Three (H3G) Tether Block - Desire General

So I've had my desire a year, been on Three's Sim15 plan, where its sim only and i get 2GB of data. Been tethering fine for that whole year. Now i'm in new halls of residence (Uni dorm) and the internet is awefull. So i moved my plan over to sim10 with all you can eat data, figuring id continue to tether, no problem. Well its been a day and now every time i go to a website on my PC, i get blocked by threes "your not allowed to tether" website.
Basically, I've tried Barnicle, pdaNet 3, easy tether and wifi tether, all to no avail (i even set my chrome user gent to that of android, didn't work). Do i have any hope of getting round this annoying block, or am i going to have to live with internet only on my phone.
Sorry if I've posted in the wrong place, or been ignorant to Tethering developments, but i wasn't able to find anything on the matter.

are you in the uk?

Yes, to be honest i was unaware Three operated in any other territories. What is the significance of this?

No significance, I was just wondering as I am in the UK on three too
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I'm on the Text 500 plan with an HTC Desire.
Have zero problems tethering although you're only meant to tether on the one plan AFAIK.

Yes, it is only The One Plan that has tethering. But i don't want to pay £25 a month. I was wondering, would connecting my phone to a VPN hide all traffic, including trafic form my PC?

cant explain of major experience, but i tethered my desire (htc desire) to a laptop whilst i was out onsite at a job, and visited numerous websites, and they all worked fine?

Are you on stock or rooted rom? Maybe try a different rom or version of android.
Maybe you can find some help here: http://androidforums.com/desire-support-troubleshooting/82054-internet-tethering-orange-mobile.html

I am on CM7.1
i don't think its a case of ROM's. But i suppose i could try Oxygen real quick. Like i said, it used to work fine on the 30 day rolling contract, but now its a 12th month contact, im getting told off.
Like i said before, would a VPN hide all my traffic? if i connected to it on my phone, and then tethered to my pc.
[edit] just tried oxygen, didn't help, still get the tether splash page.

Peelypeel said:
So I've had my desire a year, been on Three's Sim15 plan, where its sim only and i get 2GB of data. Been tethering fine for that whole year. Now i'm in new halls of residence (Uni dorm) and the internet is awefull. So i moved my plan over to sim10 with all you can eat data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, there's your problem, the plan change.
Three only allow tethering officially on either the one plan or with the Add internet max add-on. See link ...
http://ask3.three.co.uk/srvs/cgi-bi...sername=Mobile:mobileUser?s_search=helpsearch
The 2GB internet on your old sim 15 plan was applied via free add internet max add-on, which Three allow tethering on.
It seems recently Three have started enforcing these rules (they havnt in the past) and must have applied some kind of detection to the network.
Im on the old sim 15 plan still with add internet max 2Gb add-on free and can still tether, as per Three's terms and conditions.
One thing you could try is changing the APN from Three.co.uk to 3internet, I cant promise it will work but worth a try, as doing that does get round Three's adult content filter at least
Cheers

Thanks for your answer usual, at least now i know why i could tether before. I've solved my problem by spending a little more money. I got a VPN, and login to it with my phone, then tether to my PC. So three don't see a single packet of readable data go through there network, so no way to detect if its my phone or PC. Works perfectly. 20GB downloaded so far Paying for a VPN certainly beats paying for unlimited tethered data.

Hi
I was wondering if anyone knows how to override 3's tether block on iPhone 4?? Turns out they major screwed me over on my new contract, they gave me all you can eat data, but conveniently left out the part that I wouldn't be allowed to tether as it is only on the One Plan that you can do this! I have a separate PAYG 3 sim where I can get a £15 add on for the unlimited data that I'm using for the tethering now! It's so stupid having to pay twice just because they won't allow it. If anyone could help me I'd be SO grateful!
I am a bit new to all this, I'm quite technologically minded etc but I couldn't figure out the VPN stuff to see if it worked with iPhone.(I just tried this, turns out they cannot run together, when personal hotspot is connected, vpn disconnects, unless im doing it wrong)
Again any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Peelypeel said:
Thanks for your answer usual, at least now i know why i could tether before. I've solved my problem by spending a little more money. I got a VPN, and login to it with my phone, then tether to my PC. So three don't see a single packet of readable data go through there network, so no way to detect if its my phone or PC. Works perfectly. 20GB downloaded so far Paying for a VPN certainly beats paying for unlimited tethered data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well done mate, have you got a guide on how you managed it?
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

shahdhah said:
Hi
I was wondering if anyone knows how to override 3's tether block on iPhone 4?? Turns out they major screwed me over on my new contract, they gave me all you can eat data, but conveniently left out the part that I wouldn't be allowed to tether as it is only on the One Plan that you can do this! I have a separate PAYG 3 sim where I can get a £15 add on for the unlimited data that I'm using for the tethering now! It's so stupid having to pay twice just because they won't allow it. If anyone could help me I'd be SO grateful!
I am a bit new to all this, I'm quite technologically minded etc but I couldn't figure out the VPN stuff to see if it worked with iPhone.(I just tried this, turns out they cannot run together, when personal hotspot is connected, vpn disconnects, unless im doing it wrong)
Again any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the only way i found was to jailbreak phone and then install tethering app. if your connected to three and not on the right plan they can make the hotspot thethering option vanish to stop your sharing.

Peelypeel said:
Thanks for your answer usual, at least now i know why i could tether before. I've solved my problem by spending a little more money. I got a VPN, and login to it with my phone, then tether to my PC. So three don't see a single packet of readable data go through there network, so no way to detect if its my phone or PC. Works perfectly. 20GB downloaded so far Paying for a VPN certainly beats paying for unlimited tethered data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there any more news on how you were able to do this? or what vpn you used?

Peelypeel said:
Yes, it is only The One Plan that has tethering. But i don't want to pay £25 a month. I was wondering, would connecting my phone to a VPN hide all traffic, including trafic form my PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get the one plan for less. I pay 15 per month on a HTC desire.

Blocked Internet from mobile to laptop
Peelypeel said:
Thanks for your answer usual, at least now i know why i could tether before. I've solved my problem by spending a little more money. I got a VPN, and login to it with my phone, then tether to my PC. So three don't see a single packet of readable data go through there network, so no way to detect if its my phone or PC. Works perfectly. 20GB downloaded so far Paying for a VPN certainly beats paying for unlimited tethered data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi what do u mean paying for VPN?
Am on 600 12 month plan hapily purchased that i will be surfing internet but those f**in bastardsblblocking internet browsing on laptop
I tried that pda thingy didnt help..
Can anybody help me?
Thanx so much
---------- Post added at 04:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
leerees said:
You can get the one plan for less. I pay 15 per month on a HTC desire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excuse me??that is bull**it
One plan is 25 pounds NOT 15 ! !
Am payin 15 pounds for 600 12 month!!

DeadBeginning said:
is there any more news on how you were able to do this? or what vpn you used?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm reviving a 2012 thread... sorry but i wanted to answer this because i was just search how to block teether on Three uk network.
1. You get a free/paid VPN, maybe that has gateways in your country (show be faster),
2. then you set up your phone : System settings - More settings - VPN - Add VPN - put any name, select connection type (usually PPTP) and put the server address (any other settings depends on the VPN you use)
3. the new VPN will show up in the list, tap once
4. put the username / password provided by the free/paid VPN provider.
Enjoy...
now i'm trying some free VPNs...for now, maybe i'll try some trials from paid ones and then decide because i don't see the point in buying a VPN if i can only get 500kb/s

Please update with any results
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

iEthos said:
Excuse me??that is bull**it
One plan is 25 pounds NOT 15 ! !
Am payin 15 pounds for 600 12 month!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what there ain't something called negotiation I'm getting 50% off on all contracts!!!
I swear people ether are thick enough to believe the prices these companies quote or have ZERO negotiation skills.

Related

Internet Connection Sharing..

I installed ICSinstall.cab (January, 2008 version) on my TP2 (Verizon), rebooted, connected USB to my laptop, connected the application a VOILA! I'm online!
Awesome, now I just need to know if this is safe to use on my Verizon TP2. Will Verizon see that I'm tethering my laptop?
EDIT: Added the ICS cab, in case anyone else needs it..
Did Verizon take this out of there phone? It comes normally on every WM phone I've owned. Why did you have to install it?
Also, it should just show as you using data like normal use with phone, but don't quote me no that.
xnifex said:
Did Verizon take this out of there phone? It comes normally on every WM phone I've owned. Why did you have to install it?
Also, it should just show as you using data like normal use with phone, but don't quote me no that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone said the executable for the internet sharing application could be found in the \windows\ folder, but it wasn't there on my device, so I installed it. I assume that Verizon didn't include it because they like to charge $15 for tethering on top of the $30 data plan, and this application, obviously, allows you to tether for free.
Anyways, still looking for more clarification on whether or not Verizon can see that I'm tethering
-mak
original post title had spelling error- ignore
Verizon tether
I've been using the same thing to tether on my xv6800 for about a year now. I don't use it regularly, but 2-3 times a month when I'm travelling. They've never said anything with this phone. I want to switch to the TP2, but was wondering if I'd be able to tether without their $15/month charge. Clearly you've made it work, and I think if it works, they are not likely to notice moderate bandwidth useage. If you use it 24/7 to stream netflix- then maybe you might show up on some list of bandwidth hogs.
lamontqsanford said:
I've been using the same thing to tether on my xv6800 for about a year now. I don't use it regularly, but 2-3 times a month when I'm travelling. They've never said anything with this phone. I want to switch to the TP2, but was wondering if I'd be able to tether without their $15/month charge. Clearly you've made it work, and I think if it works, they are not likely to notice moderate bandwidth useage. If you use it 24/7 to stream netflix- then maybe you might show up on some list of bandwidth hogs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've added the ICS cab to my first post, in case you pick up the TP2 and it doesn't have ICS installed (like mine)
I'm still curious if they can see that I'm tethering.
sorry for hijacking the thread.... i used to connect the TP2 with original ROM to any laptop and it would use the laptops internet... Now it wont.
Is there something that has changed?
thanks

[Q] Why hasnt USB tether been hacked?

just curious, is there any particular reason why USB tethering hasn't been hacked yet?
i know there are app's but is there something at the core of the Android OS or HTC part of the OS that is completely blocking USB tethering without the hotspot function.
one would like to believe that, if a programmer wanted to, they could simply do a dump of their current system, then call Sprint and sign up for the hotspot, let it get initialized on the phone, then do a dump of the phone again and do a comparison.
and then shut off the service as soon as you are done using it.
Sprint will prorate the monthly fee if you dont use it all month.
Sprint sends something to the phone to say "Hotspot initialized, Hotspot Authorized" and there has to be something in the OS that is either altered or added that can then be emulated or spoofed in a rooted rom.
thats my thoughts on it.
is there anyone with the knowledge and not just b.s. talk who can actually answer this properly?
3rd party apps are fine but not when they have to be installed on the client side of the link (the pc)
the flipside is that you can simply keep it on your memory card and just pull it off the memory card and install it on whatever pc/laptop you want to tether to.
but again, a 3rd party application to do this i do not believe is needed.
Windows sees the phone as a internet device to be used, so whatever PDANet is doing, should be able to be done on the phone alone, right?
Google Tetherbot... Free, no software on host PC.
v_lestat said:
just curious, is there any particular reason why USB tethering hasn't been hacked yet?
i know there are app's but is there something at the core of the Android OS or HTC part of the OS that is completely blocking USB tethering without the hotspot function.
one would like to believe that, if a programmer wanted to, they could simply do a dump of their current system, then call Sprint and sign up for the hotspot, let it get initialized on the phone, then do a dump of the phone again and do a comparison.
and then shut off the service as soon as you are done using it.
Sprint will prorate the monthly fee if you dont use it all month.
Sprint sends something to the phone to say "Hotspot initialized, Hotspot Authorized" and there has to be something in the OS that is either altered or added that can then be emulated or spoofed in a rooted rom.
thats my thoughts on it.
is there anyone with the knowledge and not just b.s. talk who can actually answer this properly?
3rd party apps are fine but not when they have to be installed on the client side of the link (the pc)
the flipside is that you can simply keep it on your memory card and just pull it off the memory card and install it on whatever pc/laptop you want to tether to.
but again, a 3rd party application to do this i do not believe is needed.
Windows sees the phone as a internet device to be used, so whatever PDANet is doing, should be able to be done on the phone alone, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does the hotspot feature have to do with USB tethering?
you have to pay the $30/mth for the hotspot feature in order to enable USB tethering, it is part of the feature set and says so right in the description of the package.
that is why you get the Error 67 if you try to usb tether and have not paid for the hotspot feature.
tetherbot seems interesting but truth be told, again you are using a 3rd party app to initilize the connection, ADB.
i guess the next question would be, do you have to do the proxy setup everytime you usb tether? or just once?
it would only take 10sec to write a .bat file with the instructions, but i guess it comes down to why hasnt it been hacked to just run ... without all the other stuff.
again, Tetherbot is doing something that is opening the door to a final solution.
if its an app on the phone thats cool and i completely understand but having to alter the communction system between your pc and phone (by using adb to set a proxy port) seems wierd.
why the proxy settings. is port 1080 the only open port on the phone side of the link when usb is plugged in?
i could see that, but if 1 port is open, then they all can be openen, its just a matter of letting it.
i guess i dont see the need for the whole proxy system. shouldnt there be some command to just open everything up like it normally would be and not just one port?
v_lestat said:
just curious, is there any particular reason why USB tethering hasn't been hacked yet?
i know there are app's but is there something at the core of the Android OS or HTC part of the OS that is completely blocking USB tethering without the hotspot function.
one would like to believe that, if a programmer wanted to, they could simply do a dump of their current system, then call Sprint and sign up for the hotspot, let it get initialized on the phone, then do a dump of the phone again and do a comparison.
and then shut off the service as soon as you are done using it.
Sprint will prorate the monthly fee if you dont use it all month.
Sprint sends something to the phone to say "Hotspot initialized, Hotspot Authorized" and there has to be something in the OS that is either altered or added that can then be emulated or spoofed in a rooted rom.
thats my thoughts on it.
is there anyone with the knowledge and not just b.s. talk who can actually answer this properly?
3rd party apps are fine but not when they have to be installed on the client side of the link (the pc)
the flipside is that you can simply keep it on your memory card and just pull it off the memory card and install it on whatever pc/laptop you want to tether to.
but again, a 3rd party application to do this i do not believe is needed.
Windows sees the phone as a internet device to be used, so whatever PDANet is doing, should be able to be done on the phone alone, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just download PDAnet from the Market. USB tether no monthly charges.
v_lestat said:
you have to pay the $30/mth for the hotspot feature in order to enable USB tethering, it is part of the feature set and says so right in the description of the package.
that is why you get the Error 67 if you try to usb tether and have not paid for the hotspot feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not to be a pita - but I've never seen usb tethering in any description of the hotspot feature from Sprint, can you point it out? I've never had the need for either the hotspot or usb tethering, so I probably just glossed right over it.
I don't really see the need for him to point it out. If you are that curious, just go look... what he is telling you is correct. You cannot ICS without the $30 fee... hotspot OR tethering. (Unless it is hacked). I am pretty sure there is no confusion on the hack though. This is widely done with rooted phones. So it isn't a matter of people not knowing how... it is a matter of having the priv on the phone to do it. Without root, other 3rd party options are the only way.
edufur said:
I don't really see the need for him to point it out. If you are that curious, just go look... what he is telling you is correct. You cannot ICS without the $30 fee... hotspot OR tethering. (Unless it is hacked). I am pretty sure there is no confusion on the hack though. This is widely done with rooted phones. So it isn't a matter of people not knowing how... it is a matter of having the priv on the phone to do it. Without root, other 3rd party options are the only way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fair enough - the way he described it, I thought it was a sprint thing and not a hack. I was looking, but I was looking in all of the Sprint materials (website, user guide, etc) about the hotspot feature and wasn't able to find anything about it also allowing usb tethering - only the wireless tethering. I wasn't doubting him or anything. Like I said in my other post, I thought I just missed it since I never really looked into the hotspot feature before.
fachadick said:
fair enough - the way he described it, I thought it was a sprint thing and not a hack. I was looking, but I was looking in all of the Sprint materials (website, user guide, etc) about the hotspot feature and wasn't able to find anything about it also allowing usb tethering - only the wireless tethering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
technically it is a sprint thing and the phone has to be hacked to make it work.
the hack being rooting the phone.
Sprint locks the phones, so when you enable USB tethering on the phone, your PC sees it, calls it an internet connection at something like 460mbps (because its usb) and expects internet traffic in and out of that connection.
BUT
the phone checks itself and sprint, then says, oh wait, i dont have the hotspot feature enabled because i dont have the authorization key,,, so... no USB tethering, and here is your Error 67.
now the authorization key is just a theory but a legitimate one and one that is used daily on thousands of devices.
if it is all surrounding the hotspot feature, which it very well may be, then i guess finding a hack for the hotspot would be next. and not wifi tethering for root users, but a legit hack to the HTC/Sprint program.
usb tethering is available for paid app's or free apps that just make a proxy.
i guess my whole point is to just ask what is it about the usb tethering that isnt hacked to NOT give the error 67....
there is something there that can be bypassed or otherwise....
Instead of complaining that something hasnt been done or done fast enough for you, do a search!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712706
Quite active thread with the dev themselves posting often. It is close to being finished with a few kinks needing to be worked out.
superevilllama said:
Instead of complaining that something hasnt been done or done fast enough for you, do a search!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712706
Quite active thread with the dev themselves posting often. It is close to being finished with a few kinks needing to be worked out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where was i complaining? i think i clearly asked aplain and simple question.
i was aware of that thread until it was broken and not working (the tether function) then i moved on...
i am not sure why its in apps and themes where it should be more into the development section even though it clearly is an app
but either way i will investigate it more as i see there is more chatter about it working.
superevilllama said:
Instead of complaining that something hasnt been done or done fast enough for you, do a search!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712706
Quite active thread with the dev themselves posting often. It is close to being finished with a few kinks needing to be worked out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this doesn't work on froyo kernels ATM
and what he is asking for isn't a freaking APP READ he is asking about making a rewrite to the core of the phone to allow NATIVE tether without adding some kind of app to work around the issue.
Hey guys.... so
I've personally wanted this myself, yes there are other 3rd party apps, then you have to install their software on your machine...petty of me I know, but what can I say.
So after rooting with a bunch of ROMS on my EVO, I moved to FreshEVO which so far is my favorite.
Today I upgraded to v 3.4.0.1, according to the release notes, this has just what the original poster is after:
Changes from Fresh Evo 3.3.0.1 to 3.4.0.1:
* Based on a new Sprint OTA (3.30.651.2)
* New kernel by HTC (g0f673ed)
o Modified slightly to allow apps2sd and remount to work
o Has fps unlocked by default, straight from HTC's source!
* Upped MMS size limit to 5mb (thanks to calkulin)
* Added mod to prevent MMS from compressing image unless it's over 5mb limit (thanks to calkulin)
* Added mod to unlock Sprint wired tether so that you can tether straight through the normal USB menu when you plug in your phone (thanks to calkulin. If it's not working for you then you are probably missing drivers on your computer. Check device manager. Works on 3g or wifi only)
* Updated Wireless Tether to 2.0.5-pre-11
* Updated DarkTremor apps2sd to 2.7.5.2
* Updated Google Maps to 4.5.1
* Updated Google Search to 1.1.2
* Updated YouTube to 2.0.26
* Updated busybox to 1.16.0
* There were no radio updates or updates to any system apks or jars in this OTA.
* 3.4.0.0-3.4.0.1: Fixed a browser bug. Find the small patch in Fresh Updater if you were on 3.4.0.0 already
Just thought this may be useful for those who have not come across it as yet.
Cheers
Sheldon
Why is stealing 30$ a month from sprint OK, but movies/tv warez stuff is off limits?
I get that our phones have unlimited plans, but when your tetherd to a computer there is a huge difference in usage. If they dont have the 30$ tethering charge, then they cant make enough money to keep internet unlimited. If they cant do that then we just wont have unlimited data in the future.
Also how can this forum justify not allowing info on streaming movies, which would add up to the cost of a netflix subscription (9$), while at the same time allowing a practice that costs 3 times that AND will lead to the crippling of our data plans?????
Sorry to play devils advocate but this has bothered me for a while.
um, excuse me for being a party pooper, but it has been hacked. Look for caulkin's evo fixes. One of these is the usb and wifi authorization fix. It still can't work with 4g because the authorization is somewhere else with that, but it works both ways perfectly on 3g just as fast as without. U r welcome
dk
scev5 said:
Why is stealing 30$ a month from sprint OK, but movies/tv warez stuff is off limits?
I get that our phones have unlimited plans, but when your tetherd to a computer there is a huge difference in usage. If they dont have the 30$ tethering charge, then they cant make enough money to keep internet unlimited. If they cant do that then we just wont have unlimited data in the future.
Also how can this forum justify not allowing info on streaming movies, which would add up to the cost of a netflix subscription (9$), while at the same time allowing a practice that costs 3 times that AND will lead to the crippling of our data plans?????
Sorry to play devils advocate but this has bothered me for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've only used tethering to see how it worked once, when the device was still on 2.1, and then, 4G had that bug which allows it to run for free.....
Personally, I dont think that allowing tethering on the device would put much of a dent in Sprint's profit margin at all.
Wifi tethering allows you up to 8 devices, but split this on 3g or even 4g and your speeds are going to be anything but spectacular.......
Usb tethering limits to 1 device, but at higher speeds yes....still the bandwidth coming through to the phone I have found to be only for use in emergencies, since its by no means near my cable connection (even on 4g, since indoors my 4g strength is 1/5 bars).
Now if I'm travelling with a laptop, the first thing I'm going to do is go to a coffee shop, pay 4 or 5 bucks for some coffee and get a real connection, not rely on tethering off my phone.
If I was out in the middle of no where, the battery usage alone of the phone and/or laptop would not exactly have me sitting around for hours downloading gigs of data.
With as much as I use this phone (and I use it a lot), streaming, downloading roms, music, market apps, browsing, email....I still have yet to see my data usage exceed 300Mb per month.
Downloading on 4G for large files is acceptable, but the dent to my battery is such that it is not worth the effort, 3g is painful enough for large files that I feel like I'm still living in Africa (yes I'm from there with the good ol 56k modem).
I'm not supporting stealing at all, but if anything would hurt Sprints finances, it would probably be the ginormous amount of dollars they sponsor to things like nascar, not the small portion of subscribers that are technically literate enough to root their phones and get free tethering, let alone how much they would actually use it.

Internet sharing - is it detectable

Tried finding something on the subject but nothing definite.
My question is regardless of if you have unlimited data or not (i do have unlimited) but your contract says you are not allowed to tetther/wifihotspot your internet to a computer - is there a way for your network operator to actually check that - and if yes is there a way to block that ?
Thx in advance.
It may be possible to track how you are using your data if you have the carriers software onboard but i think if you are running a custom / international stock rom there is no way to monitor anything other than the total usage.
Not 100% sure, best of luck with it.
Hard to say, but I've tethered off my Full Monty sim and nothing has happened. Some companies will ban you like GiffGaff. Generally it should be fine but don't over do it like downloading torrents and stuff. Stick to normal browsing and it should be ok.
nikzDHD said:
Hard to say, but I've tethered off my Full Monty sim and nothing has happened. Some companies will ban you like GiffGaff. Generally it should be fine but don't over do it like downloading torrents and stuff. Stick to normal browsing and it should be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats the thing - I`m usually doing 50-70GB a month from my phone alone - and nothing happens - so I`m thinking if i do it via my pc that will nto make any difference. And I`m not running their own rom so it should be fine
if they do an IP check then yes without any roms or anything they can find out how many sub ip's are using the internet and they will block you off, but using a proxified tether (like OrBot) will make it seem as all connections from one IP.
Source: my cousin does this trick to share his connection with his family for very cheap but a-bit-laggy internet.

[Q] AT&T Detected Tether Apps?

So today I got the letter in the mail from AT&T telling me that I need to stop tethering or that I'll lose my old grandfathered in unlimited data plan and be moved to plan that supports tethering and a data cap.
I called the number they gave me to get some info on what they were going to say they told me very generally that they have detected tethering and that if I don't stop by the end of the month, they will bump my plan. She gave me a laundry list of things that are considered tethering, from wifi hotspots to getting internet access for a gaming console.
I pressed very hard to find out what exactly I have done that they register as tethering more than anything I wanted specifics. She told me several times that they couldn't give out specifics as that is proprietary information. When I suggested that this might just them trying to force me onto a more expensive plan since they were unable to give me any proof that I had been tethering, she paused and said that she's wait while I look in my phone for tethering apps. I told her I don't have any tethering apps and she told me to look again. After some back and forth, she told me that the mere existence of a tethering app on the phone was considered tethering.
Beyond the issue of tethering at the moment I'm bothered that they even know what apps are on my phone and that they might use the existence of an app as justification to alter my service.
Has anyone heard of the carrier looking at apps like this before? From a privacy standpoint, I'd like to see if there is some way to keep their nose out of my business. Anyone know of a way to keep AT&T out of my phone?
If you were to have a tethering app on your phone (and of course, you don't), what would it be? i.e., if AT&T can detect certain apps, what, do you suppose (without admitting anything incriminating), are the apps they're talking about?
I can't imagine they'd be crazy enough to surreptitiously audit the content of a subscriber's phone, and then tacitly admit to it with this sort of inquiry. But I could imagine that they can detect tethering "signatures" via snooping network traffic. For example, if you tether to a PC and use that to browse the internet, the user agent will look different than when the phone's browser is being used. Or if you left a tethering session running and they saw your phone pulling down updates for Microsoft Windows, that'd sure be a dead giveaway. There's little if any reason to pull anything off Windows Update with a phone. They could maybe get away with detecting that sort of thing since they wouldn't be looking at data content, just whether or not the data source was consistent with a smartphone or not...
willp2 said:
So today I got the letter in the mail from AT&T telling me that I need to stop tethering or that I'll lose my old grandfathered in unlimited data plan and be moved to plan that supports tethering and a data cap.
I called the number they gave me to get some info on what they were going to say they told me very generally that they have detected tethering and that if I don't stop by the end of the month, they will bump my plan. She gave me a laundry list of things that are considered tethering, from wifi hotspots to getting internet access for a gaming console.
I pressed very hard to find out what exactly I have done that they register as tethering more than anything I wanted specifics. She told me several times that they couldn't give out specifics as that is proprietary information. When I suggested that this might just them trying to force me onto a more expensive plan since they were unable to give me any proof that I had been tethering, she paused and said that she's wait while I look in my phone for tethering apps. I told her I don't have any tethering apps and she told me to look again. After some back and forth, she told me that the mere existence of a tethering app on the phone was considered tethering.
Beyond the issue of tethering at the moment I'm bothered that they even know what apps are on my phone and that they might use the existence of an app as justification to alter my service.
Has anyone heard of the carrier looking at apps like this before? From a privacy standpoint, I'd like to see if there is some way to keep their nose out of my business. Anyone know of a way to keep AT&T out of my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on stock AT&T rom?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using XDA Premium HD app
While I hope for their own sake that they aren't auditing software on the devices, I suppose they could be watching what people download. For instance, some tethering apps are just not available in the Play store if you are coming from AT&T or Sprint. I could see that perhaps in one of the many TOS agreements I clicked OK on without reading there was something that said they could sniff around my phone.
I assumed they would be looking at traffic, but after being quite vague over and over again, she was very specific about a tethering app. Agreed that as soon as a PC goes online it creates all kinds of traffic that wouldn't look like a smart phone.
I am using the stock / not rooted AT&T ROM at this point. I normally root right away, but I haven't really had a need on this one.
I would root and use a different ROM if I felt like it would keep their noses out of my junk. Even if I was tethering, I'm not using a crazy amount of data so I find the whole thing pretty silly.
Now I am thinking that if they do change my tethering plan without my permission, I have to assume that I can break my contract if I want and move elsewhere. Just not sure where I could get another Note II with unlimited data at a decent price.
willp2 said:
While I hope for their own sake that they aren't auditing software on the devices, I suppose they could be watching what people download. For instance, some tethering apps are just not available in the Play store if you are coming from AT&T or Sprint. I could see that perhaps in one of the many TOS agreements I clicked OK on without reading there was something that said they could sniff around my phone.
I assumed they would be looking at traffic, but after being quite vague over and over again, she was very specific about a tethering app. Agreed that as soon as a PC goes online it creates all kinds of traffic that wouldn't look like a smart phone.
I am using the stock / not rooted AT&T ROM at this point. I normally root right away, but I haven't really had a need on this one.
I would root and use a different ROM if I felt like it would keep their noses out of my junk. Even if I was tethering, I'm not using a crazy amount of data so I find the whole thing pretty silly.
Now I am thinking that if they do change my tethering plan without my permission, I have to assume that I can break my contract if I want and move elsewhere. Just not sure where I could get another Note II with unlimited data at a decent price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also make sure you DONT use internet explorer that is a NO NO for tethering with AT&T they see the browser agent and KNOW that`s not possible without tethering.
hyelton said:
Also make sure you DONT use internet explorer that is a NO NO for tethering with AT&T they see the browser agent and KNOW that`s not possible without tethering.
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Click to collapse
Prove I haven't just changed my agent string to make the stupid app server think I'm on a windows desktop and using IE.
One of my friends pinged me 2 days ago. He got the friendly text stating tethering isn't allowed without a tether plan. No tethering on his part, just a lot of vevo traffic.
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I would love to help you, but help yourself first: ask a better question
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
You could setup a linux machine at home and keep that running. Setup an SSH tunnel from your phone to your home linux box and tunnel all the tethering traffic through that. To AT&T that would just look like an encrypted ssh connection.
You could also run a Windows virtual machine on your phone. It's already been done.
Darkshado said:
You could also run a Windows virtual machine on your phone. It's already been done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wouldn't help. FIrst, I don't think there are any hardware network drivers for windows for the Note II, so it wouldn't be able to get internet. Second, If he did have internet, he would still run into the same issue of unencrypted traffic being sniffed by at&t. Sure he could setup an ssh tunnel from windows, but at that point it's just silly to run windows on the note just to encrypt traffic.
I assume one could use any VPN like the SSH tunnel or something like hotspot shield or similar as long as all traffic is forced through the tunnel and there really would be no way for anyone to tell what you are doing.
willp2 said:
I assume one could use any VPN like the SSH tunnel or something like hotspot shield or similar as long as all traffic is forced through the tunnel and there really would be no way for anyone to tell what you are doing.
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Click to collapse
YA, thats the idea. As long as traffic is encrypted somehow there is little that AT&T can sniff.
DeMiNe0 said:
That wouldn't help. FIrst, I don't think there are any hardware network drivers for windows for the Note II, so it wouldn't be able to get internet. Second, If he did have internet, he would still run into the same issue of unencrypted traffic being sniffed by at&t. Sure he could setup an ssh tunnel from windows, but at that point it's just silly to run windows on the note just to encrypt traffic.
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I think he was perhaps referring to why there was traffic that looks like it originated from a PC coming from my phone. So if someone was running a VM on the phone itself it would produce some PC looking traffic. If that was the idea there, I assume tethering to a VM is still tethering?
Yeah: Provided you can run Qemu or Virtualbox you can run Windows in it, and it will have network access just like any VM would from a full sized computer. My point is that you can make a non-tethered phone generate the very same sort of IP traffic a computer would.
Heck, if the Fujitsu LOOX F-07C can run on AT&T, you don't even need a VM to generate connections to Windows Update and a desktop IE user agent!
I got the same message last week. I don't tether at all. I'm on cleanrom 4.5. Tried to request what apps they suspect me of using but wouldn't tell me either. I know all the apps I have on my phone as I keep things very simple. I will admit I do use a lot of data (4-4.5 gigs in 2 weeks lol)
I use Pandora and tunein app to stream music all the time. Only thing that I recently did out of the normal routine was use the desktop view on Google chrome. Would that give a different browser signature?
pyo said:
I got the same message last week. I don't tether at all. I'm on cleanrom 4.5. Tried to request what apps they suspect me of using but wouldn't tell me either. I know all the apps I have on my phone as I keep things very simple. I will admit I do use a lot of data (4-4.5 gigs in 2 weeks lol)
I use Pandora and tunein app to stream music all the time. Only thing that I recently did out of the normal routine was use the desktop view on Google chrome. Would that give a different browser signature?
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Click to collapse
Yes, it would show a user-agent string without indicating mobile. But not likely something to trigger a tether notice, as I use desktop view all the time. It's likely the high data usage that makes them think tether.
-----
I would love to help you, but help yourself first: ask a better question
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
willp2 said:
So today I got the letter in the mail from AT&T telling me that I need to stop tethering or that I'll lose my old grandfathered in unlimited data plan and be moved to plan that supports tethering and a data cap.
I called the number they gave me to get some info on what they were going to say they told me very generally that they have detected tethering and that if I don't stop by the end of the month, they will bump my plan. She gave me a laundry list of things that are considered tethering, from wifi hotspots to getting internet access for a gaming console.
I pressed very hard to find out what exactly I have done that they register as tethering more than anything I wanted specifics. She told me several times that they couldn't give out specifics as that is proprietary information. When I suggested that this might just them trying to force me onto a more expensive plan since they were unable to give me any proof that I had been tethering, she paused and said that she's wait while I look in my phone for tethering apps. I told her I don't have any tethering apps and she told me to look again. After some back and forth, she told me that the mere existence of a tethering app on the phone was considered tethering.
Beyond the issue of tethering at the moment I'm bothered that they even know what apps are on my phone and that they might use the existence of an app as justification to alter my service.
Has anyone heard of the carrier looking at apps like this before? From a privacy standpoint, I'd like to see if there is some way to keep their nose out of my business. Anyone know of a way to keep AT&T out of my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To the OP, did you tether ever?
I am worried that innocent people will lose their unlmtd plan? We need to find out if their detection system is wrong?
Wait, I signed up for 2 lines around 3 or 4 months sgo and they said because I got the max 6gigs of data a month I could tether all I want. I haven't for more than 10 minutes but I have noticed that AT&T sales reps speak in half truths. I was told if I paid the 10 a month for insurance I could break it by throwing it at someone" Well I added my 2nd line 10 days later and only then found out about a $200 deductible. I was definitely never told about a high deductible upon signing with them. I dont hold back though. I had all prorated charges waived.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2
DeMiNe0 said:
You could setup a linux machine at home and keep that running. Setup an SSH tunnel from your phone to your home linux box and tunnel all the tethering traffic through that. To AT&T that would just look like an encrypted ssh connection.
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Click to collapse
That's exactly what I do and no problems thus far
Tethering detection has been discussed many times. The consensus is that they detect tethering by examining the TTL (Time-To-Live) value in the packet. When you tether a device, it shows a different TTL value than the one used in data packets sent by the phone and that's what they look for. There are other tricky things they can examine in the packet headers that can be used to detect tethering, but those are more complicated and take more effort on the part of the the wireless provider.
From what I read, it looks like SSH tunneling over a VPN would allow you to tether without detection, but I haven't heard of any definitive test on this. The biggest problem I see with that approach is that it really slows down your connection.
Here's a very technical paper that discusses tethering and methods to defeat it: Tethering Camouflage
These guys created a test app that rewrites packet data to hide tethering. In the article, they compare their method to using a VPN, which they imply will do the trick. Their opinion is that wireless providers will eventually give up on trying to enforce tethering restrictions because people will find ways to defeat it and it will cost them more than it's worth.
cyrano821 said:
That's exactly what I do and no problems thus far
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Same here got an ipcop firewall with open VPN Created certs for my mac and Android devices and no issues as of yet.

[Q] How to Circumvent Carrier Throttling?

I'm using my GT-N7100 on Solavei's (MVNO of T mobile) network, and get knocked down to 2g speeds after I hit 4gb data each month. This is usually within 10 days of paying my bill. I've heard that it's possible to change a system file to revoke their ability to do this. Anyone here able to describe this process in detail (specific to gt-n7100? [I currently run 4.3 DNv3]). Thanks in advance...
ProxyDroid
ProxyDroid is your friend. I have the same issue with my carrier.
Set up fake AP and you're set. Look for instructions online for your specific carrier.
Root required!!
rodrigorajao said:
ProxyDroid is your friend. I have the same issue with my carrier.
Set up fake AP and you're set. Look for instructions online for your specific carrier.
Root required!!
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Click to collapse
I've spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to piece this together now. Sadly, I've yet to figure out how to accomplish what you described here. I've tried fiddling with various combinations of settings in ProxyDroid, to no avail. I've attempted various free VPN and proxy apps as well.:silly:
Right now I am on a business trip away from reliable WIFI, and Solavei has taken this opportunity to reapply it's stranglehold on my data, effectively crippling my productivity and resolve on this trip. :crying:
They added a new option to top off your data plan when it's depleted, but they only offer 500MB/$1O at a time. I've paid an extra $40 in just the past 1.5 hours !
Could you possibly expound on your process a bit? I cant keep up like this any longer...

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