Database Users

Some questions regarding internet

Hey everyone.
Alright so I am new to this forum, and it has been only 2 days since i got my HTC Touch, so I am still playing around with it to figure stuff out.
Here is my question:
I previously had a Roger SIM in a non-data phone, Samsung Gravity, and I inserted that SIM into this Rogers HTC Touch phone. Everything works, calling, messaging etc. its all working fine and I am loving it. I have this thing called "Unlimited Mobile browsing" on my plan, and I have blocked all the data on the plan to prevent any charges. And thus here is the problem; I am not able to browse internet on the device using niether Opera mini nor internet explorer. Every time I launch these two (when i am not using wifi) they come up with the message of something like connection error and such. Is there any "mobile" browser out there for this device that will let me browse internet according to my plan's unlimited mobile browsing? like some sort of browser same as the one that comes with normal non-data phones? Because I am pretty much throwing away the money for this Unlimited mobile browsing, and I can't cancel it either because it is included in the package, which seemed to be worth the best value.
Hopefully u guys will understand my problem.
And to summarize my question, if above is too much reading for you; Is there any mobile browser application out there that will let me browse internet using the unlimited mobile browsing feature of the SIM card/plan?
Have a good day!
Side note: yes I already know that this kills the purpose of having a smartphone, so please don't mention it. I can't cancel my plan now, I am stuck with it so bare with me.

T-mobile Blocking all forms of Tethering.

I was just using PDANet on my friend's laptop and I got two texts from T-Mobile saying the following: "Free T-Mobile Msg: Phone Tethering & Wi-Fi Sharing access has been blocked. Please add a Phone Tethering & Wi-Fi Sharing plan available at my.t-mobile.com"
Now I ignored it until the browser sent me to a signup page. I've tried WiFi Tether, Bluetooth, and Barnacle and it blocks each one. Anyone else get this?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

using wireless tether right now... no problems...
maybe they'll end up sending me a text.

I don't have my laptop with me, so I can't test this myself. But if it's true, the Nexus One forums are about to A-SPLODE. You'll be able to hear it from space...

ryaninc said:
I don't have my laptop with me, so I can't test this myself. But if it's true, the Nexus One forums are about to A-SPLODE. You'll be able to hear it from space...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A-SPLODE!! Lmfao just made my day!
But yeah... if this is true then all I can do is throw the f-bomb around because I rely heavily on tethering and no way in hell am I going to pay for a service I've been using for free...

No problems with Wireless Tether on my G1...and I tether a ton. I was up to 7gb last month :/

Kazan22 said:
I was just using PDANet on my friend's laptop and I got two texts from T-Mobile saying the following: "Free T-Mobile Msg: Phone Tethering & Wi-Fi Sharing access has been blocked. Please add a Phone Tethering & Wi-Fi Sharing plan available at my.t-mobile.com"
Now I ignored it until the browser sent me to a signup page. I've tried WiFi Tether, Bluetooth, and Barnacle and it blocks each one. Anyone else get this?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=840423
Not just you.

That would suck. Would this apply to USB tethering as well, or just WiFi?

PDANet IS usb tethering.
:O
oh... and someone at the Vibrant forums is having the same issue... which is why I'm here.
:X

I am tethering from my G2 (USB tether) to post this message. It works fine, though TMO might be rolling this block out.
Edit: I am posting this via Wifi tether, so that seems to be working for me currently.

I just checked PDANet and WiFi hotspot and they both worked, so I guess they're "rolling" this out.
Makes me wonder...some of us never got the OTA rollout. I wonder if perhaps I'll never get this rollout either.

I think they can affect PDANet and Easytether since they are market apps. Wireless Tether for Android and Wired Tether for Android aren't market apps so im pretty sure those are beyond T-Mobile's grip.

Might have something to do with the G2 not being rooted and trying to tether. I think after its rooted it should work without a problem. At least thats what a tmo rep told me.

When I read all this on the xda app, i went ahead and hooked up to wifi tether. thats how i'm writing this msg. I am rooted and do have the largest plan tmo offers which includes the unlimited data. idk. we shall see. oh yea, no tmo msg as of yet.

I'm unrooted and used wifi tether this morning for 3 hours with no problems. I just don't understand how they can detect us using it.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

johnbibbs said:
I'm unrooted and used wifi tether this morning for 3 hours with no problems. I just don't understand how they can detect us using it.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are various techniques they could use to do this; if we know exactly what they're doing, we can probably bypass it.
Probably one of the simplest techniques would be user agent sniffing; if they see desktop user agents from the same device, they'd know something funky was going on.
I'd be interested to know whether the OP can work around this situation by changing his user agent string on his desktop browser. I'd also be interested to know whether the phone browser continues to work properly even after he's been caught, and if so, whether changing the user agent string on the phone causes it to report the block message as well.
Another test for whether they're sniffing user agents is to try to make an ssl connection instead of http from the desktop browser. Assuming that the phone browser still works, SSL on the desktop browser should also still work, if all they're doing is user agent sniffing.

In an HD2 thread one guy was saying that he was downloaded a movie to his phone, but wasn't tethering when he got the text. Perhaps they're determining by the amount of data used in a specific amount of time. If that's the case it supports the theory of TMO seeing all data as data.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=840360

ddgarcia05 said:
In an HD2 thread one guy was saying that he was downloaded a movie to his phone, but wasn't tethering when he got the text. Perhaps they're determining by the amount of data used in a specific amount of time. If that's the case it supports the theory of TMO seeing all data as data.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=840360
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually good, then. If they're using such a naive detection method, it's sure to result in a ton of false positives from people legitimately using a lot of data with their phones, and consumer complaints should result in them disabling it before too long.

If this works like any of T-Mobile's other services then they prorate the add-ons so you can add it when you need it, then cancel it when you don't and you would only pay a fraction of that $15. I do this with the hotspot feature all the time - enable it for a trip when I'll spend a lot of time in a hotel (or airports, etc.) where they offer wireless and then cancel it at the end of the trip and I pay less than a single day of wifi at a major hotel.
(disclosure - I snatched this post off the T-mobile.com forum but I was going to say the same thing!)
I need to confirm this "add it when you need it". Not good for everybody but for those of us that need tethering a few times a month it's not so bad, 50 cents for one day. Tried via the chat on T-Mobile.com to confirm this but they are useless!

When I first applied the OTA and started playing with the built in tethering, I noticed some log entries from DataConnectionTracker whenever I turned tethering on or off. When I enabled temp root with Visionary and tried using the stand alone Wireless and Wired tether for root apps, these entries did not appear.
I haven't had time to play with it much, but it might be useful to run logcat with a filter for only DataConnectionTracker activity while trying a variety of tethering techniques under root and non-root circumstances.
Of course the experience reported by the HD2 user does not line up with this theory, but there may be multiple things going on. If T-Mo really is blocking based on data volume, it will completely blow up on them as people start intentionally doing data intensive things without tethering.

I sure as hell hope they don't do this to the grandfathered plans... cause if they do, I'm gonna go on a *****-storm.
Edit: I'm tethering on the WiFi hotspot app and I didn't get any notice. Everything is as it has been since I've had this app. If not, I have Wireless Tether for Root Users. I refuse to pay $15 extra bucks a month when I paid for an unlimited plan a couple of years back.

[Q] t-mobile blocks tethering, forwards to their hotspot webpage

Hello guys,
I have a rooted Nexus 4 (CM10.1) and I've been tethering happily for months. Recently I started working from a favorite coffee place that doesn't have WiFi, so I tether there regularly, and today suddenly I was forward to t-mobiles mobile hotspot webpage. No page loaded anymore, everything is blocked, they want me to pay for their mobile hotspot.
I downloaded Android WiFi and followed the instructions here: http://highonandroid.com/android-ap...android-smartphone-or-tablet-universal-guide/. I know that if I spoof my MAC address I might have a chance to tether, but my chromebook doesn't seem to be able to pick up the network. I had this issue before and fixed it with my Evo 3D, but this is a different phone.
so, my question is, what is the right setting for nexus 4 and:
anyone here have experience with this t-mobile blocking, and does it work to go around it?
Please don't preach me about "why don't you just pay," I will be glad to have this discussion with you, but not here.. not the place for it, yes?
thanks!

You can only tether to other android devices without them noticing it
Sent from my [email protected] GHz on Stock 4.2.2

change the user agent to something not for desktop browsers.

Yes you are correct this is not the place for this discussion.....
But here are some suggestions:
1. Pay for the service you require.
2. Take it up with your Carrier not XDA.
3. Find a new Coffee shop that has free WiFi, the coffee may not be as good as your favorite place but hey the WiFi will be free...
Thanks....

Judge Joseph Dredd said:
Yes you are correct this is not the place for this discussion.....
But here are some suggestions:
1. Pay for the service you require.
2. Take it up with your Carrier not XDA.
3. Find a new Coffee shop that has free WiFi, the coffee may not be as good as your favorite place but hey the WiFi will be free...
Thanks....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Carriers have been using packet sniffing for months now to determine is some one is tethering or not. If they are then they are fully within their rights to cancel their contract, block it or even charge them for it under the TOS they agreed to. Is this right? That is open for debate. But in the end it is the carriers right. They state how you can and can not use the data and you can either play by their rules or you can change carriers.

Clear your notebook's browser cache and cookies, clear your phone's cache and dalvik, and start using wifi tether more. I also use an app called chrome ua (user agent)...no idea if it does anything, but those tethering pages have never stopped me dead like you (and others) say, and I've been using it for weeks. I was throttled temporarily, but I'm not sure if that was related to tethering or my enormously massive data consumption, since they both happen as a result of one another.
Do as people say, though. Change the user agent, and ime, wifi tether doesn't seem as easy for them to catch on to for some reason. both native wifi and foxfii (pdanet) work great!

I recently received an SMS message from T-Mobile even though I have never tethered. The rep told me that she saw that i had received three messages in the past six months, that my plan allowed tethering, and that she could not figure out why i had received any messages at all. She suggested that the messages might have been triggered by an increase in download traffic. Their monitoring techniques may be at best hit-or-miss.

Well, I talked to tmobile and they informed me I should be allowed to tether as much as I'd like and I shouldn't be blocked. Sounds too good to be true.
The wifi tether app has MAC masking options so I thought it might mask it. Wi it work? Because the app doesn't, not for now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

use a VPN.
then it will work fine:good:

Any free vpn you know that can work on a Chromebook?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Tethering on rooted and unrooted Android phones.

Hi.
Firstly I want to put aside all warning about if it is legal or so, focus on technical issue.
I am not new if it comes to networking, that's why I want to expand my knowledge.
Just got new Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, and wanted to try tethering with my sim card.
Got message on web browser in PC and mobile as well:
"Are you using your phone as a modem or personal hotspot?
Reference SIM002
Using your phone as a modem and connecting it to other devices through WiFi or USB to get onto the internet (also called 'tethering'), is not what the plan you're on was designed for. If you would like to speak to someone about tethering options available to you, please call 333 free from your Three phone.
In the meantime if you want to get your phone back to browsing the internet you'll need to turn it off, allow it to reset itself for a few moments, and then turn it on again.
If you're looking for a Mobile Broadband connection, you'll get a better, cheaper and faster experience on one of our Mobile Broadband tariffs or devices. Just go to your nearest 3Store."
I found some threads here on our forum, but no answer how does it work.
As in my phone (Samsung Galaxy S4 Relay) which is rooted it working fine.
Some people say network operator is doing Deep Packet Inspection - maybe, but it looks like rooted device appear for them as not hotspot and not rooted as hotpost.
Am I right? Is rooted phone doing it somehow smarted (e.g. making itself proper router with his DNS point and gate ?)

[Q] Tethering: Default Samsung vs 3rd part App (e.g. PDANet+ etc)

Hello
I have an International Note 3 (unlocked, unbranded) Exynos (N900).
I would like to know whether there is a difference in the tethering support / method / features of the stock tethering feature vs. using a 3rd party App like PDANet+ etc.
The reason for my question: I have an uncapped data plan as part of my mobile package, but I am not sure if tethered usage (to my PC) is allowed and whether I am safe (won't be charged extra) while tethering through the stock setting?
Please, any advice is appreciated.

If your carrier is anything like Three and O2 in the UK - As soon as you start tethering they pick up on it and send you a message about it informing you that tethering is not permitted, need to get the right plan etc and they D/C your mobile net for 30minutes. Only way to test is to try really

You need to figure out whether you have tethering included in the plan. If you don't then in terms of it being "safe" to tether, you're violating the terms of your agreement with your mobile carrier (at least in the States, don't know how the rest of the world works) if you attempt to mask tethering as regular data usage. If however the carrier has specifically either said they don't care whether you tether, or that tethering is allowed as part of your mobile data, then you're safe to tether however you so choose.
The last thing you want to do is do nothing. You're not harmed at all by verifying with your carrier. Five minutes on Google is enough to demonstrate the possible negative side effects of tethering without checking first:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1706143
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2204186
Also worth noting that I've seen some "Root your phone and tether with a third party! They'll never know!" solutions that have definitely not been solutions. I prefer playing it safe to doing something that could really cause me a lot of problems. Most carriers you can pay ten or twenty bucks a month extra, lock in a tethering option, set a data limit on your phone, and have peace of mind.

radicalisto said:
If your carrier is anything like Three and O2 in the UK - As soon as you start tethering they pick up on it and send you a message about it informing you that tethering is not permitted, need to get the right plan etc and they D/C your mobile net for 30minutes. Only way to test is to try really
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on Telkom Mobile (South Africa) - the first carrier to have an unlimited package here in SA (unlimited calls, sms, data...) and unfortunately there is very little documentation on the package. No info about tethering as such. I also have not received any warning messages or anything.
BewareAlbatross said:
You need to figure out whether you have tethering included in the plan. If you don't then in terms of it being "safe" to tether, you're violating the terms of your agreement with your mobile carrier (at least in the States, don't know how the rest of the world works) if you attempt to mask tethering as regular data usage. If however the carrier has specifically either said they don't care whether you tether, or that tethering is allowed as part of your mobile data, then you're safe to tether however you so choose.
Also worth noting that I've seen some "Root your phone and tether with a third party! They'll never know!" solutions that have definitely not been solutions. I prefer playing it safe to doing something that could really cause me a lot of problems. Most carriers you can pay ten or twenty bucks a month extra, lock in a tethering option, set a data limit on your phone, and have peace of mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I am interested in is that, for example PDANet claims they have a feature that fools the mobile network that the data packets look like they are from the handset, and not the tethered PC. So I was wondering if Samsung's default tethering does the same, or how does the different tethering options handle the data packets differently..
But thanks anyway folks, I am not looking to violate anything by downloading excessive amounts of data, it is just for that odd time that I need internet on my laptop.

LubbeSGS said:
I am on Telkom Mobile (South Africa) - the first carrier to have an unlimited package here in SA (unlimited calls, sms, data...) and unfortunately there is very little documentation on the package. No info about tethering as such. I also have not received any warning messages or anything.
What I am interested in is that, for example PDANet claims they have a feature that fools the mobile network that the data packets look like they are from the handset, and not the tethered PC. So I was wondering if Samsung's default tethering does the same, or how does the different tethering options handle the data packets differently..
But thanks anyway folks, I am not looking to violate anything by downloading excessive amounts of data, it is just for that odd time that I need internet on my laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to look at it is: If the tethering feature you use (WiFi, USB, Bluetooth, etc...) shows up on your monthly statement as separate tethering usage, than it doesn't violate TOS. If it was supposed to show up separately and it shows up lumped into data usage, then you're probably violating TOS. So if you're not sure and you don't know what the policies of your carrier are, then using any service that tries to mask that the data is being carried over to another device is probably bad.
That being said, there are grey examples. For example, one carrier I use, T-Mobile, allows BYOD. They market that quite heavily. So I brought my own device, a rooted Nexus 4. Since it's unlocked and under my own ownership and not leased from a carrier I can make toast out of it or use it for exploratory nasal surgery, T-Mobile has no ability to have a problem with what I do with it so long as it doesn't do naughty things to the telecom itself.
I have contacted them repeatedly to bring up the fact that my Nexus 4, with no attempt at being sneaky whatsoever, using the default tethering features, sometimes arbitrarily shows up as hotspot data and sometimes doesn't. They have yet to figure out a solution or send me an app I can install. I have always been up front about this weirdness, and they have in return never bothered me about abnormal bills weighted either one way or another.
One other thing you could do is you could pick up one of those handy prepaid USB mobile broadband sticks from a MVNO or whatnot, where when you want Internet you just pay a few bucks and it gives you a certain amount of gigs, and when you consume them you can just pay for another block. Then if you don't need it again for three months just throw it in a drawer. Really useful.