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lbhskier37

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 11, 2011
105
12
I've had iPhones for 3 years now and have never thought of jailbreaking until now. I've always avoided it for the same reason I avoid android, I just want it to work and couldn't care less about customizing. I'm perfectly happy getting l my apps through the App Store and have never felt the need for anymore functionality than comes stock. Until now. I bought a wifi ipad over Xmas and have really wanted tethering a few times. I have an old AT&T plan that is super cheap compared to the share your wallet plans they offer today. I don't have unlimited, but still have the desire to use my ipad away from wifi now and again. Is jailbreaking worth it just for that? Are there some downsides? Do I loose any of the stock functionality like syncing with iTunes and using the official App Store?
 

From A Buick 8

macrumors 68040
Sep 16, 2010
3,114
127
Ky Close to CinCinnati
I've had iPhones for 3 years now and have never thought of jailbreaking until now. I've always avoided it for the same reason I avoid android, I just want it to work and couldn't care less about customizing. I'm perfectly happy getting l my apps through the App Store and have never felt the need for anymore functionality than comes stock. Until now. I bought a wifi ipad over Xmas and have really wanted tethering a few times. I have an old AT&T plan that is super cheap compared to the share your wallet plans they offer today. I don't have unlimited, but still have the desire to use my ipad away from wifi now and again. Is jailbreaking worth it just for that? Are there some downsides? Do I loose any of the stock functionality like syncing with iTunes and using the official App Store?

You do not lose any of the stock functionality. Try it you can always go back, I would suggest that you try BiteSMS as well.
 

lbhskier37

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 11, 2011
105
12
I'm really all about stability and not having to worry about things working or not. Am I going to sacrifice anything in that respect?
 

acorntoy

macrumors 68010
May 25, 2010
2,003
2,221
I'm really all about stability and not having to worry about things working or not. Am I going to sacrifice anything in that respect?

No. Especially if all you install is a tethering app.

Tetherme,mywi, and pdanet are all extremely popular are will not negatively affect your phone.

If you ever install a tweak that is poorly written or done it could negatively affect stability, but that can be easily fixed but uninstalling the tweak.
 

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
No. Especially if all you install is a tethering app.

Tetherme,mywi, and pdanet are all extremely popular are will not negatively affect your phone.

If you ever install a tweak that is poorly written or done it could negatively affect stability, but that can be easily fixed but uninstalling the tweak.

Wouldn't Att know if I decided to do this? I'm on their grandfathered unlimited plan and using an iPhone 5.
 

TypeMRT

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2007
525
130
Yes. You're paying for data, not how to use your data. That would be like the water company saying you can take a shower but have to pay extra to run your dishwasher.
 

acorntoy

macrumors 68010
May 25, 2010
2,003
2,221
Wouldn't Att know if I decided to do this? I'm on their grandfathered unlimited plan and using an iPhone 5.


PDANET has a feature that supposedly hides your tethering from AT&T ( with mixed results) I think MyWi now also has this feature. All TetherMe does is enable the standard Apple tethering" option in the settings app, which obvious doesnt even attempt to hide anything.
 

r.j.s

Moderator emeritus
Mar 7, 2007
15,026
52
Texas
I understand that PDANet is not compatible with iOS 6 and will actually harm your install.
 

acorntoy

macrumors 68010
May 25, 2010
2,003
2,221
Yes. You're paying for data, not how to use your data. That would be like the water company saying you can take a shower but have to pay extra to run your dishwasher.

Sadly AT&T doesn't see it this way, and if they catch you tethering on a old unlimited plan they will force you into a new plan that charges you for tethering AND has a limited amount of data allowance.

----------

I understand that PDANet is not compatible with iOS 6 and will actually harm your install.

I meant once they are compatible.
 

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
I suppose I'll look into mywi and pdanet when it's available for ios6.

I would just hate to get busted and loose my unlimited plan.

If you can hide your tethering I'm going for it but if it only does so with mixed results, than no.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
I suppose I'll look into mywi and pdanet when it's available for ios6.

I would just hate to get busted and loose my unlimited plan.

If you can hide you tethering I'm going for it but if it only dies so with mixed results, than no.

People have been caught before using pdanet and every single tethering hack by AT&T.
There's a way they figure it out and so far there is no full proof method that its 100% they wont detect you.
Its a risk.
They usually give you a warning and if you do it again you're gone down to a tiered data package.
 

kjs862

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2004
1,297
24
By the way, is there a jailbreak for ipad mini running on verizon to hide your bandwidth usage?
 

aPple nErd

macrumors 68030
Feb 12, 2012
2,728
694
Jailbreaks/IOS Hacks
Ya jail breaking for me isn't abot customization as all I have with that is 5 icon dock, but rather being more useful. I don't want to have to go into a wether app when I can just unlock and it's right there on my springboard. I use mine for tethering because 30 bucks a month makes NO sense, and also, I find that some things that are normally anoying such as this autocorrect that I'm sure will butcher this comment lol, can be fixed with cydia tweaks! Try it and you will never go back!

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Can verizon see tethering with tetherme?
 

TypeMRT

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2007
525
130
Sadly AT&T doesn't see it this way, and if they catch you tethering on a old unlimited plan they will force you into a new plan that charges you for tethering AND has a limited amount of data allowance.

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I meant once they are compatible.

Very true. My tactic is just to keep my data usage high. I average about 8-9 GB a month (mostly streaming radio at work) with or without tethering. So when I tether to my iPad it's to replace web browsing I would've done on my iPhone anyway.
 

bmwhd

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2008
776
2
Yes all of them can see tethering with any of the apps, the questions is do they care.

Right now Verizon does not (for the most part), and if you have LTE it is less likely they (Verizon) will care.

This. Also, I've been told certain accounts get a pass based on overall corp spend.

I have also noticed ATT has backed off on throttling when using LTE.
 

itjw

macrumors 65816
Dec 20, 2011
1,088
6
Look, I'm all about jailbreaking, but to indicate there are NO drawbacks or risks and no stability issues is just not true...

Within 24 hours there have been widespread reports of the Weather app not working (no big deal I agree, but it's an indicator that stuff gets broken), and people are having issues after installing basic tweaks like SBsettings with the phone being stuck on the boot logo after a restart.

That kind of stuff may be no big deal to an experienced JB'er who can work around the instability issues, but if you are an average user that might not bring their entire computer with them everywhere to "just do a restore" when something like that pops up, it can really ruin a day.

When I jailbroke the original 2G (using jailbreakme), it locked up on me during a business trip. I had no phone and no way of restoring. That has NEVER happened on the stock firmware for me (and even though I'm sure it has, it's much more rare on stock than on JB firmware).

Jailbreaking is cool. It lets you pira... errr... customize lots of stuff, steal tethering from AT&T (violating the contract you agreed to), and lets you do lots of other things too.

I think it's sorta worth it when available, but not nearly as needed as it once was.

And it DOES void the warranty, even if you lie about it later when you need it (because that's what you're doing if you take it in for warranty work, lying about it being jailbroken, even if you restored it after...).

Is it worth it? To me, yes. But I'd say probably not for the vast majority of "average" users. If you want to, just know that the "there are no drawbacks" statement is a bit of a lie. There are. Some less annoying than others, but there are.
 
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