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Android rooting days are coming to an end?

Verizon and other carriers are working with Google to ban rooting phones. Data will get throttled and possibility of the phone getting banned from network coverage.
1. The way that they were able to track rooted users is based on pushing updates to phones, and then tracking which meid's did not take the update.
2. More than one major carrier besides Verizon has implemented this program and that all carriers involved had begun tracking rooted phones. All carriers involved were more than pleased with the accuracy of the program.
3. In new builds the tracking would be built into the firmware and that if a person removed the tracking from the firmware then the phone would not be verified on the network (i.e. your phone could not make phone calls or access data).
4. Google is working with carriers and manufacturers to secure phones, and although Google is not working to end hacking, it is working to secure the kernel so that no future applications can maliciously use exploits to steal end-user information. But in order to gain this level of security this may mean limited chances to root the device. (This item I've been told but not yet able to verify through multiple sources – so take it for what you want)
5. Verizon has successfully used its new programs to throttle data on test devices in accordance with the guidelines of the program.
6. The push is to lock down the devices as tight as can be, but also offer un-lockable devices (Think Nexus S).

NOOOOOO,
that sux and i wanted to buy a andriod soon because of the rooting.

I wouldn't see it as a threat the reason being :
Majority of people root they phones just to get the better version of the android software which they would have not got otherwise due to the companies not releasing the updated software so obviously the companies wont bother to send the so called update to this old phones anyway.
Secondly Google seems to trying to close the gap on fragmentation in the android as most phones were updated to the Eclair version. so I believe most of the phones of 2010 will eventually get the Gingerbread release depending on the carrier
and last of all there will always be great softwares released and some one out there will come with a hack or whatever

tfn said:
I wouldn't see it as a threat the reason being :
Majority of people root they phones just to get the better version of the android software which they would have not got otherwise due to the companies not releasing the updated software so obviously the companies wont bother to send the so called update to this old phones anyway.
Secondly Google seems to trying to close the gap on fragmentation in the android as most phones were updated to the Eclair version. so I believe most of the phones of 2010 will eventually get the Gingerbread release depending on the carrier
and last of all there will always be great softwares released and some one out there will come with a hack or whatever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i completely agree with your first point considering I am one of those ppl! also I rooted my EVO to get better battery life....thats another reason to rooting.
i do see the carriers point of view tho.....they dont want people using the tethering workaround they gain from rooting since that is money that they are missing out on.
i should mention, tho, i am against the carriers doing this!! im just saying that i see where they are coming from

I dont think there is any blocks coming to any of the networks in the UK

This subject has already been discussed - more than once, you'll see, from the link I posted in that thread.

If this takes place, I'll be going back to Iphone.

his was an email I got from my networking team. Just wanted to inform and at the same time get a few informed views.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

tfn said:
I wouldn't see it as a threat the reason being :
Majority of people root they phones just to get the better version of the android software which they would have not got otherwise due to the companies not releasing the updated software so obviously the companies wont bother to send the so called update to this old phones anyway.
Secondly Google seems to trying to close the gap on fragmentation in the android as most phones were updated to the Eclair version. so I believe most of the phones of 2010 will eventually get the Gingerbread release depending on the carrier
and last of all there will always be great softwares released and some one out there will come with a hack or whatever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this is my first post, but this thread caught my eye.
the reason they don't want us rooting our phones is because if we do we can use out old phone longer and don't have to pay out he wazoo for a brand new phone. I have a Samsung Moment the last O/S that I could get was Android 2.1 Update 1 which basically rendered the Spring gps useless, and made calls and texts come in when ever they wanted, forcing me to think about a new phone, So i joined the SDX forums and rooted it installed 2.2 with the EB28 rom and so far every thing works as good as a Samsung epic just not 4 g,. which doesn't bother me since I don't video chat.
As far as I am concerned YOU paid for the, phone YOU pay the phone bill its YOURS, you should be able to do whatever you want to with it.

that realy sucks. I dont like that

I wouldn't sweat this too much.
I understand the tethering issue, and I also understand that the base is, and always will be, money. That's the whole point of any business.
Having said that, this community in itself is a market and there are people watching what we are doing and where we are going, because there's cash to be made. If we run into locked bootloaders, dead phones, crappy updates and new phones riddled with bloatware, you better believe that someone else will be ready to snatch all of us up and give us exactly what we want, if not close.
If I owned a company large enough to deliver wireless service, I'd be sitting silently with a squad of high-end 250 dollar unlocked smartphones ready for some good ol "we have your back" marketing. ...granted my wireless was on point and I got good reception.
I don't think us getting into our phones and tinkering with it's innards is ever gonna stop. It might change, yeah, but it won't stop.

damn that doesn't sound to good

even if this happens i'm pretty sure there will be workarounds..

So please explain me how that would work in the court room :
- defendent : I paid for a data plan, and now I am accused of using it
- provider : he has installed an upgraded OS on his phone, your honor !
That would be the same as switching phones (for example if I change my Hero for an unlocked Nexus S, I would be using the same OS as in my hacked Hero), while still having the contract.
I can not see how they can enforce such a thing.

I always buy SIM free phones, so they cant really get me with that as I dont ever get carrier updates.

jh71 said:
So please explain me how that would work in the court room :
- defendent : I paid for a data plan, and now I am accused of using it
- provider : he has installed an upgraded OS on his phone, your honor !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try again...
Defendant: I paid for a data plan that expressly stated that tethering is not included so I fiddled with my phone so that I could do that without paying the appropriate charges.
Network: as you can see, a clear breach of contract.
Not that it would ever reach a courtroom anyway.
waz000000 said:
I always buy SIM free phones, so they cant really get me with that as I dont ever get carrier updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's got nothing to do with it though - I have an unlocked. unbranded Motorola Defy but the bootloader is still encrypted.
Some manufacturers can and do lock down handsets that aren't tied to any one network. Motorola do it, HTC seem to be moving in that direction - only SE are taking clear steps in the opposite direction.

Let's have a go at it one more time:
Defendant :
"Your honor, android is all about innovation, and carriers are ganging up with manufacturares cuz they want more, and more, and more, but are to lazy or incapable, or lacking inspiration. I do root, but tethering might as well not even be there, as it is part of many official out of the box releases. If i root, i do it cuz some manufacturers and some carriers are incapable of offering me the google experience im locking for, and as this is a carrier dominance, i dont have a choice but get the closest device for my budget, and that delivers the closest version to that google experience, and then root it, to get the proper battery life i paid for, and get rid of bloatware, which isnt productive for my needs, as THIS DEVICE IS MINE, I OWN IT!"
Network:
We are directly against Android!!!!
,

if this happend i think hes going to loose a lot of client so i don't think thats going to happend if no root no theme change no a lot of other things no liberty so if they do that i buy an iphone ^^

hey andy...why dont u guys start investing in you own hardware... apple is pretty good at it, google would be a hit. at least a research would be more then worthed.
my, how the tables would turn in such case....

The more I read and hear this, the more I don't believe it will ever happen.

Torn: Tbolt / Inc2. Details within! 4G grandfathering?

So I'm looking at stealing my upgrade from my 2nd line ("house" phone), and I'm thinking of one of these two for it.
NOW then, I'm a root'er (obviously), currently loving MIUI on my Incredible but realizing that this may be a ways off for BOTH devices. That's fine. However, it's the 4G thing that has me puzzled.
I was told by a guy at Ye Old Best Buy that if I snag a Tbolt this month I can get "grandfathered" in to unlimited 4G from here on out. Obviously the Inc2 doesn't have 4G whatsoever, but my city's going to have the service rolled out within the month.
Battery life concerns me, and I've heard horror stories about it being even worse than my Incredible's, which is far from inspiring. I'm also one of those "newer = better, right?" kind of guys.
If the grandfathering notion isn't all it's cracked up to be, or if 4G isn't as critical as I'm thinking it might be, then I might just wait until next year to upgrade. If not, well, then I'll have to pull the trigger, right?
Thanks!

First, why are you listening to idiots at bestbuy? They're even bigger morons than the typical (read typical, not atypical) sales lackey at verizon stores. Personally, I rather not deal with either of them and just buy it online with verizon's website (unless waiting an extra 24 hours means that much to you).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097276&highlight=grandfather
Also, there's plenty of discussions about LTE (4g) on the forum by people asking if it's worth it and were full of answers you would probably find useful, i think (use the search and search by post content, not title, it's pretty useless).

Eh, I was there and felt like chatting. The guy I was talking to was actually really astute. Was asking if I planned to root, what roms I liked, told me something about the thunderbolt's bootloader I didn't understand. I'll check out the links, thanks!
- Dinc + MIUI = bliss

SomeGuyDude said:
Tbolt this month I can get "grandfathered" in to unlimited 4G from here on out. Obviously the Inc2 doesn't have 4G whatsoever, but my city's going to have the service rolled out within the month.
Battery life concerns me, and I've heard horror stories about it being even worse than my Incredible's, which is far from inspiring. I'm also one of those "newer = better, right?" kind of guys.
If the grandfathering notion isn't all it's cracked up to be, or if 4G isn't as critical as I'm thinking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grandfathering is the way its always worked, along with once your one a specific plan as long you don't change it then you keep it forever (whatever that might be). I have the TB I find I turn my 4G off and just run on 3G all the time. I do use it for downloading stuff but not all the time, battery time about 5-6 hours. Rooted with other froyo roms at the 12 hour mark I have about 70% left with light to moderate use. With Gingerbread roms a bit less than that.
I guess (and its really anyone's until they spill the beans) the unlimited for what that is worth is going away and you will pay more for less data usage. I went with 4G and hope they keep the grandfathering for those of us that are already on it as I do use 4G at times and can use up to 10 gigs, but its rare. I like knowing its there if want to use it.
I would think 4G and more is where its all going at this point, certainly not the other way.

Forgot to mention the Inc2 has a locked bootloader and all signed radios that as far as I know, has not been unlocked through third party means yet, so that means no custom anything for now. HTC says they will unlock phones, but who knows how long that will take and if they mean only new phones or that includes older ones.
I would go look at the ghost town that is the Inc2 development forums on xda though to see if anything has changed.

why dont you just try it out and return it if its not for you. 14days ftw

Hmmmm. Sounds like I might do that.
I do a small amount of tethering with my Incredible, such as at work right now because we don't have wireless access, so I'd imagine that being able to root a Tbolt and tether with 4G would just be plain excellent.
Guess I'll chat with a Verizon rep and get the skinny on things.

SomeGuyDude said:
Hmmmm. Sounds like I might do that.
I do a small amount of tethering with my Incredible, such as at work right now because we don't have wireless access, so I'd imagine that being able to root a Tbolt and tether with 4G would just be plain excellent.
Guess I'll chat with a Verizon rep and get the skinny on things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had to send my Thunderbolt in for about two weeks and in that time I was using my DInc. while the DInc is still nice phone, boy did I miss the speed of 4G and my Thunderbolt.

I have a TB & I admit I'm a little biased, but I'm in a 4G area & I'll never go back to a 3G-only phone. My gf has a iPhone 4 & browsing the 'net is noticeably slower on it. 4G is like having a constant wifi connection & the speed is addicting. The TBs battery isn't its best selling point, but there are ways to make it last longer, esp if you flash a custom kernel. I'm not that familiar with the Inc2, so I can't say what its pros/cons are. It has a locked bootloader, so that could be an issue down the road
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

The Inc 2 is not an upgrade from the original. If I'm not mistaken the dinc2 and tbolt have the same processor and RAM, but it comes down to the screen size, data capability, unlocked bootloader, etc. Coming from the original incredible as well, I would have sorely missed the rate of development with anything on Verizon but the bolt. This community is strong.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

From what I've heard, this is basically the new EVO, so once it gets all cracked open our community is gonna be roughly as deep and active as that, yes? If so, I'm sole 100%.

[Q] Data-Cap Bypass Method-just maybe

Could this method have actually been a true working bypass at one time, if in fact it is not working now ?
http://www.techofweb.com/technology/disabling-data-throttle-g2x.html
Do you think with some more devlopment it could be operational again?
NOTE: I myself did not confirm if the method worked or didn't. I just read comments below. Yes I did assume comment must be correct. based on how tmobile controls there own servers. I really hope I am wrong!
just would like to know if anyone has any up to date information that is relevant to the matter.

Nope. Forget about it, there is no way you will ever bypass data capping. This method worked a long time ago, but now it useless.

Dude the only way you will get more data is to pay more money stop trying to buck the system before you completely screw up your phone and then you have a brick. Tmobile has their new Value plans and you can upgrade to a 10 gig high speed cap for $55 its only $25 more if you cant afford that then you probably should not have a fancy smart phone in the first place. Sorry to be so blunt but it just anoyes me thats just my opinion you dont have to agree with me.
Charlie

Complain about electricity
Who really cares if i am trying to buck the system.
Why not go send letters to consumers and ask them to limit their usage so we could all get cheaper rates. I don't care if i lag a little. 2mbps is a perfectly good dl speed. at that speed i would assume t mobile could elimante data caps.
10gb isnt really alot considering what the hardware and software is cababpale of doing. now im not talking about using the autobond but why is the speed limit on a stretch of highway limited down from 70 to 15.
i wouldnt be suprised in 10 years if standard is 1gbps

[Q] skyrocket tethering without root

Just got the "skyrocket" with AT&T absolutely impressed with the download speed in northern jersey more than7mbs. is that because the LTE is up here without an official announcement. I use to get nothing more than 1-2 mbs.
Now my main question is (are):
Can I tether for free without rooting?
Can I do that wirelessly?
Also would want to just using usb cable for one pc and pdaNet software so wifi signal would not show on my pc, is that possible?
Thank you.

You can share your phone's internet connection with your PC or laptop, yes. But to properly do so, you have to root it. You can use Super One Click to do that. Once rooted, you can download tethering apps from the Market...

Thank you BKALAAS
My main concern was HOW would I go about to do the tethering without rooting?
If I have to root, shouldn't be a specific program for the skyrocket or just use Superclick as you suggested.
Thanks again

What kind of phone do you have? HTC phones support this by default with the WIFI router tool and there is an tethering option by default to. This option is, as mentioned by bklaas2, available through the standard internet sharing option in android when you connect your usb cable. But please tell us which phone you have and more importantly, which OS

Hi, I have the just the just released today Samsung galaxy skyroket.
I am looking to tether data from AT&T wireless provider to my pc. preferably without unlocking with and without cable.
I the phone has gingerbread 2 3 5, kernel version 2.6.35.11
Thank you

dell4320 said:
Just got the "skyrocket" with AT&T absolutely impressed with the download speed in northern jersey more than7mbs. is that because the LTE is up here without an official announcement. I use to get nothing more than 1-2 mbs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did the icon said "4G LTE"?
can you do another speedtest?
if it' 7mb again, i getting this phone too!
i'm in San Francisco bayarea, no LTE.

I suggest to root with superclick. And then install a tethering app
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Thank you,
I will wait till someone could figure out a way for tethering without rooting the phone, thank you, The thank you btton on your profile not working.
Also for the person asking abot the LTE, it only shows 4g, no LTE, getting a speed from 3 to 8 mega bit per second which is something I was not getting on the other phones.

Go ahead and root it, you can always go back. Ultimately all your doing is unlocking phone to have it do what you want. You'll have access to more apps and utilities on the market.
The only way I know to do what you're asking is with PDAnet. They charge a 1 time fee, and it works pretty well.

netnerd said:
did the icon said "4G LTE"?
can you do another speedtest?
if it' 7mb again, i getting this phone too!
i'm in San Francisco bayarea, no LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also get these speeds on just 3g in washington.
The current 3g networks are capable of these speeds. LTE would be much faster, I would hope anyway
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium.
Radio: 26.13.04.19
Rom: Bindroid RHD 2.3.5 v2.1
app for checking ril. RILInfos_1.1.apk

You will have to root
ATT charges extra for both unltd. data and tethering for general retail. (I have a corp. discounted account, and somehow still have unltd data, but I had that since before the change - I threatened to leave with the other 2 lines if they didnt I couldnt keep it - I dont have tethering since that was a feature that came later.)
At first tethering was free if you could do it. That was true even in the time of flip phones. With the right cable, and understanding of how the devices worked with each other, could do anything from upload media to (with the right drivers) set up a dial up connection in XP using the phone as the modem. GPRS was not fast, it was only practical in limited applications. 3G in general changed that. Once the average user was able to do their variety of average things, which really does use a lot of bandwidth, not like heavy torrent user, but still, enough if they use it often, carriers started making the software to support charging for the ability. The problem is that each phone has to do it differently since they dont have easy ways to delineate; carriers arent allowed to look at the data to truly know what it came from, even based on protocol alone, you cant tell anymore. So now they are slowly working out ways to lock down their devices, which come from too many manufacturers. Some of whom just dont get it. Really. (*cough* HTC)
I have been using the Samsung Captivate for a little over a year, which in itself is a small miracle, I mean, a YEAR, actually 14 months!
The reason why is that the hardware is great. This is the unbrickable phone! And I don't mean through handy gadgets, or ripping the phone apart and doing microsurgery, I mean no matter what stupid thing you do playing with roms, including pulling the USB cable out mid-process, the core BIOS is still fine 99% of the time. Whats more, is that when the phone first came out the tethering was totally open, and ANY user could just use KIES to get online. Soon after that a firmware update for the phone included the pieces necessary to charge to tether. Then I started trying the different ROMS, or was it before? I use Serendipity 6.3 because it seems to be the only thing that works reliably, and doesnt look like crap. Which is really a shame! But it is the lightweight ROM with root access, and innate tethering, and honestly, I never wanted anything else but some angry birds. Ok so the google platform, and my exchange account had to all work too. Serendipity it was, and no, could never seem to get 7 working well.
The thing is, I dont like having even to use another app to tether, which is a bit ideological. I basically refuse to pay more to use the phone when its connected to my computer. I dont want to compromise in any way on this, and using an application that is not the phone's OS uses other resources when it otherwise would not (RAM + CPU = battery use = ). And because ehh, Samsung/Att bloatware isnt that cool, custom boot ROMS are. Although no gf ever thought it was that cool waiting for me to get one of them on... Well I would be annoyed if that was a compromise, but who would want to go look at leaves anyway? #Winning!
Seriously though, to me it comes down to its has to be simple, and I dont want to charge my phone 8 times a day for simple! Have you guys seen the size of this screen! Thats not even practical. Id hate to walk around with that in my pants. But since I am due for an upgrade, Im just going to wait until the thanksgiving sales to see if anything else comes out (which I doubt). Looking at the Skyrocket, it's a beast. For one thing this phone has "4G speeds delivered by HSPA+ (with enhanced backhaul)" which means it can go REALLY REALLY fast like 1-2mb/s not mbps, Mb down. Thats like little fios in my pocket! and theres a 1850 mAh battery stock (better if your going to make me carry around a small table top!) which there really is no way around with a 1.5ghz dual core, 1gb or RAM and a WVGA screen.
Personally I really liked the concept of smaller handset with a tablet/netbook to dock in, but apparently I was alone there. And HTC just doesnt make nice devices, sorry, but Samsung is just a much larger company, and it seems the better motorola phones are still coming out for V so for Att, Samsung it is.. At least they're easy to root.

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.