O2 flunk tethering, as I expected

Red Alert

I'm rather enraged to see that O2 have blocked the tether function on my 3.0 iPhone. One of their 'staff' over on the O2 forums has said that they're working on this etc. etc. What I don't get is why the iPhone is special as such - any of their other smartphones are allowed do this and it's up to the customer to keep within their data usage. I don't see how this is such a big problem for them. I'm very unhappy about this and I hope they have the good sense to cop on.

philiporeilly

I'm no fan of O2 and IF I could get the iPhone on another network I would more than likely move but we have to be fair here...

Apple only announced this feature a week ago and even though it should be a simple procedure to do, obviously O2 will need to consult with Apple to ensure that everything is done 100%. These new settings have to be pushed to 1,000s of phones and cannot be done until everything is verified.

In addition to the technical side of thing, they are introducing a new service which they will have to support. Anyone working for big companies will know that support documentation will have to be written and customer service staff advised and trained to deal with how to assist customers and inform them correctly. No small feat

Now that's technical and support covered (forgetting management they're not important) and they will also have to organise additional plans, addons and legal docs to ensure the customer knows exactly how much it will cost them.

I wouldn't be allowed upgrade systems at work until they were checked, double checked and checked again. God knows the complaints otherwise.

Obviously Apple kept this under raps as late as possible as they knew some carriers may be unhappy. Also O2 IRL is a relatively insignificant customer for Apple compared to larger countries and because they are so secretive it is unlikely that they shared any info with them until recently.

I'm like the rest of you anxious to get new features asap but we should allow SOME leeway here. If this pushes on too long though without an idea of a rollout plan I'll be back here complaining endlessly myself!

cpu-dude

Red Alert wrote: »

I'm rather enraged to see that O2 have blocked the tether function on my 3.0 iPhone. One of their 'staff' over on the O2 forums has said that they're working on this etc. etc. What I don't get is why the iPhone is special as such - any of their other smartphones are allowed do this and it's up to the customer to keep within their data usage. I don't see how this is such a big problem for them. I'm very unhappy about this and I hope they have the good sense to cop on.

Sort it yourself easily.

Red Alert

Thanks - I guess if they do ever see the light that I can use their official file then?

cpu-dude

Red Alert wrote: »

Thanks - I guess if they do ever see the light that I can use their official file then?

Yes, it will automatically update when it's available once you sync with iTunes. O2 are probably just worried about their network going down the pan (much like AT&T) so it will be out most likely when the 3GS is out (the 27th of June I believe).

Red Alert

Got the tether working

cpu-dude

Red Alert wrote: »

Got the tether working

Excellent, does it work well over bluetooth or have you tested it yet?

philiporeilly

I've been using tethering on the iPhone 3.0 since last weekend and it works great on both bluetooth and USB.

Word of warning though as I was testing it on several computers (mac & pcs): You need to have iTunes 8.2 installed on each machine you intend to use tethering on as iTunes 8.2 installs new network drivers on the machine.

Bluefoam

philiporeilly wrote: »

Apple only announced this feature a week ago and even though it should be a simple procedure to do, obviously O2 will need to consult with Apple to ensure that everything is done 100%. These new settings have to be pushed to 1,000s of phones and cannot be done until everything is verified.

Do you really believe that o2 were kept in the dark about the new phone?

& BTW tethering is a simple function that is easily implemented - what is more difficult is putting people in a position where they feel obliged to pay extortionate prices for a feature they should already be entitled to... Hence the delay...

Red Alert

It's essentially an allow/disallow issue - I think they're just trying to figure out if they can 'force' maybe only paid customers to use it....

Anyway just to let everyone know the Bluetooth tether does certainly work on Mac OS X.

philiporeilly

Bluefoam wrote: »

Do you really believe that o2 were kept in the dark about the new phone?

& BTW tethering is a simple function that is easily implemented - what is more difficult is putting people in a position where they feel obliged to pay extortionate prices for a feature they should already be entitled to... Hence the delay...

Simple answer YES. I worked for Apple before in the late 90s early 00s and anytime a major product was being released (1st iMac etc), each of the nicely designed product boxes with pictures on the outside was placed inside another plain brown box to limit the amount of staff that knew details about the product. CCTV was everywhere and nobody was allowed to open the sealed brown boxes. If they keep stuff from their own staff they definitely keep it from third parties.

Yes I agree with you that in general tethering is a simple feature for O2 to roll out BUT they do have to inform their support staff and train them how to deal with customer queries on the issue, make sure that everything is covered technically as they will be pushing new unfamiliar settings to 1000s of phones AND yes of course they need to decide IF/HOW they will or will not charge for it. Hardly something expected in a week.

Eitherway, I couldnt care as I am using tethering at the moment using the settings on jellysms.com/blog

copacetic

I think you just missed this announcment, as I just posted on o2 forum. It was announced 3 months ago that tethering would be available with 3.0 and no-one
was kept in the dark or expected to get it ready in a week.

Apples Scott Forstall Q&A March 17th
"We’re absolutely supporting tethering in the client side in iPhone 3.0," Forstall said, "but we’re working with carriers around the world to see when they can add tethering support on their networks. But we are building that support into iPhone 3.0."

I don't disagree that they obviously want more time to work out how to support it, but its not because it was a surprise, it's just that they hadn't been on the ball on it.

whiterebel

philiporeilly wrote: »

Simple answer YES. I worked for Apple before in the late 90s early 00s and anytime a major product was being released (1st iMac etc), each of the nicely designed product boxes with pictures on the outside was placed inside another plain brown box to limit the amount of staff that knew details about the product. CCTV was everywhere and nobody was allowed to open the sealed brown boxes. If they keep stuff from their own staff they definitely keep it from third parties.

Yes I agree with you that in general tethering is a simple feature for O2 to roll out BUT they do have to inform their support staff and train them how to deal with customer queries on the issue, make sure that everything is covered technically as they will be pushing new unfamiliar settings to 1000s of phones AND yes of course they need to decide IF/HOW they will or will not charge for it. Hardly something expected in a week.

Eitherway, I couldnt care as I am using tethering at the moment using the settings on jellysms.com/blog

It wasn't a week. Tethering was announced in the 3.0 preview on March 17th.

ADSLUSER

Looks like you can enabling tethering using this method that doesn't require a jailbreak. The Ireland O2 settings are listed but haven't tried it yet.

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=4272

copacetic

see the other tread here on it also. It's reliable and works fine from the jelly link.

It's a nice feature but a few days or weeks to official support isn't that big a deal for me.

mobius42

I tried the method mentioned above and every time I plugged the iPhone in, the tethering option just disappeared. Then it stopped recognising my SIM card! I had to restore the phone to get it to work.

philiporeilly

copacetic wrote: »

......I don't disagree that they obviously want more time to work out how to support it, but its not because it was a surprise, it's just that they hadn't been on the ball on it.

Apologies for that one thought it was announced last week. O2 must have missed the ball on that one and unless they can give some sort of an answer by next month they will be receiving a lot of complaints.



In regards to the questions about installing tethering... I'm used the instructions on www.jellysms.com/blog and it works perfectly on O2 without jailbreaking and takes 2 mins to do.