Develop Bugs

Can Sprint tell if we're tethering over wifi?

My understanding is that with PDANet, tethering looks like normal data use. Does Wireless Tether or the hacked Sprint Hotspot app (warm 2.2) also show up as normal data use or can Sprint tell you're tethering over wifi?
I ask because apparently AT&T has been sending letters to customers who use MyWi forcing them to either sign up for a tethering plan or stop tethering... Can (would?) Sprint do something similar?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Sprint can't tell unless they use Deep Packet Inspection and see something like "Oh hey, what's all this encrypted traffic coming from Netflix's server?".
As for AT&T, they're just yelling at anyone with high amounts of data usage. Simple as that.

I dont think think they can. Just the other day, I went to the Sprint store and the guy noticed that my Evo "looked" different! He said "man how you do that!" I showed him the Rom and told him about rooting, tether and all. He said " "damm. show me how to do that on mines"....i told about Unrevoked and XDA. NOW Im sure he could be reading this thread!

i'm not sure if they can, but i think they stated publicly that they dont care. their paid one just works better, and on 3g and 4g, while consuming less battery than the rest. this is their response, and i think it works well. self-advertising while not angering devs. pretty good of them.

so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?

Evo13 said:
so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?
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if you switch roms, most have a hacked hospot to work on 3g. wifi tether app also works on 4g.

Evo13 said:
so once rooted, do i have to download wireless tether or can i use the hot spot app without being charged?
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you can do both no charge.

Sprint mainly checks for users exceeding the 5Gb per month for data. Other than that, it is difficult to tell without users feeling that their privacy is being invaded. 5Gb comes up quickly if you are streaming movies or downloading outside the normal browsing or youtube.

engelsione said:
I dont think think they can. Just the other day, I went to the Sprint store and the guy noticed that my Evo "looked" different! He said "man how you do that!" I showed him the Rom and told him about rooting, tether and all. He said " "damm. show me how to do that on mines"....i told about Unrevoked and XDA. NOW Im sure he could be reading this thread!
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Yeah, but it wouldn't be a store employee checking anyway. Either way, seems like they don't care.

My evo was rooted with revoked, but still using the standard rom. I was able to use wireless tether without converting to any other rom. Be sure to use the security features (passphrase and access control) to prevent inadvertent use by others.

TheEdge88 said:
Sprint mainly checks for users exceeding the 5Gb per month for data. Other than that, it is difficult to tell without users feeling that their privacy is being invaded. 5Gb comes up quickly if you are streaming movies or downloading outside the normal browsing or youtube.
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Sprint doesn't have a 5gb limit on smartphone plans, that is only on data cards on the 3g network. I just watched a commercial yesterday with Dan Hess stating that Sprints unlimited plans have no limits, unlike Verizon and AT&T.

cruise350 said:
Sprint doesn't have a 5gb limit on smartphone plans, that is only on data cards on the 3g network. I just watched a commercial yesterday with Dan Hess stating that Sprints unlimited plans have no limits, unlike Verizon and AT&T.
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they dont have a throttle, they just look into it if you pull that much. like somebody said earlier, if you're pulling 8 gigs from netflix's server, there is only one explanation.

Anybody know of any specific examples of customers getting called out for excessive data use or wifi tethering? I assume there would've been an outrage on XDA and I would've heard about it... I don't think it's happened yet.
I get it that Sprint says they're truly unlimited but I have a nagging suspicion that they're eventually going to crack down on unauthorized tethering. Not that that's going to stop me in the mean time!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I'd have to dig through the contract and T&C but technically speaking wouldn't tethering without a plan be a contract violation? I'm not claiming to be Mr. Innocent here. I've done the free tethering and have had tethering plans. Just seems to me that since we all signed contracts legally speaking the carriers have more of a leg to stand on than we do.
Sent from my Cyanogenized HTC Evo 4G using XDA Premium App

I think with the sale of tmobile to at&t, Sprint will increase their user base with people bailing either one. Maybe, hopefully not, they'll begin to check our usage.
Then again, they'll be moving to LTE. Which means those of us with wimax devices, yours truly, will be left to use our data to our desires. At least I hope so.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I use over 20 gigs a month downloading files(ROMs, files for work, etc) and streaming videos to my phone and have for almost two years. Not once have I been throttled or warned.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.

So it sounds like the takeaway is that if Sprint wanted to, they could tell that you're tethering, but there is no evidence that they've ever done it or taken any action against customers... Cool.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Sprint is a member of the open handset alliance. They don't care.
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html

I use Slingplayer daily for hours sometimes, then I'll tether my iPad 2 and watch movies from my computer while traveling around via AirVideo. I am currently at 10GB of usage this month which is average, they never throttled me or anything.

I've hit over 12GB of usage regularly with no complaints from Sprint. YMMV.

Tethering and Packet Data, Huge Bill!

Hey! So I have an unlimited data plan on virgin mobile canada that doe not include tethering. In the past I have always tethered using apps like fox fi without any charges so I had assumed I was safe to continue doing so. This month I received a large phone bill because they decided to charge me for tethering. I cant figure out how they determined that i was tethering though. My only clue is that in the last month I have used roms with the built in tethering enabled, specifically free gs3 which includes the tmo tethering app. Could using that app have alerted my carrier that i was tethering whenever I used it?
Also, and I dont mean to beg but I'm broke so if anyone wants to help me out with this bill feel free not that I'm expecting anything but It'd be greatly appreciated aha
Thanks again!

They can't just up and charge you. They must warn you first. You can get in trouble for tethering when you shouldn't but they can't force you to pay for service you didn't ask for. Call them and play dumb. Deny everything. They will warn you to never do it again and read to you the tos....blah blah blah. Basically....call and act stupid.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium

My curiosity is getting the best of me if you dont mind me asking how much was the Bill? if you prefer not to say no big deal im just curious how much one can rack up with tethering for a month.......and as far as your question, End answered it perfectly, call and play completely stupid as you have no idea if you have unlimited data how in the heck can they charge, then if they mention the word "tether" say you dont even know what that is and if its a feature that your not suppose to have then why would they allow you to? That seems predatory, I know you used an app but this is all part of it. You can always try things like " I am going to have to contact the BBB" or "Well I am going to hYouave to take my business elsewhere because I have never been accused or treated like this before with a company". Things like that usually work because their number 1 goal is to keep you happy and to keep you as a customer. I just wouldnt even mention the word "Tether" unless they do, but dont ever say too much play stupid and simple you know I use my phone for calls and texts and web browsing. Things like that.
Take Care and Good Luck
PS. If you are El Broke O' and they dont budge on the phone after doing the ABOVE you can always setup a payment plan with them. They should always allow that. You just tell them what you can afford and they will usually always agree. Believe me they just want to get their money doesnt matter how or when as long as you are paying. Because most people just say screw them and go somewhere else without paying.

No offense, however, in your OP you clearly stated that tethering was not included in your package and you tethered. What did you expect your carrier to do? Surprise!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

SaneinOne said:
No offense, however, in your OP you clearly stated that tethering was not included in your package and you tethered. What did you expect your carrier to do? Surprise!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
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He knows that, he just wants to know how the carrier figured out he was tethering.

using native carrier tethering apps hacked to give free access would absolutely alert them to your behavior...that and excessive amounts of data used in a small amount of time
also keep in mind excessive amounts of data can also mean signifigantly more than your average use from past months...they got their clue somehow, time to own up and pay my friend!

thanks guys! Yeah im not mad that i was charged doing something i wasnt suposed too, i guess it must have been the stock app. Anyways I was told the email address of some corporate guy at virgin so hopefully I can work something out with him, thanks for all your advice!

I would imagine it has something to do with a different APN setting.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

So would the cm10 setup give you up?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

If tethering is not part of your plan then I would suggest operating under the premise that tethering is tethering as far as a carrier is concerned.
X10D3 said:
So would the cm10 setup give you up?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

More likely than not, it was the wi-fi drivers that gave you away. I'm not sure about the exact details, but I believe that when you tether via wifi (using the phone's wifi interface as an access point), the datagrams from traffic routed through the wifi interface look identifiably different from traffic originating within the phone itself.
I don't know anybody who's ever gotten caught tethering via ADB (Easytether, etc). I've seen a lot of people get busted for tethering via wifi.
Remember, carriers go for low-hanging fruit, and wifi tethering is an easy target. It's not even a matter of spyware or deep packet inspection. I think it's actually a single bit in the datagram that's clear for phone-originated traffic, and set for routed traffic. ADB-based apps aren't affected, because all network traffic passing through them is by definition to or from the host via ADB. In contrast, wifi/bluetooth-tethered traffic returned to the phone might be for a local app, or it might be for one routed through the phone. The phone's network stack uses the bit as an easy, low-impact way to make its job easy and figure out whether it needs to pass the traffic to a local app on the phone, or just hand it over to the wifi driver for further routing.
I believe that if you wanted to safely tether via wifi, you'd basically have to run a PPP server on the phone, connect to it from the client PC via wifi, then the PPP server running on the phone would take the traffic and treat it the same way EasyTether would, so to Android it looked exactly like app-originated traffic (because it basically is; the fact that the app is originating it on behalf of a connected client is none of Android's business).
If you want to make your tethering foolproof, tether to the phone via ADB, and tunnel it to the internet via some thirdparty VPN (I use a company called ibvpn.com; it's around $3/month if you pay by the year, and also comes in handy for safely using unencrypted wifi in public places with a tablet).

They can tell no matter how you do it and most of the carriers, at least in the US, are now activly looking for people doing this. They can tell by the obvious jump in traffic, but other ways as well. Broswer signatures, etc. It's really very simple for them to pick it up just by watching your data flow, has nothing to do with your handset it's self.

If your PC/Mac-originated traffic is being regenerated by an Android-hosted app like EasyTether (so it officially originated with the Android app, as opposed to having been routed by the wifi driver and kernel iptables), it would be extraordinarily difficult for the carrier to figure out its true nature without deep packet inspection. If you tunnel it over an IPsec VPN using PPTP or L2TP, it would be damn near impossible for them to establish tethering with enough certainty to ever prevail in court unless you were literally tethering daily as your primary means of getting online, as opposed to tethering once in a while when you lacked better access options (airport, beach, car, etc).
Traffic analysis can certainly SUGGEST tethering and get you flagged for an automatic nastygram informing you that it's going to be added to your plan unless you complain, but if you're using an ADB-type tethering method and tunneling, you could tell your carrier to go f**k themselves and prove it with a very high degree of confidence. If you have a data plan that's tiered, I can't fathom them investing the resources to prove that you're tethering once in a while. In the AT&T context, somebody who's tethering on a regular basis with a tiered data plan is going to go over 5 gigs and end up paying the same amount he'd have paid to openly tether anyway, and somebody who's only tethering occasionally & not exceeding 3 gigs/month wouldn't be worth the effort to track down.
Add the fact that most carriers (in the US, at least) either rate-limit your traffic after 5 gigs (or less), or (in the case of Sprint) will actively dump you as a customer if you routinely exceed 5 gigs month after month after month (as if anyone could actually exceed 5 gigs over their glacial, dysfunctional network anyway), and the business case for aggressive tethering enforcement that goes beyond looking for routing signatures in the datagram becomes almost nonexistent.
Now, if you have an unlimited data plan that they're itching to terminate and force you into a tiered plan, they might try a little harder... but if their payback potential is an extra $10/month (because you have a tiered plan and you're already paying them $40/month for 3 gigs plus an extra gig, instead of paying $50/month for 5 gigs you might not fully use), they aren't going to bother, especially if you push back. Remember, there are data privacy laws, and most of the things they'd have to do to prove tethering if you're actively obfuscating and tunneling your traffic are borderline greyhat hacking. A big corporation isn't going to risk getting smacked down by federal regulators over pocket change. They're going to shake down the easy targets, and move along.
Insofar as deep packet inspection goes, remember... it might be easy to gather enough evidence for them to auto-send a nastygram and auto-subscription notice, but it's HARD to gather enough evidence for them to risk pursuing a case against someone who's actively fighting back. Five years ago, it might have been easy to notice tethering from a J2ME, Blackberry, or PalmOS smartphone by looking for implausible traffic. Nowadays, there's very little traffic that couldn't plausibly be generated directly by an Android phone. RDP and VNC? Check. IPsec VPN? Check. SQL client? Check. SSH? Check. Bittorrent? Check. (Suicidal and insane, but plausible). Desktop browser identifiers? Nope. Android's own browser can spoof desktop browsers with casual ease (about:debug, then menu->Settings).
The way to win against your carrier is to make victory too expensive for them to bother with. They're looking for easy ways to boost revenue, not embarking on a moral crusade to stamp out tethering. Make victory more expensive for them than stalemate, and they'll leave you alone.

So when I turn on the mobile AP in CM, they can track that? What if I used the AP and turned on my BTGuard VPN? Then it's just encrypted traffic. I only used it for tethering my WIFI tablet. So the apps that used the connection were nearly/if not identical to the ones on my phone. Most of the time I'm running CM on my tablet as well.

So your saying if i tether via usb using an app like tether by clockworkmod from the play store i should be good?
And if I argue enough and don't shutup then they will most likely drop the charges?

I can't give any concrete assurances. I've never seen how the others work, and I can't promise that they don't do anything that would give it away. All I can say is that I've tethered in moderation for years via ADB using EasyTether and ibvpn.com ($3/month if you pay 12 months at a time, and handy for using your tablet via wifi in public places where encryption isn't otherwise used). I've never been hassled. Chances are, when I DO use it, I end up using less data anyway than somebody who streams videos from Netflix, Amazon, and Blockbuster.
At the end of the day, if you have an unlimited data plan and you're using it as your primary means of internet access, they're eventually going to find a pretense for getting rid of you regardless of what you say or do. Used in moderation once in a while, with reasonable precautions to make your tethering non-blatantly-obvious, you should be fine. Like I said, you're dealing with private companies, not government agencies out for jihad. They aren't going to waste 3 hours of a $20/hour employee's time researching your use just so they can quibble with you over a few dollars per month, especially if they're already getting most of it from you anyway in the form of fees for additional gigabytes of data. They're going to cast their net far and wide, skim off the easy pickings who don't know any better than to use bare wifi without obfuscation, then focus on the guys using 10-20 gigs of data per month or more.
Be discreet, keep your head down, act insulted if they confront you, and you should be fine.

^ pretty much what I thought
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Do I need to hide my Tether?

So I got Wifi Tether working on my GS3 on the unlimited 4g plan. I only tether once in a while to my ipad and even then use minimal data.
My question is, while tethering (using Wifi-tether set to nexus s/lte option) do i need to take any extra steps to hide the fact that im tethering? Im sure they would be able to tell. Do i need to use a proxy or different dns or something.
Well thanks in advance for the help!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

kimbo1986 said:
So I got Wifi Tether working on my GS3 on the unlimited 4g plan. I only tether once in a while to my ipad and even then use minimal data.
My question is, while tethering (using Wifi-tether set to nexus s/lte option) do i need to take any extra steps to hide the fact that im tethering? Im sure they would be able to tell. Do i need to use a proxy or different dns or something.
Well thanks in advance for the help!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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I just got blocked. So I tried a different phone. Still a no go. Googled it and it appears they are now sniffing user-agents for the HTTP protocol. I used tether a lot. Like over 3 gigs. And I'm really pissed right now. But I've searched the net and that all say to bypass my issue is to change my user-agent on my computer.. don't think you'll have issues with your iPad
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Wow really that sucks. Your data is completley blocked on your phone as well?
What makes you say i wont have that issue on an ipad?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
I just got blocked. So I tried a different phone. Still a no go. Googled it and it appears they are now sniffing user-agents for the HTTP protocol. I used tether a lot. Like over 3 gigs. And I'm really pissed right now. But I've searched the net and that all say to bypass my issue is to change my user-agent on my computer.. don't think you'll have issues with your iPad
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
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Mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.) use different protocols when sending/receiving information over the internet than a computer does. If I understand it correctly, they will easily detect tethering to a computer, while they may not be able to tell you are tethering when tethering to another mobile device, such as a tablet. I could be totally wrong there, but that is my understanding of it.
Just out of curiosity, were you tethering to your computer or other mobile devices? I have considered purchasing a tablet, but don't want to pay for another line of service for it, would be nice to be able to tether it to my phone when out and about so I still have internet access.

Ive always tethered to my ipad with tmobile with no problem but now i changed to the unlimited data plan, i suppose they are watching it closley now.
Can anyone confirm that protocal stuff regarding the ipad and other mobile devices?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

you guys are taking this for granted...honestly tether once in a while if they take a look at your account and see 30-40 gigs thats looking suspicious as hell. not to mention T-mobile Technician are on these website reading how you guys by passing the system..they will figure out a way eventually to stop everyone because of you, so dumb!

With running netflix and pandora all day, for a month you can hit some pretty high numbers, and im sure thats what many people are doing now. I dont see how looking at data usage soley can determine if someone is tethering.
Unless it is a server side thing like the throttling is, theres always a way to beat the system.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

kimbo1986 said:
With running netflix and pandora all day, for a month you can hit some pretty high numbers, and im sure thats what many people are doing now. I dont see how looking at data usage soley can determine if someone is tethering.
Unless it is a server side thing like the throttling is, theres always a way to beat the system.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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They can't determine tethering by simply looking at data. Just as you said there are users that easily use 10+ gig in data a month without ever tethering. There is other backend detection going on that determines tethering.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Dragoth12 said:
They can't determine tethering by simply looking at data. Just as you said there are users that easily use 10+ gig in data a month without ever tethering. There is other backend detection going on that determines tethering.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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It's based off of user-agent and the HTTP protocol. And to the op, my data still works I just can't use internet explorer anymore. I have to use Firefox.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------
G1_enthusiast said:
you guys are taking this for granted...honestly tether once in a while if they take a look at your account and see 30-40 gigs thats looking suspicious as hell. not to mention T-mobile Technician are on these website reading how you guys by passing the system..they will figure out a way eventually to stop everyone because of you, so dumb!
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Like stated before, Netflix and YouTube and Pandora, only to name a few, rack up high data usage. Weather I'm streaming on my phone or my laptop, it's still ****ing data. I paid for my data let me ****ing use it how I wish. I rest my case. Blocking tethering is just a way to be greedy and get more money. Period.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
Like stated before, Netflix and YouTube and Pandora, only to name a few, rack up high data usage. Weather I'm streaming on my phone or my laptop, it's still ****ing data. I paid for my data let me ****ing use it how I wish. I rest my case. Blocking tethering is just a way to be greedy and get more money. Period.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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Interestingly enough, the federal government agrees. I really wish the ruling extended to all carriers and all plans, alas it only applies to certain plans on Verizon Wireless. When Verizon bought the spectrum they are using from the government, the FCC declared they must use it openly and have since ruled that they cannot charge customers extra for tethering, basically the government believes if you pay for data, you can use it however you want, but they can't dictate that on the other carriers, they simply had leverage against Verizon in this case. Charging for tethering is straight up greed on the part of the carriers.

elesbb said:
It's based off of user-agent and the HTTP protocol. And to the op, my data still works I just can't use internet explorer anymore. I have to use Firefox.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------
Like stated before, Netflix and YouTube and Pandora, only to name a few, rack up high data usage. Weather I'm streaming on my phone or my laptop, it's still ****ing data. I paid for my data let me ****ing use it how I wish. I rest my case. Blocking tethering is just a way to be greedy and get more money. Period.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
So your data on phone still works fine, nothing blocked, and when you tether, data still works on pc just not with IE?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
It's based off of user-agent and the HTTP protocol. And to the op, my data still works I just can't use internet explorer anymore. I have to use Firefox.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------
Like stated before, Netflix and YouTube and Pandora, only to name a few, rack up high data usage. Weather I'm streaming on my phone or my laptop, it's still ****ing data. I paid for my data let me ****ing use it how I wish. I rest my case. Blocking tethering is just a way to be greedy and get more money. Period.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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i understand youtube and pandora but why the hell would you watch netflix on a small screen? you paid 30 bucks to use data on your phone as it intended to be, why dont you pay 50 bucks and get the tethering plan? either man up and pay or stop being a ***** about it. Your not entitle to anything but stated by tmobile, anything more is a bonus to you.

G1_enthusiast said:
i understand youtube and pandora but why the hell would you watch netflix on a small screen? you paid 30 bucks to use data on your phone as it intended to be, why dont you pay 50 bucks and get the tethering plan? either man up and pay or stop being a ***** about it. Your not entitle to anything but stated by tmobile, anything more is a bonus to you.
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Lolwut? I (and millions of other users) watch netflix on a small screen because it's convenient and portable. We pay 30 bucks to use an alloted (or, as the case may be now, unlimited) amount of data via our cellular network. While T-Mobile has a right to dictate how you can use the data allotment they provide for you, it doesn't make it any less greedy on their part.
I don't think anyone here feels they are entitled to anything more, we simply are of the opinion that if we are paying for an alloted data amount we should be able to use that allotment as we see fit. You think T-Mobile will give you a promotion if they see you are yelling at people for not paying for tethering or something?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Dragoth12 said:
Lolwut? I (and millions of other users) watch netflix on a small screen because it's convenient and portable. We pay 30 bucks to use an alloted (or, as the case may be now, unlimited) amount of data via our cellular network. While T-Mobile has a right to dictate how you can use the data allotment they provide for you, it doesn't make it any less greedy on their part.
I don't think anyone here feels they are entitled to anything more, we simply are of the opinion that if we are paying for an alloted data amount we should be able to use that allotment as we see fit. You think T-Mobile will give you a promotion if they see you are yelling at people for not paying for tethering or something?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
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no im saying hush the hell up about it so they dont find ways to ****ing block the service and i do not work for tmobile moron.
it says right in the term that you cannot tether the data, so yes your paying for data but your not allow to tether either. if you want to tether then pay the 50 bucks for it. no one forces you to pay them for data, if you dont like it use your own wifi, stop being cheap and try to cheat the system.

G1_enthusiast said:
no im saying hush the hell up about it so they dont find ways to ****ing block the service and i do not work for tmobile moron.
it says right in the term that you cannot tether the data, so yes your paying for data but your not allow to tether either. if you want to tether then pay the 50 bucks for it. no one forces you to pay them for data, if you dont like it use your own wifi, stop being cheap and try to cheat the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your opinion has been noted, i posted this to get some questions answered, not to have a moral debate. You say tethering is wrong, yet you clearly want us to "hush the hell up" so they dont block it, if your against it then you shouldnt feel the need to continue trolling.
***Im still looking for someone who knows for sure how their new technique in detecting tethering works, and a sure way of getting by it
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Um hrm.. last I heard, Chrome was blocked from tethering. So if IE is too. Thats something different. Which means my main browser Firefox is still win. =)
Now if I have to personally, I have no issue paying 10$ less and going back to my 2GB with hotspot ability if I needed. However not heard of anyone being blocked by rooted tether yet tho.

By Tethering are you guys referring to an App for tethering or Wired Tethering? Or is this the "WiFi HotSpot" deal too?
I usually use my Cell as a HotSpot for my Nexus 7 at work. Will this not work now that I have the "Truly unlimited plan" when I just got my SGS3?

Ok just tested something with my "Tmobile Hotspot" while on the new 4G Unl plan. It enables fine. Your PC can connect too. Load up in firefox... nothing happens, page loads blank forever. However.. Load in IE. Comes up with a message saying you are not on the hotspot plan, would you wanna add it for 15$ a month.
So seems IE has a way to parse TMOs data on tethering.
Now on my Rooted Wifi tether app. That works fine. No issues. =)

You cannot use the t mobile hotspot application if you do not have the tethering data plan. I know that you can download the wifi tether appplication that will allow you to tether your phone but as the other person said they have a way of detecting when you are tethering your phone my question is how do we get around that.
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G1_enthusiast said:
i understand youtube and pandora but why the hell would you watch netflix on a small screen? you paid 30 bucks to use data on your phone as it intended to be, why dont you pay 50 bucks and get the tethering plan? either man up and pay or stop being a ***** about it. Your not entitle to anything but stated by tmobile, anything more is a bonus to you.
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Oh so you're saying that I'm not allowed to use s beam or mhl adapter to push the video to my television? Why the hell have the features then?
Data is simply data. That's the base line it's black and white. Just because everyone is greedy is the only reason they make you pay for tethering.
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Notice from At&T -Tethering

Recently got a text and Letter from AT&T stating that I've been caught tethering on my unlimited (grandfathered in) data plan. I called and the said this was my last warning before they turn my unlimited plan off for good and switch me to the 5GB plan.
Has anyone else had this happen to them? Should I be worried - concerned if I still want to tether?
I currently use the most up to date version of AOKP JB - and have been since i got the SGS 3.
Thoughts?

axel4401 said:
Recently got a text and Letter from AT&T stating that I've been caught tethering on my unlimited (grandfathered in) data plan. I called and the said this was my last warning before they turn my unlimited plan off for good and switch me to the 5GB plan.
Has anyone else had this happen to them? Should I be worried - concerned if I still want to tether?
I currently use the most up to date version of AOKP JB - and have been since i got the SGS 3.
Thoughts?
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Click to collapse
Are you tethering a laptop, desktop? I haven't seen a message yet (knocks on wood!) but I only tether my tablet.

I would suggest you stop or they will switch you off unlimited. I tethered once for about 50mb worth of data and I got a letter in the mail from them.
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With tmobile we can switch our apn settings to get around them knowing about tethering. Not sure if there's anything like that for ATT, but figured I'd mention it.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

Considering you can never get that plan back if they switch it, you should decide how much that's worth to you. If you'll never go over with just the phone, then it won't be that big a loss. If it were me, I'd stop tethering, and keep the unlimited data since the data costs keep bumping up in $5 or $10 increments.

If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III

Swiftks said:
If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III
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Agreed with Swiftks !!!! Pretty much they are changing the TOC. So now you can do whatever you want and walk without paying an early termination fee. Hence , if things got even more complicated where they took the stance and remove your grandfather and not let you go.... BBB.ORG is your friend. Trust me. I did it for something else and I walk with a brand new iPhone 4.

Yea.... i'm pretty sure there'd be a flaw to that way of thinking.
A) You are aware of the data package you purchased, that you have unlimited data but are not permitted to tether on that plan, and they still send out a letter/text notifying you as such
B) You might NOT be aware of your inability to tether on the unlimited plan, and since this is not a part of the plan you've selected under contract, a letter and text message is sent out notifying you of this, and warning you that further use would result in your plan being changed to a plan that supports tethering.
C) They switch your plan after your continued tethering use, after providing fair warning about the changes to be made.
Them breaching your contract by changing something around without your knowing beforehand (can't even really think of an example... sorry), i could see the idea of claiming a breach of the terms of your contract being valid and allowing you to terminate the contract fee-free. However, i'm fairly certain the advanced notification of such action being a result of something you are doing would be less breach of contract by the carrier and more misuse of contracted services by the user.... so you'd probably be SoL from a legal standpoint.
And the BBB? HA! They don't do jack sh*t. I tried that to get a company to follow through on the contract that i signed for a wheel & tire warranty, and they kept circling through the same few excuses that they used when i was simply e-mailing them to try to get them to comply. I had documented proof basically disproving every reason they gave for denying my claim, they were denying my claim based on stuff they said was in the contract that i signed that WASN'T in the contract i signed, and the BBB can't do a damn thing either way. So i'm f*cked out of two rims costing like $625 a piece. They even hired an independent appraiser to inspect my rims to see if they were indeed no longer able to hold a seal with the tire (which would warrant replacement if not able to be repaired), and the guy "wasn't able to find any evidence pointing to this". A little air pressure and a splash of water and you could hear air leaking out from 20 feet away.

elementaldragon said:
Yea.... i'm pretty sure there'd be a flaw to that way of thinking.
A) You are aware of the data package you purchased, that you have unlimited data but are not permitted to tether on that plan, and they still send out a letter/text notifying you as such
B) You might NOT be aware of your inability to tether on the unlimited plan, and since this is not a part of the plan you've selected under contract, a letter and text message is sent out notifying you of this, and warning you that further use would result in your plan being changed to a plan that supports tethering.
C) They switch your plan after your continued tethering use, after providing fair warning about the changes to be made.
Them breaching your contract by changing something around without your knowing beforehand (can't even really think of an example... sorry), i could see the idea of claiming a breach of the terms of your contract being valid and allowing you to terminate the contract fee-free. However, i'm fairly certain the advanced notification of such action being a result of something you are doing would be less breach of contract by the carrier and more misuse of contracted services by the user.... so you'd probably be SoL from a legal standpoint.
And the BBB? HA! They don't do jack sh*t. I tried that to get a company to follow through on the contract that i signed for a wheel & tire warranty, and they kept circling through the same few excuses that they used when i was simply e-mailing them to try to get them to comply. I had documented proof basically disproving every reason they gave for denying my claim, they were denying my claim based on stuff they said was in the contract that i signed that WASN'T in the contract i signed, and the BBB can't do a damn thing either way. So i'm f*cked out of two rims costing like $625 a piece. They even hired an independent appraiser to inspect my rims to see if they were indeed no longer able to hold a seal with the tire (which would warrant replacement if not able to be repaired), and the guy "wasn't able to find any evidence pointing to this". A little air pressure and a splash of water and you could hear air leaking out from 20 feet away.
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Yeah, but the burden of proof is on them... How can they prove you are tethering? Simply stating that you are in the top 5% or whatever is not sufficient IMO.
Sent from my SGS III

I got that notice from AT&T.... I tethered for months, my laptop, my tablet, my ipod, ****, i think i even tethered my roku to it once. Took them a few months for them to noticed, then i got the email, the text, and the letter in the mail.
So I called, and they told me what was going on, so i made up abull**** story about how my nephew plays with my phone and maybe he was enabling the internet. I asked her to if she could put a block on tethering on my account and she said sure, because i didn't want it to occur again, she assured me that my phone will not be able to tether with the block and i said thats awesome, i also asked her to make note on my account of what she was assuring me and she did.
i kept on tethering and i still do to this day. no problems so far.

Swiftks said:
Yeah, but the burden of proof is on them... How can they prove you are tethering? Simply stating that you are in the top 5% or whatever is not sufficient IMO.
Sent from my SGS III
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As many have said in other threads relating to tethering and getting caught, it can probably quite easily be tracked in the packet data transmitted through the network. There's more than likely something different about the way the data is handled that basically throws up a red flag that the data is not intended for the network device.

Voicebox said:
Considering you can never get that plan back if they switch it, you should decide how much that's worth to you. If you'll never go over with just the phone, then it won't be that big a loss. If it were me, I'd stop tethering, and keep the unlimited data since the data costs keep bumping up in $5 or $10 increments.
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I think I'm just going to go with this one. This kind of sucks though.
I don't even think the word tethering was in the original contract. Oh well, thanks for all the input.

elementaldragon said:
As many have said in other threads relating to tethering and getting caught, it can probably quite easily be tracked in the packet data transmitted through the network. There's more than likely something different about the way the data is handled that basically throws up a red flag that the data is not intended for the network device.
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Click to collapse
Every packet is sent with something like a TTL (I don't think this is exactly right, I'm having a brain fart and google searches are fruitless for me right now). Basically they have a number of acceptable hops. On a cell phone, this number is typically pretty low, on a desktop it's often extremely high. This is why people tethering other mobile devices likely don't get noticed. You can also set that value on a desktop/laptop to one higher than the default on your mobile device and the traffic will appear to have originated from your device.

I'm just wondering, how much data did you use in the month(s) before they sent the message?

I am on AT&T and rarely tether but I was wondering if there are apps or a hack to mask this and make the data packets look as if a smartphone device is actually using the data. I have heard of this but I am not sure of what and which carriers it works with. Does anyone know?

annulation said:
I'm just wondering, how much data did you use in the month(s) before they sent the message?
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Apparently between 2-4 GB. But this whole month, I've been under 1GB - which is funny since this is the month they "caught" me.

This is the key, only tether when you have to. That's the only time I do. When I'm away from my home network and no other possible connection around. The people getting caught are ones who are tethering constantly. Of course they going to see a huge spike in data usage. Spread it out. Especially now with 4g tethering speeds, they will be keeping a close eye. I've found out that I can successfully tether my 4g speeds to my note 10.1 tablet using Foxfi. Neither my SG3 or note 10.1 is rooted or anything. No mods needed to get it to work. I ran speedtests on tethered tablet to sg3 and saw I was getting 4g speeds. Will definitely come in handy when I need it. My data usage normally high anyways with my phone since I have unlimited. So a spike every now and then is nothing..I constantly surf web and sync stuff on my mobile phone. So my data usage is up there on a regular basis.
I think now with faster 4g speeds, more people will get caught because alot more data is flowing. Only tether when you have to. If you tethering on a daily basis as your only means of internet connection(use to be me before I got high speed wireless), they will eventually notice

I got the notice last week - and I haven't tethered since I first got the phone in the beginning of July. It wasn't anything serious, just about 10 minutes of tethering to check emails.
There was about a 2 week period where I didn't have Internet at home since the last tropical storm blew through, so I used my unlimited data to stream Netflix all day and night(on the phone) . I've been under 5gb every month so far, except in July where I used 11gb.
Just know that if they touch my unlimited data I'm taking all 5 of my lines elsewhere...

They look at browser headers (User Agent) to determine if you are tethering (probably among other things). I was NOT tethering and not using over 2gb, but I had my Dolphin browser User Agent set to make my browser look like Windows Firefox to force websites to give me desktop, not mobile versions.
I got nasty threats from ATT to stop tethering. I suspected it was the browser and I made several phone calls to explain. I got nowhere. I stopped using Dolphin and haven't been accused since.

I am always at 5gbs a month then they slow me down once in a while I tether for surf with chrome but its rare , I am supposedly top 5% my ass , before I was on 3rd party employee line using 7-10gbs month.
PS. Solved slow down problem once u hit 5gbs but its pain in the ass to do
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Getting caught tethering?

Whats the worst that can happen? Last time I was tethering to my PS3 and was downloading a games and got a text from T-Mobile that I should get wifi hotspot if I want to continue to tether.
I can still tether though but what could happen? What about torrents?

whytechapel_x said:
Whats the worst that can happen? Last time I was tethering to my PS3 and was downloading a games and got a text from T-Mobile that I should get wifi hotspot if I want to continue to tether.
I can still tether though but what could happen? What about torrents?
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They can most likely cancel your contract because you violated their TOS. That, or automatically upgrade you to a tethering plan..

lordcheeto03 said:
They can most likely cancel your contract because you violated their TOS. That, or automatically upgrade you to a tethering plan..
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Why is it that there's other people that download 80gb's or more a month?

whytechapel_x said:
Why is it that there's other people that download 80gb's or more a month?
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Because they know how to use Google. There are millions of threads explaining in detail how to tether on T-Mobile network.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

All they will do is throttle/disable the tether till beginning of next billing cycle. They won't terminate your contract. The new plans they have come with 500 MB's for free.
It does not I repeat does not violate any terms of service. All they do is send you a message saying if you like to continue tethering please upgrade to a higher package or something to that effect. But no way with a just cancel your contract because that means they lose money. So don't worry about getting terminated from a contract because nobody major corporation whatever do that unless you like stole from them.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using xda premium

whytechapel_x said:
Whats the worst that can happen? Last time I was tethering to my PS3 and was downloading a games and got a text from T-Mobile that I should get wifi hotspot if I want to continue to tether.
I can still tether though but what could happen? What about torrents?
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Click to collapse
It's exactly this reason that we have to hide our tethering. Don't be cheap. Buy internet for your home. It actually makes more sense. If you are gaming our latency and game side to server path will be a lot more consistent and reliable. Tethering is not meant to replace your home network. It is meant to be used while out and about. Also it is very selfish to tax the network and cripple your fellow Tmobile users to by hooking up devices that are meant to be enjoyed on a home network. IMHO:cyclops:

I agree 100%,
I love my tmobile service and have been with them since it was called voicestream.
The more people that tether PS3's the worse it is for the network, that just makes the end user experience slower service and chock it up as tmobile LTE/4G being crap.
Tmobile have done a great job recently with all these rollouts and the restructuring of its plans, if we are to move up to #3 out of the top 4 carriers we need to let everone enjoy the network, for the first time in a long time tmobile sets to show a positive number of signups this quater.
If you want to keep enjoying lower rates, please get yourself a $19.99 DSL plan. Last thing we need is for tmobile to be bought out by sprint or someone else. Then we all lose.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

LAkingsfan3131 said:
It's exactly this reason that we have to hide our tethering. Don't be cheap. Buy internet for your home. It actually makes more sense. If you are gaming our latency and game side to server path will be a lot more consistent and reliable. Tethering is not meant to replace your home network. It is meant to be used while out and about. Also it is very selfish to tax the network and cripple your fellow Tmobile users to by hooking up devices that are meant to be enjoyed on a home network. IMHO:cyclops:
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Lmao now your calling me cheap? When in hell did I ever mention I don't have internet at home? If your not gonna answer the question how about you leave. Same goes to the poster above

There is no reason to tether your ps3 to your phone if you have internet at home.
Its abusing the system, people who are downloading 80gb as you say are the ones who make all of us suffer and its the reason tmobile stops tethering.
To answer your question they can and will cancel your service if the see fit, its written in their TOS here is a link below.
http://www.t-mobile.com/Templates/Popup.aspx?PAsset=Ftr_Ftr_TermsAndConditions&print=true
Here is a snippet if you dont want to look through the whole thing.
Code:
Protective Measures: To provide a good experience for the majority of our customers and minimize capacity issues and degradation in network performance, we may take measures including temporarily reducing data throughput for a subset of customers who use a disproportionate amount of bandwidth. In addition, if your total usage exceeds 5GB (amount is subject to change without notice; please check T-Mobile's T&Cs on www.T-Mobile.com for updates) during a billing cycle, we may reduce your data speed for the remainder of that billing cycle. If you use your Data Plan in a manner that could interfere with other customers' service, affect our ability to allocate network capacity among customers, or degrade service quality for other customers, we may suspend, terminate, or restrict your data session, or switch you to a more appropriate Data Plan.
Hope this helps, I also tether, I dont see anything wrong with it, it is wrong when you do it on a daily basis to avoid paying for internet and specially if your tethering 80gb worth.
Also most of the new roms ie wicked v4 have native tethering. There also trevE mod that helps bypass the provision.
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