The folks over at AppleInsider are reporting that AT&T is on the verge of launching the personal hotspot feature for the iPhone 4 and preparing for the big release. AT&T is apparently preparing their network for an anticipated increase in network demand. Verizon iPhones already have this capability with iOS 4.2.6, a version that is available only to the Verizon iPhone 4?s. AT&T customers will have to wait until the release of iOS 4.3 from Apple, which is expected later this month. The feature is said to only be compatible with the iPhone 4, which would mean that previous iPhone models will not be given this option. Beta copies of iOS 4.3 already include the hotspot feature but it is up to the individual carriers to implement it on their networks. Since the demand for personal hotspots and tethering options is still growing, both carriers hope to entice their customers into paying extra for the feature. iPhone users who jailbreak their devices can have this feature without a monthly fee by installing the MyWi app on their iPhones for a one time cost of only $20 through the third party app store, Cydia. Of course, Apple dislikes users jailbreaking their devices and makes jailbreaking void their warranty. AT&T hasn’t released the cost of adding a hotspot feature to an iPhone account yet, but they are widely expected to charge the same $20/month fee that Verizon does. AT&T hasn’t been late to the party for the first time with adding a generally available feature on their phones. The original iPhone could only send SMS text messages, when most phones at the time could send MMS text messages. The company was also slow to add a tethering option, waiting until the release of iOS 3.0 before making it available. This was all before AT&T had any competition as well. Now the company is forced to keep up with features that Verizon offers to its customers as well in order to compete. The competition has proven to be very useful to users who end up reaping the benefits of more up-to-date features. What do you think of the personal hotspot feature that AT&T plans to add to their services? Will you be getting it? Let us know in the comments below! As usual, stay tuned for more news and info on the topic by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed. [Source: AppleInsider] Authors:

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