Xbox One: Phil Spencer Apparently Doesn’t Understand Tethering Issues [Op-Ed]
Phil Spencer of Microsoft suggested tethering with your phone to get your Xbox One online.
Following on the heels of the recent letdown that the Xbox One will require an internet connection in order to play games on it, complaints have flooded in with one basic question: “What if I can’t get the internet where I am?”
After the announcement that the Xbox One would only work in a select group of countries, the question only persisted for people not in the listed countries.
The countries where the Xbox One will work include:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Russia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
Other countries will leave you wondering how to get a signal if you can’t get your Xbox One online. Phil Spencer’s bonehead suggestion was that tethering your phone to the Xbox One might be a solution for those that don’t have an internet connection.
Is Phil Spencer even aware that tethering violates cellular service agreements and doing so could get your phone service shut off? So without a phone, what do you do then? His other solution is simply, “If you have no ability to connect to the Internet, the Xbox One is not the console for you.”
Wow, Phil Spencer is basically telling those of us with no internet connection that Microsoft doesn’t care about them. They might as well hire Adam Orth back on.
Gaming veteran Peter Molyneux offered his opinion regarding Phil Spencer’s answer:
“I just think it was very unprofessionally done. There was one message from one Phil and then another message from another Phil, and they seemed to be kind of shooting from the hip. Always online is simple for me. As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I’ll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don’t want that.”
What do you think? Is getting the Xbox One online for authentication worth the risk of having your phone service turned off? Is Phil Spencer just not aware of the problems caused by tethering?
