AT&T Letter asking to stop tethering or getting rid of unlimited - AT&T HTC One (M8)

So I am using a stock rooted rom, and using the built in tethering hotspot in android. Now I got a letter from at&t saying to stop tethering or they will remove my unlimited plan.
How do they know if I am tethering or not and what can I do about it? Is it just that they know because it's a stock rom and maybe it sends data back to them?
I read using a vpn may work, but should the vpn be on your phone or on the devices connected?

Nobody around here seems to know for certain how they are monitoring. Of course AT&T knows, but they aren't saying.
Its been theorized that is probably on the network side, its not ROM (phone) related. I've seen it stated that tethered data packets are tagged differently than non-tethered, and its easy to tell the difference (others have contested this, I'm not personally knowledgeable enough to say either way). And there are almost certainly other factors involved. For instance, tethering volume might make a difference. I've tethered just a little here and there, and never been caught. While others have claimed to tether lots of data, and never caught. The amount of non-tethered data is probably irrelevant. I consistently go close to the 5 GB throttle limit on my unlimited plan, and sometimes tethering is a small portion. So its not just volume alone, but likely a variety of "red flags" they use to enforce the policy.
Is there anything you can do about it? I'd say no. I haven't seen any mod that successfully "masks" tethering usage. Try not to get caught again. If they catch you again, you lose your unlimited plan.
Have you been tethering large volumes of data?

It is network side,after a certain amount of data the system will redflag your account for high data usage. No way around it other than to stop tethering or they will automatically change your account based on usage and you will loose "unlimited" account. Or i have seen a termination of accounts as well.

Related

Excessive tethering use

Anyone use tethering to download too much data and had repercussions from T-Mobile? I'm just wondering if/how much I should limit my bandwidth use. Use tethering frequently on the train and such.
After 5gb of data you will likely get throttled to EDGE-only speed. You will receive a message from TMO if this happens. If you are just checking email, chat, facebook, etc it is highly unlikely you will kill your 5gb.
I just recieved the text message yesterday and I have to say the speed that they throttle you down to renederd my laptop practically useless. Even just trying to log into Yahoo my browser timed out. Just FYI.
How much bandwidth did you use? I was up to 2.3 gigabyte last month.
KerryG said:
After 5gb of data you will likely get throttled to EDGE-only speed. You will receive a message from TMO if this happens. If you are just checking email, chat, facebook, etc it is highly unlikely you will kill your 5gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not even EDGE speeds. more like a little bit better than GPRS speeds around 50-59kbps. my edge speeds is almost triple this and my 3g speeds peak at 5.3mbps at night and 3-4mbps during day
to OP- Tmobile used to allows 10GB of bandwidth but now its cut to half to 5GB which can be easily used up by tethering,but then again tethering using USB in settings, MobileAP, or an app like EasyTether and PDAnet is not covered in the contract and actually goes against the terms of use
Of course, most probably already know tethering is expressly forbidden by the terms and conditions for most (if not all) contracts with TMO. While they've cast a blind eye to in the past, this is changing.
Beginning Nov 3, TMO will offer a $15 Tethering option which is less expensive than other carriers. Each activated IMEI (phone serial) will get no more than one IP address. All tethered data will count toward your 5GB monthly limit. Like other carriers, your monthly data cap doesn't increase just because you pay more. Unlike other carriers though, you will NOT be charged overage fees unless perhaps you somehow manage to tether without a proper plan in place.
The DHCP pool which currently assigns / allows acquiring of the additional addresses for any tethered devices that you may be using will be limited to just "one" address. In order to tether after this change, you'll require a minimum of 2 IP addresses. This limitation will only be officially lifted upon adding a monthly paid tethering plan to your account. Being rooted or on an unoffical rom likely won't change this as it'll all be controlled by the TMO's network hardware which is out of our reach.
Update to reply to the post by 2000nits below...
That assumes that TMO won't modify the normal operation it's APN gateway to prevent Private DHCP then tethering as we know it might not be possible. Then, you'd be forced to get your addresses from their DHCP server alone.
Yeap . this is a sad sad day for tmob...
I am going to look for a better carrier ./ option
I can get Virgin mobile wifi unlimited , and someone else cheaper for the phone
You think they will send a notice to all users with a 'Change of Terms' letter enclosed???
Also, does anyone know how to monitor my usage?? How do I know how much data I've transfered thus far in my billing cycle??
ndhr3d said:
You think they will send a notice to all users with a 'Change of Terms' letter enclosed???
Also, does anyone know how to monitor my usage?? How do I know how much data I've transfered thus far in my billing cycle??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can monitor usage with netcounter in market. Free and I have been using it since g1.
epakrat75 said:
Of course, most probably already know tethering is expressly forbidden by the terms and conditions for most (if not all) contracts with TMO. While they've cast a blind eye to in the past, this is changing.
Beginning Nov 3, TMO will offer a $15 Tethering option which is less expensive than other carriers. Each activated IMEI (phone serial) will get no more than one IP address. All tethered data will count toward your 5GB monthly limit. Like other carriers, your monthly data cap doesn't increase just because you pay more. Unlike other carriers though, you will NOT be charged overage fees unless perhaps you somehow manage to tether without a proper plan in place.
The DHCP pool which currently assigns / allows acquiring of the additional addresses for any tethered devices that you may be using will be limited to just "one" address. In order to tether after this change, you'll require a minimum of 2 IP addresses. This limitation will only be officially lifted upon adding a monthly paid tethering plan to your account. Being rooted or on an unoffical rom likely won't change this as it'll all be controlled by the TMO's network hardware which is out of our reach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as tethering still works like it did with usb tethering on cyanogen roms we do not get 2 ips from the carrier. Your phone gets 1 ip address from carrier and then acts as a router giving you private ip addresses that your carrier does not see. Same as you home ISP does not give out multiple ip addresses if you have multiple PCs at home conneted to a router.
Conclusion: Pay tmo $15/mo extra or root and do it for free (at your own risk). I have done it since the g1 days but very rarely, never had a prob.
Removed by author.
2000nits said:
As long as tethering still works like it did with usb tethering on cyanogen roms we do not get 2 ips from the carrier. Your phone gets 1 ip address from carrier and then acts as a router giving you private ip addresses that your carrier does not see. Same as you home ISP does not give out multiple ip addresses if you have multiple PCs at home conneted to a router.
Conclusion: Pay tmo $15/mo extra or root and do it for free (at your own risk). I have done it since the g1 days but very rarely, never had a prob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ This. I don't see how t mobile could track that you are tethering. Your phone requests the data, than transfers the data to the device you are tethering just like a router. The "outside world" only ever sees your router, or phone in this case. Unless I am misunderstanding the way tethering works.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
AFAIK, an APN is required for tethering to work. The carrier controls this. Without APN access and one that plays nice with tethering apps, tethering may become impossible with existing tethering / wifi router apps?
Tethering Via Kies or Tethering Via Dial-Up Connection
Currently you can easily tether via Samsung Kies or by creating a dial-up connection. How will these two options change?
How would T-Mo know you are tethering via keys or dial-up connection?
I do have Kies and I've set up dial-up tethering, it works, however I have internet everywhere I go, so I never have really tethered other than just testing to see if it works. I think it is a shame though, people who abused tethering kinda ruined it for everyone. Now if you need to tether in an emergency, which in my case would be maybe like once a year or something, now the option is closed to everyone? Maybe they can create an emergency tethering plan. You pay for the 1 time you need to tether. I dunno.
*dial-up isn't really dial-up in the sense you may be thinking like in the old modem dial up days.

AT&T "illegal" tethering warning

One of my friends (he has jailb. iphone and used tethering for ~3 weeks) just got letter from ATT: stop using tethering or we'll change your plan to 4gb teth. plan (+$45)
Another friend though (android device, 2 months tethering) spoke with ATT rep. about tethering and plan overlimit and he was told : we'll just charge you $10 for each addnl Gb.
I'm using tethering for 3 m. If I use browser I change User Agent to Opera mobile (but not all the time) and had no any warnings.
where is the true about tethering? is this device specific? I mean is there something in iPhones that lets ATT to know about "illigal" tethering
is this the f. way for ATT to make money to lock device/software capabilities and then unlock them for $$$. OK lets lock volume or brightnes to 0 and charge people for each % added. lets lock BT - kinda tethering as well
all this is so stupid. it's like if electric company will charge you extra for using toster but not teapot.
who cares how I spend data that no longe belong to them. this is my 2gb. and I can put it in my ... if I'd like so
there are some ?? in this post so I posted it here not General. may be I'm wrong but not so wrong as ATT
i've personally never read about android devices being caught tethering (if anyone can show me otherwise, i would appreciate it)
the way AT&T picks up on people doing illegitimate tethering is by iphone users using mywi, not sure how they do it but every single post i've read of people who got served was using an iphone.
uuh... Bluetooth is not even remotely close to tethering. The reason they charge extra for tethering, compared to simple data plans... and why they don't (technically) allow tethering on unlimited plans, is because if you're using a laptop or desktop and have it connected to the internet via your phone... you're capable of downloading a LOT more information a LOT quicker, thus congesting their network.
Also would need a bit more information about how your friends were tethering. The first mentioned friend with the iPhone was probably doing what Alcapone said... using MyWi to tether for free, while probably on an unlimited data plan. That's probably why he got a letter saying that if it continues, he will be switched to the 4GB Tethering plan. They probably noticed an unusually large amount of bandwidth being used, which raised a red flag.
The second friend i'm assuming probably actually pays for tethering... or at least that's probably what the AT&T rep was assuming. In that case they'll charge per extra GB downloaded.
Only time i've ever heard the possibility of someone's plan being switched is if they're doing something that's not possible on their plan to begin with. Kinda like the people that were praying they could keep their dumbphone unlimited data plan to use with a smartphone.
zelipukin said:
One of my friends (he has jailb. iphone and used tethering for ~3 weeks) just got letter from ATT: stop using tethering or we'll change your plan to 4gb teth. plan (+$45)
Another friend though (android device, 2 months tethering) spoke with ATT rep. about tethering and plan overlimit and he was told : we'll just charge you $10 for each addnl Gb.
I'm using tethering for 3 m. If I use browser I change User Agent to Opera mobile (but not all the time) and had no any warnings.
where is the true about tethering? is this device specific? I mean is there something in iPhones that lets ATT to know about "illigal" tethering
is this the f. way for ATT to make money to lock device/software capabilities and then unlock them for $$$. OK lets lock volume or brightnes to 0 and charge people for each % added. lets lock BT - kinda tethering as well
all this is so stupid. it's like if electric company will charge you extra for using toster but not teapot.
who cares how I spend data that no longe belong to them. this is my 2gb. and I can put it in my ... if I'd like so
there are some ?? in this post so I posted it here not General. may be I'm wrong but not so wrong as ATT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this rant and its questions have all been debated and answered time and time again on this forum. search.
all have 2gb no tethering plan. Large amount of data? Am I not free to use my 2gb in one day? I mean I can spend only 2gb I paid for. in one day or 1 month, what's the difference? why not to change calling plan to unlimited if att noticed you "spoke to much yestarday"
zelipukin said:
all have 2gb no tethering plan. Large amount of data? Am I not free to use my 2gb in one day? I mean I can spend only 2gb I paid for. in one day or 1 month, what's the difference? why not to change calling plan to unlimited if att noticed you "spoke to much yestarday"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has been covered over here...
Going over your 2gb data plan is one thing and tethering is another. The iphone OS records the amount of time tethered and somehow notifies att about the devices usage. Also, from what I've learned when I had my iphones, not syncing to itunes after you've installed jailbroken apps will not register with apple. The only tethering apps I think most people getting caught with is an app called MyWi. Not sure about PDAnet. My wife uses MyWi but has never synced her phone to itunes after installing and we've never gotten a notice. Might also being looked at cuz the iphone doesn't have flash so other than netflix....how can you use a ton of data other than streaming or tethering.
ccrows said:
This has been covered over here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ty, ty, ty
I knew kind people will point me to the right topic I couldnt find myself.
elementaldragon said:
why they don't (technically) allow tethering on unlimited plans, is because if you're using a laptop or desktop and have it connected to the internet via your phone... you're capable of downloading a LOT more information a LOT quicker, thus congesting their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this necessarily true though? With a phone that's capable of multitasking like the Atrix, I don't see the real issue. AT&T claims that by using a laptop, you will end up eating more data, but I always saw the service they provide as the real bottleneck. No matter how many devices you tether to the Atrix, whether it be 1 or 4, you're still unable to use more bandwidth than what you are capable of receiving. If your speed tests run at the miserable 1.5Mbps down and 1Mbps up that I get, how can they claim that you download information QUICKER from a computer? This may have been true before, when phone's couldn't handle as many operations as they do now, but I can definitely stream some music from pandora, browse the web, and hell, even download a torrent all at the same time if I wanted to.
I feel like all of the "modern" updates AT&T has made has just hurt the consumer in the process. Tethering on an unlimited plan shouldn't be allowed, I understand that. Your cell phone plan shouldn't be the basis for your home internet, and that's fair. But if you're on a tiered plan, your 2GB should be yours to do whatever you want with. And while I'm ranting about the tiered plans, I think for the price they charge for the 200MB plan, they need to start offering more. As their service supposedly gets faster, that 200MB cap becomes so much easier to reach. Come on AT&T, get with the times.

[Q] Cannot connect view to iPhone4 for bluetooth tethering

I would like to be able to tether my HTC View to my iPhone 4 via bluetooth to share the internet connection. It works successfully via MiWi with the wireless hotspot. I would like to use the bluetooth instead though since the wifi hotspot kills my battery and makes my phone physically hot to the touch after a few hours of it. Is this possible?
The 2 devices do pair through mywi using bluetooth. But when i click to connect and use for internet access the View just sits there and says connecting.
iPhone is running 5.0.1 and is jailbroken
HTC View is running 3.2.1 and is rooted and s-off
jonesychris said:
I would like to be able to tether my HTC View to my iPhone 4 via bluetooth to share the internet connection. It works successfully via MiWi with the wireless hotspot. I would like to use the bluetooth instead though since the wifi hotspot kills my battery and makes my phone physically hot to the touch after a few hours of it. Is this possible?
The 2 devices do pair through mywi using bluetooth. But when i click to connect and use for internet access the View just sits there and says connecting.
iPhone is running 5.0.1 and is jailbroken
HTC View is running 3.2.1 and is rooted and s-off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I don't have a solution for you. I was just more curious if your wireless carrier has found out about you tethering and tried to force you into a tethering plan? I really want to jailbreak my iPhone for tethering but it sounds like there isn't a fullproof way of not letting carriers find out you are doing this.
I would like to do the same. I've read on other forums that some have success with honeycomb connecting to 4.0 miwi
I've been using tethering for about 6 months now. In the beginning it was only when wifi wasn't available for my laptop, or my wife's iPhone on trips (she has 200mb data)
They have not complained yet but it was very low data usage before. I'm sure my data will increase now so I will have to see. I work in IT, everywhere I go has wifi. I've used 702mb of data this month (1/2 through cycle). I'm normally around around 300 - 400mb of data a month. I'm also grandfathered into unlimited plan, so they get $30 a month from me for data. I doubt they are complaining much since i'm such a light user. This bill will be my first full month with the view, so we will see if I ever get any complaints.
jonesychris said:
I've been using tethering for about 6 months now. In the beginning it was only when wifi wasn't available for my laptop, or my wife's iPhone on trips (she has 200mb data)
They have not complained yet but it was very low data usage before. I'm sure my data will increase now so I will have to see. I work in IT, everywhere I go has wifi. I've used 702mb of data this month (1/2 through cycle). I'm normally around around 300 - 400mb of data a month. I'm also grandfathered into unlimited plan, so they get $30 a month from me for data. I doubt they are complaining much since i'm such a light user. This bill will be my first full month with the view, so we will see if I ever get any complaints.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ok, well keep us updated. I too am grandfathered in on unlimited data on my iPhone 4. And I also am a fairly light user (< 1GB/month), but everyone makes it sound like the carriers are jumping on illegal tethering pretty hard. Regardless of how much data is actually used, they know from the ports that tethering is happening. I almost wouldn't mind paying for a tethering account, but the worst part about doing it is that you lose unlimited regular data.
Reading your posts, I can't understand why tethering is "illegal" or forbidden. I you pay for a data plan, why can't one use it on any device?
Because they want to charge for it. Not sure
No one has successfully tethered with bluetooth?
Sent from my PG41200 using Tapatalk
I found this article with some searching.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1374213&highlight=bluetooth+tether
I wonder if this would work with the View. Same WPA file work?
tito12 said:
Reading your posts, I can't understand why tethering is "illegal" or forbidden. I you pay for a data plan, why can't one use it on any device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not "illegal", in that I don't think you can get thrown in jail or sued for it.
But you agree to the carrier's Terms & Conditions when you sign up to use their network, whether you like it or not (or bothered to read them). Violation of the Terms means that the carrier can terminate your service, add charges to your account, or other repercussions, depending on what the Terms state.
Not sure what carrier's policies are in Israel. But in the US, most of the big carriers have specific statements in their Terms of Use, that prohibit tethering other devices to your phone without a tethering specific plan. If you are caught violating this policy, they reserve the right to add that plan to your account, or even drop your account if they want.
And yes, its of course so they can charge you extra. I completely agree that data should be data. And if you pay for a certain amount of data, or on an unlimited plan, then ideologically it should not make a difference if you are tethered or not. But there are many times in life where the most logical or fair concept is not what happens in reality. Especially in the for-profit business world.
No one has any ideas? Surely i'm not the first person who has tried to do this.
I just posted a possible solution related to this except I did it on the View:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1469997

[Q] USA based carriers

I have a Photon 4G on Sprint right now, and I refuse to go onto tiered Data. I've just about had it with Sprint's dynamically changing terms of service, so I'm looking for other US based unlimited data carriers compatible with the Photon 4G. I am rooted, if that means anything toward this.
Just isn't possible, but idk what your complaining about exactly, what change in terms, the data is still unlimited for your phone unless your not giving a full story as most people do...
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I'm giving the full story here. Yes, data is unlimited still, yes my phone works. I use very low amounts of data, so Im not in any way angering them. I'm just bothered at them filtering my market now, and most recently, my phone is shut down whenever I tether (via Android) using Bluetooth.
taylorgrandorf said:
I'm giving the full story here. Yes, data is unlimited still, yes my phone works. I use very low amounts of data, so Im not in any way angering them. I'm just bothered at them filtering my market now, and most recently, my phone is shut down whenever I tether (via Android) using Bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you not paying for tethering (even though i think it should be free to begin with) i wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that, and there's an app you really want, just google the apk through your phone
taylorgrandorf said:
I'm giving the full story here. Yes, data is unlimited still, yes my phone works. I use very low amounts of data, so Im not in any way angering them. I'm just bothered at them filtering my market now, and most recently, my phone is shut down whenever I tether (via Android) using Bluetooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint isn't filtering your market, it's google... They did it to me as well... Upon calling them, I was informed that rooted devices are not allowed and if google finds out you have a rooted device they lock you out of your paid apps. The only way I fixed this was by running the ruu back to stock. I re-rooted a few days later and haven't had any issues since than... I agree it sucks. As for the tethering, I 4G tether using the wifi tether app that is in dsixda kitchen, made by mueller, buxton, and somone else. I regularly top 5GB of data use every month and have never had any issues, other than Sprint's weak ass 3G signal. You could check into boost, cricket, or one of you local "small time" cell dealers, some of the local shops will even flash the phone over to their service for free. Good luck in your adventure!
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Thanks, I think I'll just stay with Sprint for now. I really appreciate the responses, though. As far as Market Filtering, my issue is not full block out, but just Wireless Tether apps missing. As far as .apk installs, I'm fully familiar with those too. Sprint is otherwise a great carrier. I'm very near to Houston, and being the 4th largest City in the USA means that I get 6/6 Bars of 4G everywhere I go. Besides this, I have nothing against them. Unlimited Data is a neccesary thing on a Smartphone, in my opinion. Also, with my Bluetooth tethering (Can be done unrooted to an Asus Transformer Prime, also unrooted) I've found that as long as I put the phone into standby, it wont reboot. It only reboots if the display times-out.
Bluetooth tethering is fully within Sprint's ToS, too. (Free)
http://db.tt/BkvrkT78 ... Here you go... Here is the old school tether app if you don't have it... I too will be sticking with sprint, can't beat unlimited data with a stick. Have fun with that photon too, very nice device, I almost ditched my shift for the photon.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
sprint did break down and filter out tethering apps from their market, but honetsly can you blame them? verizon and att were teh first ones to have limited data, the first ones to tell you what you could use your 2gb's of data on.
sprint filtered out the market.. after how long of us getting a free ride? chances are if your rooting you know how to google for android tether. not saying its ideal, but id much rather have them filter the apps, then drop unl data... or send text's out to users using free tether saying they will be switched to the paid tether automatically at the end of teh to month...
Fair enough.

PdaNet Advantage on Rooted S2?

I'm on UnNamed Rom v2.2.1 which has native tethering capability, but given AT&T's recent crackdown on tethering, is using Pdanet a better option? I've searched a bit on the topic but most are related to iPhone. I generally don't tether, but may need a few megs here and there when on the road, nothing much, probably less than 50mbs in totally but don't want to get served with AT&T's notice. Just wondering if PDANet is any better in hiding the trace from AT&T, the latest PDANet v3.5 has the ability to hide tethering (level 1 & 2) but they don't recommend it because they claim the traffic is already routed through the phone so should be undetectable.
Has anyone used PDANet on UnNamed and lucky enough to have bypassed ATT detection so far?
From my understanding it doesnt matter if you use the phones native tetther or any other one. once you reach the limit You will still get tethered
chibixzero said:
From my understanding it doesnt matter if you use the phones native tetther or any other one. once you reach the limit You will still get tethered
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true, it really doesn't matter anymore.
Once you hit 3gb (or local top %) they throttle you to horrible speeds, so just use the native tethering.
data plan is different than tethering plan. my understanding is throttling of 3gb is applied to mobile data only but I'd still have to pay for separate tethering plan even if I only use 300mb of mobile data.
LiLChris06 said:
This is true, it really doesn't matter anymore.
Once you hit 3gb (or local top %) they throttle you to horrible speeds, so just use the native tethering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
--Sent from mobile device--
If you do not have an unlimited plan then it is different, they will charge you extra if you go over.
I wouldn't pay for Tethering if you have a grandfathered unlimited plan.

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