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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.
Im looking at going from an alltel htc touch pro to a Droid Incredible.
It's my understanding, from the sales person, that
#1 I can't keep my old school alltel phone plan that was grandfathered in with the merger
#2 Id have to get a few things differently with my Verizon plan.
Here's a couple things that came up.... Under my alltel plan I was paying $30 for unlimited data, whether straight through the phone or tethered, or broadcasting wifi through an installed cab.
But now im going to have to pay at least one or maybe 2 monthly charges to tether, and my usage is metered and limited to a certian amount of transfer?
Here's the nuts and bolts of the old alltel plan on the touch pro. About 100/mo with 30 of that being the data plan with no limit on useage. Mycircle.. unlimited text, 500 anytime, free mobile to mobile
So what should I expect from "Verizon" if I try to buy a Droid Inc..?
Simple way to avoid tethering fees. Root your incredible, and install wireless tether. Verizon can't detect you're tethering or if they can, they don't whine about it.
Thanks!
I always wanted to try that before but instead paid the 30/mo instead. Fear I guess.
I pay $103 a month, 450 minutes and unlimited everything else, so your cost will be about the same.
When you get the incredible, root it, and install the application wireless tether as said. It is the same thing as the mobile hotspot, you just won't get charged by Verizon for using it to tether.
g00s3y said:
I pay $103 a month, 450 minutes and unlimited everything else, so your cost will be about the same.
When you get the incredible, root it, and install the application wireless tether as said. It is the same thing as the mobile hotspot, you just won't get charged by Verizon for using it to tether.
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you can also use PdaNet or EasyTether is you want to to tether via USB..
I just hack my normal 3g tether...
Or you can go into epst and change the thingy from dun.VZW ect to vzw.
Look for the tut on here somewhere its what I do
Sent from my HTC Incredible
I pay $86 a month, 450 minutes and unlimited everything else thatis with a 20 dollar discount
I pay $45 a month for unlimited EVERYTHING at Cricket. Just buy a Dinc somewhere, and use the ROM here at XDA.
Well I pulled the trigger this afternoon and got the Inc.
I kept my old plan.
As she was ringing it up she said a notification popped up that said I would lose my 7pm-7am free calling. Shortly after she was able to add it back on the plan like it always was.
I was surprised with a $50-off during the check-out too! .. and without warning.
It was going to be 249.99+ 100 mail-in rebate+ tax. Ended up being 213 out the door, so I will only end up with 113 in the phone.
It keeps asking to install a system update. Do I keep selecting no and go ahead and root?
Now I just have to get these touch pro contacts into the inc??
hoag50 said:
I pay $86 a month, 450 minutes and unlimited everything else thatis with a 20 dollar discount
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Click to collapse
I have the same plan as above. I get the $20 discount from my job.
Unlimited everything w/ 450 Minutes of talk time.
GrahamHill said:
Now I just have to get these touch pro contacts into the inc??
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I connected the TP to wifi and put google's server m.google.com in activesync and allowed it to sync my contacts. Almost immediately all of my contacts were zapped into the new incredible!
I have the mytouch and T mobile with unlimitied data plan..Today I wake up do a data wipe install cm7 and when it goes to download the gapps apps from the market it takes forever..I waited 35 minutes for it to download gmail and google maps..I stop the other downloads and try to figure why my apps are downloading slow and why my internet is snail slow..while wondering I get a text message from T mobile telling me I have used to much bandwith for the month cycle and I will have a data speed cap till next cycle....This would be alright but it is not as I can no longer download any market apps ( I can but it takes 30 minutes to an hour )Nor Can I really surf the web.(Took me 25 minutes to get here)Pandora nor slacker work anymore either.
Has anyone else had this happen to them ? Also is there anything I can do to get them to uncap my service..I have been a T mobile Customer for 11 years and think they should do something.Just wondering if anyone else had this problem......
Thanks
I've never had that problem, but then again my max DL per month has been at 1-2GB tops..
Try calling them, but check your bill first to see what they have you clocked at so far for the current billing period... I think they don't impose that on you till you hit +5GB... Good Luck.
I get that all the time, well not this past month because I finally got internet at the house lol. I used it for tethering and alot of internet & email & I would always seem to get it with 2 or less weeks left. I guess it's once you go over 5gb t-mobile slows you down.
I haven't actually had it happen YET, but when I went on the website, I noticed it said I was approaching the data cap... Never saw that before. D;
Thanks..I looked and I am at 5.09gb ..Looks like I am slowed till the 23rd..I dont tether so it must have been from slacker / pandora ..I will have to watch it more next month..
You can download t-mobile's 'my account' app from the market so you can keep a closer eye on your data usage, although, if you have unlimited data plan you can't set an alert for it, even though 5gb is the cap...
I get close to 3-4gb every month and never notice a slow down...I can understand a cap of 5gb to keep the network from being overloaded...I thether and use it to watch HULU and nightly roms so cant see going over,unless something crazy.
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
Use wifi as much as possible. I am fortunate enough to have wifi at work and home and my data usage on tmo's network is ridiculously low for the amount of data I use.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Wagedroid said:
it does make sense.. u "read" it and signed it. its all in the contract so yes the data is unlimited but once 5gigs is reached in one billing cycle its cap'd to run 2g/edge until the cycle refreshes. it use to be 10gig max but with the recent explosion of smart/data phones the demand for bandwidth and speed are at an all time high. i also learned this the hardway.. now i use wifi anywhere i can to limit my data usage. but even then its still hits 4gigs a month. its mainly a problem for us that use our phones as primary internet.
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No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
also be aware that T Mobile slows you down to 54kbs. Welcime back Dial Up!!!
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
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Click to collapse
like i said, technicaly they dont make it not unlimited.. they just cap the speed, so yes it does make sense.. u signed up for unlimited data not unlimited data at its peak speed, that just sounds retarded. if you signed up before the change then you shouldve requested to be grandfatherd and they wouldve been happy to keep the customer happy. and fyi a news letter and disclaimer was put out for all pre existing customers before the change was made. and even then they didnt change the unlimited part. ill leave this the way i leave any other service provider discussion...., ive been with tmob since sidekick original no color.. not once did they treat me wrong or charge me for something i wasnt responsible for and aware of. i dont recommend but there is an alternative.. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and even Metro all got u covered.
good day.
I think it ok to note that this is not only a T-Mobile thing, every carrier does this. I know that there is a hack on XDA that is built into the MIUI roms that actually cuts off the signal that your phone sends to Verizon that you have reached the cap so you never see your data slowed down. I do not know how they wrote the hack or if it is possible to do something similar with a t-mobile phone, but it might be worth looking into.
amart6116 said:
... Doesn't make sense.. I'm paying $30/month for "unlimited"... just to get capped?
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Click to collapse
you are paying for unlimited data because you get unlimited data - they just don't guarantee at what speed you'll be able to download at...
I completely understand your predicament! I was in your same shoes.
T-Mobile does not charge extra for anything more than 5gb, but they do make you eat your buffet food through a straw! Now, I remedied my problem with the wonderful program 3g Watchdog, which is free. Set it to your monthly cycle, and you can even place a widget with usage on your screen. Very handy little program.
So yes, I tried calling and talking with the reps, nothing will work. I spoke with managers, and people from India. They can't do anything about it. I couldn't even pay them more money! How ridiculous! But alas, I had to see the bright side. Looking at AT&T or Verizon, you have limits of 2gb or so and then they charge you for anything over that. Screw that! So I figured if I'm downloading 5gb of data in a month, then I need to get my ass together and make my life work for me. So please figure out your **** lol, you'll feel so much better when you do.
Tyler
laramir21 said:
No,
it does not make sense to people that signed an unlimited data plan in 2009, the changes for data cap were made on the new contract July 18, 2010. I know that Tmobile reserves the right to make changes, but they also state that they are suppose to give a 30 day notice. Did anyone receive such notice in data changes? I don't think so. You all can say well is insane to spend more than 5gb of data, but you have to understand that many people use their phone a lot and id their right to be upset when they signed an "UNLIMITED" plan and then is changed without prior notice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That ssssssssssucks!
I went to T-mobile store last week to pay my bill, the man told me about the upgrade discount after a year, when we reached the 4G topic I asked about this slow down of speed after 5Gb and he was like he had no idea, he repeated "Noou, it's unlimited" "that what you heard is for those with plans of certain data limit"
I told him that's what it should be, I said it wouldn't make sense to have such high-speed and still be limited :S
Serously! I'm paying $-freaking-30 monthly for internet access that is like 1mb of speed on this lil' phone, same as it would be using a DSL, why would they put a limit?
Tmo-guy- Because it's a wireless service-
Me: My ass! that ain't no reason!
Again makes no sense....
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
Digitaldreamer7 said:
Its people like you who make the system slow for everyone. Why do you think att is so ****ty? Its because too many people are using their iphone for everything. Simple supply and demand. Tethering should be used as needed when no other internet service is avalible. I for one like the cap and I welcome it to a charging alternative. Its like any other provider. If you get greedy you should get punnished.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Hi
I am thinking about getting a Motorola Xoom, an LG Optimus Tab or a Samsung Galaxy 8.9 (when announced), but I am unsure about getting a 3G version or a WiFi only versions and just tethering to my Desire and using the mobile internet connection.
Does anyone use the tethering on their phone on a regular basis on O2UK? If so, have you been charged for it? Because I believe they are supposed to charge you if you are tethering.
If I got a 3G and WiFi version, I would probably just swap my Sim Card between the Desire and the Tablet, or just get a Pay As You Go simcard and just put it in the Tab and use data on there.
I know this is not a Desire question, but I thought this would be the best place to post.
Stew
I take it you don't have a home connection with a wireless router? I'm not on O2 but I have read that they do charge for tethering so I wouldn't risk it if I was you.
I've used tethering with my desire on O2 a few times with O2 and I've not had any issues, I wouldn't worry about it.
The tethering bolt-on is £7.50 at present, but it will be included in all newer tariffs in the not so distant future as I think they're finding the bolt-on to be unenforcable.
Are you on one of the older unlimited plans or the newer tariffs with a data allowance? If you're on the older unlimited you should be fine although don't go overboard or you'll meet the fair usage policy and probably a bar on internet access from your phone. If you're on one of the newer tariffs you'll probably find you go over your allowance quickly, but you wont be charged anything extra, you'll recieve a couple of text messages and have your connection speed throttled to about 13kbps!
Basically if you're an existing customer you'll be breaching their T&C, but you're unlikely to get caught and you certainly wont get charged anything else if you do the most you'll encounter is a bar on your account until your next billing date. If you were to upgrade next month the chances are you'd have tethering for no extra charge anyway. If you were to upgrade next month the chances are you'll be allowed to tether anyway.
Pirow said:
I've used tethering with my desire on O2 a few times with O2 and I've not had any issues, I wouldn't worry about it.
The tethering bolt-on is £7.50 at present, but it will be included in all newer tariffs in the not so distant future as I think they're finding the bolt-on to be unenforcable.
Are you on one of the older unlimited plans or the newer tariffs with a data allowance? If you're on the older unlimited you should be fine although don't go overboard or you'll meet the fair usage policy and probably a bar on internet access from your phone. If you're on one of the newer tariffs you'll probably find you go over your allowance quickly, but you wont be charged anything extra, you'll recieve a couple of text messages and have your connection speed throttled to about 13kbps!
Basically if you're an existing customer you'll be breaching their T&C, but you're unlikely to get caught and you certainly wont get charged anything else if you do the most you'll encounter is a bar on your account until your next billing date. If you were to upgrade next month the chances are you'd have tethering for no extra charge anyway. If you were to upgrade next month the chances are you'll be allowed to tether anyway.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I am an existing customer with an old Unlimited contract, I think I might just try tethering since it will be "Android traffic going through an Android device" ha ha.
I might change contract if they start building it into new tariffs, either that or buy a MiFi and a PAYG sim card.
I take it you don't have a home connection with a wireless router? I'm not on O2 but I have read that they do charge for tethering so I wouldn't risk it if I was you.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I do, but I travel a lot so I wondered if I could use my existing data plan, instead of having to get a new one!
StuMcBill said:
Yeah I am an existing customer with an old Unlimited contract, I think I might just try tethering since it will be "Android traffic going through an Android device" ha ha.
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Click to collapse
You should be fine unless you go really overboard, give it a try about a week before your billing date, the worst that will happen is you'll end up having to rely on wifi for a week with your phone.
It'll really depend how much you already use data on your phone if anything happens, a few gigs a month on with unlimited data is generally fine as there's no limit set in stone, it's all about your usage "impacting other customers".
TL;DR (I feel like ranting, so here's the point of this so you don't have to read everything)
PLEASE tell me there is an option for us HTC 10 T-Mobile folks that will DESTROY that throttle?!?!!!!
MY RANT
I am with T-Mobile and I pay for unlimited data. This pretty much means I pay for 25gigs of data and then continue to pay for "unlimited" data that gets throttled so bad, opening up google.com make me want to carve my eyes out...it is impossible to deal with.
I am a HEAVY data user (I'm at 45.6gigs w/ 14 days left to wait until I get my REAL data back) and I do not have access to Wi-Fi most the day.
I get it...an average person gets unlimited bc it makes them feel good inside knowing they have it of they need it (even though on average sharing 6 or 10 gig's with one other person is more than enough...gogo gadget ex sales associate employee for phones).
But I pay for unlimited bc I NEED it!
They claim that the FCC is the ones that makes them create this throttle point...but a chick at Verizon said its the carriers - so they can save money.
And then they try to justify it with saying that I need to share the love with the other users who pay for 3gig plans...so they get priority in congested areas.
Last time I checked, I'm a paying customer too...and I am paying for your "Truly Unlimited Data Plan"
Shoot me
To for letting me vent
sorry no way to stop it, its on their end, so once you hit that point they will throttle. they can do this since you still have unlimited data, just most of it will be slow
I also notice your Verizon comment, I'm on the unlimited data, with NO throttle point.
@afuller42
That's devastating....but you have unlimited on Verizon?
Were you on it when it was out originally and got grandfathered into it? Also...do you know if I can make my phone work on Verizon's towers? Via some sort of root perk thing?
@Emilicious
yes I was grandfathered into the unlimited plan by Verizon, they have tried many time over the years to get me off of it but I decline. Last phone I bought before the 10 I paid full price ($650) just to keep my plan. At least with the HTC 10 I got to use their payment plan and still keep my UDP.
As for your other question, if you switch to Verizon, yes after flashing a few things, you can use your phone on their towers. Keep in mind though that Verizon doesn't have unlimited anymore and probably wouldn't be good for your amount of data use.
Directv and At&T have become one now, I personally think if you have the tv service this is the next best option for a Unlimited plan, they do throttle but its a "may slow speeds" "peak hours" thing. Heres directly off their site
" After 22GB of data usage on a line in a bill cycle, AT&T may slow data speeds on that line when the network is congested. If congestion ends or you move to an uncongested site, speed will no longer be affected. Regardless of the amount of data usage, no overage charges will apply. See att.com/broadbandinfo for additional network management details." https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/unlimited-plan.html?WT.srch=1
if I lose my UDP from vzw for any reason I will be hoping on at&t, even though I had very bad experiances with their service back in the pre-android flip phone days.
@afuller42 so is it impossible to get these days? Like an email to a man in power couldn't even do it?
@Emilicious
yep "truly" unlimited plans are mostly gone everywhere that I can see. all have a cap or de-priorization after about 20-30gb of data.
metropcs may have a true unlimited plan still. you can check out their website if its in your area https://www.metropcs.com/ it really seems to be a great price ($60 unlimited talk, text, data)and no mention of throttle other than hotspot throttling after 8gb of hotspot use, which on the HTC 10 you can easily bypass that I believe (could be wrong, but I get free hotspot from Verizon on the 10, so could be the same with them) I have no experience with this company though
---------- Post added at 08:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
nvm I was wrong metropcs may throttle also at 25gb, but its like at&t and its deprioritize during peak hours-locations
@afuller42 hey do you know anything about vpn servers and if that's an avenue I can take?
This works for unlimited tethering on T-Mobile
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/
My first work around was to install Debian in a chroot using Linux Deploy. Get yourself sshd running in a chroot on the rooted Android device you will see the options in the Linux Deploy app. Configure the container to start ssh server and remember the user name and password from the initial setup.
You will find many instructions on the Google machine, or you can message me.
From your laptop/computer you need to connect to your phones hotspot after starting the ssh server. Then use ssh/putty to forward your phones SOCKS port.
ssh -D 9999 [email protected]
Change chroot_user to your chroots username. Leave 192.168.43.1 as it is. After successfully logging into the ssh server, you need to set your computer to listen on port 9999(Or whatever port you choose 1080 would be sane) for SOCKS connection.
If your using Windows you need "Putty" for an ssh client and Firefox is a good choice for setting a custom SOCKS port. 192.168.43.1 Is typically the gateway when using Android hotspots. That's AOSP/LOS ROMs that I'm used too.
I was doing that for months, before I found that Reddit post.
So yes it is possible to get around the hotspot cap. Both methods work, but I prefer the method from that Reddit post as it is less off a hassle, also on Linux it works system wide, not just the programs you configure for it.
Reddit link
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/