HotSpot Tethering was added to Android phone users with the latest 2.2 froyo allowing users to connect up to 8 wireless devices to the internet over your 3G data plan. The Aria is slated to receive the updated OS by the end of the summer. AT&T subscribers would have to also upgrade their data plan to include Tethering for a ripe 45$ per month, a full $20 more than the standard DataPro personal plan. This would allow for a 2GB data limit. Other cell phone providers like Canadian company Rogers include tethering with any data plan over 1GB. As tethering becomes more widely used and available as a standard feature on cell phones, it is possible that we will see changes to data plans and perhaps even to the way we connect to the internet in general.
False Hope Surrounds HTCs Aria and Hot Spot Tethering.
For a brief moment there was a hint of Tethering hope for Aira owners. HTC announced that an update was available enabling a “Mobile Network sharing function” which was taken to mean hot spot tethering. Via a sideloaded app, this functionality could have set a nice precedent, unlocking AT&T’s ban on third party tethering apps. But alas, the wording in the description was misunderstood says an HTC spokesperson and that the update is meant for the desktop HTC Synch client and has no impact on the phone whatsoever. The description of the update will be revised as of Monday and HTC apologizes for the confusion.