So you have an iPhone, (or are considering buying one) and you read a tutorial like this and you think great! Another great idea to justify the expense of this data plan, and boy this sure could be handy. Well, AT&T doesn’t think that’s fair use. Rumors are that if AT&T suspects you’re “abusing” the data plan that you’ve already paid for, well, they’re not going to be happy, and this is even against the terms of service listed in your EDGE data contract.

Well, this is one more example of a company who doesn’t know what industry it’s in. AT&T should not only allow this usage, but they should work with Apple to build that functionality in directly, make it easy and plug and play. If bandwidth REALLY is a potential expense for AT&T then the ridiculously simple solution is to just charge extra for those high bandwidth users. Maybe an extra 5$ per GB for anyone who goes over a GB in a month. Simple. But the fact that they not only aren’t doing that, much less threatening their customers who might consider doing that on their own is downright absurd.

AT&T should want to provide a service that people can use as many ways possible. Imagine if Ford sold cars, but they put in the sales contract that the buyer agrees to not use their new car as soon as it gets rusty! Because rusty Fords are bad for Ford’s image! If Ford harassed their customers by insisting on having this in every contract of every vehicle sold, no one would buy a Ford. And it’s the same with AT&T, the iPhone in conjunction with this data plan that literally takes the Internet with you everywhere you go is an amazing product, even more amazing if you could hook up your laptop an use that data plan on a train, or anywhere else without Internet.

Giving people this functionality takes little to no expense, and as long as AT&T protected themselves against bandwidth abuse (if that really would become a problem for them) then great! They are giving people one more reason to buy this plan from them, and one more advantage over their competition. And it’s so easy.

AT&T needs to WAKE UP and realize that THIS IS THE BUSINESS THEY’RE IN. This is such a simple concept, and when I see nonsense in the world like this it makes me wonder how AT&T can accomplish anything. I mean the technology of the iPhone and it’s data plan are impressive, but why not go that last inch and make it complete.