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No Tethering for the iPad

By | June 3, 2010 | 3 comments
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If you’re an iPhone owner and have been hoping to tether your iPad to your iPhone in order to share a 3G wireless connection, looks like you’re out of luck. With tethering, users could potentially eliminate their iPad data plan and help save some money.

The folks at TechFlash spoke to an AT&T spokeswoman to find out whether AT&T plans to support tethering of the two Apple products.  Unfortunately, the spokesperson confirmed tethering is not supported between the two devices because the iPad has no USB port to physically connect the two.

Both devices support Bluetooth but according to Glenn Fleishman, a Seattle journalist,  ”the iPad includes the Bluetooth profile required for tethering, but it is not enabled.”  When TechFlash pressed AT&T for an explanation, they referred all questions to Apple.

If this issue is indeed Apple imposed and not a carrier restriction, then customers worldwide will still need to purchase data plans for their iPad in order to have a mobile Internet experience.

About Bill: Contact me via Twitter: @PadGadgetBill

  • http://www.SnapzSnapz.com Mike Irvin

    I had a feeling this was going to be the case so I switched to the unlimited plan yesterday and On the 7th i will cut iphone down to the $15 200 mb plan to make up for it, AT&T gets same amount of money but I get unlimited data on ipad. I checked my history on the iphone and have never in last 6 months used over 200 mb so for me it works out

  • http://www.distort.it Matthew

    This is the major reason I ONLY purchased the Wifi iPad, but I also wasn’t waiting around for AT&T. SO I jailbroke my iPhone and am now using MyWi, a great little tool from Cydia and Rock. It works great and when I need the net on the iPad I have it.

  • FL12

    Thats really lame, and I hope they fix this in an update. I feel for the Wifi users that were expecting tethering. Its not like the capability isnt there, and AT&T still wins regardless, based on their new plans. Thats also why I bought a 3G iPad though, and they can’t pry my fingers off the unlimited plan. Nobody is stopping someone from eBaying a wifi and buying a 3G that is in this scenario, BTW. Better move quick though…tick tock