MacBook Pro USB cable iPhone internet

Question

Hi
I am a management consultant and the only one I know who is Mac based down here in Sydney, Australia.
I use an iMac as my main office machine and configure a *MacBook Pro* using ChronoSync when I go interstate to see clients or run strategy workshops.
Now that it has finally arrived down-under, I want to buy an iPhone. However, before I commit to a phone carrier and a plan, I would like to know if it is possible to connect the *MBP to the iPhone* using the *USB cable* and *using that connection* go through to the internet so that I can use Entourage on the MBP to pick up my email etc.
I need to do this simply because I have organised all my client and project work using the *Project Center* in Entourage. I mean, connecting laptops to GSM phones to conntect to the internet or enterprise systems is not really new.
This afternoon I talked to the Geniuses in the new Apple Store here in Sydney and could not get a clear cut answer. Heck, the iPhone is also WiFi and Bluetooth enabled so there must be a way of doing this.
Any thoughts? Any one tried this yet?
Regards
Jai

Answer 1

It's kind of surprising that they missed this one. It has been the topic of much discussion all over the Apple forums over the past week or so.
But from the start, they did not allow access to any of the phone features themselves, especially those that are directly related to charges ATT would make...like voice dialing, etc...ATT offers Voice Connect as an add-on feature at cost....they also offer tethering at cost.
I know in the HTC forums at the ATT website, there was a lot of discussion about tethering and how they can tell you have tethered or not. Apparently ATT CAN tell the ISP numbers of connections, and they DO charge for tethering, even when it appears they should have no way of knowing.
I am sure that ATT put a kibbosh on the tethering App until they can figure out how to charge for it. It's a good 30 dollars MORE per month, above and atop the unlimited data plans. Thats income ATT isn't going to lose.
I am sure it went something like:
Apple lets tethering App slip through -- ATT sees it and calls Apple and cries Foul -- Apple pulls the app -- somehow it ends up back on the AppStore site -- ATT calls foul again, and it is removed for good until this is resolved.