Question Tethering yer mobly

[Scouse]

So, I understand (but have never done it) I can tether my mobile to my lappy to give me hot internet access when I'm away.

This will allow me to go camping, hiking up mountains and for epic bike-a-thon's (when my knee's better) - yet give me no excuse to not apply for jobs, check my emails etc. etc.


HOWEVER - I understand that the "we want a free lunch"-mobile companies have started to introduce charges for something that they've no real right to (the way I see it - I'm paying for internet access through my phone - and how I use that is up to me).

I'm on Orange (tied in for quite some time yet too) and apparently they want nearly 2 quid a day to tether.


So, simple question: Can this be done in a manner that they can't detect/charge for?

 

[soze]

I ended up with a £60 phone bill when I switched from BlackBerry to an iPhone because they though I had been tethering my BlackBerry to get another device on line. After speaking to Orange they gave me the balance back then offered me a Tethered Internet bundle for £7 a month or something. After some Googling it turns out this bundle appeared right before they changed the rules to block access. People who had a contract before have managed to get this bundle added for free. As they have changed the contract to say it is not allowed you can use that as an excuse to tear up your contract. So if you have your terms from when you singed up maybe give them a look and check to see what it says about tethering.

As for a way round it sorry no idea i think it would depend on your mobile and if it has some sort of app that will resend the traffic like it is Android traffic.

 

[Poag]

So, I understand (but have never done it) I can tether my mobile to my lappy to give me hot internet access when I'm away.

This will allow me to go camping, hiking up mountains and for epic bike-a-thon's (when my knee's better) - yet give me no excuse to not apply for jobs, check my emails etc. etc.


HOWEVER - I understand that the "we want a free lunch"-mobile companies have started to introduce charges for something that they've no real right to (the way I see it - I'm paying for internet access through my phone - and how I use that is up to me).

I'm on Orange (tied in for quite some time yet too) and apparently they want nearly 2 quid a day to tether.


So, simple question: Can this be done in a manner that they can't detect/charge for?

Depends on your phone, android? If so try this.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether

Google removed it from the US app store as the carriers all complained they couldn't detect it, can't get much better praise.

Koush is a fairly respectable guy, writes most of the clockwork recoveries.

For iphone, there are jailbreak apps (again one by koush) that perform the same function.


Be warned however, your desktop will munch through your quota much faster than a phone would.

 

[Zenith.UK]

That's the warning I was going to give. Watch your data counter.
Mobile phone data usage leaves a different "signature" to desktop data usage. The network can usually pick up on this, and the likes of Orange will charge you. Thankfully there seems to be some sanity with Voda and O2 that allow small-scale tethering for the occasional web or email check.

Also bear in mind your mobile phone signal in remote places. I live and drive around North Wales meaning that I get decent coverage in towns and almost zero signal in the hills. Your data speed is proportional to the signal strength. The weaker the signal, the more likely it is to be plain GPRS speed (about 56k equivalent). It is painful at times to wait for a page to load on G, when it would load in an eyeblink on 3G or H.

 

[Scouse]

Thanks

Being a total cheapskate I'm hoping for a free app, so keep suggestions coming!

I live and drive around North Wales meaning that I get decent coverage in towns and almost zero signal in the hills.....56k equivalent....

Camping in North Wales will be my major use for it. I can't see me pulling my laptop out on Snowdon, but I'm pretty sure I used to get a signal in Bedgellert or over in Moelfre

56k tho. I remember the days

 

[wolfeeh]

I was having the exact same issue a couple of months ago - I moved into work accommodation that had no landline (and can't get one) and was with o2 - 1gb/month usage cap, but no extra charges for tethering.

Also, where I moved to has no 3G signal with o2, so I was having to go for a drive in the car with laptop & phone etc just to do some work (insane).

I contacted o2, 5 min bitch & moan later and they unlocked my iPhone 4 to any network (for free), reduced my monthly bill from £60/month to £7.50/month for remains of contract....

Meaning I could then get a Three One-Plan SIM (£25/month, unlimited internet (properly unlimited), tethering allowed at no extra charge).

I've been using it every day for the last two months. I've been caning the connection since I've had it, some days downloaded 10GB data and where I'm living the mast supports 3G HSPA+ and I'm getting at times 8+ mbit/sec downstream and 4+ up. On average I'm getting 4-6 down, 3-4 up. Incidentally I discovered a couple of days ago the connection is actually good enough to give me <100 ish Ping so playing World of Warcraft is even possible. Not tried FPS's which are obviously a tiny bit more ping sensitive but IMHO this is the approach to consider.

 

[GReaper]

So, simple question: Can this be done in a manner that they can't detect/charge for?

I think the simple answer to that is - don't ever send unencrypted data when you're tethered. If you've got a desktop browser sending requests with a User-Agent saying it's a desktop browser, their HTTP proxies can easily get that info, or they could use packet inspection if they don't proxy the HTTP traffic (most mobile networks do?).

Don't send data to easily known hosts which would only be used by PC, Windows Update, etc. Easy to forget if you've got auto updates turned on.

I'm guessing the other thing to remember is to not use so much data. Some idiots start eating gigabytes of data when they tether and get found out pretty quickly. Don't start browsing YouTube whilst you're tethered - you'll eat that data insanely quickly if the network speed allows it.

None of this is a guarantee, but it'll certainly help.