Question about tethering and AT&T.

[mrat93]

I have enabled the Benm tethering hack on my iPhone 3GS 3.0.1. I have tested it, and it works for me.

My father is going in for surgery in a couple of days and my family and I will be staying in a nearby hotel that does not have Wi-Fi (or any in-room internet) for a few nights. Do you think if I tethered my phone with my Dell Mini 9 (with OS X) AT&T will find out? I'd only use it for browsing websites and iChat. I won't be downloading or streaming music or movies.

Has anybody else used tethering for tasks like this for a short amount of time like me? Should I be worried about anything? Thanks.

 

[jav6454]

They might or might not notice the usage increase. Also, if you use the iPhone's built in tethering solution the packets are going to carry tattle tale signs of tether.

However, keep it minimal as you describe and I don't see any problems arise.

BTW, I have been tethering for 9+ months already and AT&T hasn't said squat.

 

[mrat93]

They might or might not notice the usage increase. Also, if you use the iPhone's built in tethering solution the packets are going to carry tattle tale signs of tether.

However, keep it minimal as you describe and I don't see any problems arise.

BTW, I have been tethering for 9+ months already and AT&T hasn't said squat.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm sure I'll be fine, I just wanted to hear from some other users to make sure they haven't been found out by AT&T.

 

[eye.surgeon]

I've been tethering for two months using the benm hack with no issues. AT&T is incapable of determining what data has been accessed directly from the iphone versus through tethering. It's the same on their end. The only issue you will have is if your data use puts you way outside of the bell curve of users.

 

[nateo200]

I've been tethering for two months using the benm hack with no issues. AT&T is incapable of determining what data has been accessed directly from the iphone versus through tethering. It's the same on their end. The only issue you will have is if your data use puts you way outside of the bell curve of users.

Yeah but even then it's not like they would do anything. They DID offer unlimited data....

 

[WeatherGuy]

I've been tethering for two months using the benm hack with no issues. AT&T is incapable of determining what data has been accessed directly from the iphone versus through tethering. It's the same on their end. The only issue you will have is if your data use puts you way outside of the bell curve of users.

They certainly can...If you go in a look at your data usage, when you use the phone for internet, and when you tether, the addresses are completely different.

 

[nateo200]

They certainly can...If you go in a look at your data usage, when you use the phone for internet, and when you tether, the addresses are completely different.

Uh...no. You would use the iPhone as a UMTS modem meaning your laptop uses the handsets MAC address/IP Address.....if not which would never be the case unless you had a built in UMTS radio into your laptop and used an iPhone SIM card there's always MAC address cloning/ip cloning.

 

[rjohnstone]

Yeah but even then it's not like they would do anything. They DID offer unlimited data....

The agreement specifically banned tethering.

Just don't go nuts and they will most likely not notice.

 

[jav6454]

I've been tethering for two months using the benm hack with no issues. AT&T is incapable of determining what data has been accessed directly from the iphone versus through tethering. It's the same on their end. The only issue you will have is if your data use puts you way outside of the bell curve of users.

They can notice. You are the one who don't know where to look at to see if they are knowing. But believe me, they know what data is flowing.

The way I tether is basically just telling AT&T it's my iPhone's data. The way 3.0.0 (built in feature) and beyond does it tells AT&T the iPhone acts as a Modem or Router and that the data is for xx.xxx.xxx.xx IP address, not the iPhone's.

So as you can see, AT&T does know. Oh and BTW, the way I explained it is as simple and barest as it gets. There is a more complicated tl;dr type of explanation I'd rather not go into.