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gphipps wrote:

My family is taking a trip to Florida next month. I was planning on upgrading to the 5GB tethering plan for the trip and allow my kids to tether to my iPhone via wi-fi to avoid using up their 200MB data plans. I figured my wife could use her Kindle Fire that way also.

 

I learned today that AT&T says an iPhone 4 or 4S is required to use the iPhone as a wi-fi hotspot. (They say it can be tethered via USB or Bluetooth.) I have a 3GS running iOs 5.x. The option for wi-fi hotspot is in my settings.

 

My question is, has anyone figured out how to use their 3GS as a hotspot either natively or through an app?

 

 

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As you have determined, the 3GS can be a hotspot but you can only connect to it via USB or bluetooth. The 3GS is not capable of being a wifi hotspot. This is not an AT&T restriction. Apple decided not to implement the wifi hotspot in the 3GS.

It may be possible to connect the 3GS to a wireless router via USB and then use that router's wifi but you'd have to figure out a way to provide power to the router.