02 to charge extra for iPhone 3GS tethering

Posted by Kieran Alger on Tue 9 Jun 2009

One small step forward for iPhone tethering, one giant leap backwards for actually being able to use your iPhone as a modem without it costing the earth.

The arrival of iPhone tethering was announced last night at the WWDC keynote in San Francisco, along with the launch of the iPhone 3GS. But the prospect of using the phone to connect your laptop to the web has already taken a huge step backwards, with 02 set to charge £15 per month for those who want to use the new iPhone as a modem.

No sooner were potential Apple iPhone owners getting excited about the idea of ditching their dongles, than 02 put a £15 shaped spanner in the works. The network, who will carry the new Apple handset from the 19th June, announced today that they plan to charge a monthly fee of £14.68, on top of the monthly subscription, for all users looking to use their iPhones as modems.

iPhone 3GS hotlinks

- 10 things we love about iPhone 3.0

- iPhone 3GS Buzz: What everyone's saying

- TomTom app for iPhone: Pics and video

Users will be required to buy a bolt-on data package with 3 gigabytes costing £14.68 and just under £30 for 10 gigabytes of data.

The new iPhone 3GS, complete with the new iPhone 3.0 OS will feature over 100 upgrades on the previous iPhone models. See all the new specs and details.

Link: Apple (Via MacWorld)