I’ve been thinking, and I understand upgrades cost money. I also understand that simply giving the option to connect to network via your phone was put aside because there are costs with respect to software development and maintenance costs, as well as API usage costs.
However, you guys know that you can give the ability to connect bluetooth tethering via a phone, put still charge a subscription for usage of smart services right? This way, the costs of carrier network usage will not be paid by Ather, and hence you guys can give cheaper subscription plans. It also gives infinite future proofing, as bluetooth will always be backwards compatible, and new phones will automatically use newer generation connection tech.
It is definitely worthwhile to provide bluetooth connectivity, and save on network costs that you have to pay. Almost all Ather users already have mobile data plans. Access to smart services will still cost money, due to API and dev costs.
I feel like this should have been the way Ather handled this in the first place, and should be the way Ather handles it in the future too. Of course for remote smart features, a sim and network connection is still required, but that should be made optional, and there should be different subscription plans for those that also want always connected SIM.