When launched, 3UK were happy that tethering (and Personal Hotspot for Apple users) was included with their All-You-Can-Eat truly unlimited data bundle that comes with the One Plan.  Starting at £25 per month (24 month contract, price depends on selected handset), it was still very good value, given the sheer amount of minutes and texts it also comes with.

Later, when they made the All-You-Can-Eat unlimited data available on their PAYG plans they were again quick to point out that these tariffs did not come with tethering support (although with non-Apple devices it’s more difficult to control, although the mobile networks can spot you using apps like Joikuspot or the built in Mobile WiFi AP in Android).

Most recently, they have now launched The One Plan on a SIM Only basis, with a 1 month rolling contract.  SIM Only contracts are a little strange with the short minimum contract period, and are often treated more like PAYG arrangements by the networks.  So, when it came to whether or not they supported tethering, their initial response was No.  However, within hours of this decision, they confirmed via Twitter (see Ben’s post that’s documented it here) that tethering and Personal Hotspot are supported on the SIM Only One Plan.

This is good news, and a sensible decision, and is certainly a good plan to consider if you are looking to change contracts but don’t need a new phone; with 2,000 cross network minutes, 5,000 texts, 5,000 3UK-3UK minutes and proper unlimited data each month for just £25, it’s also difficult to beat elsewhere.

As always, all 3UK offers are available in the 3Store.

We’ve covered JoikuSpot before, the software that enables a Symbian S60 device to act as a Wi-Fi access point for other mobile devices so that they can use the 3G data connection of the phone.  Well, it appears that Joikusoft are working together with FON to allow the device to act as a FON access point, allowing you the ability to share that 3G data connection to others as well.  This is an interesting association, and we’ll be watching it closer to see how it works in practice.

As we predicted, JoikuSoft has been updated again to include WEP support, which now adds a simple level of security to the connection. This may not be enough security for many, but it is at least a start. Another new feature is the ability for the software to shutdown when the battery gets too low. As always, the software can be downloaded from here.

Early this year we covered the first release of JoikuSoft, which allows your Symbian phone to act as a WiFi Access Point, allowing other devices to share the phone’s internet connection. Well, it’s been updated to v1.1 which includes a number of bug fixes, stability improvements, and the ability to change the name of the access point (although only in the format JoikuSpot_xxx).

However, within the next month or so, we should see a further update which adds WEP support into the software. Although WEP isn’t the latest greatest standard, it should be sufficient for a short term connection between your devices and your phone, and adds an important level of security to the current version.

Currently, HTTP and HTTPS should work (although HTTPS needs some configuring on the clients), but protocols like IMAP and FTP do not currently work, although the authors claim they will have a solution for those for the final release.

We’ll keep an eye on this software, and let you know how things progress.

JoikuSoft has been released which does exactly that. Right now, it’s still in Beta, and can only create a non-secure, unprotected WiFi HotSpot, but for those with an “unlimited” 3G data plan on their Symbian S60 phone, you will be able to share that connection out to other devices. As it has no real security at the moment, anyone else within range could utilise your connection too. More information on the Joiku website, although you will need to join the website (free) to be able to access comments and download the application.

With the lack of security, and some compatibility problems, we would not recommend you rely upon this right now, although it’s still worth trying out, but we’ll keep an eye on it, and let you know as and when new versions get released.