Sprint and free tethering

[prolongExistence]

Thanks for the info!

Sprint used to offer unlimited mobile card plans back before 4G was available. I've been with Sprint for around 15 years and I do actually have a mobile card plan with no cap but it's 3G only. I'm currently "grandfathered" in because I never let the plan lapse even though I've been out of contract for quite sometime. I hate to cancel but money is tight. Not to mention the speed has gotten horribly slow over the past couple of years and it's just not worth the monthly fee anymore. I've hung in there because they keep promising the bandwidth will improve.

I will try PDAnet+ and post back. I didn't want to root the phone because I've never done that and I am afraid of loosing all of my settings and data.

Have you rooted? Is it very difficult? I recall there being many different ROMs is there a "best" one and/or easy one to install?

Thanks again.

Sweeeeeet!

Thank you so much for suggesting PDAnet+

A quick test of the free version proved to work so I went ahead and bought it. So far, so good. Later, I will try and find the ever elusive 4G network in my area and post my results.

I really appreciate you taking the time to type such a helpful post.

Glad it worked! Try out PDAnet for a while & then when you're satisfied that it works for you go ahead and cancel your mobile card. As far as rooting & custom ROMs, I can't really answer specifically for you since we have different phones. Usually there's a command line method & then a simple 1 click method to root. Once you're rooted & unlock the bootloader, then you can install a different ROM. Either check out the forums for your device here at A|C or for ROMs head over to xda-developers.com & find your device there.

 

[poorboyjeff]

Works with 4G as well.

Since the hide tethering options in pdanet are only available for the USB connection, is it not safe to use the Wifi connection? WiFi is so much more convenient than having to look for and attaching the USB cable.

Will Sprint be able to detect WIFi tethering? I know I can change the user agent in Firefox. Is that all that's needed to hide tethering? I may tether multiple times a week but never any heavy downloading or streaming. I read elsewhere that other carriers use the user agent and other methods of detecting tethering.

 

[prolongExistence]

Works with 4G as well.

Since the hide tethering options in pdanet are only available for the USB connection, is it not safe to use the Wifi connection? WiFi is so much more convenient than having to look for and attaching the USB cable.

Will Sprint be able to detect WIFi tethering? I know I can change the user agent in Firefox. Is that all that's needed to hide tethering? I may tether multiple times a week but never any heavy downloading or streaming. I read elsewhere that other carriers use the user agent and other methods of detecting tethering.

I don't think I've ever heard someone say Sprint caught them. Personally speaking, my wife uses Foxfi (PDAnet) with no special configuration. My Gnex is rooted & I have a custom ROM so I use the native tethering but I have used Foxfi, WiFi Tether for Root Users & Open Garden in the past. Never heard anything from Sprint. IMO, Sprint is just happy to have customers, they're not gonna **** anyone off.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AC Forums mobile app

 

[poorboyjeff]

Thanks for the additional info.

For the first few years, I was averaging just over 1Mbps almost everywhere I went. Sprint has already **** me off because of the speed deterioration over the last 2-3 years. I travel all over two states and now there are very few areas where I get decent speed. I've been with them for 15 years and I've hung in there hoping they will make good on their promises but nothing yet. I've noticed minor improvements in certain areas but the average speed is no where near 0.6Mbps. I could live with that speed but I'm not even getting 0.2Mbps around my home (15mile radius). That's why I'm dropping my mobile card plan and not feeling the least little bit guilty about tethering.

 

[dakota.breeden]

How could I enable this to work with Viper Rom (Android:4.1 Version)?

 

[stackberry369]

Good luck with your guy's' roaming with the new Network plan. It states you get 100mb of roaming a month.

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

When I had a blackberry,I just used the bridge application to surfe the web.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[prolongExistence]

How could I enable this to work with Viper Rom (Android:4.1 Version)?

By Viper ROM do you mean you have an LG Viper? And if so, you sure its 4.1?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AC Forums mobile app

 

[ACrookie1023]

Hi Folks,

I just became aware of this forum and I read this specific thread with tremendous interest !!! You guys have all offered some great ideas / opinions !!! I was wondering if I could get a little more feedback from anyone who might care to share his / her thoughts. I have a real dilemma. Here it is:

1. I have a really good setup at home thru Time-Warner Cable which gives me TV, Internet, and landline phone for about $120-130 / month. [The bucks are starting to build up !!!]
2. I have a simple 'dumb phone' thru Sprint, costing around $40 / month [More bucks]
3. I have a data-connect card which gives me pretty good WiFi internet access for my laptop when I'm out of the apartment, costing $35 / month [Even more bucks]

I am seriously considering getting a Samsung Galaxy S 4 with their 'Unlimited' access, but at a cost of what??? maybe $90-100 / month if you include taxes [Now the bucks are killing me !!!]

My problem could be pretty much solved if I get rid of my dumb phone and data connect service and replace both with the GS 4 and use tethering to take care of my very limited internet access needs for my laptop. Do I dare 'take the plunge' and get the GS 4? I've read all the posts you guys have made, and it seems to me that I'll be safe if I only need a few GB of usage each week.

I would appreciate your help and advice tremendously. Thanks to everyone !!!!

Joe

 

[gameaddict8]

Hi Folks,

I just became aware of this forum and I read this specific thread with tremendous interest !!! You guys have all offered some great ideas / opinions !!! I was wondering if I could get a little more feedback from anyone who might care to share his / her thoughts. I have a real dilemma. Here it is:

1. I have a really good setup at home thru Time-Warner Cable which gives me TV, Internet, and landline phone for about $120-130 / month. [The bucks are starting to build up !!!]
2. I have a simple 'dumb phone' thru Sprint, costing around $40 / month [More bucks]
3. I have a data-connect card which gives me pretty good WiFi internet access for my laptop when I'm out of the apartment, costing $35 / month [Even more bucks]

I am seriously considering getting a Samsung Galaxy S 4 with their 'Unlimited' access, but at a cost of what??? maybe $90-100 / month if you include taxes [Now the bucks are killing me !!!]

My problem could be pretty much solved if I get rid of my dumb phone and data connect service and replace both with the GS 4 and use tethering to take care of my very limited internet access needs for my laptop. Do I dare 'take the plunge' and get the GS 4? I've read all the posts you guys have made, and it seems to me that I'll be safe if I only need a few GB of usage each week.

I would appreciate your help and advice tremendously. Thanks to everyone !!!!

Joe

Get the spark enabled gs4

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ACrookie1023]

Hello gameaddict8,
Thank you for replying. I don't think I really understand what you mean. I will be going to the Sprint store to get the Samsung GS 4. Is the device you mentioned some variation of it? And do you think I will be safe doing some light / moderate tethering?

Joe

 

[gameaddict8]

It's a newer version with more lte bands.

I have tethered since the og evo. Sprint doesn't care as long as you don't run a server.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ACrookie1023]

Hi gameaddict8,

Thanks for the suggestion. I will think seriously on it. Is that particular model something I can just go into the Sprint Store and ask for? In other words, easily available? Will it cost me significantly more?

Joe

 

[gameaddict8]

Hi gameaddict8,

Thanks for the suggestion. I will think seriously on it. Is that particular model something I can just go into the Sprint Store and ask for? In other words, easily available? Will it cost me significantly more?

Joe

Same price. They will discount the single band version

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dimm0k]

is this still possible without jailbreaking if I'm updated to 4.3?

 

[smax21]

Hi I just got onto the sprint network and have been having trouble with the tethering apps in the play store. What app do you use to tether? Is your android rooted? What rooting method do you recommend?

 

[prolongExistence]

Hi I just got onto the sprint network and have been having trouble with the tethering apps in the play store. What app do you use to tether? Is your android rooted? What rooting method do you recommend?

PDAnet+ is the best bet for a non-rooted (or rooted) phone but there are some that it won't work with. Visit junefabrics.com for info.
As far as rooting methods, that depends entirely on what device you have, it's different for every device. Visit the forum here that is specific to your device.

 

[ciscokid9]

Sprint found a way to measure Bluetooth tether and put it against your Hotspot Plan. I wonder if PDAnet will also count against data usage. :/

 

[Bohanna1]

Doesn't matter data is data. It depends on your plan,, (Mine is unlimited) They measure the amount of data that goes through the phone per month. FYI- I used about 8 gigs between Feb and march of this year using PDanet through bluetooth after my USB tether was shutoff due to the Sprint 4.3 update. I downloaded the latest 4.15 version of Pdanet to my windows 7 and 8 machines and the usb option worked again! foxfi and Pdanets wifi is blocked on 4.3 but they didn't find a way to disable bluetooth even though it was slower!

Sprint found a way to measure Bluetooth tether and put it against your Hotspot Plan. I wonder if PDAnet will also count against data usage. :/

 

[lharris#WN]

I have the old Unlimited plan on my stock Galaxy S3 w/4G-LTE and use FoxFi/PdaNet tethered to my pc and just speed tested at Ping@74ms, D/L @40.38Mbps, U/L@2.85 Mbps.
With one D/L utility alone it has logged 160 GB of data so far this month. Plus add on for Netflix, Hulu+ usage, regular web usage and heavy online gaming.
I just moved and didn't get cable or internet yet for the same financial reasons. And so far I don't see the need to.
The only cuts in service in the past month have been temp tower servicing outages for an hour or two.
My data speed is currently much faster than the local cable provider was able to supply at my last apartment.
I was just at Sprint today and had them check my account for getting a newer phone and even told them my heavy data usage and the rep just smiled.

My next step is to try to figure out how to share the connection via wifi somehow to my tablet and a ChromeCast I just bought without using the phones Hotspot feature which ad to my bill and have a data limit per the Sprint rep. (Any suggestions anyone ?)

 

[Dan Bantner]

Oh they care whether or not you tether or not. I got the infamous letter about 5 days ago. I've been tethering for a year now and have used the same amount of data I always use. What gets me is that it's data. Data is data. If I pay them to tether, it still the same damn data. Not like they have a special frequency for tethered devices.

So don't tell me I have unlimited data and then say oh it's limited to the device you use, then you have to pay and there is a cap on that. That's complete BS.

Carriers, for years, have always gotten away with charging you way too much money for stuff, and when Big Gov steps in and tries to limit what they can do, they find a way around it. How come they can find a way around the govs policies, but I can't find a way around theirs?