Mobile phones & tethering

Rusty!

asylum_seeker wrote: »

Now that's where MyWi comes in; the app somehow hides your pc name and fools your network provider into thinking you're still using your phone for data.

All it does is route the tethered data through the standard access point, the same way every non-iOS device in the world tethers. It doesn't mask anything, if Voda took the time to look at the headers of what you were doing, they'd know it wasn't coming from the phone. But clearly, they don't do that (and nor does anyone else I reckon).

timdownieuk

Rusty! wrote: »

All it does is route the tethered data through the standard access point, the same way every non-iOS device in the world tethers. It doesn't mask anything, if Voda took the time to look at the headers of what you were doing, they'd know it wasn't coming from the phone. But clearly, they don't do that (and nor does anyone else I reckon).

You must have missed where I said ( at least twice now) that my ipod HAS been blocked by T-Mobile. Mobile internet on my phone works fine, zilch on anything tethered to my phone now.

Rusty!

Are you using this MyWi app? A different app might well use the specific tethering APN which would be easy to disable?

carolwat

Is MyWi app an app you have to buy through cydia or is it free please.

baby_frogmella

Rusty! wrote: »

All it does is route the tethered data through the standard access point, the same way every non-iOS device in the world tethers. It doesn't mask anything, if Voda took the time to look at the headers of what you were doing, they'd know it wasn't coming from the phone. But clearly, they don't do that (and nor does anyone else I reckon).

O2 were charging me for tethering using the official tethering app on my iPhone 3GS. Now using MyWi and O2 have stopped charging me so yes I can also confirm that mywi does indeed work.

@carolwat
Mywi costs $20 from Cydia but you will save a hell of a lot more in tethering charges.

gjchester

asylum_seeker wrote: »

I understand what you're saying BUT i know for a fact Vodafone charge you £5 (for 500mb data) as soon as you connect your iphone to your pc and hit "tether" on the iphone menu

The iPhone probably reports back that it's being used to tether, that how you get charged. Not tired it as Safari is pretty good as a browser on the iPhone compared to the POS Sony Xperia I had before...

I've used my prior phones to tether and yes it works, however that doesn't mean they will not hit you with charges if they find out.

Look at it another way, go to a web site on your phone and the browser ID strings tend to give yo a mobile version. If you go to the same site on a PC you get full screen version.
The same tags that give the web site that info can be read by the service provider, if you have an iPhone and the browser repiorts as IE, Firefox, Chrome or Opera then it's blatently obvious your tethering.

There are millons of data users in the UK, the effort to check everyone isn't worth it, but you can bet that if you start hammering the network they will investigate your use.

baby_frogmella

gjchester wrote: »

There are millons of data users in the UK, the effort to check everyone isn't worth it, but you can bet that if you start hammering the network they will investigate your use.

I'm on the old iphone O2 unlimited data plan yet download a few GB's data each month onto my laptop via wifi tethering. One month i even reached around 15GB (mainly p2p) yet O2 haven't charged me a penny. I don't know the ins and outs of how MyWi works exactly but i do know it stops your operator finding out you're tethering on your iphone. Someone even reported on avforums that it also works on the £10 payg Giffgaff ie unlimited internet on your PC by just topping up your iphone with £10:rotfl:

Im_just_careful

The thread has got a bit confusing for me.

The original question seems to be around using a Nokia E72 (Symbian) phone with a T-Mobile SIM and Joikuspot to provide a WiFi "hotspot" to link to a device, for example an iPod touch.

So...

If the problem is essentially that one APN has been blocked (wifi via Joikuspot has stopped working but internet on the phone itself still works) then are there alternative APN settings to try.

I've not tried Joikuspot (I've never had a suitable phone) but is it possible to change the APN it uses ?

Also, does a laptop tethered via bluetooth work ?

sew109

timdownieuk wrote: »

As someone who has an "unlimited" internet option on my contract with T-mobile (for use with my phone), I'm more than a little frustrated that my data access via a "tethered" iPod touch (using my phones built in wifi capabilities and a wifi hotspot app) has recently been blocked.

Strictly speaking, I know that they've got me by the short and curlies so to speak as using other devices to download data like this isn't permitted under my contract, even when that data is downloaded though the supplied handset.

That said, I do feel that this is an unfair restriction on my right to access the data allowance that I've paid for (in practice, not unlimited but 1GB per month). I'll never get anywhere near my data limits with my current handset and even when using my iPod tethered to my phone, I doubt very much whether I'd still use more than a fraction of my allowance. As said elsewhere, it's a bit like being made to eat soup with a fork. It seems to me that it's just a mechanism for network providers to stop you using your allowance and to force you into paying extra data fees.

Given that ALL the network providers seem to have similar restrictive clauses, could it be argued that such clauses are anti-competitive and unreasonable?

You are not paying for 1GB of data you are paying for up to 1GB data there is a big difference, the networks agree their pricing based on what they expect to be used now they know that most smart phones will not get close 1GB a month but are putting this limit on to ensure that the network can handle it.

They are not creating a tariff to allow everyone to download 1Gb but creating a tariff that they hope will mean that most people do not get additional data charges at the end of the month. If everyone suddenly started to hit the 1GB then would most likely change the tariff or T&C’s, they know that if they allow tethering then more people will hit the limit and they will not be able to afford to keep it at this price and then the poor sods who only get say the football results once a week and use 10mb per month will have their pricing increased to cover others tethering.

I think that when you are buying a "normal" contract for a normal device then that is what you should use and if you want to use somthing beyound that then it is fair for the networks to charge more for it rather than having other subscribers subsidising it.

Gimp0r

I had to fix my HTC Desire HD (also T-Mobile) a few days ago when the hotspot feature stopped working/was blocked.
If you find the APN and delete the one that starts "Broadband" i think its broadband.t-mobile.uk
As long as you have general.t-mobile.uk then it should work.

Good luck