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Can someone explain to me how T-Mo will be able to tell the difference between regular browsing on the G2 and tethering? I use the wireless tether for root users and the usb tether for root users apps. I have a feeling that as long as you're not constantly getting your bandwidth throttled from going over the data cap you won't get charged. I guess we'll find out this week as their tethering plans are starting on sunday.
T-mobile has a application I believe.. thats what I've been hearing... That you get charged $10 the moment you activate it. But T-mobile will know a tether user from a regular bandwidth user, they caught me for tethering on my G1.. said I use A LOT of data... way over 5GB worth...
creepinm3 said:
T-mobile has a application I believe.. thats what I've been hearing... That you get charged $10 the moment you activate it. But T-mobile will know a tether user from a regular bandwidth user, they caught me for tethering on my G1.. said I use A LOT of data... way over 5GB worth...
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They wont know, since data is data. When you stream media or use youtube, that takes a lot of data. They will throttle your speed after the 5gb, but I "heard" there's a loop hole in the system...By switching the 2G only for around an hour and going back to 3G only, your phone will get back the full speed. i only use tether when not in wifi area or home or for PS3 to increase pc bandwidth. Maybe they do have an app, but people have been tether for years on diff phones. There are other tether apps besides froyo one, easythether, pdanet, barnacle,etc. The android price is already high for no good reason, and we should get the free tethering, cause other phones have cheaper data.I dont see why android gets a higher data package, before my plan was around 50, now its like 80 a month.
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
rwbarnes67 said:
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
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i am sorry, but thats like saying a gnome told you
CHECK THIS OUT. I had issues earlier with roaming on wifi tether. So I redownloaded the (root) wifi tether to see if tmo was capping me. Well? This is the address that popped up both times on both stock and root wifi tether {http://offers.t-mobile.com/tethering/admin/roaming.jsp} after the page told me that it can't be redirected.I believe this address is in the programming on the sim. When you tether, look at the bottom left of your web page where it tells you the progress of that page. You will see "offers.t-mobile.com". Your page gets directed there first than back to you. That's how they now. Funny thing is, I had roaming tether this morning at 03:30 cst. Noon comes around and nothing. It works fine on their network (not roaming). To answer the golden question if tmo can tell if we are tethering or not? YES!! Tmo verified that for me today without asking. Tether charges will take place on the 14th and we will be notified first to have the choice. They said now that they have the HSPA+ network that they now have control of tether. And also mentioned that other networks have been doing this. "This is a business and we have to make money too" Tmo rep.
This issue can be argued by usps by going to tmobile.com and going to customer relations link and there you find a physical address to headquarters. I was told they will reply to your complaint,concern or comments.
I will be writing them when I get in from Washington.
edit; I just checked for the address at the bottom of the page while on tmo network (not roaming) and I did not see the afore mentioned. maybe it only shows while roaming. IDK
Edit; 11/13 15:17cst:/
Roaming issue fixed. Flashed a repacked stock rom. Fixed all issues I was having after flashing bb 03.
rwbarnes67 said:
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
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apzalo said:
i am sorry, but thats like saying a gnome told you
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Exactly. My wife works for T-mobile. She has worked on the sales floor, in the call centers, and often goes to the trainings at corporate in Bellevue, WA. But she would be the first person to tell you that the majority of the crap that reps say is either completely unsubstantiated rumors, or completely made up out of thin air. T-mobile knows that their entry level employees in the call centers and retail shops, are too stupid to be trusted with anything other than the basic info needed to do their job. Even in management, she is only very rarely privileged to information that isn't already floating around online. Most of their employees don't understand their tech, products, and services anymore than what they can read off of the very basic scripts and trainings they give them. The people working for T-mo that are truly passionate about things, and actually know details like this, are not the people you get to talk to, and usually aren't the types to go blabbing what they know.
Unless what the rep is telling you has been leaked or confirmed by other sources, 90% of the time it's complete BS, or they just read it online like the rest of us.
Sent from my rooted and OCed turbo space abacus using the power of positive thinking and a toothpick.
while i agree to an extent, reps don't know anything about their jobs or the phones. most reps get their info from tmonews or XDA just like we do. i have gone into my t-mo store on many occasions and asked questions and watched as the rep pulled up tmo news on the comp or xda app on their phone. reps are useless for info
etjrowe said:
T-mobile knows that their entry level employees in the call centers and retail shops, are too stupid to be trusted with anything other than the basic info needed to do their job.
...
Sent from my rooted and OCed turbo space abacus using the power of positive thinking and a toothpick.
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As a T-Mobile tech service rep, I take great exception to this. Not all of us "too stupid" to know what's going on.
Having said that, it pisses me off to no end when other reps give out inaccurate info. I pride myself in knowing my stuff and doing it right. I never present any rumor as fact, nor do I make stuff up to placate customers.
So you can take your assumptions about me and shove them someplace unpleasant. Good day to you, sir.
p.s. But you are right that this whole "grandfathered in for free tethering" sounds like complete BS to me. Damn these reps making us look bad
I don't care about the data cap to be honest, I don't spend that much time outside of an actual wi-fi area. But I still have yet to see a legitimate, no BS answer as to whether or not T-Mobile will know that a person is tethering. Will the App itself report to T-Mobile, because to me, that seems to be the only way that "tethered data" and "smartphone data" can be differentiated by T-Mobile.
I have the mytouch and T mobile with unlimitied data plan..Today I wake up do a data wipe install cm7 and when it goes to download the gapps apps from the market it takes forever..I waited 35 minutes for it to download gmail and google maps..I stop the other downloads and try to figure why my apps are downloading slow and why my internet is snail slow..while wondering I get a text message from T mobile telling me I have used to much bandwith for the month cycle and I will have a data speed cap till next cycle....This would be alright but it is not as I can no longer download any market apps ( I can but it takes 30 minutes to an hour )Nor Can I really surf the web.(Took me 25 minutes to get here)Pandora nor slacker work anymore either.
Has anyone else had this happen to them ? Also is there anything I can do to get them to uncap my service..I have been a T mobile Customer for 11 years and think they should do something.Just wondering if anyone else had this problem......
Thanks
I've never had that problem, but then again my max DL per month has been at 1-2GB tops..
Try calling them, but check your bill first to see what they have you clocked at so far for the current billing period... I think they don't impose that on you till you hit +5GB... Good Luck.
I get that all the time, well not this past month because I finally got internet at the house lol. I used it for tethering and alot of internet & email & I would always seem to get it with 2 or less weeks left. I guess it's once you go over 5gb t-mobile slows you down.
I haven't actually had it happen YET, but when I went on the website, I noticed it said I was approaching the data cap... Never saw that before. D;
Thanks..I looked and I am at 5.09gb ..Looks like I am slowed till the 23rd..I dont tether so it must have been from slacker / pandora ..I will have to watch it more next month..
You can download t-mobile's 'my account' app from the market so you can keep a closer eye on your data usage, although, if you have unlimited data plan you can't set an alert for it, even though 5gb is the cap...
I get close to 3-4gb every month and never notice a slow down...I can understand a cap of 5gb to keep the network from being overloaded...I thether and use it to watch HULU and nightly roms so cant see going over,unless something crazy.
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
Use wifi as much as possible. I am fortunate enough to have wifi at work and home and my data usage on tmo's network is ridiculously low for the amount of data I use.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Wagedroid said:
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
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No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
also be aware that T Mobile slows you down to 54kbs. Welcime back Dial Up!!!
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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Click to collapse
like i said, technicaly they dont make it not unlimited.. they just cap the speed, so yes it does make sense.. u signed up for unlimited data not unlimited data at its peak speed, that just sounds retarded. if you signed up before the change then you shouldve requested to be grandfatherd and they wouldve been happy to keep the customer happy. and fyi a news letter and disclaimer was put out for all pre existing customers before the change was made. and even then they didnt change the unlimited part. ill leave this the way i leave any other service provider discussion...., ive been with tmob since sidekick original no color.. not once did they treat me wrong or charge me for something i wasnt responsible for and aware of. i dont recommend but there is an alternative.. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and even Metro all got u covered.
good day.
I think it ok to note that this is not only a T-Mobile thing, every carrier does this. I know that there is a hack on XDA that is built into the MIUI roms that actually cuts off the signal that your phone sends to Verizon that you have reached the cap so you never see your data slowed down. I do not know how they wrote the hack or if it is possible to do something similar with a t-mobile phone, but it might be worth looking into.
amart6116 said:
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
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Click to collapse
you are paying for unlimited data because you get unlimited data - they just don't guarantee at what speed you'll be able to download at...
I completely understand your predicament! I was in your same shoes.
T-Mobile does not charge extra for anything more than 5gb, but they do make you eat your buffet food through a straw! Now, I remedied my problem with the wonderful program 3g Watchdog, which is free. Set it to your monthly cycle, and you can even place a widget with usage on your screen. Very handy little program.
So yes, I tried calling and talking with the reps, nothing will work. I spoke with managers, and people from India. They can't do anything about it. I couldn't even pay them more money! How ridiculous! But alas, I had to see the bright side. Looking at AT&T or Verizon, you have limits of 2gb or so and then they charge you for anything over that. Screw that! So I figured if I'm downloading 5gb of data in a month, then I need to get my ass together and make my life work for me. So please figure out your **** lol, you'll feel so much better when you do.
Tyler
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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Click to collapse
That ssssssssssucks!
I went to T-mobile store last week to pay my bill, the man told me about the upgrade discount after a year, when we reached the 4G topic I asked about this slow down of speed after 5Gb and he was like he had no idea, he repeated "Noou, it's unlimited" "that what you heard is for those with plans of certain data limit"
I told him that's what it should be, I said it wouldn't make sense to have such high-speed and still be limited :S
Serously! I'm paying $-freaking-30 monthly for internet access that is like 1mb of speed on this lil' phone, same as it would be using a DSL, why would they put a limit?
Tmo-guy- Because it's a wireless service-
Me: My ass! that ain't no reason!
Again makes no sense....
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
Digitaldreamer7 said:
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
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Why should there be such capabilities offered if that's going to bring out risky complications to the system?
That's not reason to call one greety and 'punish'
Is not like one would like to reach a cap just because it can be done and bother other's connections.
Tethering is not as different as using your phone, since our smartphones' web browser is as fully capable as a computer web browser.
Also think of the 4G + What's next??
If one service imprubes why not the others that can prevent issues from the same.
A page loads trice as fast, makes the user able to go on where others would stop, so you see it's not a malicious intention but what the user is led up to.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
I hit the cap every month around the 15th...bill cycle on the 25th.. But I use a ton of data due to I show photos and deal with contracts that I am unable to dl at work.
My understanding is that with PDANet, tethering looks like normal data use. Does Wireless Tether or the hacked Sprint Hotspot app (warm 2.2) also show up as normal data use or can Sprint tell you're tethering over wifi?
I ask because apparently AT&T has been sending letters to customers who use MyWi forcing them to either sign up for a tethering plan or stop tethering... Can (would?) Sprint do something similar?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint can't tell unless they use Deep Packet Inspection and see something like "Oh hey, what's all this encrypted traffic coming from Netflix's server?".
As for AT&T, they're just yelling at anyone with high amounts of data usage. Simple as that.
I dont think think they can. Just the other day, I went to the Sprint store and the guy noticed that my Evo "looked" different! He said "man how you do that!" I showed him the Rom and told him about rooting, tether and all. He said " "damm. show me how to do that on mines"....i told about Unrevoked and XDA. NOW Im sure he could be reading this thread!
i'm not sure if they can, but i think they stated publicly that they dont care. their paid one just works better, and on 3g and 4g, while consuming less battery than the rest. this is their response, and i think it works well. self-advertising while not angering devs. pretty good of them.
so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?
Evo13 said:
so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?
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Click to collapse
if you switch roms, most have a hacked hospot to work on 3g. wifi tether app also works on 4g.
Evo13 said:
so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?
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Click to collapse
you can do both no charge.
Sprint mainly checks for users exceeding the 5Gb per month for data. Other than that, it is difficult to tell without users feeling that their privacy is being invaded. 5Gb comes up quickly if you are streaming movies or downloading outside the normal browsing or youtube.
engelsione said:
I dont think think they can. Just the other day, I went to the Sprint store and the guy noticed that my Evo "looked" different! He said "man how you do that!" I showed him the Rom and told him about rooting, tether and all. He said " "damm. show me how to do that on mines"....i told about Unrevoked and XDA. NOW Im sure he could be reading this thread!
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Click to collapse
Yeah, but it wouldn't be a store employee checking anyway. Either way, seems like they don't care.
My evo was rooted with revoked, but still using the standard rom. I was able to use wireless tether without converting to any other rom. Be sure to use the security features (passphrase and access control) to prevent inadvertent use by others.
TheEdge88 said:
Sprint mainly checks for users exceeding the 5Gb per month for data. Other than that, it is difficult to tell without users feeling that their privacy is being invaded. 5Gb comes up quickly if you are streaming movies or downloading outside the normal browsing or youtube.
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Sprint doesn't have a 5gb limit on smartphone plans, that is only on data cards on the 3g network. I just watched a commercial yesterday with Dan Hess stating that Sprints unlimited plans have no limits, unlike Verizon and AT&T.
cruise350 said:
Sprint doesn't have a 5gb limit on smartphone plans, that is only on data cards on the 3g network. I just watched a commercial yesterday with Dan Hess stating that Sprints unlimited plans have no limits, unlike Verizon and AT&T.
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they dont have a throttle, they just look into it if you pull that much. like somebody said earlier, if you're pulling 8 gigs from netflix's server, there is only one explanation.
Anybody know of any specific examples of customers getting called out for excessive data use or wifi tethering? I assume there would've been an outrage on XDA and I would've heard about it... I don't think it's happened yet.
I get it that Sprint says they're truly unlimited but I have a nagging suspicion that they're eventually going to crack down on unauthorized tethering. Not that that's going to stop me in the mean time!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I'd have to dig through the contract and T&C but technically speaking wouldn't tethering without a plan be a contract violation? I'm not claiming to be Mr. Innocent here. I've done the free tethering and have had tethering plans. Just seems to me that since we all signed contracts legally speaking the carriers have more of a leg to stand on than we do.
Sent from my Cyanogenized HTC Evo 4G using XDA Premium App
I think with the sale of tmobile to at&t, Sprint will increase their user base with people bailing either one. Maybe, hopefully not, they'll begin to check our usage.
Then again, they'll be moving to LTE. Which means those of us with wimax devices, yours truly, will be left to use our data to our desires. At least I hope so.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I use over 20 gigs a month downloading files(ROMs, files for work, etc) and streaming videos to my phone and have for almost two years. Not once have I been throttled or warned.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
So it sounds like the takeaway is that if Sprint wanted to, they could tell that you're tethering, but there is no evidence that they've ever done it or taken any action against customers... Cool.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint is a member of the open handset alliance. They don't care.
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html
I use Slingplayer daily for hours sometimes, then I'll tether my iPad 2 and watch movies from my computer while traveling around via AirVideo. I am currently at 10GB of usage this month which is average, they never throttled me or anything.
I've hit over 12GB of usage regularly with no complaints from Sprint. YMMV.
Hey! So I have an unlimited data plan on virgin mobile canada that doe not include tethering. In the past I have always tethered using apps like fox fi without any charges so I had assumed I was safe to continue doing so. This month I received a large phone bill because they decided to charge me for tethering. I cant figure out how they determined that i was tethering though. My only clue is that in the last month I have used roms with the built in tethering enabled, specifically free gs3 which includes the tmo tethering app. Could using that app have alerted my carrier that i was tethering whenever I used it?
Also, and I dont mean to beg but I'm broke so if anyone wants to help me out with this bill feel free not that I'm expecting anything but It'd be greatly appreciated aha
Thanks again!
They can't just up and charge you. They must warn you first. You can get in trouble for tethering when you shouldn't but they can't force you to pay for service you didn't ask for. Call them and play dumb. Deny everything. They will warn you to never do it again and read to you the tos....blah blah blah. Basically....call and act stupid.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
My curiosity is getting the best of me if you dont mind me asking how much was the Bill? if you prefer not to say no big deal im just curious how much one can rack up with tethering for a month.......and as far as your question, End answered it perfectly, call and play completely stupid as you have no idea if you have unlimited data how in the heck can they charge, then if they mention the word "tether" say you dont even know what that is and if its a feature that your not suppose to have then why would they allow you to? That seems predatory, I know you used an app but this is all part of it. You can always try things like " I am going to have to contact the BBB" or "Well I am going to hYouave to take my business elsewhere because I have never been accused or treated like this before with a company". Things like that usually work because their number 1 goal is to keep you happy and to keep you as a customer. I just wouldnt even mention the word "Tether" unless they do, but dont ever say too much play stupid and simple you know I use my phone for calls and texts and web browsing. Things like that.
Take Care and Good Luck
PS. If you are El Broke O' and they dont budge on the phone after doing the ABOVE you can always setup a payment plan with them. They should always allow that. You just tell them what you can afford and they will usually always agree. Believe me they just want to get their money doesnt matter how or when as long as you are paying. Because most people just say screw them and go somewhere else without paying.
No offense, however, in your OP you clearly stated that tethering was not included in your package and you tethered. What did you expect your carrier to do? Surprise!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
SaneinOne said:
No offense, however, in your OP you clearly stated that tethering was not included in your package and you tethered. What did you expect your carrier to do? Surprise!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
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He knows that, he just wants to know how the carrier figured out he was tethering.
using native carrier tethering apps hacked to give free access would absolutely alert them to your behavior...that and excessive amounts of data used in a small amount of time
also keep in mind excessive amounts of data can also mean signifigantly more than your average use from past months...they got their clue somehow, time to own up and pay my friend!
thanks guys! Yeah im not mad that i was charged doing something i wasnt suposed too, i guess it must have been the stock app. Anyways I was told the email address of some corporate guy at virgin so hopefully I can work something out with him, thanks for all your advice!
I would imagine it has something to do with a different APN setting.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
So would the cm10 setup give you up?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
If tethering is not part of your plan then I would suggest operating under the premise that tethering is tethering as far as a carrier is concerned.
X10D3 said:
So would the cm10 setup give you up?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
More likely than not, it was the wi-fi drivers that gave you away. I'm not sure about the exact details, but I believe that when you tether via wifi (using the phone's wifi interface as an access point), the datagrams from traffic routed through the wifi interface look identifiably different from traffic originating within the phone itself.
I don't know anybody who's ever gotten caught tethering via ADB (Easytether, etc). I've seen a lot of people get busted for tethering via wifi.
Remember, carriers go for low-hanging fruit, and wifi tethering is an easy target. It's not even a matter of spyware or deep packet inspection. I think it's actually a single bit in the datagram that's clear for phone-originated traffic, and set for routed traffic. ADB-based apps aren't affected, because all network traffic passing through them is by definition to or from the host via ADB. In contrast, wifi/bluetooth-tethered traffic returned to the phone might be for a local app, or it might be for one routed through the phone. The phone's network stack uses the bit as an easy, low-impact way to make its job easy and figure out whether it needs to pass the traffic to a local app on the phone, or just hand it over to the wifi driver for further routing.
I believe that if you wanted to safely tether via wifi, you'd basically have to run a PPP server on the phone, connect to it from the client PC via wifi, then the PPP server running on the phone would take the traffic and treat it the same way EasyTether would, so to Android it looked exactly like app-originated traffic (because it basically is; the fact that the app is originating it on behalf of a connected client is none of Android's business).
If you want to make your tethering foolproof, tether to the phone via ADB, and tunnel it to the internet via some thirdparty VPN (I use a company called ibvpn.com; it's around $3/month if you pay by the year, and also comes in handy for safely using unencrypted wifi in public places with a tablet).
They can tell no matter how you do it and most of the carriers, at least in the US, are now activly looking for people doing this. They can tell by the obvious jump in traffic, but other ways as well. Broswer signatures, etc. It's really very simple for them to pick it up just by watching your data flow, has nothing to do with your handset it's self.
If your PC/Mac-originated traffic is being regenerated by an Android-hosted app like EasyTether (so it officially originated with the Android app, as opposed to having been routed by the wifi driver and kernel iptables), it would be extraordinarily difficult for the carrier to figure out its true nature without deep packet inspection. If you tunnel it over an IPsec VPN using PPTP or L2TP, it would be damn near impossible for them to establish tethering with enough certainty to ever prevail in court unless you were literally tethering daily as your primary means of getting online, as opposed to tethering once in a while when you lacked better access options (airport, beach, car, etc).
Traffic analysis can certainly SUGGEST tethering and get you flagged for an automatic nastygram informing you that it's going to be added to your plan unless you complain, but if you're using an ADB-type tethering method and tunneling, you could tell your carrier to go f**k themselves and prove it with a very high degree of confidence. If you have a data plan that's tiered, I can't fathom them investing the resources to prove that you're tethering once in a while. In the AT&T context, somebody who's tethering on a regular basis with a tiered data plan is going to go over 5 gigs and end up paying the same amount he'd have paid to openly tether anyway, and somebody who's only tethering occasionally & not exceeding 3 gigs/month wouldn't be worth the effort to track down.
Add the fact that most carriers (in the US, at least) either rate-limit your traffic after 5 gigs (or less), or (in the case of Sprint) will actively dump you as a customer if you routinely exceed 5 gigs month after month after month (as if anyone could actually exceed 5 gigs over their glacial, dysfunctional network anyway), and the business case for aggressive tethering enforcement that goes beyond looking for routing signatures in the datagram becomes almost nonexistent.
Now, if you have an unlimited data plan that they're itching to terminate and force you into a tiered plan, they might try a little harder... but if their payback potential is an extra $10/month (because you have a tiered plan and you're already paying them $40/month for 3 gigs plus an extra gig, instead of paying $50/month for 5 gigs you might not fully use), they aren't going to bother, especially if you push back. Remember, there are data privacy laws, and most of the things they'd have to do to prove tethering if you're actively obfuscating and tunneling your traffic are borderline greyhat hacking. A big corporation isn't going to risk getting smacked down by federal regulators over pocket change. They're going to shake down the easy targets, and move along.
Insofar as deep packet inspection goes, remember... it might be easy to gather enough evidence for them to auto-send a nastygram and auto-subscription notice, but it's HARD to gather enough evidence for them to risk pursuing a case against someone who's actively fighting back. Five years ago, it might have been easy to notice tethering from a J2ME, Blackberry, or PalmOS smartphone by looking for implausible traffic. Nowadays, there's very little traffic that couldn't plausibly be generated directly by an Android phone. RDP and VNC? Check. IPsec VPN? Check. SQL client? Check. SSH? Check. Bittorrent? Check. (Suicidal and insane, but plausible). Desktop browser identifiers? Nope. Android's own browser can spoof desktop browsers with casual ease (about:debug, then menu->Settings).
The way to win against your carrier is to make victory too expensive for them to bother with. They're looking for easy ways to boost revenue, not embarking on a moral crusade to stamp out tethering. Make victory more expensive for them than stalemate, and they'll leave you alone.
So when I turn on the mobile AP in CM, they can track that? What if I used the AP and turned on my BTGuard VPN? Then it's just encrypted traffic. I only used it for tethering my WIFI tablet. So the apps that used the connection were nearly/if not identical to the ones on my phone. Most of the time I'm running CM on my tablet as well.
So your saying if i tether via usb using an app like tether by clockworkmod from the play store i should be good?
And if I argue enough and don't shutup then they will most likely drop the charges?
I can't give any concrete assurances. I've never seen how the others work, and I can't promise that they don't do anything that would give it away. All I can say is that I've tethered in moderation for years via ADB using EasyTether and ibvpn.com ($3/month if you pay 12 months at a time, and handy for using your tablet via wifi in public places where encryption isn't otherwise used). I've never been hassled. Chances are, when I DO use it, I end up using less data anyway than somebody who streams videos from Netflix, Amazon, and Blockbuster.
At the end of the day, if you have an unlimited data plan and you're using it as your primary means of internet access, they're eventually going to find a pretense for getting rid of you regardless of what you say or do. Used in moderation once in a while, with reasonable precautions to make your tethering non-blatantly-obvious, you should be fine. Like I said, you're dealing with private companies, not government agencies out for jihad. They aren't going to waste 3 hours of a $20/hour employee's time researching your use just so they can quibble with you over a few dollars per month, especially if they're already getting most of it from you anyway in the form of fees for additional gigabytes of data. They're going to cast their net far and wide, skim off the easy pickings who don't know any better than to use bare wifi without obfuscation, then focus on the guys using 10-20 gigs of data per month or more.
Be discreet, keep your head down, act insulted if they confront you, and you should be fine.
^ pretty much what I thought
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Recently got a text and Letter from AT&T stating that I've been caught tethering on my unlimited (grandfathered in) data plan. I called and the said this was my last warning before they turn my unlimited plan off for good and switch me to the 5GB plan.
Has anyone else had this happen to them? Should I be worried - concerned if I still want to tether?
I currently use the most up to date version of AOKP JB - and have been since i got the SGS 3.
Thoughts?
axel4401 said:
Recently got a text and Letter from AT&T stating that I've been caught tethering on my unlimited (grandfathered in) data plan. I called and the said this was my last warning before they turn my unlimited plan off for good and switch me to the 5GB plan.
Has anyone else had this happen to them? Should I be worried - concerned if I still want to tether?
I currently use the most up to date version of AOKP JB - and have been since i got the SGS 3.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you tethering a laptop, desktop? I haven't seen a message yet (knocks on wood!) but I only tether my tablet.
I would suggest you stop or they will switch you off unlimited. I tethered once for about 50mb worth of data and I got a letter in the mail from them.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
With tmobile we can switch our apn settings to get around them knowing about tethering. Not sure if there's anything like that for ATT, but figured I'd mention it.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
Considering you can never get that plan back if they switch it, you should decide how much that's worth to you. If you'll never go over with just the phone, then it won't be that big a loss. If it were me, I'd stop tethering, and keep the unlimited data since the data costs keep bumping up in $5 or $10 increments.
If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III
Swiftks said:
If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III
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Click to collapse
Agreed with Swiftks !!!! Pretty much they are changing the TOC. So now you can do whatever you want and walk without paying an early termination fee. Hence , if things got even more complicated where they took the stance and remove your grandfather and not let you go.... BBB.ORG is your friend. Trust me. I did it for something else and I walk with a brand new iPhone 4.
Yea.... i'm pretty sure there'd be a flaw to that way of thinking.
A) You are aware of the data package you purchased, that you have unlimited data but are not permitted to tether on that plan, and they still send out a letter/text notifying you as such
B) You might NOT be aware of your inability to tether on the unlimited plan, and since this is not a part of the plan you've selected under contract, a letter and text message is sent out notifying you of this, and warning you that further use would result in your plan being changed to a plan that supports tethering.
C) They switch your plan after your continued tethering use, after providing fair warning about the changes to be made.
Them breaching your contract by changing something around without your knowing beforehand (can't even really think of an example... sorry), i could see the idea of claiming a breach of the terms of your contract being valid and allowing you to terminate the contract fee-free. However, i'm fairly certain the advanced notification of such action being a result of something you are doing would be less breach of contract by the carrier and more misuse of contracted services by the user.... so you'd probably be SoL from a legal standpoint.
And the BBB? HA! They don't do jack sh*t. I tried that to get a company to follow through on the contract that i signed for a wheel & tire warranty, and they kept circling through the same few excuses that they used when i was simply e-mailing them to try to get them to comply. I had documented proof basically disproving every reason they gave for denying my claim, they were denying my claim based on stuff they said was in the contract that i signed that WASN'T in the contract i signed, and the BBB can't do a damn thing either way. So i'm f*cked out of two rims costing like $625 a piece. They even hired an independent appraiser to inspect my rims to see if they were indeed no longer able to hold a seal with the tire (which would warrant replacement if not able to be repaired), and the guy "wasn't able to find any evidence pointing to this". A little air pressure and a splash of water and you could hear air leaking out from 20 feet away.
elementaldragon said:
Yea.... i'm pretty sure there'd be a flaw to that way of thinking.
A) You are aware of the data package you purchased, that you have unlimited data but are not permitted to tether on that plan, and they still send out a letter/text notifying you as such
B) You might NOT be aware of your inability to tether on the unlimited plan, and since this is not a part of the plan you've selected under contract, a letter and text message is sent out notifying you of this, and warning you that further use would result in your plan being changed to a plan that supports tethering.
C) They switch your plan after your continued tethering use, after providing fair warning about the changes to be made.
Them breaching your contract by changing something around without your knowing beforehand (can't even really think of an example... sorry), i could see the idea of claiming a breach of the terms of your contract being valid and allowing you to terminate the contract fee-free. However, i'm fairly certain the advanced notification of such action being a result of something you are doing would be less breach of contract by the carrier and more misuse of contracted services by the user.... so you'd probably be SoL from a legal standpoint.
And the BBB? HA! They don't do jack sh*t. I tried that to get a company to follow through on the contract that i signed for a wheel & tire warranty, and they kept circling through the same few excuses that they used when i was simply e-mailing them to try to get them to comply. I had documented proof basically disproving every reason they gave for denying my claim, they were denying my claim based on stuff they said was in the contract that i signed that WASN'T in the contract i signed, and the BBB can't do a damn thing either way. So i'm f*cked out of two rims costing like $625 a piece. They even hired an independent appraiser to inspect my rims to see if they were indeed no longer able to hold a seal with the tire (which would warrant replacement if not able to be repaired), and the guy "wasn't able to find any evidence pointing to this". A little air pressure and a splash of water and you could hear air leaking out from 20 feet away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but the burden of proof is on them... How can they prove you are tethering? Simply stating that you are in the top 5% or whatever is not sufficient IMO.
Sent from my SGS III
I got that notice from AT&T.... I tethered for months, my laptop, my tablet, my ipod, ****, i think i even tethered my roku to it once. Took them a few months for them to noticed, then i got the email, the text, and the letter in the mail.
So I called, and they told me what was going on, so i made up abull**** story about how my nephew plays with my phone and maybe he was enabling the internet. I asked her to if she could put a block on tethering on my account and she said sure, because i didn't want it to occur again, she assured me that my phone will not be able to tether with the block and i said thats awesome, i also asked her to make note on my account of what she was assuring me and she did.
i kept on tethering and i still do to this day. no problems so far.
Swiftks said:
Yeah, but the burden of proof is on them... How can they prove you are tethering? Simply stating that you are in the top 5% or whatever is not sufficient IMO.
Sent from my SGS III
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Click to collapse
As many have said in other threads relating to tethering and getting caught, it can probably quite easily be tracked in the packet data transmitted through the network. There's more than likely something different about the way the data is handled that basically throws up a red flag that the data is not intended for the network device.
Voicebox said:
Considering you can never get that plan back if they switch it, you should decide how much that's worth to you. If you'll never go over with just the phone, then it won't be that big a loss. If it were me, I'd stop tethering, and keep the unlimited data since the data costs keep bumping up in $5 or $10 increments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm just going to go with this one. This kind of sucks though.
I don't even think the word tethering was in the original contract. Oh well, thanks for all the input.
elementaldragon said:
As many have said in other threads relating to tethering and getting caught, it can probably quite easily be tracked in the packet data transmitted through the network. There's more than likely something different about the way the data is handled that basically throws up a red flag that the data is not intended for the network device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every packet is sent with something like a TTL (I don't think this is exactly right, I'm having a brain fart and google searches are fruitless for me right now). Basically they have a number of acceptable hops. On a cell phone, this number is typically pretty low, on a desktop it's often extremely high. This is why people tethering other mobile devices likely don't get noticed. You can also set that value on a desktop/laptop to one higher than the default on your mobile device and the traffic will appear to have originated from your device.
I'm just wondering, how much data did you use in the month(s) before they sent the message?
I am on AT&T and rarely tether but I was wondering if there are apps or a hack to mask this and make the data packets look as if a smartphone device is actually using the data. I have heard of this but I am not sure of what and which carriers it works with. Does anyone know?
annulation said:
I'm just wondering, how much data did you use in the month(s) before they sent the message?
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Click to collapse
Apparently between 2-4 GB. But this whole month, I've been under 1GB - which is funny since this is the month they "caught" me.
This is the key, only tether when you have to. That's the only time I do. When I'm away from my home network and no other possible connection around. The people getting caught are ones who are tethering constantly. Of course they going to see a huge spike in data usage. Spread it out. Especially now with 4g tethering speeds, they will be keeping a close eye. I've found out that I can successfully tether my 4g speeds to my note 10.1 tablet using Foxfi. Neither my SG3 or note 10.1 is rooted or anything. No mods needed to get it to work. I ran speedtests on tethered tablet to sg3 and saw I was getting 4g speeds. Will definitely come in handy when I need it. My data usage normally high anyways with my phone since I have unlimited. So a spike every now and then is nothing..I constantly surf web and sync stuff on my mobile phone. So my data usage is up there on a regular basis.
I think now with faster 4g speeds, more people will get caught because alot more data is flowing. Only tether when you have to. If you tethering on a daily basis as your only means of internet connection(use to be me before I got high speed wireless), they will eventually notice
I got the notice last week - and I haven't tethered since I first got the phone in the beginning of July. It wasn't anything serious, just about 10 minutes of tethering to check emails.
There was about a 2 week period where I didn't have Internet at home since the last tropical storm blew through, so I used my unlimited data to stream Netflix all day and night(on the phone) . I've been under 5gb every month so far, except in July where I used 11gb.
Just know that if they touch my unlimited data I'm taking all 5 of my lines elsewhere...
They look at browser headers (User Agent) to determine if you are tethering (probably among other things). I was NOT tethering and not using over 2gb, but I had my Dolphin browser User Agent set to make my browser look like Windows Firefox to force websites to give me desktop, not mobile versions.
I got nasty threats from ATT to stop tethering. I suspected it was the browser and I made several phone calls to explain. I got nowhere. I stopped using Dolphin and haven't been accused since.
I am always at 5gbs a month then they slow me down once in a while I tether for surf with chrome but its rare , I am supposedly top 5% my ass , before I was on 3rd party employee line using 7-10gbs month.
PS. Solved slow down problem once u hit 5gbs but its pain in the ass to do
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