iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot coming...

[Omaroo]

What a great feature. iPhone 4 becomes a 3G field router for multiple devices. This is going to be a real boon I at star parties and observation nights. iOS 4.3 is released 11th March.

[DavidTrap]

So the big question is will this let you "tether" your iPhone to your iPad? I have a gig of download on the iPhone which I never use. Why would I want to spend more money on an iPad 3G account?

The iPad 2 just became a whole lot more attractive, especially if I don't have to buy the 3G version.

DT

[Octane]

$10 a month for Optus tethering. waa waa. : (

Unless you jailbreak.

H

[DavidTrap]

Not with Telstra - they've certainly been sharpening their pencil lately. They are definitely more expensive, but the phone works more often out of town than the other carriers.

DT

[danielsun]

Nice one Chris, that would be a very handy feature, can't wait!:thumbsup:

[Octane]

Yeah, I know, David.

It's just out of loyalty that I stick with them. I've had a mobile since 1997 (the classic Nokia 2110E) and have been with Optus since they became a mobile carrier.

H

[danielsun]

I have just changed from Vodafone to Telstra because of coverage issues but I can't believe that Telstra will not activate the visual voicemail, a very handy Iphone feature!:mad2: Telstra still in the dark ages with their primitive dial voicemail system.

[Omaroo]

In the field - yes... and your Mac or Windows laptop, and Fred's over there...and Bob's... all at the same time.

Who's turn is it this week to crank up their phone so we can all go online? Gotta love it. :thumbsup:

[MrB]

Kinda annoying that they don't activate these features for the 3Gs even tho it is capable of doing it.

[adman]

yep - same here.

[mbaddah]

I would imagine this would quickly drain the battery though especially when its freezing cold out there?

You would need some form of charger I presume? i.e. laptop, car charger etc...

[Steffen]

Yes, it's a great feature. I'm so glad I bought the WiFi-only iPad…

Cheers
Steffen.

[Steffen]

It will drain the battery quicker than if it wasn't used, that's for sure.

Re freezing, I haven't done any extensive testing myself since it doesn't get much below zero where I live and go observing. When I lived in Europe I found that Lithium batteries are good to about -10 to -15 degrees, while alkalines and NiMH rechargeables gave up their ghost around zero degrees. Extrapolating from that, the iPhone/iPad should be fine, especially since they generate their own heat.

Cheers
Steffen.

[davewaldo]

As far as I know Optus no longer charges for tethering on new (since iphone 4) plans.

I have my iphone 3G on a new plan (waiting for iphone 5) and tethering is free, its been reported on the web that neither optus nor telstra will charge for this new hotspot feature.

I think its great, and like others I have heaps of unused data on my phone plan so this will help :) And yes it will work just fine with an ipad!

Also I believe the total maximum number of connections is 5 over any connection type (bluetooth, wifi, usb), so you won't be able to supply a network for the whole star party, but certainly up to five mates :)

A great new feature!

[Octane]

Dave,

That's certainly good news. Looking forward to the 5. I almost bought the 2011 13" MacBook Pro today. I might still get one in the morning, eep!

H

[davewaldo]

You won't regret buying an apple laptop, I have a 13" macbook pro and its great. Always a pleasure to use. I'm trying to decide if I need an ipad.... I think the answer is YES :) However already having a laptop the ipad really is a luxury, I'm yet to discover what gap the ipad will fill for me...

[MrB]

Keep in mind, you will have to wait for the iPhone5 to use the hotspot feature... not supported on the 3G or 3Gs.. even tho they may be hardware capable

[davewaldo]

Absolutely, I'm just hoping the iphone 5 rumoured release in June/July is correct :)

Also its starting to be said around the place that the hotspot feature may only support 3 devices by wifi and 2 more devices by other methods at any one time. http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/04/ios-4-3-personal-hotspot-wi-fi-sharing-limited-to-three-devices-in-many-countries/

[toc]

I just use my Telstra Wireless 3G router - I can use it with my Ipod touch, and Laptop.

[Octane]

I did it. I got the 2011 13" MacBook Pro with the upgraded Intel i7 Dual Core processor. :D

H

[DavidTrap]

Great to hear H - now you'll have to install a downgrade on it (Windoze) to use all your astro software!

Spoken by a Mac user who has had to do the same. Just as well they run Windows faster than PCs!

DT