The "Tether Police" Are Coming

[mttfrog13]

My understanding after reading a couple of articles is that they will go after ANYONE who tethers and pulls the extra data.

I'm pretty sure that the way they're detecting tethering has something to do with the MyWi app used on the iphone, otherwise they would already have started sending letters to android users a long time ago.

I don't use tethering personally, but I just simply don't see what all the fuss is about. It seems like AT&T is trying to charge people double for the data plan they already have!

Yep this reminds of of texting. Texting costs carriers virtually nothing, and on att unlimited texting is $20 while 2gb of data is $25. That doesn't seem right.

+1 here...I think ATTs solution should be to eliminate all unlimited plans...sorry about the grandfathering but they can do what they want...and give everybody 2GB and let us use it as we please. Over 2GB, charge whatever..$10/GB or something like that. That should be the end of it instead of all the BS their police tactics will cause

I agree that the best case for att would be to not have unlimited plans, but there is nothing they can do about it until the people's contract run out which they are legally obligated to respect. They are no longer offering unlimited data plans.

If rooted tethering on android gets more popular, i see real trouble for sprint in the future and how they offer their unlimited voice, text, and data plan for the cheapest amount of the 4 major carriers and then 4g service for only another 10 bucks. Tethering is going to put a lot of strain on their network. That said, I would rather see them raise their unlimited plan $10 than impose a data cap. Data caps will only stifle usage of features that should be unlimited. If at&t goes after rooted tethering android users, I will most definitely be leaving when my contract runs out.

 

[fldude99]

Well....after so many posts and ideas, maybe the best thing is (if they can detect it) to charge folks with unlimited plans a hefty ($30/month at least) tether charge and for everybody else, just charge for the data..that would curtail quite a bit of data clog to my way of thinking

 

[2manyPHONES]

I have an unltd plan and my only thing about paying for tethering, if i wanted to tether, is how can they tell what is tethering data and what is just me surfing the web/watching videos on my phone data? If I'm paying $30 for 5GB a month (which i dont even come close to cause I'm on wifi 90% of my day) and then lets say they have a $30 2GB tethering plan thats $60/month total 7GB and I use 4GB of data between mobile and tethering how can they tell what came from tethering and what isnt? And if they cant tell then I just paid them $30 for nothing cause that 4GB came out of my 5GB limit on my "unlimited" plan.

 

[DannyB]

Note that I don't agree with AT&T policy at all, but that's not how they're arguing it. Their claim is more about data volume across a fixed time period. i.e., how much concurrent bandwidth are you using (especially if the WAP allows multiple machines to connect)..

AT&T can completely control the upload/download rate my phone can exchange packets with the tower. I also agree with they should do this if the network is truly congested.

Most people are not going to tether multiple PC's. Anyone who does can do it for only a short time because they reach their data cap much more quickly. In the end, overall, statistically not much really changes. There are some phones that suddenly have higher upload/download rates; but for less overall time per month given the same data plan.

 

[Gamble1177]

I have an unltd plan and my only thing about paying for tethering, if i wanted to tether, is how can they tell what is tethering data and what is just me surfing the web/watching videos on my phone data? If I'm paying $30 for 5GB a month (which i dont even come close to cause I'm on wifi 90% of my day) and then lets say they have a $30 2GB tethering plan thats $60/month total 7GB and I use 4GB of data between mobile and tethering how can they tell what came from tethering and what isnt? And if they cant tell then I just paid them $30 for nothing cause that 4GB came out of my 5GB limit on my "unlimited" plan.

The tethering mobile ap is its own data plan. When you purchase the feature it replaces your 2gig data plan with the 4gig plan for $45 a month. Really all they are charging you for are the extra 2gigs of data when you add the tether feature to your contract. So its 4 gigs at $45 a month. Not 2 gigs for 25 plus tether 4gig 45 equaling $70 a month for 6gigs. So I guesd att could argue they arent charging you just to tether they are just charging you upfront for the extra 2gigs you might use.

 

[Jofaba]

AT&T have lost their minds. Tethering doesn't change ANYTHING. It's simply using your purchased bandwidth a slightly different way. Shit, all you're doing is displaying your content on a different screen. I don't even use tethering and this action is the reason I'll not be renewing my contract with them once it's up. Literally the only reason I've decided to keep a custom rom vs flashing to the official now that 2.2 is out is because in an extreme emergency (power outage) tethering would be very helpful.

This is just as insane as them removing a physical radio so they can charge you for internet radio (att radio).

Shit, the first argument I had with AT&T is when I used their installed instant messenger program and was told that "I found a loophole to get out of text messaging charges" because it uses sms technology, when it plainly should have been a "use of bandwidth" condition.

I have a 2gb plan and use barely over 100mb a month. I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging you 5 bucks a month to access "wifi capabilities" by calling it an illegal bypass of the data plan agreement.

 

[2manyPHONES]

The tethering mobile ap is its own data plan. When you purchase the feature it replaces your 2gig data plan with the 4gig plan for $45 a month. Really all they are charging you for are the extra 2gigs of data when you add the tether feature to your contract. So its 4 gigs at $45 a month. Not 2 gigs for 25 plus tether 4gig 45 equaling $70 a month for 6gigs. So I guesd att could argue they arent charging you just to tether they are just charging you upfront for the extra 2gigs you might use.

but I have the unlimited plan (which is capped at 5gb) so for me to switch to tethering plan I would have to lose 3gb a month of possible use by going to the 2gig plan plus the 2gigs for tethering (so 4gigs for $45 versus my 5gigs now for $30). My point was if they cant tell what data is being used for what then they are getting money for nothing unless you have the 2gig plan (& use all 2gigs on average) and want those extra 2gigs anyway. I dont use anywhere near 5gb of data hell I doubt I hit 2gigs so for me to pay them to tether unless they have a specific way to separate my mobile data from tethering data then im paying them for 2gigs of tethering that will never be used since it will just be lumped with all my other data usage

 

[james27007]

unless they have a specific way to separate my mobile data from tethering data then im paying them for 2gigs of tethering that will never be used since it will just be lumped with all my other data usage

I found this post over at XDA very informative, if it is true...

i dont believe any android users have gotten the email/text YET. But you wont lose your unlimited data until after you receive the first warning email/text

There was an informative comment in the engadget comments:

For all you wondering how they can tell:

All IP packets have something called a TTL associated with them. It stands for Time To Live. Every "hop" along the network from one router to the next reduces the TTL by one. When it reaches 0, the packet is dropped. This was introduced to keep routing problems from overloading the network. If for example, by some error a packet was going around in a circular path, the TTL would eventually reach 0 and prevent a packet storm.

The thing is, ALL routing devices do this. OSes use standard TTLs. For example, let's say both your iPhone and laptop use 127 for the TTL. AT&T will receive packets from your iPhone with a TTL of 127, but since the packets from your laptop pass through your iPhone first, they arrive at AT&T with a TTL of 126. They can detect a tethered device this way.

Apple uses a TTL of 64 for the iPhone, by the way. So change the TTL on your computer to "65" and there should be no problem. Here's how to do it:

1. Click Start - Search and type “regedit”. This launches the WIndows Registry.
2. In the registry, navigate to the following registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip\Parameters] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\Tcpip
\Parameters

3. In the right pane, right-click and select New – DWORD (32-bit value) and set its name as “DefaultTTL” and set its value anything between “0? and “255?. The value sets the number of Hops or links the packet traverses before being discarded.
REPORT
+ 81

and..

TTL is a good start. However, deeper packet inspection would reveal HTTP requests from sources other than "approved software packages" (i.e. the http request would show a browser name like chrome). Protocols other then HTTP would be equally revealing.

Deep packet inspection is expensive; so they probably look for people whom consume a generous amount of monthly bandwidth and sniff their traffic.

The only way to protect yourself would be to encrypt your packet payload, until it reached a non-AT&T intermediate node. And of course, eventually that type of behavior would be a red flag. However, they would not be able to PROVE you were tethering, they would only have a reasonable suspicion (which appears to be enough for AT&T).
​

Im not sure what the default TTL is for the plethora of Android devices or if this is even how ATT is finding out.

So, if that is true, yes there is a way AT&T tell what is mobile phone data and what is computer through-phone data is and a way to charge you without snooping into what you are looking at.

 

[2manyPHONES]

I found this post over at XDA very informative, if it is true...



So, if that is true, yes there is a way AT&T tell what is mobile phone data and what is computer through-phone data is and a way to charge you without snooping into what you are looking at.

Yeah I also read on another site (trying to find the link) that people with iphones that got the notice just called in and asked why they got it and were told it was cause they were using unusually high amounts of data here and there. Iphone owners then said they were streaming movies continuously thru netflix and that att accepted this answer. How true that is I dont know but if it is then they are just going based on the amount of data be transmitted at one time.

I dont tether I have no need to, but for the people that do if they are really going by data being used then a tethering plan is crap. If someone wants to blow all 2gigs of their plan tethering then they should be allowed to and then pay for overage accordingly. What is it $10/gb extra over the 2gb plan? That seems like where they came up with this $45 4gig tethering/mobile data plan, $25 for your 2gigs then $20 for that other 2gigs of overage, I mean tethering.

 

[james27007]

If someone wants to blow all 2gigs of their plan tethering then they should be allowed to and then pay for overage accordingly.

I agree 100%, but the issue is not with the 2GB data plan people, it those of us that have the unlimited data plan that are a possible risk. When I got my Atrix I had to fight (only a little) to keep my $30 unlimited data because they had to change it to a 4G plan, but they had to keep it because I am grandfathered in. What is going to be interesting is when 4G really comes out, is if I can hit 4GB useage mark or not and I don't tether even with averaging 2.5 - 3 GB a month right now.

 

[2manyPHONES]

I agree 100%, but the issue is not with the 2GB data plan people, it those of us that have the unlimited data plan that are a possible risk. When I got my Atrix I had to fight (only a little) to keep my $30 unlimited data because they had to change it to a 4G plan, but they had to keep it because I am grandfathered in. What is going to be interesting is when 4G really comes out, is if I can hit 4GB useage mark or not and I don't tether even with averaging 2.5 - 3 GB a month right now.

But its not really unltd its capped at like 5gb, and as you have shown there are some heavy users without tethering so everyone just pays for overages, if they want to tether and go above what is allowed in their plan then they pay for it. I think tethering with a 2gig plan is asking for overage anyway since that 2gigs will probably be used in no time unless the person is very good at monitoring their usage between mobile and tethering.

 

[DT]

TTL is a good start. However, deeper packet inspection would reveal HTTP requests from sources other than "approved software packages" (i.e. the http request would show a browser name like chrome). Protocols other then HTTP would be equally revealing.

TTL? Maybe, but fortunately, that's pretty trivial to circumvent.

Protocols other than HTTP? Well, my phone does that right now. POP/SMTP/MAPI mail, FTP, VPN. That would be a serious stretch for AT&T.

We could always run a header altered browser when surfing via a tether too, and let it report a mobile browser (hahaha, which would actually redirect you to the mobile version of the site!)

The funny thing about "unlimited" is I've also heard of people getting dinged for excessive use with that plan. So it's not like they don't reserve the right to restrict you anyway.

I'd consider paying for tethering IF my unlimited plan was really unlimited - or - I'd want tethering for "free" if I was paying for a capped plan. I just don't want to be double dipped.

Now it appears you can't even escape to a middle tier service provider, since they're all being devoured (i.e., AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile), though I do really need nation-wide service for work/travel.

 

[garner63080]

I am a rep for AT&T. If you have Unl data and want to tether you will be required to get the 4gig tethering plan...whish will cause you to lose you unl. The 4g data is shared between the phone and tether. so if you use 3.5 gigs on thether you can only use .5 on the phone. it is not an Extra 4gig.

 

[DannyB]

The tethering mobile ap is its own data plan. When you purchase the feature it replaces your 2gig data plan with the 4gig plan for $45 a month. Really all they are charging you for are the extra 2gigs of data when you add the tether feature to your contract. So its 4 gigs at $45 a month. Not 2 gigs for 25 plus tether 4gig 45 equaling $70 a month for 6gigs. So I guesd att could argue they arent charging you just to tether they are just charging you upfront for the extra 2gigs you might use.

What if I don't need 4 GB?

I just want to make very limited use of connecting my laptop through my phone?

Tethering is a completely made up artificial "feature". Bundling it with an extra 2 GB of data is merely an attempt to give it legitimacy.

Since I can pay $10 per GB I go over, then why pay for tethering at all.
$25 for 2 GB
$10 for 1 GB over
$10 for 1 GB more over
Total cost: $45.

So if for some insane reason I used 4 GB (with or without tethering!) I would pay the same.

So what justification is there to charge for tethering?

Note that I'm having this same argument about tethering in another thread.
http://androidforums.com/t/300228-t-begin-charging-iphone-users-who-tether.html

 

[2manyPHONES]

What if I don't need 4 GB?

I just want to make very limited use of connecting my laptop through my phone?

Tethering is a completely made up artificial "feature". Bundling it with an extra 2 GB of data is merely an attempt to give it legitimacy.

Since I can pay $10 per GB I go over, then why pay for tethering at all.
$25 for 2 GB
$10 for 1 GB over
$10 for 1 GB more over
Total cost: $45.

So if for some insane reason I used 4 GB (with or without tethering!) I would pay the same.

So what justification is there to charge for tethering?

Note that I'm having this same argument about tethering in another thread.
http://androidforums.com/t/300228-t-begin-charging-iphone-users-who-tether.html

that was my point, its not like they are charging you for 2gigs of mobile data and then 2gigs of tethering cause they can separate the usage (cause according the the post before yours, the ATT rep, data used is just data used no separation so you have you 2 gig plan already then they throw the other 2 gig for tethering but if you wanted to use 3.5gigs for just tethering it wouldnt through you over on your 2gig tethering it just comes out of you other 2gigs from your original data plan). they are charging you for 2gigs of overage up front. just pay for the 2gig plan then if you need another gig for mobile or if you tether then thats only $10, and then lets say the following month you use an extra 2 gigs then you would be charged that $20. pay for what you use over your original plan dont charge people up front for that much data.

and people keep talking about tethering to a laptop, what if i decided i wanted to use my phone as a mobile hotspot and watch netflix on my daughters iphone (she only uses it at home on wifi so its not activated thru ATT) but we go on trips alot and if she wants to watch netflix and there is no wifi signal around if i use my phone to give her a wifi signal to watch a 30min-1hr show. how much data could that use? im not a heavy user of my unltd plan. im like 11 days into my plan and have only used like 70MB my bulk usage is on wifi currently at 521MB

 

[PSkeptic]

I might be wrong on this as it's been a while since I stuck my nose into how networks function but...
- either
It can be done by tracking MAC addresses. A MAC address is a completely individual 1 to 1 "physical" address that every device has. This info is typically hidden (contains no useful info about itself, ie. device type or location) and often ignored (since it's only useful to the sender and receiver), but does get sent out every time a device communicates with a network. Since AT&T can look into any aspect of their network traffic, seeing your device send out a data request with a MAC address not belonging to your phone is a dead giveaway.
- or
When entering tethering mode the phone informs the carriers. Be it by the nature of the design (possibly a requirement so other devices know they can connect to the phone) or an intentional choice by Google. There might be ways to work around this (if it is the case) by someone writing a custom programming that enables tethering while not changing the phones state (aka custom wifi modem), and/or modding the OS so it does not tell the carrier.

There are means of changing one MAC address, but not all hardware supports it. Plus you really can't have the end device and the connection point share MAC addresses because it is then IMPOSSIBLE for your phone to know if the incoming data is meant for it or someone it's servicing.

MAC addresses are no longer relevant once a packet has been routed. In other words, no, they don't trace it by MAC address, as they would never see it.

TTL hops, maybe. A packet from a phone should only have 1 hop. A packet from a tethered device will leave the phone's modem with 2.

 

[Gamble1177]

I would guess they charge to limit the smount of people who tether To cut down on trafficon their network. they claim to have the largest customer base in the country and then you give them all the ability to tether...

 

[tizzyzz]

My question is last month I used about 5gig 4960 to be exact buy I never tethered I use Pandora podcasts weekly and my normal browsing they better not change me to a tether plan as that is not how I use my phone

 

[DaNaRkI]

@PSkeptic - Thanks for pointlessly restating something already covered by someone who did a much better job telling us WHY. Also thanks for wasting space in fully quoting me.
As I said in the very first sentence, It's been a Long long time since I had anything to do with networking.

- - - - - To add constructively to the topic - - - - -
As for data use, I can tell you that in listening to about 20 min of news reports every night I use about 1.25 gigs in a month. App updates and other internet heavy things would put my use solidly over the 2 gig mark, but 95% of this is done on my home WiFi.

Since web surfing to see just what "Tethering" is, I start see why a good number of ppl here call AT&T crooks for the practice. If the info is true in what AT&T said in its press release about the buying of T-Mobile, then smartphones really are putting a massive stress on their network. This is AT&T running a business just like the Banks giving loans, they always assume for the worst case and cover their own ass. For us that's the 1 person who uses tethering to torrent gigs and gigs of movies, music, tv shows, and dvd sized games daily.

I just start to wonder how much all this will still matter once real 4G is up and running nation wide. Cable/DSL is at best around 3Mbps, 4G supposed to be double that or more.

 

[Gamble1177]

@PSkeptic - Thanks for pointlessly restating something already covered by someone who did a much better job telling us WHY. Also thanks for wasting space in fully quoting me.
As I said in the very first sentence, It's been a Long long time since I had anything to do with networking.

- - - - - To add constructively to the topic - - - - -
As for data use, I can tell you that in listening to about 20 min of news reports every night I use about 1.25 gigs in a month. App updates and other internet heavy things would put my use solidly over the 2 gig mark, but 95% of this is done on my home WiFi.

Since web surfing to see just what "Tethering" is, I start see why a good number of ppl here call AT&T crooks for the practice. If the info is true in what AT&T said in its press release about the buying of T-Mobile, then smartphones really are putting a massive stress on their network. This is AT&T running a business just like the Banks giving loans, they always assume for the worst case and cover their own ass. For us that's the 1 person who uses tethering to torrent gigs and gigs of movies, music, tv shows, and dvd sized games daily.

I just start to wonder how much all this will still matter once real 4G is up and running nation wide. Cable/DSL is at best around 3Mbps, 4G supposed to be double that or more.

It's still going to matter plenty because it's still going to be data being transfered on their congested network. Just because its faster wont change a thing. Just means more people will be using it for other internet things like connecting an xbox/ps3 to it and then downloading a netflix off it. I dunno where you've had cable/dsl "at best" only at 3mbps but I've had cable at 15mbps with a 1mb upload (actual speed) and it was only 50 a month. And that was in a heavily populated area. I don't think people will start ditching their dsl/cable providers for these hotspots. If they do it's only a matter of time before all providers require you to purchase the tether feature with capped data. And I agree with you that they are just protecting their infrastructure it's like I said earlier up there you don't want all of your customers suddenly using all that bandwidth at once.

 

[fldude99]

My question is last month I used about 5gig 4960 to be exact buy I never tethered I use Pandora podcasts weekly and my normal browsing they better not change me to a tether plan as that is not how I use my phone

No offense, but YOU are the type of customer that is causing these issues, tether or not. You should pay a lot more than the average person for hogging that much bandwith

 

[tizzyzz]

Guess I should explain a bit more yes I use a crap load of data I travel and listen to Pandora more then most and I have 4 lines all with unlimited data so 120 a month just for data my wife and kids average the most. 1.5 gig all together so if you take 6.5 gig for 4 phones average it out and you get. 1625 per phone that's not bad when you look it like that

 

[DaNaRkI]

I dunno where you've had cable/dsl "at best" only at 3mbps but I've had cable at 15mbps with a 1mb upload (actual speed) and it was only 50 a month.

I got 3Mbs from only one site and about 10 sec of searching (was in a rush to post that msg before running off to work). I typically spend a good 20 min searching things before posting. I went with that cuz it had sounded familiar from the last TV commercial I remembered hearing, but then again that was over 2 years ago

It's still going to matter plenty because it's still going to be data being transfered on their congested network. Just because its faster wont change a thing. Just means more people will be using it for other internet things like connecting an xbox/ps3 to it and then downloading a netflix off it.

Actually I was thinking that they would start to go the way of hard line ISPs, and just cap ppls speeds, and stop caring about amount of data used. Faster overall network, with non-maxed speed users does equal less stress, right?

 

[DannyB]

that was my point, its not like they are charging you for 2gigs of mobile data and then 2gigs of tethering cause they can separate the usage (cause according the the post before yours, the ATT rep, data used is just data used no separation so you have you 2 gig plan already then they throw the other 2 gig for tethering but if you wanted to use 3.5gigs for just tethering it wouldnt through you over on your 2gig tethering it just comes out of you other 2gigs from your original data plan). they are charging you for 2gigs of overage up front. just pay for the 2gig plan then if you need another gig for mobile or if you tether then thats only $10, and then lets say the following month you use an extra 2 gigs then you would be charged that $20. pay for what you use over your original plan dont charge people up front for that much data.

That's a very good point and further undermines any supposed justification to charge a fee for tethering.

 

[Gamble1177]

I got 3Mbs from only one site and about 10 sec of searching (was in a rush to post that msg before running off to work). I typically spend a good 20 min searching things before posting. I went with that cuz it had sounded familiar from the last TV commercial I remembered hearing, but then again that was over 2 years ago




Actually I was thinking that they would start to go the way of hard line ISPs, and just cap ppls speeds, and stop caring about amount of data used. Faster overall network, with non-maxed speed users does equal less stress, right?

I would think that if purple have a phonw that can hotspot and be as fast as their dsl our cable they would cancel their isp and make it work with their phone. Especially of they live in areas where dsl doesnt reach and cable costs an arm and a leg.