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Any way of knowing if data is coming through 3G or WiFi?

Pretty self explanatory this one - is there any way of knowing whether your mobile internet connection (3G) or WiFi is being used in, for example, a browser session? Just don't want to make the mistake of looking at YouTube on the phone, meaning to use the home WiFi, and end up using my 3G by accident, and paying through the nose for extra feed.

ryanbryan said:
Pretty self explanatory this one - is there any way of knowing whether your mobile internet connection (3G) or WiFi is being used in, for example, a browser session? Just don't want to make the mistake of looking at YouTube on the phone, meaning to use the home WiFi, and end up using my 3G by accident, and paying through the nose for extra feed.
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The icons on your task bar should indicate if you have a active data connection.

Or, you can use Spb Wireless Monitor (which you need to purchase). It produces reports telling you which software uses which connections and the amount of data transferred.

In a discussion I had with HTC Tech Support, they told me that wifi, when enabled, over-rides the cellular data. I'm not sure if this just applies to the settings or always. Hopefully, someone can provide a definitive answer.

Yes that is correct, if WIFI is enabled you WILL NOT have a cellular data connection.

Umm. There is a wifi icon in the taskbar o.o and a signal icon also.....whichever is there means it's active and if wifi is there, your data will not be active, only wifi.

What all you are saying is true but some applications still use the data network even if wifi is turned on and connected it seems. I have the same issue(i don't have a data plan with my fuze since my college has wifi everywhere). But things like weather and other native apps on the phone will just turn on the 3g network and stat using data instead of wifi.

if a device is transfering data over gprs/3g whatever
it show arrows moving in the signal str icon
otherwise it use wifi

Applications can choose to use a certain connection if they are programmed to do so, windows only gives each one a type of 'ranking', the fastest connection having the highest ranking and being the one an application is to use by default, but the application can override this and choose whatever connection it likes. This ranking is called the "Interface Metric" if you'd like to learn more about it.
There's an HTC program called 'bytecounter' that monitors the SMDx: ports in the system, which are the ports the system uses for data.. in bytecounter you will see the values increase if an application is using data over cellular network. let me know if you'd like me to upload it.

Umm. There is a wifi icon in the taskbar o.o and a signal icon also.....whichever is there means it's active and if wifi is there, your data will not be active, only wifi.
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Well that wasn't particularly helpful. I too have made the same assumption, but the question asked if there was any way to make sure.
windows only gives each one a type of 'ranking', the fastest connection having the highest ranking and being the one an application is to use by default, but the application can override this and choose whatever connection it likes
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Well that was the kind of answer I was looking for, and is particularly pertinent in my case, as my connection through my mobile provider is about as fast (or maybe even faster) than my fixed line connection at home. A rather bizarre situation, but such is the advancement of Australian broadband infrastructure.
The last couple of times I have used it, I have taken to turning off the phone connection so that only WiFi is running, and then using the internet. It would be good if you can upload the byetcounter program, seems like a free (?) version of the software programatix mentioned.

Here ya go!

Maybe this is just me, but when I try to unzip that file, nothing comes up....?

lol, i always forget to remove the hidden attribute.. let me go ahead and fix that..
Edit: fixed

Newer Windows Live (including the one that come with Touch Pro) will always dial-up the 3G/GPRS connection when checking for email in Messaging. But if you are checking in Windows Live, most of the time it doesn't dial-up but sometimes, it does.
So far that is the only program that I know of behaves like this. I contacted Microsoft regarding this and they keep asking me to contact my celular provider for help. In other word, they are not helping (or do not understand the problem).
Anyway I solved the problem by changing the Connections setting to "My Work Network" for Internet. The catch is, if I really want to use 3G/GPRS, I'll have to change the setting to my celular 3G/GPRS connection.

Or you could use the nodata application from modaco and disable whenever you like the cellular 3g connection just to be sure you are using wifi.When you are away from wifi networks you can in a matter of 2 clicks reenable the cellular 3g connection...

Can I turn off data plan access on AT&T Smart Phone?

So I've had this HTC S743 for about 5 days and I thought I had it setup correctly to use wifi for data comm.
wifi enabled and selected to use my home network. I can see the radio tower status icon and my locally named network is also displayed.
Under the comm manager the data connection is off.
I have a very simple $45/mo plan with no monthly data plan.
Over the last 5 days I have been surfing the web a bit did some email tests with my ISP and used the on board GPS app which is horrible. Not heavy usage but experimentation to see if I like how the phone works.
After 2 days I get an email from AT&T that I have extremely high data usage exceeding my account limit (for having no monthly plan) and that I should sign up for a data plan at once.
$29 over 2 days for this little bit of fluff? A total of 2,900kb in data.
So I call up AT&T and they tell me this and that and want me to sign up for a plan which I may do. But I want to be able to know that the datacomm is happening via WIFI when I can see a selected WIFI is in service.
They also told me that all GPS data is forced through 3G and bypasses WIFI???
Can anyone here give me an idea about what I may be doing wrong and whether AT&T is correct about the GPS service?
Is there a better GPS app that doesn't do this? This one pretty much stinks anyway. A resolution of 1000 meters doesn't cut it.
AT&T also informed me that I can't have a smart phone without a data contract. Really? I've had one for 6 years like that but it wasn't WIFI capabale and too small to bother with web access.
Thanks for any light you shed on the subject.
One thing I have subsequently found out is that if data connection is off and WIFI is off then when I go into IE and start surfing it does bring up pages. Then when I go back to the Comm Manager the Data Connection to check the status of my connections it is still off for an instant and then it automatically turns itself on as though it had been turned on by use of IE and the status was just being updated.
Last night I installed a newer version of Google maps and was only able to install it via the web browser as opposed to via the Activesynch application on my PC. I was concerned that this might trigger turning on the 3G connection. So I had it set up for a WIFI connection ONLY and installed the app. Afterwards I went into the connection manager and once again the data conn. was turned back on so it's possible that it utilized AT&T's 3G network instead.
Is there any way to control or stop this?

GPS data doesn't have anything to do with 3G/Wifi data......

I know it's supposed to be positioning via the satellites through the GPS antenna but the the description data is coming over the network right? So it appears that even though I'm setup for WIFI access and it's showing as connected with an IP address etc. when I try the Googlemaps GPS app it turns the data conn. for 3G back on.
Thanks for chiming in ...
I have been copying over and installing some new apps to try out this morning via usb. WIFI is on and I'm loged in. None are datacomm oriented that I know of (unless they'r trying to make an internet access to notify about being installed) none the less I just checked again and my data conn. is once again turned back on. Is this typical behavior for a windows mobile phone (6.1) or is this just an AT&T "feature".

Sorry, I don't have a WM6 phone!

question about wifi calling and tethering

ok, so on my tmo plan i got a deal where if i got the 5gb plan for 30 a month they threw in free tethering and free wifi calling
my question is, with using rooted roms, do i need to have those on my plan? in other words, if i drop my data plan to 2gb a month i loose the free wifi and tethering but i though or read somewhere that using a rooted rom i have those functions anyway

wifi calling is a free utility with this phone I thought (stock or not, doesn't matter) the tether is something they are cracking down on, ways around it with root and something to do with chrome look in the threads around about tethering stopped.

so if i used a wifi tethering app i would not need to have tethering on my plan with t-mobile?

they may still catch it and block you but I read there is a setting oyou can change within your desktop browser to allow it.

you mean the browser on the device you are connecting to your phone?

I don't know if they have started charging for free Wi-Fi Calling. That sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't quite. "Free Wi-Fi Calling" means that minutes used during Wi-Fi Calling are not counted against your monthly allotment. The last I heard (as recently as January, when I had it turned on for my account), they didn't charge for it. If they've changed, it should be called "unlimited Wi-Fi Calling" instead of "free". In either event, you can use it if you have the app in your ROM; the only difference is whether the minutes get charged against your monthly allotment or not.
Being rooted has no effect on the T-Mobile enforcement of your Terms of Service that forbid you to use tethering without a tethering plan. They are apparently now detecting some PC browser user agent strings (reportedly Internet Explorer and Chrome, but not Firefox, for some reason) and blocking access via those browsers by redirecting you to an advertisement for their tethering plan. If you're doing non-browser things (ssh, email, etc.), they probably won't detect that you're tethering. It's reported that changing the browser's user agent string to something other than the default circumvents the T-Mobile detection, although if you use an android browser string, naturally you'll end up on mostly mobile versions of the sites you visit. It's also likely that if you're using a VPN and proxy, that will also prevent their detection of your tethering.

I'm still using 2.2.2 stock. When I connect via WiFi, a banner pops up stating calling on WiFi counts against your normal minutes. In other words, your call plan minutes apply with either their towers or WiFi. Makes some sense, as you have to use their Call Manager/Session Manager to route the call...

Just port your number to Google Voice and use Groove IP or Talkatone, currently the top VoIP apps for Android.

wmm said:
I don't know if they have started charging for free Wi-Fi Calling. That sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't quite. "Free Wi-Fi Calling" means that minutes used during Wi-Fi Calling are not counted against your monthly allotment. The last I heard (as recently as January, when I had it turned on for my account), they didn't charge for it. If they've changed, it should be called "unlimited Wi-Fi Calling" instead of "free". In either event, you can use it if you have the app in your ROM; the only difference is whether the minutes get charged against your monthly allotment or not.
Being rooted has no effect on the T-Mobile enforcement of your Terms of Service that forbid you to use tethering without a tethering plan. They are apparently now detecting some PC browser user agent strings (reportedly Internet Explorer and Chrome, but not Firefox, for some reason) and blocking access via those browsers by redirecting you to an advertisement for their tethering plan. If you're doing non-browser things (ssh, email, etc.), they probably won't detect that you're tethering. It's reported that changing the browser's user agent string to something other than the default circumvents the T-Mobile detection, although if you use an android browser string, naturally you'll end up on mostly mobile versions of the sites you visit. It's also likely that if you're using a VPN and proxy, that will also prevent their detection of your tethering.
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that makes the most sense and i have also read that about changing the user agent string. but if im tethering an android tablet would there be anything to change? that was my goal with wifi tethering, use my phone as a hotspot for my tablet (when i finally get one)

dodgefan67 said:
ok, so on my tmo plan i got a deal where if i got the 5gb plan for 30 a month they threw in free tethering and free wifi calling
my question is, with using rooted roms, do i need to have those on my plan? in other words, if i drop my data plan to 2gb a month i loose the free wifi and tethering but i though or read somewhere that using a rooted rom i have those functions anyway
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T-Mobile is cracking down lately. Regardless of what ROM you are running, if you drop your free tethering plan, you are going to have to screw around with changing the User Agent on your laptop/tablet to avoid being blocked.

I use my phone for tethering with the tablet. You'll use the 5gb once you start doin it. They charge for the tethering plan now, so you're better off leaving it so you'll be grandfathered in for next upgrade.
holy flying tacos batman

Probably a dumb question but what is the benefits of tethering vs wifi hotspot?
Sent from my LG-P999

xBkKx said:
Probably a dumb question but what is the benefits of tethering vs wifi hotspot?
Sent from my LG-P999
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You may not always be near a WiFi hotspot. The park, the beach, working in your car, etc.

xBkKx said:
Probably a dumb question but what is the benefits of tethering vs wifi hotspot?
Sent from my LG-P999
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there are two ways to tether a device, usb and wifi. usb is obvious, you connect your phone to your laptop and your laptop uses your phone like a modem or router to get internet access
wifi hotspot is the same just through wifi, its like your wireless router at home
think usb tethering=network cable, wifi tethering=wireless router

Well I meant this phone has wifi hotspot on it why not use that vs tethering or does it still amount to that in terms of data usage?
Sent from my LG-P999

xBkKx said:
Well I meant this phone has wifi hotspot on it why not use that vs tethering or does it still amount to that in terms of data usage?
Sent from my LG-P999
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i think it doesnt matter
but some devices cant connect to a wifi hotspot, granted most laptops or handheld devices do have wifi, some older laptops may not and may be able to use usb tethering. you can also use it on a pc that probably doesnt have wifi

Ah alright, never used either of them so wasn't sure why everything I see is about tethering on the phone and nothing about the hotspot
Sent from my LG-P999

no worries, they are in the same place in the settings, under tethering and wifi hotspot, they kinda do the same thing. i use my wifi hotspot with my kindle fire

I believe on stock ROMs (including rooted), unless you freeze or uninstall some app that TMobile installed that monitors whether you're using tethering or hotspotting. That's their easy way to detect whether you're tethering, they may also sniff your packets for the user agent info, but I'm not sure if they go through that much trouble. Besides most data plans have limits now, they shouldn't care how those gigabytes are used.

namklak said:
I'm still using 2.2.2 stock. When I connect via WiFi, a banner pops up stating calling on WiFi counts against your normal minutes. In other words, your call plan minutes apply with either their towers or WiFi. Makes some sense, as you have to use their Call Manager/Session Manager to route the call...
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In more recent stock ROMs the message has changed to read, "may use minutes with certain plans." As I said, at least as recently as January, free Wi-Fi Calling was a no-charge add-on to the plan -- just call up customer service and ask to have it turned on. (I hadn't bothered before then because I never came close to using up all my minutes, but in January I added my son to my family plan when he switched over from AT&T, and at that point it became important. )

How does T-Mobile define tethering?

I've seen some discussion suggesting that they simply check for a browser desktop user-agent. Some have suggested that, due to this, tethering with an android tablet doesn't count as tethering. Others have said this untrue or only partially true.
Has anyone tested with different user agents to see what is counted as tethering and what is counted as mobile data?
Even if this is true, what about email and other non-http data use? How does T-Mobile determine whether it is normal data or tethering data?

I called T-Mobile and asked this exact question. A female tried to elicit a witty response of their network being notified when the app is used, and it counts data used from thereon out as tethering. So I then asked how it detects whether or not the data usage comes from the phone or tethered device when the hotspot is on... she basically said it just does.
That was a load of crap. I used my Nexus 10 on my Nexus 4's hotspot for three months. I had unlimited 4G data and 2.5GB of hotspot data. I don't know if any of this accrued as hotspot data, but they never cut off my service or redirected me to purchase more - so I would say it only picked it up as an Android device, or the phone itself, and did not count the data.
Even using a laptop, it only was able to detect web browsing as hotspot data usage. I could still play games online and such even after hitting the limit.

Somewhere around 4.1.2 Google added flags to tethered traffic on stock android per carrier request that allows the carriers to see tethered traffic and then do what they want with the flagged traffic, upcharge for tethering, block it, etc. Or of course do nothing. These are often removed in the roms as the part of the feature you see as "added tethering".

agent
I have unlimited Tmo. sometimes going to 40-50GB per month. I use my laptop at various location with the phone tethering. I use Chrome UA Spoofer (user agent), and change it on my laptop when i want to use it thru the phone. it has some limitations, bu tit is on case by case(i.e. site by site case). It works

I should also note that, according to T-Mobile, if you are on the unlimited plan you will never be cut off or see the upsell page if you go over. If you go over the 2.5G of hotspot data, you will be throttled to 2G speed for the remainder of the month.

tmobiles plans all include tethering/hotspot. all besides the completely unlimited high speed data include unlimited tethering. the unlimited high speed data plan include 2.5gb tethering with an option to purchase 2 more gb at $15.

They've definitely changed something in the past month or two. I was able to tether to my ipod w/o any issues. I hit my 500mb limit today. I figured, no big deal, will just fire up my vpn (L2TP) from the ipod. Done deal, right? Nope. They can still detect it somehow.
I will have to check it out on my pc. I have a hunch they can somehow tell that tethering is enabled on the phone.

Tethering w/T-Mobile & EasyTether now counted as tethering (SIM1/SIM2 issue or DPI)?

Tethering w/T-Mobile & EasyTether now counted as tethering (SIM1/SIM2 issue or DPI)?
Hi Everyone,
Been using my OP6 and loving it on TMobile. I noticed, as with other unlocked phones, tethering with EasyTether USB does not get detected as tethering...until today. For example, last month I had 0.0GB Tethering and did occasionally tether with Easy Tether.
My cable modem was acting up today and I switched to Easy Tether to do a WebEx video call (and forgot about it)...and happened to check and they counted 1.1 GB of tethering in 4 hours -- ouch!
The only change was I switched the SIM card to SIM slot 1 a few days ago, as it had been in SIM 2 because of some VM clearing issue I read about.
I am wondering if they detected tethering in because of SIM1 vs. SIM2, or did deep packet inspection and picked something up?
BTW...I also noticed today that tethering was slower than it usually was...not throughput which is usually 70-80Gbits around here, but more latency (like they were monitoring something).
Has anyone gotten WiFi Tether Router working on this phone? Any other thoughts?
BTW -- I did switch back to SIM2 because my VM's have not been getting erased since using SIM1. Also rooted on OOS 5.1.9 if that matters.
I also have a 3 year VPN subscription so I can avoid DPI but it's a hassle...
MW

How are you using it? Without a vpn or with a vpn? Because I have read Sprint and T-Mobile are really looking at vpn usage, And T-mobile has been warning people and Sprint counting as hotspot. I personally on my own if no one knows about this would run it over a https tunnel, then your vpn is hidden the software is called stunnel. Many vpn providers use stunnel now, you just have to enable it.
Just noticed it has been awhile since they were last on here.

155424 said:
How are you using it? Without a vpn or with a vpn? Because I have read Sprint and T-Mobile are really looking at vpn usage, And T-mobile has been warning people and Sprint counting as hotspot. I personally on my own if no one knows about this would run it over a https tunnel, then your vpn is hidden the software is called stunnel. Many vpn providers use stunnel now, you just have to enable it.
Just noticed it has been awhile since they were last on here.
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This will cover you 95% f the time, and you don't even need VPN or EasyTether:
1) Install VPN Hotspot (great open source app), use it to turn on system WiFi tethering, and then route all the traffic over WAN0 even if you are not using a VPN.
2) Note that root su "Settings put global tether_dun_required = 0" should do the same thing, but you can do both to be sure.
3) Install Change TTL, set enable on boot, and tell it to set TTL to 64.
Now occasionally, T-Mobile will still detect some tethering, but it only picks up maybe 5%, and even if you go over the limit they don't seem to be able to throttle since your traffic is routed over the non tethering APN. They may also be detecting some because I am not sure if Change TTL supports IPV6...the IPV6 TTL setting is Hop Limit or HL and since TMobile uses IPv6 by default...? To test this if you care, you could setup an IPv4 APN.
Regarding VPN -- I think they may automatically count this as tether, but I don't really know. I have NordVPN and a PPTP VPN to our home and vacation home and could test further, but I haven't because you don't really need a VPN.
Hope this helps,
MW

What is the limit on tethering? I've never run into a problem but don't use it much either.

nujackk said:
What is the limit on tethering? I've never run into a problem but don't use it much either.
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On my plan TMobile 1+ for business it is 10G before throttling.
One month my home internet was down and I was tethering and had switched to iDrive cloud backup from CrashPlan so for two days it was just blasting data through the tethering connection. It registered 35.1 GB Tethering and 389 GB of non-tethering (nearly all tethering) and was still not throttling at all.
Besides that one special case, I have never registered more than 1 or 2GB tethering using the method outlined above even though I have probably used well over 10 a few times....
MW

Sounds like I don't need to worry about it then. I only use it for my android deck in my truck. Mostly music