Which phone for tethering?

johnhyp

I am looking to buy a phone outright then get a tesco or t-mobile sim only deal for £10 p.m. With unlimited (3gb) internet.
I know it is possible to tether with the samsung galaxy s, but the cost does'nt justify my useage. I was wondering if any other (cheaper) mobiles have this capability. I hardly use more than 100 mins/texts a month so its really for getting internet access on my laptop without needing the added expense of a dongle.

Thanks
John

bhaisab

you can use the htc hd2 as a wifi router

spiro

Some networks appear to have a way of knowing you are tetherring and because this is not included in your inclusive package they charge you the earth. BEWARE.

johnhyp

Thanks, i think the HTC phone is of a similar price as the galaxy s. I was hoping to find a cheap one that does the trick. Maybe i'm asking a bit much.

Spiro, I went into my local carphone warehouse and they confirmed that the galaxy had tethering ability, they said it was ok to use as a wireless router providing i don't go over the fair useage policy (3gb on the tarriff i was looking at). Tho i don't have that in writing??? I currently use a vodaphone dongle and only use between 1 and 2 gb a month. I was hoping to do away with the dongle saving the £10 a month, thanks.

Cormac.d

You can teather the Samsung Monte, It's a decent phone!

gjchester

johnhyp wrote: »

Spiro, I went into my local carphone warehouse and they confirmed that the galaxy had tethering ability, they said it was ok to use as a wireless router providing i don't go over the fair useage policy (3gb on the tarriff i was looking at). Tho i don't have that in writing??? I currently use a vodaphone dongle and only use between 1 and 2 gb a month. I was hoping to do away with the dongle saving the £10 a month, thanks.

The 3GB FUP suggests T-mobile. None of the mobile co's allow tethering on a internet phone without further charge (see http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=INTERNET_ON_YOUR_PHONE)

However there are two things to thing about.

Spyro's right.

Can they tell. Yes easily if they look into the data packets. Also most mobile apps tend to send a bunch of data as they update then sit quietly until the next update. PC software tends to expect a connection is there so talks back and forth constantly. You'll use a lot more data than internet on a phone.

Will they bother is more the question. Probably not but if they do your in breach of the T&C ( 3.3.11. You must not operate, whether directly or through a third party, any device to route or re-route voice, data or other Services on, from or to the Network without Our express prior written consent;) and could be liable to charges fines or account suspension.

Just because the phone can do it don't think the mobile company will let you without charge.

Chances are they'll never notice unless you breech the FUP, but if you use a lot of internet plan on paying for the service regardless of your plans internet amount

johnhyp

Thanks gjchester, the fact that tethering is not allowed by any provider puts a whole different spin on it, i'll stick to the dongle for now, and get a sim only rolling contract for my phone. Hopefully sometime soon one of the providers will combine them.

flyingscotno1

Are they really going to know and monitor use within FUP from a mobile browser loading a page to Chrome? They do check other stuff more seriously (forget making a Skype call- you can't) but considering the Froyo release allowed you to set the phone up as a wireless hotspot essentially, that functionality would have been removed if mobile operators did not want you using it?

I think as long as you were sensible and did not take the michael you'd be fine personally.

gjchester

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

Are they really going to know and monitor use within FUP from a mobile browser loading a page to Chrome?

I think as long as you were sensible and did not take the michael you'd be fine personally.

The IP Packet headers would be different, they are not coming from the phone but from another device, the phone acting as a router will change some of the data packets (ususally the originating IP address so the returning packet returns to the phone but not all of them, many will just pass them through.

You could also mismatches in what goes where. eg packets identified as Flash being passed to a iPhone which doesn't do flash, or the browser may be identified wrongly, say it identifying itself as IE8 going to what should be a phone where it just does not tally up.

But again would they check to such depth for most users, probably not.

However I agree if you don't take the hiss you'll probably never be noticed, but it's better to know your in the wrong and use lightly than assume your right use shedloads of data and then get a big bill.

bubblesmoney

Just because there is a term in a contract does not mean it is enforceable. An unfair term is not enforceable.

For example if I want 3litres petrol and land at a petrol pump in a lada car and the pump charges me 1£ per litre but if I land up at the pump in a ferrari and they charge 2£ per litre for the same petrol saying our price is that for using our petrol in a ferrari and we forbid people from using petrol from cheaper cars in the ferrari. Loads of people in that scenario will fill petrol using the cheaper car still and transfer it to the other car. The petrol pump will have an uphill battle enforcing an unfair term in the contract.

I am just using the hypothetical example to explain the unfair term in the contract and why if people stay within the limit it will be unenforceable if challenged. But this will need to be tested in practise.

If people are staying within their limits I doubt whether it is economically feasible for the company to routinely analyse data packets for such 'evidence'. One could always claim a malicious or poorly programmed app was constantly checking data connection. It is a matter of record that T-Mobile usa network data section was brought down by a badly written app doing just that. T-mobile didn't have a clue as there was no precedents like that but now since officially there is then packet analysis might not stand to scrutiny.

Anyway IP address assigning methods as I understand it are assigned differently for land line systems and mobile networks hence the exemption for mobile networks for now from policing the networks for copyright violations etc in recent law changes and its implementing method as upto 3 users can share same IP address apparently in mobile networks due to some process specific to mobile data networks hence the science is not guaranteed to pinpoint a single user hence the exemption presently for mobile data providers from policing the system like the land line ones have to do now after the bill got passed by brown before he left office. don't ask me the science I read the analysis article about exemption for mobile networks but don't remember where I read it.

What about tethering satnav devices by Bluetooth for traffic or speed camera data etc. Isn't that tethering by Bluetooth, I doubt such people gets extra data bills even if they don't cross allowed data limit.

There are loads of apps for android to tether using usb cable or WiFi hotspot or Bluetooth etc. But it is wise to be cautious about such things. I have tethered occasionally via WiFi hotspot and not been charged extra.

gjchester

I understand the unfair terms bit, but just becasue you don't like the terms doesn't make it unfair. You agreed to the terms when you signed up, the fact data is expensive out of a bundle is not relelvent.

In your petrol analagy I agree it's unfail if you find out at the till after you've put the petrol in, but not if your notified at the forecourt entrance, you had the choice to not use that station, but you did even after being told. In this case you were notified in your T&C and you can chose to use data or not.

bubblesmoney wrote: »

What about tethering satnav devices by Bluetooth for traffic or speed camera data etc. Isn't that tethering by Bluetooth, I doubt such people gets extra data bills even if they don't cross allowed data limit.

And thats data use, for which you should be paying extra, but I agree most people don't.

As I said if your in your limits then I doubt the mobile co would go to the bother of checking. Although this analysis is pretty much automated theres stil a lot of traffic and it's probably not viable to check every packet.

Go over often and they will start looking more closely.

bubblesmoney wrote: »

There are loads of apps for android to tether using usb cable or WiFi hotspot or Bluetooth etc.

Using a car analagy, my car can do 120MPH (when new maybe down hill if I'm lucky now) but that doesn't mean it's legal to do so on the UK roads.

With regards to the T-Mobile issue you can bet that TM USA are already investigating how to stop this in the future, and packet analaysis and shaping will be part of that solution. Once a rogue app is detected then any packets that appear to be from it will be rejected from the network.

I'd add how quick or reliable that process will be is another matter...