That's a shame, because think how many times you've needed Internet access on, say, your laptop when there was no Wi-Fi around.

Enter , a new subscription service that lets you, well, tether your iPhone to your PC--without apps, without jailbreaking, and without violating any Apple terms of service. The price: a mere $30 per year. (Actually, if you , you can get your first year for $15.)

If the name sounds familiar, it's because , offering unlimited, jailbreak-free tethering for $14.99. Unsurprisingly, Apple pulled it in a matter of days.

This new version dispenses with apps altogether, instead relying on a browser-based solution. However, it's still designed to work solely with Windows and Mac systems, so it's not quite the same thing as a hotspot. What's more, you need a physical connection between your iPhone and your PC, so you'll have to pack a sync cable.

I was actually lucky enough to grab the original Tether, and I can say from experience it works well. The new version is functionally similar, except that instead of running an app, you open Safari on your iPhone and point it to tether.com/web. Then you run the Tether client on your PC or Mac, plug in your iPhone, and presto: You're off to the races. Because all the activity occurs within your browser, Apple can't object, and your carrier shouldn't be any the wiser.