Database Info

Tethering

Thank you forums, I love you! Anyone get caught by Sprint for tethering?

10GB+ a month and no complaints from Sprint. My phone is my primary source of internet.

sweet thats good, i was prob pushing 2 gB max and was getting worried about getting caught...

How do u know how many gbs your using? For example, how much is 10gbs? how many hours on the internet is that? Or does it even work like that. Just curious cuz im tethering now as of yesterday I finally got it working and LOVE IT but dont wanna get a suprising $1000 phone bill,lol.

aaron130 said:
How do u know how many gbs your using? For example, how much is 10gbs? how many hours on the internet is that? Or does it even work like that. Just curious cuz im tethering now as of yesterday I finally got it working and LOVE IT but dont wanna get a suprising $1000 phone bill,lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can just keep track of the MB count at the bottom of the screen of the tethering program.

Is that up or down?? Also this story makes me VERY nervous!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7141935.stm

also i think in your bill it states how much data is being used

Been tethering for a couple of years with no issue. I never could get internet sharing to work to WiFi router then ps3 though. for a while, I had Bluetooth modem. setup, so blackberry would auto connect when at the house. With WiFi tether though, BAMMM. I play socom with it, and watch Justin tv; its sick I tell you. Sick

aaron130 said:
How do u know how many gbs your using? For example, how much is 10gbs? how many hours on the internet is that? Or does it even work like that. Just curious cuz im tethering now as of yesterday I finally got it working and LOVE IT but dont wanna get a suprising $1000 phone bill,lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every website carries a different ammount of data, some websites are less than 1 MB or 1/1000 (ok, so 1/1024) of a GB. Some are far more than that especailly with animations and flash. Streaming Audio and Video eat up big chunks.
You can go into Device Self Maintenance on your phone and it has an option to show data usage. I think some ROM's remove it though. And I think that because my phone is the primary line I have options that my wife's hero doesn't. Bill pay and what not.
Then again, Fresh ROM 1.1 doesn't have it in there and I have no clue what to tell you to select to find it. You could also log into Sprint.com and look at your bill, it has current data usage.

I too am happy to see the 10GB+ post. I've been tethering for over a year, first with windows mobile, and now with wifi-tether. On windows mobile things always went slow most of the time, so I never passed up 5 gigs in a month. Now that I have the hero, I've been using it a lot more since it is my primary source of internet. It goes really fast and I love it. I'm happy that now I don't have to worry quite so much about the usage. I don't see myself hitting the 10gb mark any time soon.

WiFi tethering is uber cool

Large data usage while on wifi

I am at work today and connected to wifi. I have three 3g watchdog app and it just showed a 158mb download on my data plan. I also got the email from at&t saying I went over my plan because I only have a 200 mb plan. I am running infused 2.1.0 rom so I don't know if this was the gingerbread update. How can I find out what this huge data download was??? Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

nickg2027 said:
I am at work today and connected to wifi. I have three 3g watchdog app and it just showed a 158mb download on my data plan. I also got the email from at&t saying I went over my plan because I only have a 200 mb plan. I am running infused 2.1.0 rom so I don't know if this was the gingerbread update. How can I find out what this huge data download was??? Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Unfortunately I don't think u can track like that. AT&T notes data chunk, but not track what exactly the data is.
2. Software OTA updates sent to phone by AT&T, though counted by 3G watchdog or similar apps, do NOT count towards data usage limits.
It looks more like u had some random misbehaving app in the background that was doing this, or maybe some online music streaming software working in the background (could happen when put into background and not exiting out).
U cud try talking to AT&T and getting this off ur bill after u get the bill.

I have the same issue runnng Froyo stock Rom. Last week i received an email said i used over 200mb limit. checked Att.com and showed 245mb used 3 hours ago. I called Att and they said they will take a note on this case. I used Iphone for over 3 years and never used over my limit just check mails and read news.

Android does a lot more cloud syncing than iOS and has more apps and widgets that are able to refresh things in the background. I would never recommend that anyone tries to use an Android phone with a 200mb plan unless you're very tech savvy and know how to control your apps and syncing properly. The 2GB plan is only $10 more per month...

gtg465x said:
Android does a lot more cloud syncing than iOS and has more apps and widgets that are able to refresh things in the background. I would never recommend that anyone tries to use an Android phone with a 200mb plan unless you're very tech savvy and know how to control your apps and syncing properly. The 2GB plan is only $10 more per month...
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Click to collapse
+1
Take off things like weather widgets, etc, or atleast make them update once a day, and not every couple hours.

I understand times are tough and wifi is free but I just don't understand why people get android/smart phones with a minimal data package. I for one have unlimited, if att would ever force me to downgrade id cancel my contract altogether and get one of those $30 deals or whatever.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

I had the minimal plan at first. After a couple weeks I realized that the 200 megs was just not enough.
I used 600 last month and my usage is mostly email, facebook, and a few picture uploads.
Sent from my not-an-iPod

lol...
I am up to my 5th gb this month.
I am going to track it better next month...my usage more than doubled this month
I honestly feel it was poor management on my end...much dloading of new roms and apps without paying attention to my wifi connection....but I haven't really paid attention.

You could try downloading Onavo from the market. It will track data usage by app.

More tethering issues

So I gave into the emails and texts and finally called AT&T and upgraded to the 4GB Data Pro. When I had my Captivate running Serendipity I tethered all the time and nothing was ever said. I got my Infuse running Infused ROM and almost imediately got texts from AT&T.
Anyhow, I use a ton of data and got tired of fighting the issue. Just another $20 out of my pocket and no more drama. Does anyone actually know what they are looking at to notice that the phone is being tethered even rooted, no bloatware, and custom ROM?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

Here's something I posted in another thread about my experience with a tethering SMS from AT&T and the subsequent call to them...
I just got a text message from AT&T letting me know I'd automatically been switched over to a tethering plan since I was still tethering. The rub here is I have not tethered my phone a single time in the last 3 months! I actually have a 2GB plan on my old Captivate that I've been using. I called into AT&T and the lady I got was really cool. She said there must be something triggering the tethering alert on their side and she filed an extension for me so I wouldn't get switched over automatically.
So, I don't know what AT&T is really using to detect tethering, but it's indeed throwing out false positives. I've also only used 809MB since the beginning of my billing cycle (November 21), so I doubt very much that it's excessive data usage. I use some interesting things like wifi connected file managers and remote web desktop, but surely those don't trigger it (?).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At one point in the call she asked me if I was running the latest software update. I told her I don't run AT&T software on my phone, and I replaced it with a custom image. Oddly enough, she didn't say anything about that.
Clearly you do tether your phone, and it was probably right that they detected you doing so. I just wonder what's got them incorrectly flagging accounts...

I tried a few shots with wifi tether 3.1 on DlevROM or Bionix (should be one of them) to open several web pages on my laptop. As I am on the 200M plan, so I didn't use it heavily. So far I haven't got message form AT&T yet. Hopefully that helps.

From what I've read, they've been detecting tethering by user agents in browsers, and you could give a false positive by selecting to show desktop in a browser that supports different user agents. There's a thread somewhere named "AT&T Wised Up" that explains all this
Froggys go ribbet

jesi.james said:
From what I've read, they've been detecting tethering by user agents in browsers, and you could give a false positive by selecting to show desktop in a browser that supports different user agents. There's a thread somewhere named "AT&T Wised Up" that explains all this
Froggys go ribbet
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that'd do it. I've got my VPN in full effect, and now I actually am going to tether over it. At least if they try to change me next time, they'll have a little more valid reason for it!

ccandjy said:
I tried a few shots with wifi tether 3.1 on DlevROM or Bionix (should be one of them) to open several web pages on my laptop. As I am on the 200M plan, so I didn't use it heavily. So far I haven't got message form AT&T yet. Hopefully that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the 200m plan, please don't scream outrage when they catch you or you go over your limit.

That's wierd. I've been on infused up to a week ago, and never got a warning about tethering. I used my phone as a mobile hotspot as well. I was averaging 1500 mb a cycle.
I wonder what they use to detect it?

Okay. For example. If I use my mobile ap for tethering on my infuse phone with a custom rom , I goto my mac and connect to it and download approx 900mb file. Should that be okay?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

I have 2gb plan and it resets on the 11 every month.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

download the myatt app and watch your usage. if you are on an unlimited plan and go above 2.5gb, they may accuse you of tethering. just call em and tell em off. if you are on froyo, you can easily be ratted out by tether manager, so delete that. i dont know if any gingerbread leaks have a more native carrier entitlement check, but i know that cm7 and miui are safe to tether. if you get harassed by att without evidence, atleast pretend to be outraged.
browser useragent strings are not evidence of tethering. android makes it easy to change the useragent to desktop, or ipad, or many other options to increase website compatibility. i have yet to see anybody being accused based on that but i believe that viewing usage this close is a violation of privacy. not only that, but in any case where encryption is used, such as https, this is considered an expressed request of privacy on the part of the user.

I just had my infuse for less then a month. I rooted and deleted the tethering files. I haven't got any text from att for tethering. I tether with my laptop around 1 gb almost end of the month

I use this "beta" tethering app and do about 300-400 mb downloads at times. idk if you guys wouldl ike to try it out ill share it. couldnt find anything good in the market.
/end message
/end user
/end of all mankind

thephoneguy206 said:
I use this "beta" tethering app and do about 300-400 mb downloads at times. idk if you guys wouldl ike to try it out ill share it. couldnt find anything good in the market.
/end message
/end user
/end of all mankind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi tether is an awesome app. Just keep in mind it uses adhoc to tether, and that doesn't work [natively] with all devices you might try to connect to it.
For those that don't know, here's the link to the Google Code site for the app attached in the previous post. http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

I take it that WIFI Tether is not supported on MIUI/CM7?
Downloaded & installed this version: (3.1-beta 8) http://code.google.com/p/android-wi...tail?name=wifi_tether_v3_1-beta8.apk&can=2&q=

Bjray said:
I take it that WIFI Tether is not supported on MIUI/CM7?
Downloaded & installed this version: (3.1-beta 8) http://code.google.com/p/android-wi...tail?name=wifi_tether_v3_1-beta8.apk&can=2&q=
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use 3.1 beta 6 and have for quite a while and it works just fine. I use it on CM7 on both my Captivate and my Infuse. Haven't tried beta 8. Maybe it's got a problem.

ONAVO EXTEND: Get up to 5x more out of your data plan!

I have this in my guide post but thought it needed its own post. If you have a capped data plan then you definetely need to check this out.
It has basically turned my 4GB plan into a 20GB plan!
The SuperUser's Guide: How To Extend Your Data Plan
Onavo Extend lets you get more out of your data plan, so you can do more web browsing and apps, consume more music, video and photos on 3G without breaking your data cap.
After you install Onavo Extend you can go back to using your phone or tablet as before. In the background, data usage from all apps and web browsing is compressed so that you do more with your Android’s mobile data month after month. And, if you travel abroad with your phone, the money you save could be substantial.
IF YOU'VE INSTALLED A CUSTOM ROM:
Some ROMs and kernels are missing important networking support that Android 4.0 APIs, and Onavo Extend, rely on.
If you've received a message saying your version of Android is unsupported, or if the application always says "service paused", please contact us via the "Feedback" menu item so we can help.
Trying a different ROM or kernel should help as well

Be sure to post your results! Please include which ROM you are using!

Nice gonna try now. Will this work for downloading big files too?

Will this affect battery life as the phone has to use the CPU etc. to decompress the data?

dracophi said:
Will this affect battery life as the phone has to use the CPU etc. to decompress the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It uses Amazon's EC2 stack to compress the data, saving your phones processor and battery.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

does this working on streams? vnc clienting, video, audio, ect.
edit
seems to work, but like vnc, there is lag. even when browsing or anything, i wouldn't suggest this unless you have lte, 3g is to slow to be made slower.

Testing will report back, thank you
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Dakota0206 said:
I have this in my guide post but thought it needed its own post. If you have a capped data plan then you definetely need to check this out.
It has basically turned my 4GB plan into a 20GB plan!
The SuperUser's Guide: How To Extend Your Data Plan
Onavo Extend lets you get more out of your data plan, so you can do more web browsing and apps, consume more music, video and photos on 3G without breaking your data cap.
After you install Onavo Extend you can go back to using your phone or tablet as before. In the background, data usage from all apps and web browsing is compressed so that you do more with your Android’s mobile data month after month. And, if you travel abroad with your phone, the money you save could be substantial.
IF YOU'VE INSTALLED A CUSTOM ROM:
Some ROMs and kernels are missing important networking support that Android 4.0 APIs, and Onavo Extend, rely on.
If you've received a message saying your version of Android is unsupported, or if the application always says "service paused", please contact us via the "Feedback" menu item so we can help.
Trying a different ROM or kernel should help as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried this app. By no means this app can compress 20GB into 4 Gb.
based on the apps own stats It can save me (and medium to heavy data user) 400 mb.per month which does not worth if you put in consideration the battery life effect as you're keeping the CPU busy.
And: it also impacts the internet speed.
hope they come up with an app that speed data transfer protocols to result in data speed improvement.
Thanks though for pointing out.

just updated to ICS with a custom rom. gonna try this

Trying this out now. Since switching over to the LTE device, I'm tearing through my data. This would be awesome if it helped!

it has good reviews, ill bite and try it out.
EDIT: slows down my data connection way to much, its a nice app but not for me. Thanks for the post

I've been using this over the weekend, and noticed some pretty hefty savings as far as data usage.
I will say on the other hand though, LTE speeds are SIGNIFICANTLY limited when the VPN connection is enabled.
I was pulling down 25+mpbs on speedtest with it turned off, and right around ~9mpbs with the VPN open.
Not sure if that makes this a deal breaker for some users, but I was hoping to get a little better speed out of it... Made reloading dense webpages with streaming content pretty difficult (as compared to normal speeds without the App open.)

brucebentley said:
I've been using this over the weekend, and noticed some pretty hefty savings as far as data usage.
I will say on the other hand though, LTE speeds are SIGNIFICANTLY limited when the VPN connection is enabled.
I was pulling down 25+mpbs on speedtest with it turned off, and right around ~9mpbs with the VPN open.
Not sure if that makes this a deal breaker for some users, but I was hoping to get a little better speed out of it... Made reloading dense webpages with streaming content pretty difficult (as compared to normal speeds without the App open.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it said i saved data, but i really dont know what my usage would have been without it running.
so who really knows...in the accounting/auditing world, you don't let one person do the work and then have them audit/review their own work. everything would always be correct, right. hah

Been using this for a week now. Cant comment on battery consumption because my phone is usually plugged in but I can say it has only saved 5mb of data so far.

On their website, it states that this cannot be use for LTE. That means PTA is out of the question. What about wap.cingular?

Been using it over att "4g" since we don't have lte yet and according to the report I've saved 480 mb this over a 7 day period

aznrice2k4 said:
On their website, it states that this cannot be use for LTE. That means PTA is out of the question. What about wap.cingular?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow I wish they'd been upfront with that in the play store description. been wasting my time...

aznrice2k4 said:
On their website, it states that this cannot be use for LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using it with LTE when this first got posted, with no issues. This method drastically reduces the download speed, whatever connection you are on (cut the speed in half, maybe more). So I actually found it more useful on LTE than HSPA.
I wasn't showing any data savings on downloaded larger files. Between that and the reduction in speed, I didn't find it worth it to use this.

def didn't help enough after a day to be worth it...

Can this app be used with Android 2.3.6 ?

At&t letter for tethering, best way to resolve?

So I got my letter from ATT the other day saying that they have detected tethering software on my phone and that if I dont remove it by 12/31/12 they will automatically bump me up to the 5GB tethering plan for $50/mo
Whats the best way to resolve this and still be able to run custom roms? Ideally I would still like to be able to tether for free (obviously) but at the very least just be able to not pay the $50/mo and still run custom roms.
I spoke with a customer service rep and told her I had no idea how to tether and asked if they could just put a block on it or something, and she said no, the software has been detected and it has to be removed.
Maybe I should call back and ask for supervisor?
Alternatively she said if I go into the att store and they can look at my phone and see that there is no tethering software, they can make a notation on my account.
So I suppose I could unroot, go into att store, have them note the account, and then root again.... that would probly be my last resort.
Thanks in advance for any help!

No, you do understand the second you tether they can detect it right? They also aren't idiots and can tell if you're running a custom ROM as well
I've heard about Verizon reps commenting about custom ROMs before
So you flashing back to stock and showing them there's nothing on the phone does nothing.
If you don't want to be charged then stop
Sent from my One X using Tapatalk 2

I disagree, because if they make a notation on the account and they have proven that they can't find any programs or software to remove when I bring the phone into the store, then there is no way they can charge me.
But even if I didnt want to tether (which I have not tethered in quite a while and still got the letter) it would see to me that they are detecting the software (rom) and seeing that I have the ability to tether, so how do I run a custom rom (and not tether) and still not get charged?

luigic81 said:
I disagree, because if they make a notation on the account and they have proven that they can't find any programs or software to remove when I bring the phone into the store, then there is no way they can charge me.
But even if I didnt want to tether (which I have not tethered in quite a while and still got the letter) it would see to me that they are detecting the software (rom) and seeing that I have the ability to tether, so how do I run a custom rom (and not tether) and still not get charged?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They wouldn't make a notation on the account because tethering is possible with the stock software, there's quite a few apps on the market that allow this. So you could just uninstall it.
You didn't get the letter because of the custom ROM, you got it because you violated your contract by tethering. It may have taken them some time to send out the letter.
They have detected it so they will be watching for future violations
So my suggestion stays the same, stop tethering or pay for it
Pretty simple
Sent from my One X using Tapatalk 2

What Phil said although you may not agree with att's rules on tethering...its in the contact and you signed to it so you will get taken off your plan and to the 5gb plan if you continue

Gotcha, thanks for the input guys.
I am fairly new to ATT (came from Sprint)
Does this apply to wired tethering as well? Does someone using wired tether (such as pdanet) still have to pay, or is that free?

The way I think they catch people is # of hops it does to terminate data and packet sniffers so I'd just stay away even though pda may be a bit safer will LTE around theyre hunkering up

For the sake of mentioning this--its a topic which has been raked over in every phone forum, Android, Apple etc nd tablets too.
Doing a general and specific search on the Net seems to point to mostly theory. When I owned my previous iPhones and jailbroke, I used MyWi. However, the devs made it clear you could be caught.
That notion aside-many of us and this includes me, believe it comes down to being abusive with the tethering. Of course many would disagree but if you cared to specifically search iPhone sites and focused mostly on AT&T, it somewhat became clear they knew we were tethering since algorithms change when tethering. In conjunction, we also surmised they went after people who had unlimited data plans and really used the heck out of it.
I personally have tethered many times and many people I know too but we didn't use it too long. I've never gotten a notice from ATT but it doesn't mean they aren't watching. Not be be a jerk but your op is a topic I've seen literally hundreds of times. Everyone claims the same thing but no one seems to admit they abuse it. They noticed you for a reason is what it comes down to. I should also mention I've tethered my HOX as well.
In my personal opinion I believe we should be able to get a free amount of gigabytes to tether. Once over it, then you get charged. This is just a real touchy subject.
These are just my opinions.
Jon
ViperXL 2.4.0 w/ElementalX 3.1 kernel

I tethered without a tethering plan for years, first on my jailbroken iPhone and then on my HOX until I switched to the Mobile Share plans that include tethering. I never got caught, but I was also very careful not to abuse it by, for example, streaming video, moving large files, or doing things that a phone would never do untethered like updating my laptop's software.
I am convinced, from watching this issue over the years, that AT&T does two things: They mainly go after the data hogs, flagging people for tethering detection when they get close to or over their data caps; they also run spot checks on random accounts. Detecting tethering, should you get their attention, is dead simple, by the way. There are any number of ways to confirm it.
Once you're on their radar screen, the jig is up. Your only choices are to stop tethering or get a tethering plan.