AT&T (T) On Offensive Against Unauthorized Smartphone Tethering

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) has started contacting customers who are tethering their smartphones to a laptop for use as a wireless modem, but do not have a tethering plan, to either stop tethering or get an official AT&T tethering plan.

The carrier, which has supported tethering since last summer, is evidently cracking down on customers who have "jailbroken" their devices and are using applications such as MyWi to tether their phones. Jailbroken Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPhones, for instance, can run applications that are not authorized through Apple's App Store approval process.

AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom confirmed to Phone Scoop that the company has been notifying customers about their unauthorized tethering. "We've just begun sending letters, emails and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren't on our required tethering plan," he said. "Our goal here is fairness for all of our customers."

AT&T was trading at $27.82, up $0.08, or 0.29 percent, as of 1:28 PM EDT.




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