Free WiFi Tether?

tintn00

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Hello everyone,

What are you guys using for free wifi tether on your rooted Droid Charge? I know Verizon's mobile hotspot is currently free until next week, but are you guys using any other app for free wifi tethering? I hardly use wifi-tether enough to justify paying monthly for it. I tried the app from Open Garden but that totally messed up my phone which required me to re-root the Droid Charge. Do you guys suggest anything else? Thanks!
 

chopstix9

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I used Barnacle and can't remember now why I changed but have been using Open Garden for some time now. It too works great. I drive a truck and my laptop sits next to me on its stand and is on-line all day long.
 

tintn00

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Were you guys able to remove the stock Mobile Hotspot? I'm starting to wonder if the problem stemmed from my attempt to uninstall Mobile Hotspot via Titanium Backup. I don't like the fact that Mobile Hotspot is always running in the background.
 

neemo6

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I remember reading something about Verizon voiding contracts that will use these apps? Is there any truth to this or can these apps run undetectable?
 

Johnly

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Can you tell us the source of the "something?" I am sure they would send a letter to remind you to pay. Go free press for filing a complaint with the FCC against verizon for tampering with android market!
 

Cruiserdude

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They won't terminate your contract, though they technically could. They likely wouldn't care much if it wasn't excessive, and if it was, they'd send you a letter first telling you they tacked on the $20 tethering fee, informing you that its not free and you have to stop doing it if you don't want to pay extra. You see, they advertise tethering, hotspot, etc, but don't brag about the fee alongside it. So to many people it probably isn't clear that tethering requires an extra fee, its not like there was a huge ad campaign telling people they had to pay for it.

Pdanet (usb tether) claims to run undetected, but only works on Windows AFAIK. Maybe Macs, but certainly not Linux desktops or wifi mobile devices. Barnacle and Wifi Tether both simply act as a data middleman, I don't see how they can detect it easily running in ad-hoc mode. After all, there are other scenarios where wifi and data are both in use, such as when you're online on your mobile data connection, while printing a document via wifi.

That being said, they run the network, and can most likely tell when you're using any kind of connection sharing, "hidden" or not. I would expect that these programs don't automatically send up a red flag, and they probably don't bother to figure out what you're doing unless they have a reason to do. So if you're not using a ton of data, or frequently using infrastructure mode, I wouldn't expect they'd bother to look deeper into your account. But I would expect that they can find anything and everything you do if you give them reason to. Its just like when people try to hide things from their home ISP; they can see everything no matter what DNS, ipblocker, firewall, proxy etc., but aren't likely to bother looking if you're relatively discreet, and what you're doing isn't actually harming them or their network. Sure Verizon would love to take every opportunity to charge you an extra fee, but they're not ATT (yet) so I don't think you have anything to worry about if you tether once and awhile in a pinch.

But don't take my word for it.
 

tintn00

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Can someone tell me what settings you guys are using on Barnacle? I'm unable to get my PC to detect it among available WiFi's.
 

zman6900

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They won't terminate your contract, though they technically could. They likely wouldn't care much if it wasn't excessive, and if it was, they'd send you a letter first telling you they tacked on the $20 tethering fee, informing you that its not free and you have to stop doing it if you don't want to pay extra. You see, they advertise tethering, hotspot, etc, but don't brag about the fee alongside it. So to many people it probably isn't clear that tethering requires an extra fee, its not like there was a huge ad campaign telling people they had to pay for it.

Pdanet (usb tether) claims to run undetected, but only works on Windows AFAIK. Maybe Macs, but certainly not Linux desktops or wifi mobile devices. Barnacle and Wifi Tether both simply act as a data middleman, I don't see how they can detect it easily running in ad-hoc mode. After all, there are other scenarios where wifi and data are both in use, such as when you're online on your mobile data connection, while printing a document via wifi.

That being said, they run the network, and can most likely tell when you're using any kind of connection sharing, "hidden" or not. I would expect that these programs don't automatically send up a red flag, and they probably don't bother to figure out what you're doing unless they have a reason to do. So if you're not using a ton of data, or frequently using infrastructure mode, I wouldn't expect they'd bother to look deeper into your account. But I would expect that they can find anything and everything you do if you give them reason to. Its just like when people try to hide things from their home ISP; they can see everything no matter what DNS, ipblocker, firewall, proxy etc., but aren't likely to bother looking if you're relatively discreet, and what you're doing isn't actually harming them or their network. Sure Verizon would love to take every opportunity to charge you an extra fee, but they're not ATT (yet) so I don't think you have anything to worry about if you tether once and awhile in a pinch.

But don't take my word for it.
I look at it the same way they offer their premium services. Verizon's Visual Voicemail for $2.99 per month or Google Voice for FREE! Verizon's Navigator for $9.99 per month or Google Navigation for FREE! Verizon's Mobile Hotspot for $20 per month or Wifi Tether for FREE! See where I'm going with this? :D
 

tintn00

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I've tried Barnacle but when I hit start it says Starting... But nothing happens.

Same here. That's why I'm inquiring about the settings that people are using in Barnacle. I've tried everything and Barnacle doesn't seem to work on GummyCharged.
 

winnersmw

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You guys rooted? Also, on first run Barnacle prompted me to enable "Skip wpa_supplicant" in Settings... but I'd assume it would prompt the same from you if it required the setting change to run. Try enabling if you haven't already? Other than that, I haven't really changed any other setting 'cept my SSID and WEP key.
 

tintn00

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You're right. Check the "skip wpa_supplicant" and then reboot the phone. Barnacle works! Gives me some pdprpd1 NAT error but I still manage to use my PC on the phone. Thanks!
 

tintn00

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Ok so here's my problem with Barnacle now. Even after pressing "stop" and even after force-closing the program, my computer can still see the broadcasted SSID on the list of available WiFis. If my PC connects, it cannot access the internet since I've "stopped" Barnacle already. But how do I stop the SSID from transmitting after I stopped Barnacle altogether? Seems like an awful waste of battery if my phone continues to transmit the SSID. Thanks.
 

winnersmw

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. . . But how do I stop the SSID from transmitting after I stopped Barnacle altogether? Seems like an awful waste of battery if my phone continues to transmit the SSID. Thanks.

I don't think the phone is still broadcasting the SSID; more like, your computer has cached the network list and isn't giving up on it. I tested it out by running barnacle without refreshing my computer's network list, then disabling barnacle, and then refreshing my computer's network list. It didn't detect the SSID, as it previously had when I refreshed before disabling barnacle.

:)
 

AirSushi

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Question regarding Fee Wifi Tethering on Droid Charge

Samsung Droid Charge E4 Rooted - Gummy 1.8.5

I have used the Verizon hotspot to tether my Charge to my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab and it works fine. I am now trying to find a Rooted application that will do the same thing (allow me to tether my tablet to my android phone). Both Barnacle and OpenGarden do NOT work. Other devices (iTouch, Laptop, Etc) can see and connect to the wifi signal but another android device does not even see the wifi.

In Barnacle I receive the message to skip WPA Supplicant, which i do, but then I also receive a NAT error stating the MTU is not set.

I found this article regarding why android ad-hoc networks do not see each other.
szym.net ? Ad-hoc Wifi in Android
I do find it odd that Verizon's wireless tether works fine though.

I have rooted and used my rooted Droid X with Apex to tether both a tablet and another phone and Verizon's wireless tether will allow my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 to hitch a ride on my Charge so I know it can be done.

Any ideas?
 

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