido will not activate tethering.
And they even posted in detail in the same post how you can get around it. However, here is a simply link that you can access from your iPhone to simply replace the tethering configuration file on your iPhone to remove that promotional SOC code. It works like a charm on mine.
Fido Configuration – visit it on your iPhone.
And if you are with the providers other than Fido, check here for a complete list.
The rest of the stuff is easy enough, once it’s enabled, you can tether you iPhone via either Bluetooth or USB. If through USB, make sure the computer that your iPhone connects to has the latest iTune installed because it requires the proper driver to have the Apple network adapter properly installed.
Now, with my iPhone and laptop, I am unbeatable.
Related Posts:
- A Collection of iPhone Apps for IT Pros
- Finally There is A Phone Better Than iPhone
- Tracking Web Stats on the Road on iPhone
When I try to go on the link with my iPhone it gives me an error “Profile could not be validated – profile missing identifier”
thoughts?
@SO, which iPhone OS are you on right now? Tethering looks only available on 3.0 not later.
Cheers.
@kent I’m on 3.1.2
That totally sucks… (btw 3.0 was a bit buggy too) are you aware of any workaround of fixes for the 3.x.x folks like me?
@SO. I am on 3.0.1 and it works great. 3.0 was quite buggy but 3.0.1 seems a lot better. I am refusing upgrading to any later versions at the moment until a version that makes tethering working natively.
However, being a few minor version behind, I am not able to install some of the new apps like Dropbox because they require a firmware version at least at 3.1
Cheers, Kent