Verizon was widely lauded this morning when it announced that its new CDMA iPhone would provide built-in hotspot support. Hotspots allow users to connect to a phone and share that phone's data service to connect to the Internet. This feature, which is also known as "tethering" provides a way to share a single data connection among several devices including phones, laptops, and so forth.
AT&T, which introduced tethering after many delays, has been charging customers a premium on top of their normal data service to tether. Based on Verizon's other smart phone plans, the VZW tethering feature will sell for a $20 per month, as it is on Android phones, on top of its $30 per month unlimited data plan. There will be a 5GB monthly limit for mobile hot spot usage.
AT&T's tethering is limited to recent data-rationed plans and is not an option for customers who still use AT&T's original iPhone unlimited plan. As well, the iPad 3G's data plans do not offer a tethering option. What's more, you cannot tether your iPad to your iPhone's data with AT&T as the iPad's bluetooth tethering profile is disabled. You can, however, tether to your iPhone using a third party product called MyWi.
Read More: Talking with MyWi's Mario Ciabarra about VZW's hotspot announcement
