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Questions for those that received TETHERING notice from AT&T

I got 2 or 3 text messages from them, several e-mails, and A LETTER IN THE MAIL. They said they were going to change my plan if I didn't call. I never called and they were supposed to change it like a week ago but they never did. If they try and change it, I'll change it back...
 
Collin789 said:
I got 2 or 3 text messages from them, several e-mails, and A LETTER IN THE MAIL. They said they were going to change my plan if I didn't call. I never called and they were supposed to change it like a week ago but they never did. If they try and change it, I'll change it back...
Click to expand...

yeah good luck changing it back to an unlimited plan that no longer exists... :rolleyes:
 
xxBURT0Nxx said:
oh i see.

that's interesting, I wonder what they would do in that situation since you can just keep calling and canceling the tethering option from your plan.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats why I don't understand why they keep sending me all of this stuff telling me they are going to switch me when i'm just going to switch back.
 
TC25 said:
After almost 500 posts of people speculating about how ATT is identifying tethering and what the recipients of the text/email have in common, perhaps it's no more complicated than;

1. ATT is not identifying tethering
2. The thing the recipients have in common is they have the unlimited data plan.

What better way to get people off the unlimited plan than accuse them of 'illegal' tethering.

Has anyone with the 200mb or 2 gig data plan received these warnings?
Click to expand...

Yep

Collin789 said:
I got 2 or 3 text messages from them, several e-mails, and A LETTER IN THE MAIL. They said they were going to change my plan if I didn't call. I never called and they were supposed to change it like a week ago but they never did. If they try and change it, I'll change it back...
Click to expand...

Collin789 said:
I dont have unlimited data...that's why i don't care.
Click to expand...
 
TC25 said:
After almost 500 posts of people speculating about how ATT is identifying tethering and what the recipients of the text/email have in common, perhaps it's no more complicated than;

1. ATT is not identifying tethering
2. The thing the recipients have in common is they have the unlimited data plan.

What better way to get people off the unlimited plan than accuse them of 'illegal' tethering.

Has anyone with the 200mb or 2 gig data plan received these warnings?
Click to expand...

At first thats what I was thinking. I guess not thought because i have 2 gig plan and i got several e-mails, texts, and a letter in the mail...
 
JayHD said:
I can see why some would jump to that conclusion. But all of the data people have been sharing over this board and the modmyi.com board have led most of us to the following conclusions:

- They are only looking at unlimited plans right now
- They are using a combination of APN & TTL, which is why tetherme/commcenter hack users that have changed the TTL on their laptops and JB iPads haven't been getting flags
- There are some things that may cause false positives (microcells, LogMeIn, Safari plug-ins), although this is assuming the forumgoers are being honest.

To cover all my bases, I did the commcenter hack and edited the carrier.plist to ensure the "broadband" APN wasn't even an option. Then I changed the TTL on my laptop and did some light tethering, probably about 50mb of web surfing, about a week ago. No notice yet. After the iPad2 JB comes out, hopefully this week, I'll change the TTL on that and do the same. If I don't get another notice (one in March so far), I'll feel comfortable tethering going forward.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but another poster who has modified their TTL on their laptop has been flagged by AT&T. Read the last few posts for more info...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

headcase said:
JayHD said:
I can see why some would jump to that conclusion. But all of the data people have been sharing over this board and the modmyi.com board have led most of us to the following conclusions:

- They are only looking at unlimited plans right now
- They are using a combination of APN & TTL, which is why tetherme/commcenter hack users that have changed the TTL on their laptops and JB iPads haven't been getting flags
- There are some things that may cause false positives (microcells, LogMeIn, Safari plug-ins), although this is assuming the forumgoers are being honest.

To cover all my bases, I did the commcenter hack and edited the carrier.plist to ensure the "broadband" APN wasn't even an option. Then I changed the TTL on my laptop and did some light tethering, probably about 50mb of web surfing, about a week ago. No notice yet. After the iPad2 JB comes out, hopefully this week, I'll change the TTL on that and do the same. If I don't get another notice (one in March so far), I'll feel comfortable tethering going forward.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but another poster who has modified their TTL on their laptop has been flagged by AT&T. Read the last few posts for more info...
Click to expand...

No one here is scientific about this. The author of PDANet emailed me and said that he is just guessing that the Stealth Modes work.

The MyWi author said it can't be the APN because he uses the same APN that Safari, Atomic Browser, iCab uses.

So if that is true then the TTL value is the only thing left.

I still hold to the theory that iTether on the iPad cannot be detected by AT&T.

We shall see.
 
Sparky9292 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U

There are posts by networking experts over on Slashdot about the *numerous* ways AT&T engineering can detect tethering activity via deep packet inspection, and they have also commented that TTL is simply one of the "easier" methods to avoid detection, but certainly it is not the *only* method. In fact, some technical folks even went on to speculate that given its possible to modify the TTL on a tethered client (eg. laptop), that the network engineers at AT&T likely would deploy another means of detection.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
headcase said:
Sorry, but another poster who has modified their TTL on their laptop has been flagged by AT&T. Read the last few posts for more info...
Click to expand...

Oh and just FYI I tethered only once after getting the warning text one month later modifying my TTL and using a VPN. Then tethered for less than 50mb and weeks go by with no warnings but about 3 and a half weeks later I get a text and they really changed my plan. So it's not "instant" when they send you the text/email/mail it takes them a while apparently.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Please vote in this poll. It will help build a picture of how AT&T tracks tethering:

https://forums.macrumors.com/wap/GetThread.php?t=1172153&bat=
 
did anyone using EDGE exclusivly get the AT&T notice?

Has anyone tethering via EDGE only (not 3G) gotten the AT&T notice about data? I use edge exclusively to tether (because that's all I get up north at the cabin). I have not yet received the dreaded notice. I wonder if I can continue using edge w/o issue.

Question 1 - Will a different TTL be reported to AT&T via edge (vs 3G)?
Question 2 - Is data routed/handled differently on EDGE vs 3g?
Question 2 - Is APN the same over edge?
Question 3 - Am I any safer tethering via edge?

Thoughts?
Anyone out there get the message for EDGE use alone?

-IC1
 
so it's becoming clear what's going on

a) has nothing to do with data plan (limited or unlimited)
b) has nothing to do with data usage (high and low gb usage)
c) seems that safari/Mozilla/IE/etc browser tags are getting people flagged vs mobile safari

what we need is someone with an iPhone and an iPod touch and iPad to test tethering , and absolutely no tethering to any Mac/pc computer

If it works without getting caught then it helps us figure out what AT&T is actually looking for
 
Shenaniganz08 said:
so it's becoming clear what's going on
a) has nothing to do with data plan (limited or unlimited)
b) has nothing to do with data usage (high and low gb usage)
Click to expand...
I agree there.

But does it have anything to do with the network used (3G vs Edge?). If they handle the data differently, they may not be able to distinguish iphone from tethered PC data use, perhaps due to an older standard.

If it has to do with headers or TTL, then perhaps PDA-NET, leve II on EDGE may allow one to get by..

Just asking,
-IC1
 
i tethered thursday-saturday of last week cause i was on vacation with no free wi-fi in the mountains. me and my nephew used it to check the typical sites, nothing big. as of right now, i havent recieved anything.

i am on the unlimited plan and used mywi. i tethered to a macbook and macbook pro.

through all the pages it looks like nobody has come to a conclusion.
 
Shenaniganz08 said:
what we need is someone with an iPhone and an iPod touch and iPad to test tethering , and absolutely no tethering to any Mac/pc computer

If it works without getting caught then it helps us figure out what AT&T is actually looking for
Click to expand...

I agree but we need people with 2gb plans to do this though since most people don't want to risk losing their unlimited being the sacrificial lamb ;)

The people with 2gb plans can just call back and cancel the tethering add-on...
 
I am *guessing* the only reason I am still
getting away with the minor amount of tethering
that I am doing is that I am out of contract on
my iPhone 4.

As long as Verizon is still offering an unlimited
plan (ends soon), I don't think it would be wise
for AT&T to go after anyone not in contract.

If this is true, I'm sure the hammer will fall shortly.
 
ap3604 said:
I agree but we need people with 2gb plans to do this though since most people don't want to risk losing their unlimited being the sacrificial lamb ;)

The people with 2gb plans can just call back and cancel the tethering add-on...
Click to expand...
That is what I have been doing. I carry two iPhones, and since these tethering notices started I stopped tethering on my iPhone with the unlimited plan. I now tether on my second phone, which I upgraded to the 2 GB plan. I tether to an iPad occasionally, and have not gotten a notice.
I'm sure there could be other factors like how much people pay for month (I pay over $250), data used, contract status, and how much congestion there is in the area you are using.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

I still think that as long as you tether another iOS device you are safe.

At this point I think that AT&T is using deep packet inspection and if the traffic comes from the non 3G iPad, it looks the same as an iPhone.

I'm going to try it out for 15 min and then call AT&T and ask them if they saw any tethering in the last few days.
 
I use to tether about 4 GB a month from my iPhone 4 to my iPad only using mywi and I received the text, email and letter last week.


I have since stopped and called them acting dumb.

fYI- I only tethered to my iPad. No other devices.
 
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