AT&T Going After Unauthorized Tethering

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Like to use tethering on your jailbroken iPhone? Well, AT&T is gunning for you and you WILL pay, one way or the other. Yikes!

AT&T reached out to us and, yes, this is pretty much all there is to the tale: the "small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren't on our required tethering plan," are being contacted to either cease and desist or prepare to start paying for the service.
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how can they know? i don't want to sound like an idiot but it seems like they would just go by data usage and that's an inaccurate counter. Let the lawsuits begin.
 
Aw, crap. I *JUST* Jailbroke my iPhone 3G and bought MyWi when iOS 4.3 came out with official hot spot support, but left out the 3G.

And I'm about to go on a massive road trip, and was going to be counting on MyWi hot spot to share the signal with other devices...

Oh well. It sounds like I have at least until the end of the month before they do anything. (And I haven't gotten the warning yet anyway.)
 
I'm sure there are ways to verify your usage. Remember there is a lot of things the public doesn't know about the networks and Infrastructure.
 
Oh, yeah. If I get the warning, I'll just claim (partly truthfully) that I was just using the NetFlix app. (Which I will be, although it'll be on the iPad. Gotta keep the kids entertained on the 50+ hours of driving somehow...)
 
All good things come to an end eventually! It's not like no one knew that AT&T charges additional fees for tethering. It sucks that they are now going after everyone that enables unauthorized tethering instead of just bandwidth abusers.
 
From what I gather, It has to do with the TTL attached to each packet. Its easy to determine if it came from a PC or an iPhone since the default TTL for each differs.
 
ttl is still to inaccurate as it can also be shifted by other issues... they have to be using a combination of things to determine weather or not you are using though i suppose it is possible they could request a list of apps on each device on the network so they can select someone using a large amount of bandwidth then send a request to the phone to find out if it is jailbroken and a list of installed apps...
 
What's with all the money hungry corporations lately? They're just getting greedier, but the day. Charging people for tethering was bullshit to begin with, and now they're enforcing it? How would they know, unless they packet sniff.

I'm sure there will be a way to avoid being detected, and even then people can just tell AT&T to stfu or they'll switch to Verizon. Works pretty good.

I really do believe that a lot more internet traffic needs to be encrypted, if not all of it.
 
i use mifi and have not received a message (yet)

its a bummer they charge to use internet you already pay for.... data caps already take care of bandwidth...
this is just a money grab
 
Simple solution: VPN from your phone (iOS VPN client is really good)
This hides all your activity and all they can see is data throughput, not type or destination, or http headers, etc.

Personally, I am not at all concerned. I was reading a set of forum posts from the guys over ModMyI, almost everyone getting a letter used a ridiculous amount of data. One guy claimed to have used 156GB of data last month (He uses the phone as his only internet connection). AT&T has not, yet, begun doing data captures on the high usage accounts to prove that people are tethering.

Moral of the story: Don't be an asshole and you probably won't get a notice. (Although AT&T's definition of an asshole seems to start around 4GB if you are on a grandfathered unlimited plan)

If you aren't tethering, or are and don't use much data, you will probably be fine. I know I won't be getting any notices anytime soon. I used 45MB of data in the past two weeks on my unlimited plan (3G sucks here, plus I spend most of my time on WiFi). I tether when needed, but that is not very often. Now, when I do, I will run everything through VPN just to be safe(I'm paying for a VPN anyways, may as well use it).
 
It should be illegal to charge "extra" for tethering... Data is data.
In the good old WAP browser days, phones with "unlimited" data couldn't transfer much data at all, but a tethered PC could suck of hundreds MB's with no problem. I could see the reason different tiers, but still didn't agree with the *ss reaming prices.
Now that one can stream music and video directly from a smartphone, the data gap between "native" usage and tethering usage is not nearly as large, but still the carriers charge a premium for "tethering".
I bet the people that are getting these letters are transferring a significant amount of data per month, and as a result, have attracted the attention of the bandwidth police.
 
bbf said:
It should be illegal to charge "extra" for tethering... Data is data.
In the good old WAP browser days, phones with "unlimited" data couldn't transfer much data at all, but a tethered PC could suck of hundreds MB's with no problem. I could see the reason different tiers, but still didn't agree with the *ss reaming prices.
Now that one can stream music and video directly from a smartphone, the data gap between "native" usage and tethering usage is not nearly as large, but still the carriers charge a premium for "tethering".
I bet the people that are getting these letters are transferring a significant amount of data per month, and as a result, have attracted the attention of the bandwidth police.
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agreed it should be at least part of the unlimited plan 29.99 for unlimited on each line and you cant tether. Fuck that noise. 20$ more on top of that per month for a 2 gig cap fuck that...
 
every time I hear news about ATT, it pisses me off even more.

First, it's bandwidth capping, now it's this tethering bullshit.

The picture is pretty clear:
ATT network sucks. They can't handle the number of users.
Instead of spending cash to beef up their network, they limit the bandwidth people can use.
They're trying to squeeze every last byte out of their shitty network.

what kind of fucking business is AT&T ?
You pay more, and get less. and they're making it less user friendly.
sounds like a backwards company to me.
 
I wonder if this applies to Android or just iPhone. I just flashed my Captivate with Serendpity 6.2 and it has tethering enabled. Hopefully they don't catch on, I'll just wait for the letter regardless.
 
I am not trying to say I support AT&T, but I think its their own fault for rapping us in ridiculous data charges in the first place.
 
This is my biggest point of contention with my ATT service. If i have a 2GB data plan, what difference does it make HOW i use that 2GB of data? 2GB is 2GB is 2GB, why does it matter?
 
wdtiger said:
This is my biggest point of contention with my ATT service. If i have a 2GB data plan, what difference does it make HOW i use that 2GB of data? 2GB is 2GB is 2GB, why does it matter?
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Yeah, and you're paying a relative king's ransom of $12.50 per gigabyte (or even more if you don't use every last byte of it). If you ran up to Comcast's cap of 250GB at that rate, you'd be paying $3,125 a month.
 
FranklyShankly said:
I wonder if this applies to Android or just iPhone. I just flashed my Captivate with Serendpity 6.2 and it has tethering enabled. Hopefully they don't catch on, I'll just wait for the letter regardless.
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Yeah,I have Sprint, and just got an Android LG Optimus S. The service requires an additional $10 surcharge because it's a "smartphone". I already had unlimited web/data before, so why is this any different? It is a really cool phone though, upgrading from a flip phone!! :eek:
 
Why not drop AT&T because it sucks and go with T-Mobile? I'm not to educated on cell phones, but there's a solid chance that if somebodies iPhone is jailbroken if it can tether. And the iPhone can be setup to receive data from T-Mobile. Seems simple enough to me at least, unless for some reason teathering is impossible over T-Mobile.
 
wdtiger said:
This is my biggest point of contention with my ATT service. If i have a 2GB data plan, what difference does it make HOW i use that 2GB of data? 2GB is 2GB is 2GB, why does it matter?
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If people start figuring out how to tether to their laptops, more and more people will start using up their 2GB's of data instead of 30mb a month on texts emails and facebook updates.

It will be a nightmare and crash ATT's system! They can't have that, it would cut into profits.
 
As someone who doesn't live in the US I don't understand how they can charge extra for tethering. If you have a data plan then what does it matter if you download the data to your phone or via the phone to the computer?

The costumers would never accept terms like that over here. I guess because we have about a dozen of companies to choose from even in my small country, the competition is fierce. I pay €5 for unlimited phone calls and SMS to my friends for example.
 
i am paying $179 a month for 4 phones 3 smart phones 1 flip dumb phone. 3 unlimited data plans at 30 bucks each because there are 2 companies who own all the towers in my area.. verizon and att...
my story is much the same with the exception of larger population centers where more companies are then i get smaller network choices like sprint and cricket... though i had issues on sprint.
 
dr.kevin said:
what kind of fucking business is AT&T ?
You pay more, and get less. and they're making it less user friendly.
sounds like a backwards company to me.
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What kind of business you ask? I believe you just perfectly described the definition of a telecommunication company since they first started in the US. This is nothing new for phone companies, that's why they got the reputation of having this kind of customer service: 'How in the world is that fair for you to do? Sir, we're the phone company. <click>' and 'Dissatisfied with your long distance carrier? Then try us!'
 
Rahburt-33 said:
Why not drop AT&T because it sucks and go with T-Mobile? I'm not to educated on cell phones, but there's a solid chance that if somebodies iPhone is jailbroken if it can tether. And the iPhone can be setup to receive data from T-Mobile. Seems simple enough to me at least, unless for some reason teathering is impossible over T-Mobile.
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Jailbreaking and unlocking are two different things for iPhones. Totally different levels of compatibility too. Jailbreaking is easy, legal, and mostly problem free nowadays. Unlocking involves multiple steps, is legally questionable on the iPhone 4 right now, and to do it you have to use a baseband that was never meant to run on the iPhone 4 so it's a little glitchy.
 
If AT&T wants to enforce the real meaning of tethering then they should also enforce the real meaning of unlimited.

Glad I'll never be an AT&T customer.....
 
I wonder if AT&T will apply this philosophy to other parts of their business?

Just imagine:
"In order to improve service to our customers, free Talk minutes may now only be used to conduct conversations in English. AT&T is pleased to announce Multi-lingual calling packages. Talk for 200 minutes in the language of your choice for just an additional $10/month"
 
I agree people should pay for it if they are using it. There is an extra charge for tethering and has always been that way. Every company charges for tethering. They are trying to protect the integrity of their network by flushing out the people who are gobbling up bandwidth with unnecessary crap. If you are going to tether then pay for the extra fee.

Most of you guys are acting like they are screwing you out of something you are paying for. If you are paying for UNLIMITED DATA. Then use unlimited data ON YOUR PHONE. They never said it meant you could have unlimited data on any device that would hook to your phone.

For all the people saying "i pay for 2gb data and they should use it however i want!" Once again, you pay for it to use ON YOUR PHONE. Not on your computer. Its an extra fee to do this.

Tethering cost extra.Otherwise wouldnt everyone just use their phone and not pay for an aircard?
 
FranklyShankly said:
I wonder if this applies to Android or just iPhone. I just flashed my Captivate with Serendpity 6.2 and it has tethering enabled. Hopefully they don't catch on, I'll just wait for the letter regardless.
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A stock clean desire or nexus one would have that option too.
 
It wasn't too long ago that routers weren't allowed on residential connections. This is more or less the same thing.

I would be willing to bet Verizon is right behind them on this one -- they tend to make price adjustments and other moves at the same time.

AT&T has had a hell of a week. DSL caps and then this. Quarter must not be looking great.
 
nicknations said:
For all the people saying "i pay for 2gb data and they should use it however i want!" Once again, you pay for it to use ON YOUR PHONE. Not on your computer. Its an extra fee to do this.

Tethering cost extra.Otherwise wouldnt everyone just use their phone and not pay for an aircard?
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In what way, shape, or form does paying for 2GB of access and then using up your 2GB on your notebook affect the network in any way different from using up your 2GB on your phone? Unlimited I can see why they might have an justification for charging extra to tether, but if you're paying by the byte (and paying a very high rate at that) it's not fair in any way for them to tell you how you consume what you bought already.
 
I find this behavior bothersome and borderline unethical by AT&T.

If I pay for a plan that has a certain amount of data, be that 200Mb, 4Gb or unlimited I should be able to use that data however I damned well please without paying extra for it.

Data is data.

Really shitty AT&T.

It reminds me of how they used to cripple the firmware on phones sold with their plans to remove extra features they came with from the manufacturer (like voice dialing), so they could then charge a monthly fee for people to use these features.

Completely unethical in my mind, and it ought to be illegal.

They are providing a simple service (mobile bandwidth) and ought to be cpletely hardware agnostic. As long as I stay within my limits for data and voice I should be able to use said data and voice however please. And unlimited means unlimited, not unlimited as long as you do what we say...
 
Boy I am glad I don't have a cellphone of any type now... Used to have ATT and bitched at me for the same thing, Noe I have a Straight Talk phone, but not being paid in a month puts a damper on money and it has been peacefull without a phone.
 
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