Develop Bugs

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.

t mobile hot spot redirect in stock ics brower

i've started getting this annoying t mobile hot spot offer when i select to open websites in the stock browser in desktop view. it does it for some sites and not all and only in the desktop view. when i open the mobile version, it opens fine. this only happens in stock ics browser, when i do the same thing in chrome, it works and no annoying t mobile redirect. anyone else been getting this on Tmobile? how do i get rid of it?

wasya152 said:
i've started getting this annoying t mobile hot spot offer when i select to open websites in the stock browser in desktop view. it does it for some sites and not all and only in the desktop view. when i open the mobile version, it opens fine. this only happens in stock ics browser, when i do the same thing in chrome, it works and no annoying t mobile redirect. anyone else been getting this on Tmobile? how do i get rid of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had that happen on my nexus s for about a month. change your user agent to android. browser settings, advanced, user agent, android.

I'll post here again quickly to tell you to search a bit if you want more info.
T-Mobile currently uses the browser UAstring (User Agent String) to "stop" tethering. Their thinking is that if your browser reports a "desktop" UAstring that you must be using a desktop computer tethered to your phone. As you and I know, this obviously isn't the case, and you're simply trying to view desktop pages on your phone.
Seemingly the way they choose to start redirecting you is once you've used a decent amount of data on a certain browser. After that, they "flag" your account as tethering, and you start getting redirects for that browser. Usually it's around 200mb for me, but this month I've used ~130mb in Chrome Beta and I'm getting it. I'm nowhere near my data throttle either (~790mb of 5gb).
Since Chrome Beta for Android came out, I've been having this issue, because Chrome Beta reports a UAstring that is very similar to desktop Chrome. I've read many support threads and spoken with T-Mobile directly. They're aware of the issue and are currently working on a fix. What that entails, who knows. They're surely going to have to figure something out because they're currently selling ICS devices that have access to the Chrome Beta. Surely they're getting inundated with CS calls about this.
Their official stance to me was "... in the mean time, use another browser. Thank you for your patience." Which is pretty much BS. Im very surprised it's taken them this long to be forced to change their policies. "Detecting" tethering based on UAstring is stupidly simple to bypass on the desktop, and is an inconvenience to normal users on the phone who aren't even tethering.

martonikaj said:
I'll post here again quickly to tell you to search a bit if you want more info.
T-Mobile currently uses the browser UAstring (User Agent String) to "stop" tethering. Their thinking is that if your browser reports a "desktop" UAstring that you must be using a desktop computer tethered to your phone. As you and I know, this obviously isn't the case, and you're simply trying to view desktop pages on your phone.
Seemingly the way they choose to start redirecting you is once you've used a decent amount of data on a certain browser. After that, they "flag" your account as tethering, and you start getting redirects for that browser. Usually it's around 200mb for me, but this month I've used ~130mb in Chrome Beta and I'm getting it. I'm nowhere near my data throttle either (~790mb of 5gb).
Since Chrome Beta for Android came out, I've been having this issue, because Chrome Beta reports a UAstring that is very similar to desktop Chrome. I've read many support threads and spoken with T-Mobile directly. They're aware of the issue and are currently working on a fix. What that entails, who knows. They're surely going to have to figure something out because they're currently selling ICS devices that have access to the Chrome Beta. Surely they're getting inundated with CS calls about this.
Their official stance to me was "... in the mean time, use another browser. Thank you for your patience." Which is pretty much BS. Im very surprised it's taken them this long to be forced to change their policies. "Detecting" tethering based on UAstring is stupidly simple to bypass on the desktop, and is an inconvenience to normal users on the phone who aren't even tethering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
simms22 said:
i had that happen on my nexus s for about a month. change your user agent to android. browser settings, advanced, user agent, android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wasya152 said:
i've started getting this annoying t mobile hot spot offer when i select to open websites in the stock browser in desktop view. it does it for some sites and not all and only in the desktop view. when i open the mobile version, it opens fine. this only happens in stock ics browser, when i do the same thing in chrome, it works and no annoying t mobile redirect. anyone else been getting this on Tmobile? how do i get rid of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a bunch of bull. This is the basis of a massive thread I started with many people who share this very complaint among others.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1677490

T-Mobile Hotspot false positive: Can only browse offers.t-mobile.com.

At Midnight EST, Morning of 17 December 2012, Web browsing on my phone stopped working. When I tried to access Web pages not already in my cache, I was redirected to:
http://offers.t-mobile.com/tethering/upsell.do?source=redirect
A new Website set up by T-Mobile to sell tethering service. I don't want to purchase this service, but the Web page kept coming up, no matter where I tried to browse. Of course, rebooting did NOT fix the problem.
After debugging a handful of possibilities, I realized the likely culprit was an interaction between Google Chrome, T-Mobile, and Chrome UA Switcher. Opening Chrome UA Switcher and resetting to defaults mitigates the problem, temporarily returning Web browsing functionality.
In particular, I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak the user agent string that Chrome was sending to websites for each page request. I hate when websites try to push their limited "mobile" HTML versions on me, and I really hate when they try to push their "apps" on me--I just want to browse the Internet like an ordinary desktop user. So I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak a Chrome setting to force websites to offer their normal desktop HTML versions.
That's where T-Mobile comes in. Apparently, too many T-Mobile users are tethering their phones to their computers without purchasing the T-Mobile tethering service, because T-Mobile decided to block all HTTP requests that use a desktop-like user agent string. When a T-Mobile user tries to visit a website with either a legitimate phone with a desktop user agent string, or an illegitimate computer tethered to the phone, T-Mobile's overeager police system detects both as an illigitimate user, resulting in false positives that effectively disable 100% of Web browsing for hapless customers. Good job with QA there.
I motion to roll back this overeager police system. Find a more accurate way to detect tether-stealers, because the current system classifies normal users as thieves, and doesn't even have the guts to say so.
Specs:
* Chrome 18.0.1025469
* Chrome UA Switcher 1.20
* Samsung Galaxy SIII SGH-T999
* T-Mobile Unlimited Plan

mcandr said:
At Midnight EST, Morning of 17 December 2012, Web browsing on my phone stopped working. When I tried to access Web pages not already in my cache, I was redirected to:
http://offers.t-mobile.com/tethering/upsell.do?source=redirect
A new Website set up by T-Mobile to sell tethering service. I don't want to purchase this service, but the Web page kept coming up, no matter where I tried to browse. Of course, rebooting did NOT fix the problem.
After debugging a handful of possibilities, I realized the likely culprit was an interaction between Google Chrome, T-Mobile, and Chrome UA Switcher. Opening Chrome UA Switcher and resetting to defaults mitigates the problem, temporarily returning Web browsing functionality.
In particular, I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak the user agent string that Chrome was sending to websites for each page request. I hate when websites try to push their limited "mobile" HTML versions on me, and I really hate when they try to push their "apps" on me--I just want to browse the Internet like an ordinary desktop user. So I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak a Chrome setting to force websites to offer their normal desktop HTML versions.
That's where T-Mobile comes in. Apparently, too many T-Mobile users are tethering their phones to their computers without purchasing the T-Mobile tethering service, because T-Mobile decided to block all HTTP requests that use a desktop-like user agent string. When a T-Mobile user tries to visit a website with either a legitimate phone with a desktop user agent string, or an illegitimate computer tethered to the phone, T-Mobile's overeager police system detects both as an illigitimate user, resulting in false positives that effectively disable 100% of Web browsing for hapless customers. Good job with QA there.
I motion to roll back this overeager police system. Find a more accurate way to detect tether-stealers, because the current system classifies normal users as thieves, and doesn't even have the guts to say so.
Specs:
* Chrome 18.0.1025469
* Chrome UA Switcher 1.20
* Samsung Galaxy SIII SGH-T999
* T-Mobile Unlimited Plan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well T-Mobile is ridiculous and we who tether are not thieves. We can't steal date we have already played for so o that note T-Mobile can choke on one. Its my data I pay for monthly and I should be able to use how ever when ever.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

yeislak said:
Well T-Mobile is ridiculous and we who tether are not thieves. We can't steal date we have already played for so o that note T-Mobile can choke on one. Its my data I pay for monthly and I should be able to use how ever when ever.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That may be, but it helps to be agnostic on this issue. Even IF we consider unpaid tethering to be stealing, it still doesn't make sense to hurt phone users who aren't tethering at all but simply using a tweaked user agent string. We can't control T-Mobile's policy on paid vs nonpaid tethering, but we can request that T-Mobile not falsely block users who are fully abiding by the stated payment plans.

mcandr said:
At Midnight EST, Morning of 17 December 2012, Web browsing on my phone stopped working. When I tried to access Web pages not already in my cache, I was redirected to:
http://offers.t-mobile.com/tethering/upsell.do?source=redirect
A new Website set up by T-Mobile to sell tethering service. I don't want to purchase this service, but the Web page kept coming up, no matter where I tried to browse. Of course, rebooting did NOT fix the problem.
After debugging a handful of possibilities, I realized the likely culprit was an interaction between Google Chrome, T-Mobile, and Chrome UA Switcher. Opening Chrome UA Switcher and resetting to defaults mitigates the problem, temporarily returning Web browsing functionality.
In particular, I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak the user agent string that Chrome was sending to websites for each page request. I hate when websites try to push their limited "mobile" HTML versions on me, and I really hate when they try to push their "apps" on me--I just want to browse the Internet like an ordinary desktop user. So I was using Chrome UA Switcher to tweak a Chrome setting to force websites to offer their normal desktop HTML versions.
That's where T-Mobile comes in. Apparently, too many T-Mobile users are tethering their phones to their computers without purchasing the T-Mobile tethering service, because T-Mobile decided to block all HTTP requests that use a desktop-like user agent string. When a T-Mobile user tries to visit a website with either a legitimate phone with a desktop user agent string, or an illegitimate computer tethered to the phone, T-Mobile's overeager police system detects both as an illigitimate user, resulting in false positives that effectively disable 100% of Web browsing for hapless customers. Good job with QA there.
I motion to roll back this overeager police system. Find a more accurate way to detect tether-stealers, because the current system classifies normal users as thieves, and doesn't even have the guts to say so.
Specs:
* Chrome 18.0.1025469
* Chrome UA Switcher 1.20
* Samsung Galaxy SIII SGH-T999
* T-Mobile Unlimited Plan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said. Can you tell me what you have done since you posted this? Have you just accepted the fact that you cannot use the desktop versions of sites? This is killing me on my Nexus 4.
I'm probably going to call them and talk to someone just to see if there's anything they can do, I fully expect to waste my time. I am going to file a complaint with the FCC if they don't fix this. I mean c'mon, it's defective by design. They only give you 5 GB, so even if I was tethering, I'd only be able to use up to 5 GB. Why would t-mo care how I use the 5 GB they give me? And that point is moot: I'm not even trying to tether, I just want to view desktop sites and they are filtering that. Are there any laws in place that prohibits carriers from filtering content that I can reference in my complaint?

I just started getting this annoying redirect and I've not been tethering on my phone- I don't think I've ever actually tethered from my phone since being on t-mobile, though I am running a custom rom and it does have an option to do this I've not actually ever set it up or run it once.... ?
I do have an unlimited unthrottled plan, and will use it do get torrents from time to time, but I'm not being a data hog and racking up any huge monthly data use rates.
I really can't figure out how I was browsing normally on my phone and then did a google search for something I was interested in and boom... now every websearch or link I want to open automatically is redirecting me to this stupid notification!?
anyone figure it out?

[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.
Click to expand...
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.
-----
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here got an ipcop firewall with open VPN Created certs for my mac and Android devices and no issues as of yet.