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I got my Tilt 2 and love it. I plan to tether it occasionally with my laptop. The question is, does AT&T know when I tether? To tether "officially" costs like $60/month. The regular Smartphone dataplan is $35/month. If I tether on occasion with the Smartphone dataplan, will I get busted?
I believe the short answer is 'no' AT&T cant tell the difference between data usage when its browsing the internet or whether its from a computer which has been tethered.
However, if you start using tethering to download 1GB torrents everyday... well, they'll see you're going nuts on usage, and that will cause problems.
As you said, if you do it only 'occasionally' it wont matter. I tether on a bi-weekly basis when I travel for work to surf the net and check emails, and its never been an issue.
I think the agreement from most of the other xda forums about this is, don't go crazy with it. When I was with AT&T, I tethered my laptop everyday at work. My last bill showed 1,709,206 KB of data usage. I have run similar bills regularly. They keep it a non issue by squashing your bandwidth. That way, their servers are not bogged down with your tethering.
From talking to a person who worked for AT&T for four years, the answer was that you might (or will) get dinged at 5 gigs for a single month. That's when they roll you over to the tethering account. I think AT&T is pretty lax about it because they do list the service as "unlimited data". If you get caught, call AT&T and you can probably get it reversed because it's supposed to be "unlimited data".
Can they tell if your doing it? From a web developers standpoint, you can always determine what browser is sending requests in the message header. That's how some websites like yahoo know that you are on a mobile phone browser and default you to their mobile landing page. Obviously, you cannot be using the latest version of Internet Explorer from your phone. If someone at AT&T really wanted to know if you were tethering, they could figure it out. I just wouldn't imagine it's legal for them to go into the data and check - it'd be like listening in on your phone call to someone.
Can someone explain to me how T-Mo will be able to tell the difference between regular browsing on the G2 and tethering? I use the wireless tether for root users and the usb tether for root users apps. I have a feeling that as long as you're not constantly getting your bandwidth throttled from going over the data cap you won't get charged. I guess we'll find out this week as their tethering plans are starting on sunday.
T-mobile has a application I believe.. thats what I've been hearing... That you get charged $10 the moment you activate it. But T-mobile will know a tether user from a regular bandwidth user, they caught me for tethering on my G1.. said I use A LOT of data... way over 5GB worth...
creepinm3 said:
T-mobile has a application I believe.. thats what I've been hearing... That you get charged $10 the moment you activate it. But T-mobile will know a tether user from a regular bandwidth user, they caught me for tethering on my G1.. said I use A LOT of data... way over 5GB worth...
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They wont know, since data is data. When you stream media or use youtube, that takes a lot of data. They will throttle your speed after the 5gb, but I "heard" there's a loop hole in the system...By switching the 2G only for around an hour and going back to 3G only, your phone will get back the full speed. i only use tether when not in wifi area or home or for PS3 to increase pc bandwidth. Maybe they do have an app, but people have been tether for years on diff phones. There are other tether apps besides froyo one, easythether, pdanet, barnacle,etc. The android price is already high for no good reason, and we should get the free tethering, cause other phones have cheaper data.I dont see why android gets a higher data package, before my plan was around 50, now its like 80 a month.
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
rwbarnes67 said:
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
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i am sorry, but thats like saying a gnome told you
CHECK THIS OUT. I had issues earlier with roaming on wifi tether. So I redownloaded the (root) wifi tether to see if tmo was capping me. Well? This is the address that popped up both times on both stock and root wifi tether {http://offers.t-mobile.com/tethering/admin/roaming.jsp} after the page told me that it can't be redirected.I believe this address is in the programming on the sim. When you tether, look at the bottom left of your web page where it tells you the progress of that page. You will see "offers.t-mobile.com". Your page gets directed there first than back to you. That's how they now. Funny thing is, I had roaming tether this morning at 03:30 cst. Noon comes around and nothing. It works fine on their network (not roaming). To answer the golden question if tmo can tell if we are tethering or not? YES!! Tmo verified that for me today without asking. Tether charges will take place on the 14th and we will be notified first to have the choice. They said now that they have the HSPA+ network that they now have control of tether. And also mentioned that other networks have been doing this. "This is a business and we have to make money too" Tmo rep.
This issue can be argued by usps by going to tmobile.com and going to customer relations link and there you find a physical address to headquarters. I was told they will reply to your complaint,concern or comments.
I will be writing them when I get in from Washington.
edit; I just checked for the address at the bottom of the page while on tmo network (not roaming) and I did not see the afore mentioned. maybe it only shows while roaming. IDK
Edit; 11/13 15:17cst:/
Roaming issue fixed. Flashed a repacked stock rom. Fixed all issues I was having after flashing bb 03.
rwbarnes67 said:
If you currently have unlimited data, you will be grandfathered in as of 11/14 and will not be charged for tethering.
This came straight from my T-Mobile rep.
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apzalo said:
i am sorry, but thats like saying a gnome told you
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Exactly. My wife works for T-mobile. She has worked on the sales floor, in the call centers, and often goes to the trainings at corporate in Bellevue, WA. But she would be the first person to tell you that the majority of the crap that reps say is either completely unsubstantiated rumors, or completely made up out of thin air. T-mobile knows that their entry level employees in the call centers and retail shops, are too stupid to be trusted with anything other than the basic info needed to do their job. Even in management, she is only very rarely privileged to information that isn't already floating around online. Most of their employees don't understand their tech, products, and services anymore than what they can read off of the very basic scripts and trainings they give them. The people working for T-mo that are truly passionate about things, and actually know details like this, are not the people you get to talk to, and usually aren't the types to go blabbing what they know.
Unless what the rep is telling you has been leaked or confirmed by other sources, 90% of the time it's complete BS, or they just read it online like the rest of us.
Sent from my rooted and OCed turbo space abacus using the power of positive thinking and a toothpick.
while i agree to an extent, reps don't know anything about their jobs or the phones. most reps get their info from tmonews or XDA just like we do. i have gone into my t-mo store on many occasions and asked questions and watched as the rep pulled up tmo news on the comp or xda app on their phone. reps are useless for info
etjrowe said:
T-mobile knows that their entry level employees in the call centers and retail shops, are too stupid to be trusted with anything other than the basic info needed to do their job.
...
Sent from my rooted and OCed turbo space abacus using the power of positive thinking and a toothpick.
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As a T-Mobile tech service rep, I take great exception to this. Not all of us "too stupid" to know what's going on.
Having said that, it pisses me off to no end when other reps give out inaccurate info. I pride myself in knowing my stuff and doing it right. I never present any rumor as fact, nor do I make stuff up to placate customers.
So you can take your assumptions about me and shove them someplace unpleasant. Good day to you, sir.
p.s. But you are right that this whole "grandfathered in for free tethering" sounds like complete BS to me. Damn these reps making us look bad
I don't care about the data cap to be honest, I don't spend that much time outside of an actual wi-fi area. But I still have yet to see a legitimate, no BS answer as to whether or not T-Mobile will know that a person is tethering. Will the App itself report to T-Mobile, because to me, that seems to be the only way that "tethered data" and "smartphone data" can be differentiated by T-Mobile.
I have the mytouch and T mobile with unlimitied data plan..Today I wake up do a data wipe install cm7 and when it goes to download the gapps apps from the market it takes forever..I waited 35 minutes for it to download gmail and google maps..I stop the other downloads and try to figure why my apps are downloading slow and why my internet is snail slow..while wondering I get a text message from T mobile telling me I have used to much bandwith for the month cycle and I will have a data speed cap till next cycle....This would be alright but it is not as I can no longer download any market apps ( I can but it takes 30 minutes to an hour )Nor Can I really surf the web.(Took me 25 minutes to get here)Pandora nor slacker work anymore either.
Has anyone else had this happen to them ? Also is there anything I can do to get them to uncap my service..I have been a T mobile Customer for 11 years and think they should do something.Just wondering if anyone else had this problem......
Thanks
I've never had that problem, but then again my max DL per month has been at 1-2GB tops..
Try calling them, but check your bill first to see what they have you clocked at so far for the current billing period... I think they don't impose that on you till you hit +5GB... Good Luck.
I get that all the time, well not this past month because I finally got internet at the house lol. I used it for tethering and alot of internet & email & I would always seem to get it with 2 or less weeks left. I guess it's once you go over 5gb t-mobile slows you down.
I haven't actually had it happen YET, but when I went on the website, I noticed it said I was approaching the data cap... Never saw that before. D;
Thanks..I looked and I am at 5.09gb ..Looks like I am slowed till the 23rd..I dont tether so it must have been from slacker / pandora ..I will have to watch it more next month..
You can download t-mobile's 'my account' app from the market so you can keep a closer eye on your data usage, although, if you have unlimited data plan you can't set an alert for it, even though 5gb is the cap...
I get close to 3-4gb every month and never notice a slow down...I can understand a cap of 5gb to keep the network from being overloaded...I thether and use it to watch HULU and nightly roms so cant see going over,unless something crazy.
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
Use wifi as much as possible. I am fortunate enough to have wifi at work and home and my data usage on tmo's network is ridiculously low for the amount of data I use.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Wagedroid said:
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
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No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
also be aware that T Mobile slows you down to 54kbs. Welcime back Dial Up!!!
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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like i said, technicaly they dont make it not unlimited.. they just cap the speed, so yes it does make sense.. u signed up for unlimited data not unlimited data at its peak speed, that just sounds retarded. if you signed up before the change then you shouldve requested to be grandfatherd and they wouldve been happy to keep the customer happy. and fyi a news letter and disclaimer was put out for all pre existing customers before the change was made. and even then they didnt change the unlimited part. ill leave this the way i leave any other service provider discussion...., ive been with tmob since sidekick original no color.. not once did they treat me wrong or charge me for something i wasnt responsible for and aware of. i dont recommend but there is an alternative.. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and even Metro all got u covered.
good day.
I think it ok to note that this is not only a T-Mobile thing, every carrier does this. I know that there is a hack on XDA that is built into the MIUI roms that actually cuts off the signal that your phone sends to Verizon that you have reached the cap so you never see your data slowed down. I do not know how they wrote the hack or if it is possible to do something similar with a t-mobile phone, but it might be worth looking into.
amart6116 said:
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
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you are paying for unlimited data because you get unlimited data - they just don't guarantee at what speed you'll be able to download at...
I completely understand your predicament! I was in your same shoes.
T-Mobile does not charge extra for anything more than 5gb, but they do make you eat your buffet food through a straw! Now, I remedied my problem with the wonderful program 3g Watchdog, which is free. Set it to your monthly cycle, and you can even place a widget with usage on your screen. Very handy little program.
So yes, I tried calling and talking with the reps, nothing will work. I spoke with managers, and people from India. They can't do anything about it. I couldn't even pay them more money! How ridiculous! But alas, I had to see the bright side. Looking at AT&T or Verizon, you have limits of 2gb or so and then they charge you for anything over that. Screw that! So I figured if I'm downloading 5gb of data in a month, then I need to get my ass together and make my life work for me. So please figure out your **** lol, you'll feel so much better when you do.
Tyler
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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That ssssssssssucks!
I went to T-mobile store last week to pay my bill, the man told me about the upgrade discount after a year, when we reached the 4G topic I asked about this slow down of speed after 5Gb and he was like he had no idea, he repeated "Noou, it's unlimited" "that what you heard is for those with plans of certain data limit"
I told him that's what it should be, I said it wouldn't make sense to have such high-speed and still be limited :S
Serously! I'm paying $-freaking-30 monthly for internet access that is like 1mb of speed on this lil' phone, same as it would be using a DSL, why would they put a limit?
Tmo-guy- Because it's a wireless service-
Me: My ass! that ain't no reason!
Again makes no sense....
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
Digitaldreamer7 said:
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
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Why should there be such capabilities offered if that's going to bring out risky complications to the system?
That's not reason to call one greety and 'punish'
Is not like one would like to reach a cap just because it can be done and bother other's connections.
Tethering is not as different as using your phone, since our smartphones' web browser is as fully capable as a computer web browser.
Also think of the 4G + What's next??
If one service imprubes why not the others that can prevent issues from the same.
A page loads trice as fast, makes the user able to go on where others would stop, so you see it's not a malicious intention but what the user is led up to.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
I hit the cap every month around the 15th...bill cycle on the 25th.. But I use a ton of data due to I show photos and deal with contracts that I am unable to dl at work.
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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Are you tethering a laptop, desktop? I haven't seen a message yet (knocks on wood!) but I only tether my tablet.
I would suggest you stop or they will switch you off unlimited. I tethered once for about 50mb worth of data and I got a letter in the mail from them.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
With tmobile we can switch our apn settings to get around them knowing about tethering. Not sure if there's anything like that for ATT, but figured I'd mention it.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
Considering you can never get that plan back if they switch it, you should decide how much that's worth to you. If you'll never go over with just the phone, then it won't be that big a loss. If it were me, I'd stop tethering, and keep the unlimited data since the data costs keep bumping up in $5 or $10 increments.
If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III
Swiftks said:
If it were me, I'd call and talk only to a supervisor. Ask them how they can prove you're thethering. If they give you crap about having xx # of gigs used of data, be like, yeah, i stream movies every night; i didn't think that would be a problem, since i have "unlimited data"!!!!!! How would i be tethering without a tether plan anyway!?!?!? Etc, etc. Make sure to get their name, extension, etc.
Also, tell them if they change your plan, the terms of your contract no longer apply, and you will be dropping said plan in favor of a new carrier, and will not be paying early termination fees.
Sent from my SGS III
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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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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
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Anyone else have unlimited data and now are getting De-prioritized (throttled) ?
I use easily 20gb a month for the past year and never had this issue
Im getting 300 + ms pings and 0.20 mbps and lower speeds
Certain times of the day ill get 30mbps but most of the time its being throttled
Apparently I'm in the top 3% of data users
Tried making an IPV4 apn but still getting throttled
any one know of a work around?
It's possible that you're in a congested cell, and not throttled. Have you tried moving geographically to see if that helps?
Throttling is implemented on the PCEF (Policy and Charging Enforcement Function), and it's a QoS policy pushed by the PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) onto the PDN-Gateway. There is no workaround for unlimited users that might get throttled for network abuse, other than wait for your bill cycle reset, or use Wi-Fi. In other words, you can't "top off" an unlimited plan, at least I don't think you can.
My advice is that if you're paying for unlimited data, and you feel like you're unjustly throttled, I would call customer support. They can check your data usage and typically tell if you're flagged as a "heavy hitter" or not. If you complain loudly enough, they can (and will) remove the block, but your mileage may vary. If they resist, tell them you plan to tweet to John Legere, and they'll hook you right up.
For what it's worth, I used to work as a PCRF/PCEF systems engineer. We had a "heavy data user" policy, but in our case it was only people that went over 200 GB or something ridiculous like that. If I recall correctly, roughly 20 GB/month was more or less average for an unlimited data subscriber, although I'm sure usage patterns vary from carrier to carrier, as well as implementation details on the PCC policies. Also, I believe our policy was to remove any throttling for unlimited users, no questions asked if they called to complain.
I know T-Mobile uses NSN (Nokia) for their policy vendor, but I don't know any details about their actual policies, at least not any more.
---------- Post added at 01:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------
Also, just to be clear--I don't know if T-Mobile even throttles "heavy hitter" data users. I know it's been done, but I am not a T-Mobile employee and have no idea what their current policies are.
I would think that if they did implement QoS, the policy would not be time-based. However, anything is possible, which is why I would just call customer service.
If your in a heavy cell site then you might be throttled or just congested really bad. Call 611 and ask tmo if your line is being throttled. I average about 40gb's a month for the past 6 months on unlimited LTE plan and have never been throttled yet.
TMO throttles based on the plan that you have. Recently a Reddit thread came up where the customer filed a complaint with John Legere's office and was told that all unlimited data users will be de-prioritized and eventually removed from their system if they disagreed with the policy. De-prioritization has a chance to "kick in" after the 5 gig mark for unlimited data plans, but completely dependent on the market and how busy the network actually is. At least now if you are actually de-prioritized, you can call customer service and they would be able to tell you if the account is flagged. A few years ago, users would just wonder what's wrong with their accounts.
The bad thing about being throttled is that the OOKLA app on the market will not reflect the throttling, since TMO said they will not count data when it comes to that specific speed app, as well as many of the apps that you stream music off of.
Hope this helps.
I believe the new net neutrality law disallows throttling now, unless you're in violation of the terms of agreement based on what you're using the data for.
Swizzle82 said:
I believe the new net neutrality law disallows throttling now, unless you're in violation of the terms of agreement based on what you're using the data for.
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It's not 'throttling' if the says it's de-prioritization, right? Just a play on words really.
Sfkn2 said:
It's not 'throttling' if the says it's de-prioritization, right? Just a play on words really.
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Yeah I guess so. Gotta love verbage. I am at 29gbs of data so far this month and I'm still hitting about 75megs down and about 25 up.. Just for the ops information..
Swizzle82 said:
Yeah I guess so. Gotta love verbage. I am at 29gbs of data so far this month and I'm still hitting about 75megs down and about 25 up.. Just for the ops information..
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Exactly.
I'm on the $5 BTV data plan with TMO and regularly use about 50 gigs and still get full LTE speeds with no throttling. I love my plan, and would never even consider changing to other carriers. I mean, which other carrier gives unlimited LTE for $5 a month, right?
Sfkn2 said:
Exactly.
I'm on the $5 BTV data plan with TMO and regularly use about 50 gigs and still get full LTE speeds with no throttling. I love my plan, and would never even consider changing to other carriers. I mean, which other carrier gives unlimited LTE for $5 a month, right?
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BTV? Ive got 4 for $100 with two lines increased to unlimited and 5gbs plus unlimited text on my tablet totalling about $160/mo. I get anywhere from 35-110megs depending on the time of day and my location. I really can't complain.
Swizzle82 said:
BTV? Ive got 4 for $100 with two lines increased to unlimited and 5gbs plus unlimited text on my tablet totalling about $160/mo. I get anywhere from 35-110megs depending on the time of day and my location. I really can't complain.
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BTV is basically the unlimited Android data plan that used to be $30 to new users, or $20 for current but grandfathered users - with an additional $15 discount, making it $5.
http://www.tmonews.com/2012/11/t-mo...p-migrate-customers-over-to-value-rate-plans/
I'm on a 600 minute (no overages now, so minutes don't matter) family plan with two lines for $49.99 with a $10 unlimited family texting and BTV data with a corp discount of 15% and a loyalty bonus of $10 discount per month. The bill totals out to be $90.45 after taxes with a $25/mo payment plan on the G4.
Sfkn2 said:
BTV is basically the unlimited Android data plan that used to be $30 to new users, or $20 for current but grandfathered users - with an additional $15 discount, making it $5.
http://www.tmonews.com/2012/11/t-mo...p-migrate-customers-over-to-value-rate-plans/
I'm on a 600 minute (no overages now, so minutes don't matter) family plan with two lines for $49.99 with a $10 unlimited family texting and BTV data with a corp discount of 15% and a loyalty bonus of $10 discount per month. The bill totals out to be $90.45 after taxes with a $25/mo payment plan on the G4.
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Damn yo.. How long you been with TMo? Lol. I Tried to use my work discount, but they had told me that I couldn't because I already got a discounted plan. This was a while back though, might have to try again.
Swizzle82 said:
Damn yo.. How long you been with TMo? Lol. I Tried to use my work discount, but they had told me that I couldn't because I already got a discounted plan. This was a while back though, might have to try again.
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On and off? 10 or so years. If you are interested, check out the discounted plans on howardforums.com - they have the SOC codes that you can provide to CSR to get on these plans.
Sfkn2 said:
TMO throttles based on the plan that you have. Recently a Reddit thread came up where the customer filed a complaint with John Legere's office and was told that all unlimited data users will be de-prioritized and eventually removed from their system if they disagreed with the policy. De-prioritization has a chance to "kick in" after the 5 gig mark for unlimited data plans, but completely dependent on the market and how busy the network actually is. At least now if you are actually de-prioritized, you can call customer service and they would be able to tell you if the account is flagged. A few years ago, users would just wonder what's wrong with their accounts.
The bad thing about being throttled is that the OOKLA app on the market will not reflect the throttling, since TMO said they will not count data when it comes to that specific speed app, as well as many of the apps that you stream music off of.
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Thanks for the tip about the Reddit thread. I think I found it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/342wr7/tmobile_is_now_throttling_unlimited_data/
If you put yourself into T-Mobile's shoes, how SHOULD they handle congestion? They can do what they can with existing spectrum and tower agreements, but if there IS congestion, how do you handle it?
I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the official stance, but I do understand where they're coming from. The mindset is that you, the heavy data customer, can and SHOULD accept some modest degradation in performance, especially since you're on the edge of the bell curve in data usage. If there's contention, should you suffer, or should the casual data user suffer? They choose to slightly punish the 3%, rather than the average Joes whose usage is more normal.
As I said in a previous comment, I had to deal with this when I worked as a systems engineer for a certain carrier. We put policies in place to throttle users over some ridiculously high amount, and we also sent them an SMS notification when we did so. In that case, we were looking for the REALLY heavy users, that were in the top 0.5%. The average unlimited subscriber used 10-20 GB per month, but these people were using well over 100 GB. The intent of unlimited is to avoid surprises with billing, not to provide wireless Internet service for your whole dorm or apartment complex or whatever.
Think about unlimited wireless in terms of your local all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Most people pay their money and eat their meal, ranging from a modest portion to a massive portion, but at some point everyone gets full. What is NOT acceptable is to sit in the restaurant from open to close, constantly gorging yourself on food. It's not an exact analogy since you can't get "full" consuming data, but you can get the idea.
Carrying the "all you can eat" restaurant analogy a little further...if you're in a buffet restaurant, and they run low on something, should they keep serving the guy that is on his twentieth portion? Or should they cut him off and let the people who have had ANY of the food eat first?
-m0j0
Totally agree with you that people who are using extremely high data, typically people 100 GB and above, needs to be checked. Often times these people are using their data plans for hacked/tethering at home, which the connection is also shared with other users. A lot of times, the high data is due to downloading/torrenting.
While I'm a heavy user myself (since TMO considers anyone over 5 GB a month as heavy users), watching youtube in 1440P really eats up data very quickly. At one point in my life, I had a really crappy home internet plan and just watched Netflix off my phone nonstop. This eventually led up to about 150GB for the month.
The buffet analogy is great, but it really does show the difference between being a company and being a consumer. If the consumer's desire for the buffet is to have 100 oysters and nothing else and your company wants to stop him because he's having too much, but his sole purpose there is for the oysters - you're really telling him, "No, we don't want to service you again." This makes things sour with their customers real quick. Basically what it comes down to in the consumers eyes is, "If you can't afford to do it, then don't run the program. " De-prioritization controls the person eating 100 oysters to allow the next guy to have some oysters too, but that's not why he came to this buffet.
It's a very difficult place to be, and just like voting on taxes - no one really wins. Money has to come out from somewhere. If TMO increases their bandwidth, then there will be additional fees. We don't want to be like Sprint where they charge you an additional $10 or $15 just because you have a "smartphone." That makes absolutely no sense.
Yes sir!!! Im with you OP. I used to have unlimited 4g data in my plan for additional $30. But since last 10 months or so it's been bad. I would use roughly 30 to 40 gigs a month. Mostly youtube and netflix. Then after "de prioritization" or being in area of "data congestion" ( which in simple words means "throttling" imo ) i started getting about 20 gigs on high speed and after that i would be stuck with 0.1 to 0.2 mbps.
Called tmo a million times and they would always tell me that i might be connected to a tower where a lot others are connected. WHAT ?? WTF?? Why is it that i get connected to THAT tower 2 weeks after new cycle when i have used about 20 gigs? Why not in 1 week or after uaing about 5 or 10 gigs? I would be always in my room in the same spot all the time. It was all BS.
And the reps would always tell me that since im paying for unlimited high speed data i shouldn't be slowed down until one day when one of the reps mentioned being slow if im in the top 3%. Thats when i decided to let it go. I posted screen shots of slow speeds on on social media and ranted them and all that bad stuff just to let my anger out. That it really is UNLIMITED but its not UNLIMITED 4G. After certain usage you'll be stuck with 128KBPS speeds.
I was really upset with that. I cancelled that extra data plan. Saved me $30 a month and soon I'll be switching over to something else.
Well played tmo..
The magic number is updated quarterly. Right now if you go over 21GB in a congested area, you could be prioritized and slowed down.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app
Here is the TRUTH! T-mobile is THROTTLING and calling in DE PRIORITIZING to protect the company's ass from an FCC lawsuit. At 21 gigs data speed dies. They say it is during busy times, blah, blah blah, but the reality is, it dies. The problem is that when the unlimited HIGH SPEED DATA users changed to this plan, there were no limits and were advertised as such, "UNLIMITED LTE HIGH SPEED DATA." The ads were on TV 24/7 three years ago. T-mobile got exactly what they set out to do, sign up millions of new customers. Those that try to see T-mobile's SIDE sound like this is an innocent mistake. That T-mobile had no idea what they were doing when they created this data plan and the network would not be able to handle the load. The TRUTH is, at least in my experience, the system had NO issues. It worked unbelievable well and NOT the typical T-mobile inconsistent signal. So, here's the deal, if you purchase something that is clearly stated, "THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GETTING, UNLIMITED LTE 4G HIGH SPEED DATA," and the company decides they don't want to do that anymore, why aren't the customers compensated? Lower the rate of the plan since 21 gigs is what you are paying for, NOT UNLIMITED. Also, ATT got sued and lost a 100 million dollar law suit for throttling its unlimited data customers. It is only a matter of time before T-mobile is in front of a judge. Bait and switch is still against the law. Calling something a NEW made up word like DE PRIORITIZING does not change the fact customers are being throttled.
The new magic number is 25GB.
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app
Salvatoreascend said:
Here is the TRUTH! T-mobile is THROTTLING and calling in DE PRIORITIZING to protect the company's ass from an FCC lawsuit. At 21 gigs data speed dies. They say it is during busy times, blah, blah blah, but the reality is, it dies. The problem is that when the unlimited HIGH SPEED DATA users changed to this plan, there were no limits and were advertised as such, "UNLIMITED LTE HIGH SPEED DATA." The ads were on TV 24/7 three years ago. T-mobile got exactly what they set out to do, sign up millions of new customers. Those that try to see T-mobile's SIDE sound like this is an innocent mistake. That T-mobile had no idea what they were doing when they created this data plan and the network would not be able to handle the load. The TRUTH is, at least in my experience, the system had NO issues. It worked unbelievable well and NOT the typical T-mobile inconsistent signal. So, here's the deal, if you purchase something that is clearly stated, "THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GETTING, UNLIMITED LTE 4G HIGH SPEED DATA," and the company decides they don't want to do that anymore, why aren't the customers compensated? Lower the rate of the plan since 21 gigs is what you are paying for, NOT UNLIMITED. Also, ATT got sued and lost a 100 million dollar law suit for throttling its unlimited data customers. It is only a matter of time before T-mobile is in front of a judge. Bait and switch is still against the law. Calling something a NEW made up word like DE PRIORITIZING does not change the fact customers are being throttled.
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Yep... soon as I hit 21 gigs I get throttled to Dial up speed. I can no longer use video chat with my wife who is overseas. I can't even stream 144p without it buffering.
I average 30-50 gigs per month. When I was on metro I had zero issues. When I switched to this unlimited plan with Tmobile, I had no issues. only 1 time have I ever gone over the 100 gig mark. That was 2 years ago in december, when I was unemployed and reformatted my computer. I used my mobile for all my downloads. the past year has been just streaming music, and videos, and google hangout video chats with my wife.
Right now I can't do anything on my data. it's so slow the speedtest says "network issues" most of the time. Although Ping is 30ms.. and this is regardless of the time of day. even 3-4-5am when the towers are hardly used. low ping (faster ping than comcast), but ridiculous slow speed. and I pay $70 per month for this BS...
I'm contacting some attorneys and seeking to file a class action for violation of net neutrality. And I'm going back to metro (same towers, but I was never throttled and had really fast 4G LTE with Metro. it was faster than my buddies sprint service in my area.
Anyone with an unlimited Tmobile plan that wants to join in a class action PM me.
cocokasper said:
Yep... soon as I hit 21 gigs I get throttled to Dial up speed. I can no longer use video chat with my wife who is overseas. I can't even stream 144p without it buffering.
I average 30-50 gigs per month. When I was on metro I had zero issues. When I switched to this unlimited plan with Tmobile, I had no issues. only 1 time have I ever gone over the 100 gig mark. That was 2 years ago in december, when I was unemployed and reformatted my computer. I used my mobile for all my downloads. the past year has been just streaming music, and videos, and google hangout video chats with my wife.
Right now I can't do anything on my data. it's so slow the speedtest says "network issues" most of the time. Although Ping is 30ms.. and this is regardless of the time of day. even 3-4-5am when the towers are hardly used. low ping (faster ping than comcast), but ridiculous slow speed. and I pay $70 per month for this BS...
I'm contacting some attorneys and seeking to file a class action for violation of net neutrality. And I'm going back to metro (same towers, but I was never throttled and had really fast 4G LTE with Metro. it was faster than my buddies sprint service in my area.
Anyone with an unlimited Tmobile plan that wants to join in a class action PM me.
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Try switching to hspa first. This seems to help me when that happens.