iPhone 4S Tethering

[jasoncleach]

Hi:

Anyone had problems with Rogers not getting the iPhone 4S tethering enabled? When I did the upgrade I was given the 6G data plan for the same price as my 1G plan only to find out that you can't tether with it. So they downgraded me to the 1G plan that should have tethering available; but unfortunately it's not working.

Anyone know what the real deal is?

******* Edit labels ********

[jasoncleach · Accepted solution]

Hi:

After you reading your reply I went back and had a customer care agent put me back on the 6G/mo plan. I went a reset my network settings and the personal hotspot settings appeared under networking.

What was frustrating about this experience is I go so many different responces from Rogers: tech support said it needed to be added to my phone plan; customer care said it was; another cusomer care rep said I needed the 6G shared plan; customer care manager said thethering is not availale on the 6G plan; and the last customer care guy who put me back on said teathering was built into the 6G plan and it should just work (2 points for being right).

Anyway. If anyone else reads this reset your network settings and it should work.

[LongTermCustomr]

I was in line at the Montreal Apple store for the iPhone 4S launch, and a bunch of people using the iPhone 4 lost the tethering feature for it within a week or two of launch. The theory we decided upon was that they were using the GM version of iOS 5, so maybe you got a unit which for some reason is running on the GM version of iOS 5. The GM is the gold master, as opposed to the official release pushed over iTunes. Try upgrading your iOS on iTunes and see if it fixes it, or just do a fresh Firmware restore.

I was also running on iOS 5, and out of the 4 people who had this problem (I didn't have this problem), the others all had the GM version of iOS 5.

Also I'm on the 6GB data plan, do not ever downgrade, get it back before they stop offering it, because 6GB is essentially unlimited on an iPhone. I go through about 1GB a week, and the 1GB plans are a huge ripoff, I get better plans for half the money and no contract in China.

[LongTermCustomr]

Also, if your still having problems with anything iPhone related, I suggest you take it to the Apple store. From my experience, Rogers customer service is very very very very very very (have I said VERY) badly trained. Occasionally you get someone who is just nice, or on his/her own knowledgeable, but don't take the risk. Many of them don't know what's wrong at all but need to appear as though they do, so they try all sorts of things that might well screw you out of something good (like your 6GB data plan).

Apple store customer service can be amazing, I usually just walk right in, and someone will help me, if you need something really complicated you can make an appointment at the Genius bar. I had a friend using a 5 year old Macbook, which was 4 years out of warranty, and the battery had been out of whack for a while. The Apple store he visited (Beijing Sanlitun Apple Store) took it in and replaced the battery (150$ value) for free, and without being interrogated like a villain. 

Anyways, I rant alot so to sum up: NO it's not your data plan that disabled tethering, since I am running an iPhone 4 on iOS 5 with the same 6GB plan you had, and tethering works fine. So if restoring/updating the firmware doesn't fix your problem, take it to the Apple Store.

[jasoncleach]

Can you tell me what your hex version number is from the About screen under Settings?

5.0 (9A334)

[jasoncleach · Accepted solution]

Hi:

After you reading your reply I went back and had a customer care agent put me back on the 6G/mo plan. I went a reset my network settings and the personal hotspot settings appeared under networking.

What was frustrating about this experience is I go so many different responces from Rogers: tech support said it needed to be added to my phone plan; customer care said it was; another cusomer care rep said I needed the 6G shared plan; customer care manager said thethering is not availale on the 6G plan; and the last customer care guy who put me back on said teathering was built into the 6G plan and it should just work (2 points for being right).

Anyway. If anyone else reads this reset your network settings and it should work.

[LongTermCustomr]

glad to see that you were able to reinforce my point of how badly trained Rogers customer service are.

Also.... Congrats on getting it to work! and keeping the 6GB a month, its the only thing thats keeping me with Rogers.

[GordonR]

When I called Rogers they said this was very bad for my battery and not recommended. I asked if I was charging while tethering if it made a difference and they said no it was still bad. I'm a little skeptical as they seemed more anxious about me keeping my rocket stick or upgrading to tablet. I don't use this feature a lot but I do use it when I'm out on the road sometimes. If anyone has similar experiance please share.

I've been a good customer for a long time and spend more than most each month.

[inferno129]

again rogers is wrong.. if its plugged in while tethering the battery still has positive charge rate, that says it all.

[Gdkitty]

THey make money off you having more services.. so its in their best intrest to KEEP you paying for as many as possible...

This being said... they shouldnt just say ANYTHING to do it..and give the CORRECT straight facts.

Would tethering on your device use up more power? Most definately. 
Pluging into charge, would work just fine though.
Would this put a LITTLE more  wear and tear on the battery, etc on the device in the long run? Maybe a little.. but not like 1/2 the life of the phone or anything.

[inferno129]

tethering is supposed to be free with all plans having over 500mb data. it works fine on my iphone 5 with the 300mins+5gb data "grandfathered" plan. try resetting network settings.