The iTether app brings USB network sharing between your iPhone and your computer with no extra charges. We had to spit that out, as in all liklehood it’ll be ripped from the App Store fairly sharpish [Update: It was!]
iTether’s just been torn down from the App Store, where it had been sitting pretty for £10.49. For that rather high price, you got the ability to convert your iPhone or iPad 3G’s network data connection into web connectivity on your PC or Mac via USB without having to jailbreak your iPhone.
Why is iTether special, then? Simple: most mobile networks charge you extra on the iPhone for the ability to tether to a laptop – i.e. It doesn’t just come out of your monthly plan, there’s an extra fee on top. Vodafone, for instance, will charge £5 for 500MB of tethered usage.
A round-up of iPhone tethering charges by network
Some networks simply don’t allow tethering on the iPhone, which is why its longevity on the App Store was the same as a May Fly’s life span.
There were two caveats to iTether: one is that it only worked via USB as opposed to wireless, and the other is that there was nothing to stop your network clocking the different usage and billing you retrospectively. That’s a risk you’ll just have to take if you managed to download iTether before it was pulled. Let us know how you get on if you did.
