Tmobile G2x Wifi Hotspot getting charged?

[gggplaya]

I noticed there is native wifi hotspot on the G2x, you turn it on and it works. My data is like dial up right now but that's another issue. It is working even though it's not on my account.

Do you get charged the $15 a month hotspot fee even though it's not on my account? Or does Tmobile go on the honor system for this fee?

 

[Panick]

In the five years I have had T-Mobile service I have tethered via USB, dial-up, wi-fi and bluetooth and I have never been charged an extra fee for it. The consensus via various online communities I have visited is that you can use it without fear of getting charged (so far I have not heard of a single person getting a surprise charge on their bill) but it's not a guaranteed feature if you're not paying for it (i.e. if it stops working for whatever reason you will have no one to complain to).

That said, I do use it and it's never failed me and I've never gotten a nasty-gram from T-Mo about it.

 

[lmc05]

That little message that pops up is more for users who don't have unlimited dats, and if they go over their limit by tethering then that's where they will get charged. But T-Mobile has turned on some sort of filter now that can turn off the tethering unless you were to add the $15 a month tethering feature to your account.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

My experience is that if you don't abuse it and stay under your cap you will be fine. I only use it occasionally to browse the web and stuff. Never go over my cap, either.

 

[tshire]

T-Mobile hit me with the tether filter last month. They cut me off from my grandfathered unlimited data, tethering included plan. I had an HTC Shadow and typically used 250-300MB/mo.

Since they were forcing me to pay the $15 tethering fee, I figured I might as well make the most of it and get a 4G phone.

 

[ashton4life]

Just install a 3rd part app if your worried.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Just install a 3rd part app if your worried.

Just curious. What third party app will stop T-Mobile from seeing if you're tethering?

 

[Panick]

Just curious. What third party app will stop T-Mobile from seeing if you're tethering?

While I suppose there is the possibility of them putting a flag into the tethering option in the OS itself (thereby identifying those using it), short of doing some deep packet inspection none of the cell operators can tell with no doubt that you are tethering with a direct connect option (like the wi-fi tethering). They can make some judgement calls based on the amount of data you are using (and where that data is coming from, I would assume) but that is all. Back in the day when you were using the old *99# dial in tethering it was easy to tell but since the wi-fi option is just a simple data redirect, from the provider's perspective it's all data requests that look identical to those being requested by the phone itself. As long as you are not overusing your data connection, thereby making it obvious your phone isn't the culprit, there isn't a lot to give you away.

AT&T recently sent out threat letters to folks it suspected of tethering but ultimately it was all a guessing game and if the customers called customer support and played dumb they were let off the hook.

 

[Droid800]

While I suppose there is the possibility of them putting a flag into the tethering option in the OS itself (thereby identifying those using it), short of doing some deep packet inspection none of the cell operators can tell with no doubt that you are tethering with a direct connect option (like the wi-fi tethering). They can make some judgement calls based on the amount of data you are using (and where that data is coming from, I would assume) but that is all. Back in the day when you were using the old *99# dial in tethering it was easy to tell but since the wi-fi option is just a simple data redirect, from the provider's perspective it's all data requests that look identical to those being requested by the phone itself. As long as you are not overusing your data connection, thereby making it obvious your phone isn't the culprit, there isn't a lot to give you away.

AT&T recently sent out threat letters to folks it suspected of tethering but ultimately it was all a guessing game and if the customers called customer support and played dumb they were let off the hook.

Ha. You sorta don't know what you're talking about.

Carriers can tell whenever you tether without any doubt. You would be surprised at how easily they can track your usage, and how easily they can tell whether you're tethering. This is especially true for companies like AT&T and Verizon, which do not allow customers to tether without charge like T-mobile does. If those companies wanted, they could nail every single customer that tethers illegally to the wall and there's nothing that the customer could do about it. Yes, their tracking methods ARE that accurate, and YES they know every single time that customer tethers without paying.

Don't kid yourself; carriers have complete control over their networks, and they know and see all that happens on it. (and there's nothing any customer can do to avoid it.)

 

[Panick]

Ha. You sorta don't know what you're talking about.

Carriers can tell whenever you tether without any doubt. You would be surprised at how easily they can track your usage, and how easily they can tell whether you're tethering. This is especially true for companies like AT&T and Verizon, which do not allow customers to tether without charge like T-mobile does. If those companies wanted, they could nail every single customer that tethers illegally to the wall and there's nothing that the customer could do about it. Yes, their tracking methods ARE that accurate, and YES they know every single time that customer tethers without paying.

Don't kid yourself; carriers have complete control over their networks, and they know and see all that happens on it. (and there's nothing any customer can do to avoid it.)

I have a very good friend who is a network engineer for Verizon Wireless. I assure you I do know what I am talking about. They can't look at every packet you send across their network, it's technically infeasible (not to mention it creates a privacy issue when it's done sans a legal warrant). The only way they can catch people who are tethering without paying for the service is if they have a flag set in the code that fires off a message to the head office when it is turned on (and I wouldn't doubt that they do), otherwise it is a pure guessing game (i.e. that dude sucking down 6 gigs a month, every month is probably not doing that entirely on his smartphone). Why do you think that the carriers get all up in arms and start trying to block tethering apps that basically do the same thing that is a built in function of the smartphone's OS? They used to be able to tell, true, but the technology has moved on.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

They might not be able to packet sniff, but I'd be willing to bet it's perfectly ok for them to look at where those packets go. I'm pretty sure if packets are going to, say, the Playstation Network (obviously not right now LOL) then they would know. I've used my phone to play Black Ops plenty of times because Comcast sucks.

I may be wrong, and if anybody has more info I would love to hear it.

 

[Droid800]

I have a very good friend who is a network engineer for Verizon Wireless. I assure you I do know what I am talking about. They can't look at every packet you send across their network, it's technically infeasible (not to mention it creates a privacy issue when it's done sans a legal warrant). The only way they can catch people who are tethering without paying for the service is if they have a flag set in the code that fires off a message to the head office when it is turned on (and I wouldn't doubt that they do), otherwise it is a pure guessing game (i.e. that dude sucking down 6 gigs a month, every month is probably not doing that entirely on his smartphone). Why do you think that the carriers get all up in arms and start trying to block tethering apps that basically do the same thing that is a built in function of the smartphone's OS? They used to be able to tell, true, but the technology has moved on.

I'll take the word of AC's resident Verizon mole (and network engineer) BlackManX over yours, no offense. And he's said point blank that if you think Verizon or any other carrier has no idea that you're tethering illegally, you don't know what you're talking about.

They know. They can track it. And there will be a day when they start terminating contracts and service because of it.

 

[koolkist]

Locked out of Data for 1 month

T Mobile has started sending a message
to those doing this. Message asks if you'd
like use service. If you ignore, T Mobile now
blocks access to you data for 1 month.

Service is $14.99 a month, but is pro rated
It also takes about 2 hours for T Mobile to
turn on feature once you request it.

Hope this helps

 

[Droid800]

T Mobile has started sending a message
to those doing this. Message asks if you'd
like use service. If you ignore, T Mobile now
blocks access to you data for 1 month.

Service is $14.99 a month, but is pro rated
It also takes about 2 hours for T Mobile to
turn on feature once you request it.

Hope this helps

Any proof?

 

[going_home]

T Mobile has started sending a message
to those doing this. Message asks if you'd
like use service. If you ignore, T Mobile now
blocks access to you data for 1 month.

Service is $14.99 a month, but is pro rated
It also takes about 2 hours for T Mobile to
turn on feature once you request it.

Hope this helps

I've been tethering (or wifi hotspotting) since I got the G1 in 2008.
Well maybe it was 2009 after I downloaded PDAnet for Android.

G1, Nexus One, G2, Nexus S, MyTouch 4G, G2X, I've tethered on them all .

I got a text once in early April 2011 from TMO telling me I need to get the tethering plan.
I was not blocked from tethering nor have I been charged.
Nor an I planning on getting the tethering plan.
I finally went over 2gb of data usage last month too.
.