no tethering on officially unlocked iPhone

The carrier provides the option to tether whether a phone is locked or unlocked.

I just upgraded to 3.1 and saw the tethering option disappear.

My carrier allows me to tether, and I have an officially unlocked phone from Apple.

What is Apple going to do to fix this issue? Do I have to return my phone (I assume I can get a full refund, the product is no longer serving the advertised features)? Removing advertised features like this is insane and I would definitely think twice about buying any products from Apple again if this kind of dictatorship continues. I am going to continue using my phone the way I want to, not the way some company wants me to.

So: the question is, how long will it take for apple to fix this issue?

Like everybody else here, I've lost tethering with the upgrade to 3.1, exactly when I canceled my separate data-only contract which I used with an USB 3G modem and bumped the contract on my voice SIM to 3GB/month...
I've read here: http://www.iphonewzealand.co.nz/2009/telecom/warning-for-xt-users-iphone-os-3-1- disables-tethering/ - that the problem lies with 3.1 requiring the tethering APNs to be signed in the carrier bundle (a kind of cryptographic verification), so APNs from other operators that aren't both Apple partners and allow tethering just don't work.
Let's hope this gets fixed soon, I need to access the internet on the move from my laptop and I don't want to redo my data-only contract.

How to get this attention they don't even offer email support.

Tamara wrote:
The carrier provides the option to tether whether a phone is locked or unlocked.

In many countries carriers couldn't care less if you tether or not. They just provide the flat rate connection and not some config files. In those countries phones without tethering are like a bad joke from stone age aka 20th century. Trust me, unlocked phones need to have the tethering enabled as a default.

Ps. Best way to get Apple's attention is to contact your local consumer counsel and tell them that you have factory unlocked phone but now some of its features are disabled and only available with few Apple partners which offer locked iPhones. Its already a lost battle for Apple.

Isn't there a false advertising claim?
I bought it after the feature was advertised, it's not there.
Fraudulent and deceptive trade practice?
They didn't just not offer it, they affirmatively took steps to disable it.

It must have to do with your carrier. I have locked phone in Canada and tethering still works for me, after updating to 3.1

I lived in Italy and purchased the iPhone 3GS from a local mobile shop, just like I would have purchased any other unlocked phone.

Since then I moved to another country and swapped to a local company SIM card (with the data roaming charges iPhone would be useless). I will be changing country early next year again.

Now with 3.1 the tethering function is gone. When I bought the phone, I was not told that I cannot move to another country with my iPhone. There are no technical reasons and none of the carriers I use or work with charge for tethering (or care about it).

*** Apple? You have created one of the best mobile phones in the market and now you act like an idiot, repeatedly?

One of the specific purposes of 3.1 was to prevent tethering.

one question. have any provider (prepaid or with contract) in italy, belgium and the other countrys where apple or apples partners selling unlocked iphones these
carrier signal?

my one is from italy,my brothers one from belgium, but we living not there^^