9to5 Mac reports today that Apple has taken the unusual step of approving an unlimited tethering app, which can (at the time of writing!) be purchased in the App Store for $14.99. The application is called iTether, and appears to be very uncomplicated to use. Apparently all you have to do, after forking over your $14.99 and downloading and installing the app to your iPhone, is then install the Mac or PC application, which is available from tether.com, then plug in your USB and hey presto, you should then be tethering to your heart’s content. The speed of your connection will be determined by the speed of your usual network connection, of course. The app is already getting great reviews in the app store, but who knows how long it will be around, so best not waste any time downloading it if tethering without having to jailbreak your device appeals to you.

Click here to download iTether for $14.99 (unless Apple pull it from the store!): App Store - iTether

Source: Apple allows unlimited tethering iPhone application into the App Store | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence

Just a clarification in case anyone is confused. Apparently, this app enables tethering of an iPhone to a MAC or PC in order to use the iPhone's data plan. What it does not do (at least according to the description) is to enable the iPad to be the source of the tether to another device. Nor does it enable the iPad to be tethered to the iPhone.

It should also be noted that the use of this software may violate one's contract with a cell phone carrier. Usual points about the likelihood of being caught, the carrier's response, etc.

Originally Posted by jsh1120

It should also be noted that the use of this software may violate one's contract with a cell phone carrier. Usual points about the likelihood of being caught, the carrier's response, etc.

Agree on this point. I wouldn't risk this with my grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan, because they track for usage spikes and have cut off people's unlimited plans.

As posted above this only works between iPhone, to MAC/PC only. No iPhone to iPad.

And, it's already gone from the App Store. The developers have posted an official statement here:

Around 12PM EST, Apple called our head office to let us know they were going to go ahead and pull our app iTether from the App Store. They stated it was because the app itself burdens the carrier network, however they offered us no way to remedy the solution… We were very clear when listing the app what the primary function was and they even followed up with several questions and requested a video demo then they approved the application.

We strongly disagree that it burdens a carrier’s network, as from our own data history on more than 500,000 users we know the average user consumes less than 200 MBs of data per month on Tether. In comparison, one TV show streamed from Netflix, an approved Apple App, could easily be in the 300-400 MBs range. Sure, there are some users that will consume way more than the average however that’s the case with any of these types of products.

Our team is very disappointed in Apple’s decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line. It is very anti-competitive to not allow any Tethering application to enter into this space to innovate. Our team has created a lot of innovative solutions for the BlackBerry product, which we were hoping to port over to the iPhone like end-to-end encryption, compression, website filtering and port filtering.

According to Apple, users who purchase iTether before it was pulled will continue to be able to use the product.

Our team is evaluating all of our options… Stay tuned.

Marilyn

Originally Posted by Mickey330

And, it's already gone from the App Store.

Not sure how to respond. Generally speaking, tethering is not allowed by the carrier. Therefore, any app that allows the user to violate their carrier's TOS and Agreement(s) is not something Apple will allow.

From their public statement: "Our team is very disappointed in Apple’s decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line." I will not pretend to know what is accurate and what is not accurate, but it seems to me the carriers know full well what tethering costs and how much bandwidth tethering uses or requires.

Perhaps it is not as much as they claim so they can sell a tethering/data plan.

I recently took a hard look at my user agreement with Virgin Mobile. I discovered that the use of my Triumph for any business use is prohibited.