Database Users

How will "they" know if I tether with a rooted Nexus One

Just read Tmobile is going to charge for tethering & wi-fi hot spot. How will they know? Isn't data, data? I don't want to be charged for something I might use 5 times a year.
Sent from my Nexus One CM6 using XDA App

I don't know if they can tell, I have used the hotspot feature with my Nexus quite often and AT&T has never tried to charge me.

They wont.

[email protected] said:
Just read Tmobile is going to charge for tethering & wi-fi hot spot. How will they know? Isn't data, data? I don't want to be charged for something I might use 5 times a year.
Sent from my Nexus One CM6 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you read this from? No source, it didnt happen.

Starts 11/3/2010
Zephyron said:
Where did you read this from? No source, it didnt happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/10/26/t-mobile-to-debut-tethering-plan-on-november-3rd-14-99/

the only way they could know if you are tethering is if you are using the carrier's native ROM, i don't think they would ever find out when running a custom rom.

If you don't bother searching - at least do read the same thread on the same 1st page of the forum, instead of opening another one.
Einstein was right about infinite things...

Packages being sent contain HTTP requests, which may contain info on the device that's being used, among other stuff I don't really know about.
If those packages contain specific info on the device, they probably can tell even if you're using a custom ROM, just by putting some effort into it.
Anyways, if by some mean they'd manage to analyze it in a way where they can tell whether you're tethering or not, we'll also find a way to trick them by parsing those packages on the fly.
So, ultimately, I don't know whether they can tell or not if you're tethering, but if they can don't worry, someone will take care of it.

St.Jimmy! said:
Packages being sent contain HTTP requests, which may contain info on the device that's being used, among other stuff I don't really know about.
If those packages contain specific info on the device, they probably can tell even if you're using a custom ROM, just by putting some effort into it.
Anyways, if by some mean they'd manage to analyze it in a way where they can tell whether you're tethering or not, we'll also find a way to trick them by parsing those packages on the fly.
So, ultimately, I don't know whether they can tell or not if you're tethering, but if they can don't worry, someone will take care of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Companies cannot legally spy into your network traffic in that manner here in the US.

JCopernicus said:
Companies cannot legally spy into your network traffic in that manner here in the US.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true, deep packet inspection is against the law as it infringes what little privacy we are still allowed thanks to homeland security

St.Jimmy! said:
Packages being sent contain HTTP requests, which may contain info on the device that's being used, among other stuff I don't really know about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not picking on you, but I'm sure you mean packets

Here in France, SFR set up atransparemt proxy that checks the user-agent sent by your browser.
You can trick it by setting a mobile user-agent on your PC.
Sent from my nexus desire

zEar said:
Here in France, SFR set up atransparemt proxy that checks the user-agent sent by your browser.
You can trick it by setting a mobile user-agent on your PC.
Sent from my nexus desire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's screwed. You can set any UA when using a custom ROM, so you'd be charged for tethering when you set it to Desktop?
In that case, someone might have a good reason to sue them...

Thanks for the info.
Sent from my Nexus One CM6 using XDA App

Jack_R1 said:
That's screwed. You can set any UA when using a custom ROM, so you'd be charged for tethering when you set it to Desktop?
In that case, someone might have a good reason to sue them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, you're right. But I forgot to mention that they won't charge you, it simply doesn't work. So if you changed the UA the way you suggest, you would see a blank page and quickly fix that
Second, I noticed after answering that I didn't read the question well (sh*t happens ) and didn't get the point about root. So to be more clear about the original question :
- "They" shouldn't be able to know if you're rooted or not, but there may be ways for them to detect that you are tethering.

Tethering and T-mobile...
If you run speedtest.net on a computer that's tethered to the N1, it shows on speedtest.net's server that you are on T-mobile USA's IP. Somehow T-mobile would have to acquire when the tether option was turned on and off at the same time the 3g service is on. They would have to submit that into the header files that get sent to their services. That would be a stretch, but it would be doable in future software updates. Say Gingerbread....

Actually, yesterday I've found something interesting about one of our local carriers.
It has 2 APNs: one for "dumbphones" and one for smartphones.
The first one allows Nexus to use internet and market, but tethering doesn't work. The DNS requests are blocked - I still didn't figure out how they block them. DNS servers get the ping, but the requests aren't resolved. Yet it looks like they're resolved, if sent from the phone.
The second one allows full internet access for the phone - and tethering also works.
So they don't detect tethering (and don't charge for it), but looks like they can block it with some restrictions that still allow the phone browser to work, when using "dumbphone" APN.

Jack_R1 said:
Actually, yesterday I've found something interesting about one of our local carriers.
It has 2 APNs: one for "dumbphones" and one for smartphones.
The first one allows Nexus to use internet and market, but tethering doesn't work. The DNS requests are blocked - I still didn't figure out how they block them. DNS servers get the ping, but the requests aren't resolved. Yet it looks like they're resolved, if sent from the phone.
The second one allows full internet access for the phone - and tethering also works.
So they don't detect tethering (and don't charge for it), but looks like they can block it with some restrictions that still allow the phone browser to work, when using "dumbphone" APN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so all the other data, non browser based - how do they decide if/when to block which data ? i'm assuming this will only work on a non-rooted phone, or they are breaking the law and doing deep inspection.
if they =are= doing deep packet inspection, they can and will be held liable for eavesdropping, child porn, online harrassement (if you ever harrass someone), and a whole host of other things.
the ISP (tmo) not knowing what you're doing is a benefit to them. ignorance is bliss, and knowledge means responsibility the way the gov't views it.
lol, that last statement, the gov't and responsibility could be a joke i guess.

I believe they just have all traffic going through proxy which allows only very few selected packet types through, and blocks the rest for "dumbphone" APN. They don't check/block anything beyond DNS requests, and if you want to connect to a site while tethering "dumbphone" connection by IP - I believe you'll get there (didn't have a chance to test, but pinging IPs works without problems).
And of course, my Nexus with Enomther's ROM was used for experiments and showed exactly the same behavior.
The thing is - if I understand it correctly, it's not a planned behavior. They wanted to shut off all the network but the sites they give access to from their own WAP portal (considered "internal" internet), but in fact for some reason Nexus isn't completely blocked by it. PC is, though, when connected through Nexus.
And again, they don't have something that detects tethering - once a smartphone APN is used, the traffic is the same for Nexus and for tethered devices.

Some technical info...
Hello!
There is a way to detect if You are using tethering. Basically - tethering is routing - adding one more point in communications. So - if You just use Your phone, packets are addressed from/to Your phone. But if You are tethering - packets are addressed to device behind phone (using phone as gateway, basically router with NAT).
So - they may check:
ARP tables
TTLs
OS specific packets/DNS requests/used IP's (Why would Your phone check for MS updates? )
other things...

[Q] Looking for Proxy app

Hello,
I haven't found anything quite related to what I'm looking for (similar, but involving the GPRS vs WiFi settings)
I'm curious if anyone knows of an app that when you connect to a WiFi network, it will automagically set the proxy server and port required for that WiFi network? One WiFi network I use requires a proxy, but the rest do not. It's annoying to have to change it all the time. It would be great to find an app that when it detects I've connected to the wifi that requires the proxy it figures out which one I'm connected to (either via BSID, ESSID, SSID, MAC etc) and sets the proxy if required. Heck a shell script on a rooted phone could do the setting just fine, but it's the first part I'm stuck with.
Thanks!

I've been looking for an app like this too. My school makes me use a proxy but my home does not and it sucks having to change it every time I go to school or home.

Hey guys can you tell me how to change to the proxy settings. I dont mind switching back and forth but the proxy settings should work. I've my proxy set at 192.168.11.5 and port 3128. How do i use internet with that ?

reddevil0709 said:
Hey guys can you tell me how to change to the proxy settings. I dont mind switching back and forth but the proxy settings should work. I've my proxy set at 192.168.11.5 and port 3128. How do i use internet with that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Wifi, then press the Menu button and press advanced settings.

Hey, so this doesnt do exactly what you want, but its a quick and easy thing. Search the forums, or just google "xda transproxy" I use it now, and the latest beta is very stable. Connects to my schools proxy, and everything works. Or, download orbot from the market..but i personally dont like it, too many steps to do a simple thing. But, to each their own. Anywho, just search and download, and install with your file manager of choice, make sure you set up the port, and ip address before you start the proxy. oh..and on my droid incredible, with virtous 3.1, I had to reboot before I could access the market. Your results may very.
Heres the Link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=766569

techobsessive said:
Hey, so this doesnt do exactly what you want, but its a quick and easy thing. Search the forums, or just google "xda transproxy" I use it now, and the latest beta is very stable. Connects to my schools proxy, and everything works. Or, download orbot from the market..but i personally dont like it, too many steps to do a simple thing. But, to each their own. Anywho, just search and download, and install with your file manager of choice, make sure you set up the port, and ip address before you start the proxy. oh..and on my droid incredible, with virtous 3.1, I had to reboot before I could access the market. Your results may very.
Heres the Link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=766569
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, that did pretty much exactly what I wanted and so much more. Before I could only use the Internet Browser but now I can use any app. I love this app.

Going to give it a try myself, thanks!

OMG Hopefully this works on my x10 android 2.1update1
thanks bro

I get no iptables found in this rom... wtf i am rooted btw
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

May need to use orbot with transproxy. To use my college wireless thats what i need to do.
Sent from my Dell Streak

murr1990 said:
May need to use orbot with transproxy. To use my college wireless thats what i need to do.
Sent from my Dell Streak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok so can someone bref me all this please?
I get orbot and enable it THEN I use transproxy???????????
PS: looks like my Sony ericsson kernal locked iptables or whatever (i dont have theme)

ASProxy
I think ASProxy is what you need. For every WiFi network you connect to, you can specify which proxy to use. Besides that, it does NTLM-authentication as well, which is often required in corporate environments.
First I used TransProxy for quite some time, which is great if you only use 1 WiFi network with a proxy (you can use other WiFi networks without the proxy) and don't need NTLM authentication. Then I discovered ASProxy (found a review on android-machines.blogspot.com) which is great, if you need different proxy settings for each WiFi network.

Turn your Raspberry Pi into a OpenVPN VPN-Server

If you are in a public network, for example at university or the airport, your traffic can be recorded and decrypted. To prevent others from doing that you can send your traffic through a secured VPN-tunnel. The VPN-tunnel leads your traffic encrypted to a server which is processing your requests.
In my following tutorial you will learn how to run OpenVPN Server on your Raspberry Pi:
Turn Raspberry Pi into OpenVPN VPN-Server

r3zin said:
If you are in a public network, for example at university or the airport, your traffic can be recorded and decrypted. To prevent others from doing that you can send your traffic through a secured VPN-tunnel. The VPN-tunnel leads your traffic encrypted to a server which is processing your requests.
In my following tutorial you will learn how to run OpenVPN Server on your Raspberry Pi:
Turn Raspberry Pi into OpenVPN VPN-Server
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, Why don't we two open a blog on blogspot?

Arnav.G said:
Dude, Why don't we two open a blog on blogspot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I already opened a blog running wordpress
If you are interested in helping me send me a PM.

r3zin said:
If you are in a public network, for example at university or the airport, your traffic can be recorded and decrypted. To prevent others from doing that you can send your traffic through a secured VPN-tunnel. The VPN-tunnel leads your traffic encrypted to a server which is processing your requests.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's say I've got a RPi at home, on my wifi network, with an internal IP (internal to my home wifi router). At work, I'm on an internal ethernet network with an internal IP. Can I tunnel my traffic from my work computer through my Pi at home, and therefore circumvent any firewall policies at work (i.e. be able to access my facebook page, for example, which is normally blocked by my IT department's security policy)?

adzidek said:
Let's say I've got a RPi at home, on my wifi network, with an internal IP (internal to my home wifi router). At work, I'm on an internal ethernet network with an internal IP. Can I tunnel my traffic from my work computer through my Pi at home, and therefore circumvent any firewall policies at work (i.e. be able to access my facebook page, for example, which is normally blocked by my IT department's security policy)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is exactly what you can do with this

r3zin said:
Yes, this is exactly what you can do with this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet!
OK, now here's the *big* question: on a noob scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being total NOOB and 10 being Linus Torvalds), how hard is it to get this working properly?

Would there be any way to use this as a VPN on a home network exclusively, say for torrenting or something like that, instead of having to sign up for a monthly fee VPN service?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app

shangrila500 said:
Would there be any way to use this as a VPN on a home network exclusively, say for torrenting or something like that, instead of having to sign up for a monthly fee VPN service?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
afaik, not in that way i think you mean. Since the rasPI uses your network like computer, its very same if u just connect computer without settings connection througth rasPi.

makkeonmies said:
afaik, not in that way i think you mean. Since the rasPI uses your network like computer, its very same if u just connect computer without settings connection througth rasPi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought but it was worth a shot asking. Thanks
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app

A little late lol But cool, I'll give it a go.

shangrila500 said:
Would there be any way to use this as a VPN on a home network exclusively, say for torrenting or something like that, instead of having to sign up for a monthly fee VPN service?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably wouldn't work. You use a VPN for torrenting for security and speed. On a local network, you're not masking your external IP so it wouldn't help. The RPi also doesn't offer the fastest throughput, but it might be enough to get the job done (depending on your network speed). Either way, it's probably not going to work out they way you imagine.

T-Mobile Hotspot "Upsell" - TOTAL Workaround

If you're like me, then you have a data plan with T-Mobile that includes only 2.5GB of data for tethering. After you 2.5GB is up,T-Mobile begins redirecting all of your tethered traffic to a webpage prompting you to buy more tethering data.
T-Mobile does this by reading all of the headers on every HTTP request. It analyzes each one and reads the User-Agent string. This is what tells websites how to deliver their content for you and is why you only get mobile versions of webpages on your phone and not on your laptop. So, many people got around this by spoofing the user agent with a browser plugin to make it look like your laptop was requesting the mobile version of websites (so T-Mobile would think that it's a phone requesting the data, not a tethered laptop.) However this solution only works for that specific browser. Other browsers, applications, and devices that do not support User-Agent spoofing were left without a solution. Was I really the only one trying to tether my PS3 for Netflix and gaming?
So some people turned to VPNs which basically act as a secure proxy so that T-Mobile could not read the traffic and tell what the User-Agent was. But this often costs money and/or slows down your network speed. Seeing as how people who are looking for a tether workaround are trying to not spend money, and are trying to use T-Mobile's lightning fast LTE, this isn't really a practical solution.
So after spending hours and hours looking for a solution, I came to the conclusion that there was none yet.
I deduced that the obvious solution would be to modify the packets on the fly and change the user-agent string of every HTTP request as it came to the phone before forwarding it on to T-Mobile. Luckily for us, all HTTP requests that have no User-Agent string or a string of "null/null" etc. are automatically accepted! So all that needed to be done was to strip the user-agent string of all of the outgoing HTTP requests - on the fly.
My first thought was that hopefully there was an android app that could do this.
There isn't.
And I am not capable of making one but if you find one or can make one, please tell me and I will adjust this explanation because that would make things a bit simpler. However, since we don't live in a perfect world, we have to run a program on a computer and route all traffic through that program. This wonderful little program that I came across called "Fiddler" (it won't let me post the link but it's www[dot]fiddler2[dot]com) is just what we need. It's a completely free program.
Go download and install fiddler. This program will allow us to monitor and 'fiddle' with the network traffic on the fly!
First, fire up your tethering app on your phone and connect your computer. I personally use android WiFi tether but I suppose it probably doesn't matter which one you use. Once you've connected your computer. Open up fiddler, go to "Rules," "User-Agents," and select "Custom..." A window will pop up. Leave this blank and click okay. Now, all of the network traffic from that computer with have its user-agent string modified to "User-Agent:[blank]" Test this out on any browser on your computer and you should not be redirected to the upsell page.
Now for all of your other devices! I was particularly concerned with my PS3 but any device that supports proxy use will work. That's a hell of a lot more devices than the number that support UA spoofing haha. Go to "Connection Settings" on your PS3 and select "Manual"
Go through your setup as usual and connect to your phone's wifi hotspot. When you come to the page that says "Proxy Settings" select "Use"
For the IP address go back to your computer and look at Fiddler. In the top-right corner there is an image of two computers and it says "Online" next to it. Hover over that icon and it will have an IP address listed. This is the virtual proxy that Fiddler has set up for auxillary incoming traffic on the local network. Type that IP address into the PS3's proxy settings and use port 8888 (you may have to configure your computer firewall to allow incoming traffic on that address/port)
Also, in Fiddler go to the AutoResponder tab and check the box that says "Unmatched requests passthrough." This is so that HTTP requests that come in without a User-agent already defined will just be passed on. If this box is not checked you may get frequent 404 errors.
Finish up the connection settings on the PS3 and let it fly! You can watch the traffic on Fiddler in real time!
This is my first post on XDA and this workaround is brand new as far as I can tell so there may be some kinks that need to be worked out.
Let me know if you have any questions or problems!
Respectfully,
Hunter.

TexasState said:
If you're like me, then you have a data plan with T-Mobile that includes only 2.5GB of data for tethering. After you 2.5GB is up,T-Mobile begins redirecting all of your tethered traffic to a webpage prompting you to buy more tethering data.
T-Mobile does this by reading all of the headers on every HTTP request. It analyzes each one and reads the User-Agent string. This is what tells websites how to deliver their content for you and is why you only get mobile versions of webpages on your phone and not on your laptop. So, many people got around this by spoofing the user agent with a browser plugin to make it look like your laptop was requesting the mobile version of websites (so T-Mobile would think that it's a phone requesting the data, not a tethered laptop.) However this solution only works for that specific browser. Other browsers, applications, and devices that do not support User-Agent spoofing were left without a solution. Was I really the only one trying to tether my PS3 for Netflix and gaming?
So some people turned to VPNs which basically act as a secure proxy so that T-Mobile could not read the traffic and tell what the User-Agent was. But this often costs money and/or slows down your network speed. Seeing as how people who are looking for a tether workaround are trying to not spend money, and are trying to use T-Mobile's lightning fast LTE, this isn't really a practical solution.
So after spending hours and hours looking for a solution, I came to the conclusion that there was none yet.
I deduced that the obvious solution would be to modify the packets on the fly and change the user-agent string of every HTTP request as it came to the phone before forwarding it on to T-Mobile. Luckily for us, all HTTP requests that have no User-Agent string or a string of "null/null" etc. are automatically accepted! So all that needed to be done was to strip the user-agent string of all of the outgoing HTTP requests - on the fly.
My first thought was that hopefully there was an android app that could do this.
There isn't.
And I am not capable of making one but if you find one or can make one, please tell me and I will adjust this explanation because that would make things a bit simpler. However, since we don't live in a perfect world, we have to run a program on a computer and route all traffic through that program. This wonderful little program that I came across called "Fiddler" (it won't let me post the link but it's www[dot]fiddler2[dot]com) is just what we need. It's a completely free program.
Go download and install fiddler. This program will allow us to monitor and 'fiddle' with the network traffic on the fly!
First, fire up your tethering app on your phone and connect your computer. I personally use android WiFi tether but I suppose it probably doesn't matter which one you use. Once you've connected your computer. Open up fiddler, go to "Rules," "User-Agents," and select "Custom..." A window will pop up. Leave this blank and click okay. Now, all of the network traffic from that computer with have its user-agent string modified to "User-Agent:[blank]" Test this out on any browser on your computer and you should not be redirected to the upsell page.
Now for all of your other devices! I was particularly concerned with my PS3 but any device that supports proxy use will work. That's a hell of a lot more devices than the number that support UA spoofing haha. Go to "Connection Settings" on your PS3 and select "Manual"
Go through your setup as usual and connect to your phone's wifi hotspot. When you come to the page that says "Proxy Settings" select "Use"
For the IP address go back to your computer and look at Fiddler. In the top-right corner there is an image of two computers and it says "Online" next to it. Hover over that icon and it will have an IP address listed. This is the virtual proxy that Fiddler has set up for auxillary incoming traffic on the local network. Type that IP address into the PS3's proxy settings and use port 8888 (you may have to configure your computer firewall to allow incoming traffic on that address/port)
Also, in Fiddler go to the AutoResponder tab and check the box that says "Unmatched requests passthrough." This is so that HTTP requests that come in without a User-agent already defined will just be passed on. If this box is not checked you may get frequent 404 errors.
Finish up the connection settings on the PS3 and let it fly! You can watch the traffic on Fiddler in real time!
This is my first post on XDA and this workaround is brand new as far as I can tell so there may be some kinks that need to be worked out.
Let me know if you have any questions or problems!
Respectfully,
Hunter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's a workaround indeed, however the setup is long and extensive for anyone. We're still trying to find a QUICK solution that doesn't require a mass setup of every device. I only bounce to my tethering when there's an outage at home or I'm on the road, neither are the best solutions to be spending time switching everything over when I could have just as easily opened the browser on my phone to take care of everything. I found this post from the link you posted in the other thread where we weren't discussing hard solutions, just concepts and ideas, theoretical solutions (hence why there was never a post like this there). It's great to see that the one thing we know is the catalyst has been confirmed once again (HTTP USER-AGENT) as what T-Mo and every other carrier is doing, so this is a solution for not just T-Mo, but every provider. Again, it's a hell of a setup and requires that you keep at least one computer active during the ENTIRE tethering session, also, it appears T-Mo doesn't block Playstation 3 from what I can tell, at least we were able to watch like 3-4 hours of Netflix when we had the 500mb tethering cap without a problem.

This affect nat type? If I use this program? Ps3 online game though
Sent from my SGH-T889 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

It seems T-Mobile has caught onto using different agents. I was trying to use mobile hotspot on my laptop yesterday. It didn't matter if my UA was android handset or Googlebot, it redirected me to a hotspot upsell page.

Dr. Hax said:
It seems T-Mobile has caught onto using different agents. I was trying to use mobile hotspot on my laptop yesterday. It didn't matter if my UA was android handset or Googlebot, it redirected me to a hotspot upsell page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into your APNs and select the tethering APN, if you can edit the hostname from epc.tmobile.com to fast.t-mobile.com or whatever your normal APN is, there are a bunch of threads talking about how to get tethering working, this is just the LAST step, don't come here thinking this is the FIRST step, you're going at it backwards.

TexasState said:
If you're like me, then you have a data plan with T-Mobile that includes only 2.5GB of data for tethering. After you 2.5GB is up,T-Mobile begins redirecting all of your tethered traffic to a webpage prompting you to buy more tethering data.
T-Mobile does this by reading all of the headers on every HTTP request. It analyzes each one and reads the User-Agent string. This is what tells websites how to deliver their content for you and is why you only get mobile versions of webpages on your phone and not on your laptop. So, many people got around this by spoofing the user agent with a browser plugin to make it look like your laptop was requesting the mobile version of websites (so T-Mobile would think that it's a phone requesting the data, not a tethered laptop.) However this solution only works for that specific browser. Other browsers, applications, and devices that do not support User-Agent spoofing were left without a solution. Was I really the only one trying to tether my PS3 for Netflix and gaming?
So some people turned to VPNs which basically act as a secure proxy so that T-Mobile could not read the traffic and tell what the User-Agent was. But this often costs money and/or slows down your network speed. Seeing as how people who are looking for a tether workaround are trying to not spend money, and are trying to use T-Mobile's lightning fast LTE, this isn't really a practical solution.
So after spending hours and hours looking for a solution, I came to the conclusion that there was none yet.
I deduced that the obvious solution would be to modify the packets on the fly and change the user-agent string of every HTTP request as it came to the phone before forwarding it on to T-Mobile. Luckily for us, all HTTP requests that have no User-Agent string or a string of "null/null" etc. are automatically accepted! So all that needed to be done was to strip the user-agent string of all of the outgoing HTTP requests - on the fly.
My first thought was that hopefully there was an android app that could do this.
There isn't.
And I am not capable of making one but if you find one or can make one, please tell me and I will adjust this explanation because that would make things a bit simpler. However, since we don't live in a perfect world, we have to run a program on a computer and route all traffic through that program. This wonderful little program that I came across called "Fiddler" (it won't let me post the link but it's www[dot]fiddler2[dot]com) is just what we need. It's a completely free program.
Go download and install fiddler. This program will allow us to monitor and 'fiddle' with the network traffic on the fly!
First, fire up your tethering app on your phone and connect your computer. I personally use android WiFi tether but I suppose it probably doesn't matter which one you use. Once you've connected your computer. Open up fiddler, go to "Rules," "User-Agents," and select "Custom..." A window will pop up. Leave this blank and click okay. Now, all of the network traffic from that computer with have its user-agent string modified to "User-Agent:[blank]" Test this out on any browser on your computer and you should not be redirected to the upsell page.
Now for all of your other devices! I was particularly concerned with my PS3 but any device that supports proxy use will work. That's a hell of a lot more devices than the number that support UA spoofing haha. Go to "Connection Settings" on your PS3 and select "Manual"
Go through your setup as usual and connect to your phone's wifi hotspot. When you come to the page that says "Proxy Settings" select "Use"
For the IP address go back to your computer and look at Fiddler. In the top-right corner there is an image of two computers and it says "Online" next to it. Hover over that icon and it will have an IP address listed. This is the virtual proxy that Fiddler has set up for auxillary incoming traffic on the local network. Type that IP address into the PS3's proxy settings and use port 8888 (you may have to configure your computer firewall to allow incoming traffic on that address/port)
Also, in Fiddler go to the AutoResponder tab and check the box that says "Unmatched requests passthrough." This is so that HTTP requests that come in without a User-agent already defined will just be passed on. If this box is not checked you may get frequent 404 errors.
Finish up the connection settings on the PS3 and let it fly! You can watch the traffic on Fiddler in real time!
This is my first post on XDA and this workaround is brand new as far as I can tell so there may be some kinks that need to be worked out.
Let me know if you have any questions or problems!
Respectfully,
Hunter.
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Click to collapse
Doesn't work on ps3...obtaining ip address succeeds but internet connection fails..i added the ip and port 8888 to the fire wall and allowed connection. and when i hover over the two computers it shows two ip addresses i have tried both and same results

metro pcs upsell, lg optimus f3/JB 4.1.2
I'm on the Metro PCS network, i used to have the lg motion and that phone would hotspot my ps3 with no problems. I figured that I would upgrade my phone to the lg optimus F3 and keep hotspoting on the $60 unlimited plan. Much to my surprise I have ran into the same issue many have others have ran into, the tmobile upsell page. mine now says metro pcs upsell. so I have tried many Apps in the store with no possible way around the upsell page. After hours and days of research, its apperhant that tmobile and metro pcs are not restricting the tethering function. I can obtain an ip address but not gain internet access. As have many others. I've rooted my phone using motochopper, i installed titanium backup pro, and rom toolbox pro. I backed up all my apk's to the external and went root browsing for anything that has to do with wifi, hotspot or tether. I wasnt getting anywhere untill today. My LG Optimus F3 runs on JB 4.1.2, instead of finding tethering features i found the open source codes on sharing data and http rules. I dont have much experience with altering codes, but i do know this would be a great starting point for bypassing the upsell reroute. By using romtools pro, i finally found myself using the app manager, from there i clicked on the file networking apk, i scrolled the app display to the right to get to romtools special features, clicked on explore apk. Every rule was laid out in plain text using a notepad. Javax/servlets/resources. Every file in this folder can be read with notepad. There is tons of info regarding internet sharing, web browsing, and what runs and triggers the infamous upsell codes. I've read a few post where developers are trying to find the source of upsell, i hope this helps as a starting point. (Besides that) i was also able to enter the lg hidden menu and uninstall all metro pcs apps with one click

"(Besides that) i was also able to enter the lg hidden menu and uninstall all metro pcs apps with one click""" ????
i am in exact same boat , metropcs , rooted with all tricks tried , and still upsell page .
one interesting thing though is my lg motion can use the F3 wifi for ip camera apps . tried other apps but no go .
"IP camera viewer" has no issues accessing internet by way of a wifi tether on the F3 using my non active LG motion , strange .......the other apps report network errors or just fail to start ( netflix ) perhaps this will help in hunting a bypass on the UPsell crap

Thanks but...
Thanks for providing the most current news about this problem with Tmobile, I have been using HMA / foxfi since Aug 2013. Just a few hours ago it stopped working, couldn't even login to VPN. I lost my useragent switcher when I upgraded Chrome, and couldn't fall back on that either, so thanks for the tip about fiddler.
I am currently online because I caved to the upsell. So my question is, has Tmobile "improved" security on its upsell to the point that VPN's and UA spoofs dont work anymore, and do I have to learn the answer to this by community or by blowing my data limit again? Does anyone have a fresh strategy, or know what's going on in Tmobile business? Do they even care about people like us?
I live by this connection, since other ISP's around here are not worthwhile, and I maintain mobile business with my laptop, and I would prefer to process GB's without having to scavenge for someone else's wifi.

petedude2lu3 said:
Thanks for providing the most current news about this problem with Tmobile, I have been using HMA / foxfi since Aug 2013. Just a few hours ago it stopped working, couldn't even login to VPN. I lost my useragent switcher when I upgraded Chrome, and couldn't fall back on that either, so thanks for the tip about fiddler.
I am currently online because I caved to the upsell. So my question is, has Tmobile "improved" security on its upsell to the point that VPN's and UA spoofs dont work anymore, and do I have to learn the answer to this by community or by blowing my data limit again? Does anyone have a fresh strategy, or know what's going on in Tmobile business? Do they even care about people like us?
I live by this connection, since other ISP's around here are not worthwhile, and I maintain mobile business with my laptop, and I would prefer to process GB's without having to scavenge for someone else's wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VPN's no longer work for me either. I'm not getting the upsell page just no internet access at all while tethering.

Thanks TexasState, this was very valuable information that got me completely through T-Mobile's "walled garden" on their unlimited high-speed plan (for phones only) in an area where we don't have any good land-line options. :good:
What are some proactive approaches to making sure T-Mobile doesn't block my line? I'm using a phone basically as a makeshift wifi-router and all our computers run Fiddler. Is there anything else that T-Mobile might do to sniff out cheaters in the future? Is user-agent the only thing they can look at to determine if you're cheating?

Greetings first post here on XDA I have been able to tether via usb on metro/tmobile in OKC ,I am on a rooted F3 (LGMS659) I have tried just about everything a little luck with open garden but too slow for me ,downloaded foxfi wifi ap point no go ,redirected to upsell , tried usb with level one settings ,it works . but I may have done something when I entered the hidden menu 3548#*659# in settings those last two are interesting to me Upsell Url and ATS Start Property On

Took me about 8-10 hours to figure it out but i did it so heres how you get your tether back.
1.Open up your hidden menu.
2.Open Wlan test.
3. Click on UpSell and turn it off.
And turn on your tether app and have fun.

JUN10R831 said:
Took me about 8-10 hours to figure it out but i did it so heres how you get your tether back.
1.Open up your hidden menu.
2.Open Wlan test.
3. Click on UpSell and turn it off.
And turn on your tether app and have fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After half a day on the unlimited plan with Tea Mobile, this seems to have worked for me. Had to reinstall hiddenmenu.apk on my LG phone because I removed it earlier as bloatware but even after a reinstall as a user (as opposed to system) app, it worked.
Procedure was slightly different due to different model of phone/hidden menu but same basic procedure. BTW, it's unlimited but with 2.5 gb cap for hotspot. Let's just say I'm over the cap.
EDIT: So I got to almost 6 gb in one day, but then I got the redirect of death. I will troubleshoot when I have time later.

dbozam said:
After half a day on the unlimited plan with Tea Mobile, this seems to have worked for me. Had to reinstall hiddenmenu.apk on my LG phone because I removed it earlier as bloatware but even after a reinstall as a user (as opposed to system) app, it worked.
Procedure was slightly different due to different model of phone/hidden menu but same basic procedure. BTW, it's unlimited but with 2.5 gb cap for hotspot. Let's just say I'm over the cap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What model did you use? Mine was in the Hidden Menu --> Settings menu.. and i chose "Upsell Try Off" with no avail.
LG G2 for Tmobile.

S4 "Hidden" Menu
I'm having the same issues as presented above but I'm unable to get into the "hidden" menu using the key code mentioned. I'm running Wicked V10 (it's great). Would love to test this out if I could access the right menu. So far I've gotten into the service menu but that's it.

This is by far the best work around I have found. Everything works. And if you are clever you can edit your user agent rules so they are automatic. Then turn fiddler into a windows service so ya never have to see it again and it just works. Excellent tutorial. The only thing I wish I could do is figure out how to get my Xbox 360 to connect to fiddlers proxy. If anyone knows please post it.
Thanks again OP
-Polluti0n
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T879 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Blank UA causes 403s and ASP issues.
This method works fantastic overall. I have my phone tethered to a router and run fiddler on all needed devices - no upsell message thus far (40GB+ down)
The issue I've run into is that some websites user the User Agent string to serve different content - by using a blank UA many ASP.net websites fail (on _doPostBack, in particular) and several give 403 errors (docs.WooThemes com) so I switched to a mobile UA but then sites serve mobile versions of their content (Amazon com). The next option is a desktop UA, but then I may as well not even switch it at ll?
I'm wondering - does anyone know what specifically T-Mobile looks for in the UA field, or know of a valid UA string that avoids detection but doesn't register as mobile (or give 403's)?

brn2drv99 said:
This method works fantastic overall. I have my phone tethered to a router and run fiddler on all needed devices - no upsell message thus far (40GB+ down)
The issue I've run into is that some websites user the User Agent string to serve different content - by using a blank UA many ASP.net websites fail (on _doPostBack, in particular) and several give 403 errors (docs.WooThemes com) so I switched to a mobile UA but then sites serve mobile versions of their content (Amazon com). The next option is a desktop UA, but then I may as well not even switch it at ll?
I'm wondering - does anyone know what specifically T-Mobile looks for in the UA field, or know of a valid UA string that avoids detection but doesn't register as mobile (or give 403's)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Googlebot and safari 5 for windows work great and are undetected by T-Mobile.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T879 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Polluti0n said:
Googlebot and safari 5 for windows work great and are undetected by T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to work perfectly. Thanks!
For anyone needing it, here's a bare-bones CustomRules js file for Fiddler.
Code:
import System;
import Fiddler;
class Handlers
{
static function OnBeforeRequest(oSession: Session) {
// User-Agent Overrides
oSession.oRequest["User-Agent"] = "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +tp://w.google.com/bot.html)";
// Add 'ht' after the + and make it 3 'w's instead of just one
}
}

Looking for VPN / IP Hider

I am looking for the best free VPN / IP hider and wondering what you guys suggest???
Thanks

I don't know about free, but PrivateInternetAccess is what I use. it's $40/yr but you get apps for all your devices. They provide a SOCKS5 proxy too, which I setup in my torrent client to hide my torrent IP address, but still have full speed regular access for the rest of my internet usage. I've tried the PIA android app and it works as expected.

MrBaltazar said:
I don't know about free, but PrivateInternetAccess is what I use. it's $40/yr but you get apps for all your devices. They provide a SOCKS5 proxy too, which I setup in my torrent client to hide my torrent IP address, but still have full speed regular access for the rest of my internet usage. I've tried the PIA android app and it works as expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks will look into that

I've recently started using Opera VPN. It is a free app on Google Play Store. No charges and it works great for what I need on my phone. Don't want the corporate IT to see what I'm looking at on my phone at work while using wifi.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N930A using Tapatalk

For torrents I use btguard 6 a month

I also use Private Internet Access and can confirm that it is great service. I run it on my windows 10 laptop and note 7 using the provided apps which have easy access settings for encryption standards. The reason why I chose PIA is they are based in USA, which paradoxically has no law requiring them to hold records of access, so even if they were subpoenaed they would have nothing regarding your browsing. Not that I'm hiding anything shady but it's nice to have some level of privacy online. I don't use it for torrenting but as mentioned they have socks.

mkhoury said:
I am looking for the best free VPN / IP hider and wondering what you guys suggest???
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IPVanish

IPVanish
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N930A using Tapatalk