[frenzy757]

They say if you buy the unlimited plan you have to pay for tethering...

however, ive never paid for tethering on any android phone (I have a N4)...

Has anyone switched to the new plan and tethered as normal on the Nexus? or do I have to now pay. In the past, Tmo used to let me tether whereever I wanted.

[still1]

technically for tether you have to pay but with N4, T-mobile wont even know that you are tethering.
so dont ask for tethering support when you get the connection. tethering is not included on the base plan but you can tether without paying.

[return_0]

technically for tether you have to pay but with N4, T-mobile wont even know that you are tethering.
so dont ask for tethering support when you get the connection. tethering is not included on the base plan but you can tether without paying.

Really? I didn't know this. What allows the N4 to do this?

[PWC Realtor]

They were talking about this on the Engadget Mobile podcast this week. Supposedly with the Nexus 4 the theory is reason why some people get blocked is that with the Nexus 4s that were sold by T-mobile directly have IMEI numbers flagged on their system while those of us who bought units from the Play Store are not in the system since you do not have to give T-mobile your IMEI to activate the phone.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

[xstinkyx]

technically for tether you have to pay but with N4, T-mobile wont even know that you are tethering.

Uh, explain. I was temporarily blocked when uploaded, via the N4, a large video on my laptop to YouTube.

[jdbii]

I think the new uncarrier plans they just announced have tethering included anyway.

I can't tether anyway to Windows PC's. I can tether to any Linux PC all day long, as well as a Nexus 7 tablet whenever I want, but whenever I try to tether to any Windows PC the connection is always 'limited,' and the only browser I can semi-use (because even in limited sometimes there is no connection) is Opera with turbo enabled and it crawls at speeds slower than dial-up.

[PWC Realtor]

I think the new uncarrier plans they just announced have tethering included anyway.

I can't tether anyway to Windows PC's. I can tether to any Linux PC all day long, as well as a Nexus 7 tablet whenever I want, but whenever I try to tether to any Windows PC the connection is always 'limited,' and the only browser I can semi-use (because even in limited sometimes there is no connection) is Opera with turbo enabled and it crawls at speeds slower than dial-up.

Works on Windows 7 for me although it creates a new connection profile each time.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

[jdbii]

Works on Windows 7 for me although it creates a new connection profile each time.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

I've only had a chance to use on Windows 8 as far as Windows OS go, but good to know you have no problem on Windows 7. I've been following others posting on this topic, and it just sort of seems to be random or a setting on my PC that is messing it up. But that is good info to have -- that it forces you to make a new connection profile. That might help me next time I try.

[return_0]

Uh, explain. I was temporarily blocked when uploaded, via the N4, a large video on my laptop to YouTube.

Was this an N4 bought from T-Mobile (unlocked or locked, doesn't matter) or from Google Play?

[PWC Realtor]

I've only had a chance to use on Windows 8 as far as Windows OS go, but good to know you have no problem on Windows 7. I've been following others posting on this topic, and it just sort of seems to be random or a setting on my PC that is messing it up. But that is good info to have -- that it forces you to make a new connection profile. That might help me next time I try.

It also depends on the WiFi driver used. I updated the driver in my laptop and suddenly got the blue screen of death everyone I connected to my N4 WiFi hotspot

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

[whip it good]

They were talking about this on the Engadget Mobile podcast this week. Supposedly with the Nexus 4 the theory is reason why some people get blocked is that with the Nexus 4s that were sold by T-mobile directly have IMEI numbers flagged on their system while those of us who bought units from the Play Store are not in the system since you do not have to give T-mobile your IMEI to activate the phone.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

I just tried (unsuccessfully) to activate a Nexus 4 on the T-mobile website and you definitely have tp give them some IMEI to activate. Is there a dummy/default IMEI that should be used instead, if they bought the Nexus 4 from the Play store?

[xstinkyx]

Was this an N4 bought from T-Mobile (unlocked or locked, doesn't matter) or from Google Play?

It was a Google Play N4. TMO is my carrier. In the past I tethered (lightly) with my Sidekick 4G without troubles. And I tethered here and there with the N4 without troubles until that time I did the youtube upload attempt. (Got the "sign up" page or whatever when trying to load web pages.) Eventually things seem to reset and I was able to tether successfully again.

[PWC Realtor]

I just tried (unsuccessfully) to activate a Nexus 4 on the T-mobile website and you definitely have tp give them some IMEI to activate. Is there a dummy/default IMEI that should be used instead, if they bought the Nexus 4 from the Play store?

Oh see I upgraded from a Galaxy Nexus so I just cut my SIM card and moved it over. The only IMEI t-mobile may even have on my account is for the G2x I bought when I switched to them in 2011.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

[jdbii]

It also depends on the WiFi driver used. I updated the driver in my laptop and suddenly got the blue screen of death everyone I connected to my N4 WiFi hotspot

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

I figured out what I was doing wrong all this time. I didn't have 'mobile data' enabled when I was attempting to tether. It works fine.

[Tall Mike 2145]

I successfully set up tethering in Lion about a month ago, but very quickly I started getting blocked. I don't know how T-Mo can know this unless the phone actively reports to the carrier that tethering is ongoing.

[jdbii]

I successfully set up tethering in Lion about a month ago, but very quickly I started getting blocked. I don't know how T-Mo can know this unless the phone actively reports to the carrier that tethering is ongoing.

In this thread @mwilkins posted earlier that s/he heard a podcast on Endgadget that said N4's bought directly from Tmo were more likely to get flagged than those bought on Google Play - something to do with IMEI numbers. I've seen people say it can just be random whether or not one gets flagged. Other posts in this forum say Tmo has to look at the traffic on your phone, and they might have a reason if one uses a lot of data, or it might be simple bad luck that one gets checked in a random routine check. I guess there are means to know whether or not one is tethering since data sent from a computer differs in some identifiable way from data sent from a phone, but I think they have to actually look.

[Tall Mike 2145]

Then obviously they must be "looking". I would love to know where the differences are. I got flagged and all I was doing was surfing the web for a brief little while when Comcast went down. I don't normally ever have a reason to tether.

[N4Newbie]

It is easy enough to know what browser is requesting data; that's how a web site knows whether to send its desktop page or mobile- optimized page.

Supposedly carriers monitor this info as a simple way to tell if you are tethering to a desktop PC.

[chipster68]

I'm investigating the feasibility of replacing my TimeWarner internet with an unlimited Tmobile data plan. I use up to 80Gb a month through my Roku. Yesterday, while tethering my laptop to my Nexus 4, I got the Tmobile tethering detection re-direct. So now I'm using Chrome with a user agent set to Nexus 7. It's working so far but this current test has only been for a short while.

If surfing on my laptop is successful, I'll eventually attempt to watch a full movie through my Roku tethered to my Nexus 4. I've only watched a few minutes of a movie while tethered so far. One movie will use up a large portion of my current 5Gb limit.

[PWC Realtor]

I'm investigating the feasibility of replacing my TimeWarner internet with an unlimited Tmobile data plan. I use up to 80Gb a month through my Roku. Yesterday, while tethering my laptop to my Nexus 4, I got the Tmobile tethering detection re-direct. So now I'm using Chrome with a user agent set to Nexus 7. It's working so far but this current test has only been for a short while.

If surfing on my laptop is successful, I'll eventually attempt to watch a full movie through my Roku tethered to my Nexus 4. I've only watched a few minutes of a movie while tethered so far. One movie will use up a large portion of my current 5Gb limit.

T-Mobile has said that unlimited data doesn't mean replace primary home internet connection.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

[xstinkyx]

A few days ago I turned on tethering just to see if it still worked okay. After awhile I got the following 889 SMS/txt message:

"Free T-Mobile Msg: To prevent future Smartphone Mobile HotSpot (Tethering) access from being blocked, go to T-Mobile Smartphone Mobile HotSpot to add Smartphone Mobile HotSpot service."

I'm curious if they sent this out because they saw any activity or if they saw more than 100MB of tethered activity (I had about 150MB of data).

Last night I tethered again (to watch some videos via the iPad Trailers app as my home wifi was all screwy). I racked up another 120MB+ in tethering data, but never got a warning and access wasn't blocked. I don't remember for certain but I think I also did some web browsing just to ensure that that also worked.

Do the cool kids tether with something else than the stock wifi tether setting? A solution that doesn't require rooting?

[N4Newbie]

I'm investigating the feasibility of replacing my TimeWarner internet with an unlimited Tmobile data plan. I use up to 80Gb a month through my Roku...

Depending on the plan selected, only the first 2 or 5GB are at "high" speed. After that you will be throttled back to 2G speeds - completely unusable for anything other than simple email. Even loading the New York Times homepage takes forever at 2G.

[chipster68]

Depending on the plan selected, only the first 2 or 5GB are at "high" speed. After that you will be throttled back to 2G speeds - completely unusable for anything other than simple email. Even loading the New York Times homepage takes forever at 2G.

Oh, I know that. I would be looking at upgrading to the new $70 unlimited 4G plan. However, I need to make sure I can fully utilize the plan and that means streaming movies with my Roku. It may be too premature to have one data plan to cover my home and mobile needs, but I'm willing to test the waters if the various factors are close to my requirements. The decision doesn't have to be made for a few more months, so I have time to learn from other people's experiences with T-Mobile's new plans.

[NexusGirlX]

There is a $70 plan that is completely unlimited and data will never be throttled on that plan. Keep in mind that they have a condition written in where they can throttle for usage beyond what is considered normal. I am at 5.5GB on this plan two weeks in with normal speeds. I keep my WiFi off because T-Mobiles data is faster than my DSL which is about 14Mbps and I get about 17-21 with T-Mobile.

[jdbii]

Do the cool kids tether with something else than the stock wifi tether setting? A solution that doesn't require rooting?

No, I don't think so. The cool kids might have their own hacks, and they probably have success based on their technical skills, but my guess is they get flagged too. I think tablets are less likely to get flagged, possibly because phones and tablets are more similar, or the data they use appears to be the same?? I can't remember seeing any post where somebody said they got flagged for tethering to a tablet, but they might have just omitted that fact.