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Root [Boost Mobile] Possible solution to throttling

I think I have found a solution to get around the data throttling. This may not matter to people who have access to wifi, but hopefully this can help the people (like me) who only have access to internet through their phone. Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to include every detail so everyone can thoroughly understand how I came to this conclusion.

Due to a few economical and personal hardships, I recently had to move from an area where I had access to unlimited wifi, to a place where I only have access to the internet through my phone. The place where I currently reside is in 4g network area. When I moved to this area in July, I was only using the internet through my phone. I watch a lot of videos and movies everyday, so at the end of July, I wasn't surprised to be informed by Boost that I had used 85% of my data. After a couple of days of my regular use, I was suddenly throttled down while I was in the middle of watching a movie. Shortly after, I received a text again from Boost that I was officially throttled until my next payment date of August 9th, which was two weeks away. I could still browse the internet somewhat (slowly), but absolutely no videos would play. After accepting the fact that it would be another two weeks, I just stuck to just normal browsing. A couple of days later, I went to Wal-Mart, and a couple of hours after I got back home, I noticed that the browser was a lot faster. I then tried to pull up a video and it played perfectly without stopping to load. So then I turned on my hotspot and set my computer up and I was able to watch videos and movies for the next few hours. I was pleasantly surprised at this sudden throttle lift, but at the time I had no idea what caused it. The next day, my battery was low so I turned my phone off and swapped out my batteries. To my dismay, I tried to pull up a video, and again, I was throttled. I figured it was good while it lasted because it had been over two years since I got to use my computer with my phone's hotspot (the good ole pre-throttle days). Over the next couple of days, I went back to just using my phone to (slowly) browse. Again, I went to Wal-Mart, and when I came back it was the same phenomenon. This time, I decided to just charge my phone so I wouldn't have to turn it off to swap the batteries out. From then on, I used my laptop off my hotspot seamlessly. I then decided to try and pinpoint what happened that made the throttle lift before August 9th, which was when the speeds would normally be "restored". I concluded that it was something that happened when I left my residence and came back. This time, I purposely turned my phone off and turned it back on to reactivate the throttle. Instead of going to Wal-Mart, I went a shorter distance to another store. When I got back home, I was still throttled. Then, I went back to Wal-Mart and came back home and the throttle was lifted. After driving around I finally fond out what happened: As mentioned before, my residence is in a 4g network. While on my way to Wal-Mart, I briefly crossed over into 3g network. When I went to the other store that was closer, I was still in 4g network. I have no idea why this works (maybe someone on here more advanced at this stuff can give an explanation), but for some reason, when I cross over into a 3g network and come back to my residence in 4g network, the throttle lifts EVERY SINGLE TIME. When my pay period renewed on August 9th, just in case it was a fluke before, I decided to use my data as usual (no hotspot just a whole lot of videos and movies). Again, toward the end of the month, I was throttled. The 3g zone is only 5 minutes up the road, so I simply did like before after I figured it out and drove only until my phone picked up on the 3g (instead of driving 20 minutes one way to Wal-Mart). Before sharing this finding with everyone I wanted to test it several times. Just in case this is something odd going on with just my phone, before anyone tries this (especially for people like me where their only internet source is through their phone) I would advise to test this only after they've been officially throttled before using a lot of data. I hope this information can help someone like this forum has helped me all the way back when I started out with my Warp Zte and all the phones I've had (and rooted) in between and my current Galaxy S3.

A few things to note:

* SG3 rooted with M.O.A.R.
* Being throttled while in 4g, crossing over into 3g (must), and coming back into 4g. I have no idea if it works vice versa.
* Turning phone off and back on reactivates the throttle. The throttle will stay lifted otherwise. If your phone for some reason accidently shuts off or if the battery goes dead, just go back into 3g and into 4g.
 

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I must say this use to work for me (I'm on VM- Optimus F3) but I believe they got privy to this & stopped it. There were others as well with VM that had this but then all of a sudden it stopped working for them as well. Literally all on the same day this happened to us. We have a whole thread on it. I'm hoping it comes back for us so I will say enjoy it while you have it. Here is a tip as well, to get the 3G signal just sit on your phone to block all antennas & then uncover it to get 4G back. Some of you may even have certain areas in your home that is 3G only, put your phone there until it picks that 3G signal up & then put it back in a 4G area. Much easier than Wal-Mart. :p
 
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I must say this use to work for me (I'm on VM- Optimus F3) but I believe they got privy to this & stopped it. There were others as well with VM that had this but then all of a sudden it stopped working for them as well. Literally all on the same day this happened to us. We have a whole thread on it. I'm hoping it comes back for us so I will say enjoy it while you have it. Here is a tip as well, to get the 3G signal just sit on your phone to block all antennas & then uncover it to get 4G back. Some of you may even have certain areas in your home that is 3G only, put your phone there until it picks that 3G signal up & then put it back in a 4G area. Much easier than Wal-Mart. :p

I agree. Hopefully it stays this way. :thumbup:
 
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About two months ago I started using my phone as a hotspot to play Xbox Live and use my laptop with regular use (lots of youtube videos) and I used about 10 gigs a month without getting throttled, but today I got throttled (1 week after my last monthly payment) and all I've done is flash a few different AOSP roms. I rebooted my phone, and after 2 hours the throttle got lifted, though my boost account still says I'm being throttled. I'm thinking that maybe AOSP roms have a different way of "reporting" data usage to the companies that differs from other stock based roms, because last month when I hit 10 gigs I got worried and checked on my Boost account, and it said I only used about 1.5 gigs, or that 1.5 gigs of data usage have been reported. Thing is, I don't remember where in the rom to find the data throttling service. I think its in Settings.apk in smali?
 
Upvote 0
About two months ago I started using my phone as a hotspot to play Xbox Live and use my laptop with regular use (lots of youtube videos) and I used about 10 gigs a month without getting throttled, but today I got throttled (1 week after my last monthly payment) and all I've done is flash a few different AOSP roms. I rebooted my phone, and after 2 hours the throttle got lifted, though my boost account still says I'm being throttled. I'm thinking that maybe AOSP roms have a different way of "reporting" data usage to the companies that differs from other stock based roms, because last month when I hit 10 gigs I got worried and checked on my Boost account, and it said I only used about 1.5 gigs, or that 1.5 gigs of data usage have been reported. Thing is, I don't remember where in the rom to find the data throttling service. I think its in Settings.apk in smali?

Which roms?
 
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