How to Tether an iPad to any 3G, 4G & 5G Phone

Since the iPad was first released, sophisticated users have been getting smart to avoid unnecessary additional data costs by tethering 3G phones to the iPad when a Wi-Fi signal is NOT available.  Android smartphone users have it easiest tethering ipad to a 4G phone, especially on T-Mobile. Not a surprise to see that AT&T has not been very consumer-friendly to iPhone users and has made it very difficult for their data subscribers on the iPhone to tether any devices to their 3G service.  However, the Wi-Fi-only iPad oan be used on the 3G network of any carrier to avoid purchasing another expensive data plan if they are already on Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile or a smaller regional carrier. So here is a great option especially if your carrier never intends to cap your data plan.  Android users will likely be the heaviest adopters of this since most are already on other networks.

How Many Unlocked iPhones on the Market in 2011?

20 to 30 Million Unlocked iPhones On the Market

How many iPhones have been sold?  108 Million as of Q1 2011.  There were reports back in 2008 that between 800,000 and 1.5 million phones had been unlocked. However, now that that sales have quadrupled (see chart below) we estimate there are between 20-30 million iPhones unlocked on the market if you use this same calculation. Apple is now selling 15 million phones per quarter and quickly becoming a victim of their own success.  We did a search for used iPhone on eBay and found 10,000 used Used iPhones for $100 and 33% were being sold unlocked.   This is one of the major reasons why AT&T is buying T-Mobile and trying to consolidate the US market into only have one GSM carrier buying the last remaining GSM carrier.   See GSM CDMA unfair competition.

Unlocking is the process of using software to modify the iPhone to work with other GSM carriers if purchased from AT&T or CDMA carriers if you purchased a Verizon phone.  With such a huge number of used phones on the market, will Apple be able to continue its carrier subsidy model for phones on 3G.  It may take the iPhone 5 on LTE to revive the demand for the phone and thus one of the reasons Apple (AAPL) stock has been lagging lately we think.

New iPhone Sales Per Quarter

How Many iPhones & iPads Are Jailbroken?

Now that 3GS iPhone are being sold for $50 and the used unlocked iPhone market is huge. How big is the market and how many phones are jailbroken?  This is the largest category on eBay unlocked iPhones.  We think that greater than 10% of iPhones have been jailbroken  and possibly 20-30 million iPhones unlocked?  We were not surprised to see that Apple supporters quickly tried to bury the link in Google.  Here is a story on how to jailbreak the iPhone 4 for T-Mobile and think this is one of the major reasons why AT&T is acquiring T-Mobile to prevent this massive defection that is going unpublicized.  If anyone has any credible sources of information we would appreciate a post in the comments section below.

How to Get Free AT&T WiFi Tethering With MyWi

The price of $19.99 for the MyWi iPhone App is a lot better than paying AT&T $25 per month for tethering you should be entitled to under your data plan.  Paying $300 per year for tethering is absolutely ridiculous and those who are on T-Mobile already can do it for free.  However, now AT&T is warning those who are tethering to pay but it is not clear to me that they can do anything about it.   

Create an iPhone WiFi HotSpot or iPad WiFi HotSpot without paying $25 per month.  Wherever you are - you can connect your laptop or another mobile device to your iPhone / 3G iPad easily without paying for an additional data plan.  MyWi 4.0 now works on iPhone 4 IOS 4 and will also work with all jailbroken iPhones on T-Mobile (including 2G/3G/3GS/4) and iPad on 3.1.2 or later.

How to Jailbreak the iPhone For T-Mobile

iPhone can be unlocked, which means you can use the phone on any GSM network

iPhones Beware of AT&T's 200MB Data Plan

Watch out iPhone users AT&T is at it again trying to rip you off.  Do not sign up for the AT&T Data Plus 200MB monthly data plan because you will likely use this amount of data in the first hour of use if you have a lot of applications running.  Also, as you are driving around in the car Apple and AT&T will not tell you that more that half of the data usage is for data signaling as your phone travels between cell phone towers. It has also been reported that the iPhone FaceTime app uses roughly 3MB of data per minute.  So even if you are not using your phone to do any of the in the chart below you will still be incurring data charges.  Even if you have purchased AT&T's femtocell (Microcell) you will still incur data charges towards your phone usage on the network.  This is also appalling and a rip off as well.  

We recommend sticking with Wi-Fi as long as you can as the big carriers still think they can take advance of the unsophisticated users.  There is still very little transparency and reporting about your data usage and I expect to see many class-action lawsuits as a result.  The monthly bills are starting to come in and if you are not diligent you may find yourself in cell phone billing hell.  These figures above pertain to other smartphones and do not represent normal data usage on iPhones.

Apple's Solution to iPhone Reception Problem

Apple employees are told to say: "The iPhone 4 is the best we have ever shipped!"

Law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff LLP is apparently preparing for a class-action lawsuit against Apple and is soliciting iPhone 4 customers to contact them about its' reception issues. This is the same law firm that went after Facebook, Zynga, MySpace, RockYou, and others for advertising scams.  The firm has asked: "If you recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you," the Sacramento firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff LLP posted on its website. J.R. Parker, an attorney for the firm, told ABCNews.com that the firm had received hundreds of responses to its investigation notices.

At the same time, this is going on Steve Jobs is spinning his marketing and customer service teams into action to find the public perception war. Employees are told to say that the device's reception performance "is the best we have ever shipped" and that its critical antenna flaws are "a fact of life in the wireless world." Apple employees are told not to perform service on iPhones with these problems and instead to give customers a PR driven recitative instead. Also, while some folks have reported that using a bumper case prevents contact with the antenna band and preserves reception quality, AppleCare reps are being told to not give bumper cases to disgruntled users.

Here's the full text of the Apple employee document reported:

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy -- your tone when delivering this information is important . . .

• The iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4's overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.
• Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.
• If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.
• If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.
• The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don't forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers -- DON'T promises a free bumper to customers.

I like to buy products from companies that have the integrity to admit problems when they exist and handle them appropriately.  Management teams are faced with difficult decisions every day and this one is turning out to be a PR nightmare similar to BP (British Petroleum).