Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Sir Tigger KC on 16 September 2016, 10:01:12
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I've changed my 3 contract from one with unlimited data (tethering allowed), calls and texts to one with 4GB data (tethering not allowed), unlimited calls and texts, saving myself £17 per month. :y
However, I asked the nice 3 lady in India how would they know if I used my phone as a wifi hotspot and she said that I'd go over my data allowance. So I said what if I do it within my allowance? and she didn't have an answer. :-\ Well not on her script any way! ;D
So if I occasionally tether my laptop for things that are too fiddly to do on my phone when I'm away from home, how do they know? ??? :-\
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Been tethering for years on the Three network pay as you go plan with the unlimited net (now £25 a month) I haven't checked for awhile but I'm tethering in the hundreds of gigabytes on several different devices with no issues. I have a dedicated android phone I use for tethering 24/7 in the best spot in the house with most signal.
Why do I go through all this bother.. simple there's no fibre around here and your lucky to get 2mbps down - 0.30mbps up on BT.
Three 23mbps down - 4mbps up.
Luck of the draw maybe in regards to how they know what your using the Internet on? No idea.
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Its dead easy as they can spot MAC addresses at the layer 2 level which are not your phone.
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So, I think three have implemented this on all sims/devices/accounts from a certain point going forward.
Reason being that my wife and I had PAYG on 3 for a while, on the unlimited data, she could tether, I could not. The only difference (same handset model, same bundles etc) was that she has had hers a lot longer than mine. So if you have it, I wouldn't ask for a replacement sim/change of number as I suspect you may lose the ability to do it. I took on a contract instead, which for 90% of people are probably better value now anyway, although not if you're a very heavy data user.
I *think* there is a way to fool it if you do want to tether on PAYG, but I lost the will to live halfway through the article I found on the net about it so cannot confirm if it works or not.
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Its incredibly easy to spot at almost any layer in the stack. Your browser will give a load of info in the GET request, your OS leaves a signature at the TCP level, the hardware leaves a signature at the physical level...
I obviously can't say the techniques we use, but we can spot the vast majority long before it even hits DPI, where we can properly play silly beggers.
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I *think* there is a way to fool it if you do want to tether on PAYG, but I lost the will to live halfway through the article I found on the net about it so cannot confirm if it works or not.
There isn't a foolproof way. You *may* be able to get away with it for a short time if you have the knowledge of what checks a provider is doing at that point in time, and said provider isn't using DPI.
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Maybe Three are 'unofficially' allowing tethering now, Maybe that's why they put the price up from £15 for unlimited net to now £25 a month on pay as you go.
I've had no warning of any kind and I've used it on a few different SIM cards. Since around 2010 give or take.
Although I did try the sim in a MiFi once and I did get a tethering notification while trying to use the Internet. But once I put the sim back in a phone and tethered once again problem solved.
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I used to tether loads using between 20 - 30GBs a month, but I don't any more hence changing the contract as I used just under 1GB last month. I was just wondering if I could get away with it occasionally. ;)
Now I know. Thanks for the answers chaps! :y
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Maybe Three are 'unofficially' allowing tethering now, Maybe that's why they put the price up from £15 for unlimited net to now £25 a month on pay as you go.
I've had no warning of any kind and I've used it on a few different SIM cards. Since around 2010 give or take.
Although I did try the sim in a MiFi once and I did get a tethering notification while trying to use the Internet. But once I put the sim back in a phone and tethered once again problem solved.
How old is your mobile, or the Hot Spot App, some of the very early WiFi Shares would let tethering pass striaght through, thiese were typically the type that didn.t allow Peer to Peer connections, or youve goy an very d Sim Plan.
On the MiFi thing some of the early Sims where Broadband Only, ie ISDN and where not confugured for Mobile Calls, so possibly the Network would detect the typd of Data Connection required from a device.
Either way, as said things have moved on and Networks now have all sorts Bots on the Network to detect tethering cheaters, personally I cant see what the problem is, you paid for your data allowance, its up to you how you want use it, if you choose to gobble it all up using your laptop its no big deal, most networks have Data Traffic Management in place now to slow you down if need be.
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I've used all kind of Android phones to tether, Not used a iPhone for long periods as it's my main phone I use day to day.
Back to the tethering phones. Can't remember what I used back a few years ago. More recently i've used a Moto G 4G, Sony Z3 Compact... my current android phone I'm tethering with is the 2016 Moto G on the latest version of Android. It's by far the best phone I've used for tethering it has much better range, doesn't occasionally drop out or slow down like one previous phones.
I haven't been changing devices because they break or anything like that, Just thought the latest devices may help the speed even more and tbh on the whole each upgrade is a little better each time. But i'll be keeping this 2016 Moto G for awhile it works perfectly.
I do find it helps if you restart the phone once a day it helps the speed even more for that day till the next day. It's become like a routine now so doesn't bother me.
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I'll get a screen shot of the tethering data I've used up later :y
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There was an app called PDAnet that was supposed to disguise your usage so you could tether without your provider knowing.
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There was an app called PDAnet that was supposed to disguise your usage so you could tether without your provider knowing.
It only disguised some very basic things (it acted as a web proxy, so could mask device and browser - which was why you used to get redirected to mobile websites rather than the full sites), which might have been enough at the time as long as you didn't take the mickey (back then, it wasn't practical to inspect every subscriber's traffic, so it only used to happen if you highlighted yourself).
Now the service providers have a lot of tools in their arsenal, and can be alerted as fast as half a dozen packets.
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Forgot last night...
(https://s20.postimg.io/9rte3va4d/IMG_1248.jpg)
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400gb a month, is that all, I can do that in an hour just on error correction. ::)
Seriously though, I bet Three love you, have they offered to buy your Sim back yet. ;D
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TBH, like ADSL in the CBC finance models a dozen or so years back, its those that take the piss that have ruined it for everyone.
How many Linux distros or utube videos can you watch in a month?
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4K Netflix uses a fair amount, plus Amazon prime etc.. not to mention constant updates on devices..etc.
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4K Netflix uses a fair amount, plus Amazon prime etc.. not to mention constant updates on devices..etc.
Yup, fair to say, that is abuse.
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4K Netflix uses a fair amount, plus Amazon prime etc.. not to mention constant updates on devices..etc.
Yup, fair to say, that is abuse.
So is charging redicilous prices for the crap BT pumps out with an average of 1.3mbps down - 0.3mbps up with multiple devices connected with no fibre planned for around here any time soon.
Back on topic. Tethering should be fine. Maybe it helps being a long time Three customer I've no idea.
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I think its just a case of your on an old sim plan that gives you all in, 400gig is a lot though for a mobile plan.
Ive still got an old TM Full Monty Sim which can get hammered if need be if Im away, but then doesn"t get used for months on end. Every now and then EE try and get me of it and on to metered 4g sim, problem is they cant get anywhere near a good Data allowance for what Im currently paying, so seems there happy for me to carry on.
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I think its just a case of your on an old sim plan that gives you all in, 400gig is a lot though for a mobile plan.
Ive still got an old TM Full Monty Sim which can get hammered if need be if Im away, but then doesn"t get used for months on end. Every now and then EE try and get me of it and on to metered 4g sim, problem is they cant get anywhere near a good Data allowance for what Im currently paying, so seems there happy for me to carry on.
That sounds about right. :y
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I don't normally use anywhere near this much data by the way.. More like 100GB give or take on average a month which is still a lot for a mobile data. I'd have to be glued to Netflix 24/7 to use around 400GB. Just been a heavy month data wise with everything, cloud backups etc..
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4K Netflix uses a fair amount, plus Amazon prime etc.. not to mention constant updates on devices..etc.
Yup, fair to say, that is abuse.
So is charging redicilous prices for the crap BT pumps out with an average of 1.3mbps down - 0.3mbps up with multiple devices connected with no fibre planned for around here any time soon.
Back on topic. Tethering should be fine. Maybe it helps being a long time Three customer I've no idea.
Plenty of other ISPs ;)
I dread to think on the provider's cost per Gb. Which is why nobody offers an unlimited option any more.
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Plenty of other ISPs ;)
That doesn't help him much when it all has to run over BTOpenReach's wet stringaluminiumcopper pairs, though ;)
(Assuming not in a Virgin cable area)
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Plenty of other ISPs ;)
That doesn't help him much when it all has to run over BTOpenReach's wet stringaluminiumcopper pairs, though ;)
(Assuming not in a Virgin cable area)
Nowt wrong with Victorian engineering. Just shovel a bit more coal in. :y
Sooner or later, wireless delivery will trounce what Openleach's wet string can deliver to the home on all levels, and they'll wish they'd put a bit more investment in, I suspect.
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and they'll wish they'd put a bit more investment in, I suspect.
Don't believe the media, or that things will be rosy if the Daily Fail and the tart from Talk Talk get their way and OR is spun off. Its all 'dangle berries', designed to outrage and sell papers. Or mask over the fact all your customers are leaving because you felt the need to distribute all their personal information to the globe.
Most localities, > 90% of the population can get fibre to the home if they want it. In fact that's a lie, everyone can by ordering Ethernet products, but lets stick with residential/soho type products.
We have remarkably cheap, fast Internet in the UK, and that's all thanks to OR. Who else will make that investment to provide near universal coverage? Nobody. Well, not at the prices we want to pay. Other companies will, obviously, only go for the very profitable areas.
The government proposed a universal internet service to provide a minimum speed to everyone (12Mb from memory, but might be wrong). Absolutely no takers, as everyone knows its not financially viable.
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According to that EU Twaat Boss were all going to have WiFi in every City, Town and Village by the end of 2020, (http://www.dndservices.co.uk/smiley/grin1.gif)
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Plenty of other ISPs ;)
That doesn't help him much when it all has to run over BTOpenReach's wet stringaluminiumcopper pairs, though ;)
(Assuming not in a Virgin cable area)
Exactly... I've tried contacting other providers such as Virgin etc.. I could change to them but I'd only be getting the same speeds. Nothing to gain.
BT have no plans on upgrading this area any time soon.
It's ridiculous that a mobile phone even with all the mountains etc.. can get a much faster speed than a fixed line in this day and age. Businesses are also constantly complaining about the speeds in the area yet BT do nothing. One of the downsides living in the middle on knowwhere I suppose.
Can get up to 60mbps down on EE 4G but can't really use them seen as they don't have unlimited data.
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The methods for detecting tethering require inspection of the packet contents and thus are a legal grey area under current laws. You can tunnel through the hotspot and render the packets more difficult to read although other signatures may give you away.
When the GDPR comes in it will render the grey area more black and white. Not sure what the effect of using HTTP2 will be or if it would change anything, it would interesting to see the different packet contents to see if there are different markers.
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According to that EU Twaat Boss were all going to have WiFi in every City, Town and Village by the end of 2020, (http://www.dndservices.co.uk/smiley/grin1.gif)
They might have in Swindon ;)
http://www.getsignal.co.uk/
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According to that EU Twaat Boss were all going to have WiFi in every City, Town and Village by the end of 2020, (http://www.dndservices.co.uk/smiley/grin1.gif)
They might have in Swindon ;)
http://www.getsignal.co.uk/
yea they've had Public WiFi in the City of London, all square mile of it, for about 10 years now, not sure if its still free though.
I noticed when I was in Chingford (E4) the other day that they have good Street WiFi up and running, not cheap to use though.
A friend of mine lives in a Flat above Barclay Bank, he's been using there Free Wifi for about 5 years now, seems good in the evenings as well when I measured it, because no one is on it, about 15 MB's down and 6 MB's up, problem is they've recently starting to switch it off after 5pm now.
Ive told him to write in and complain. ;D
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I *think* there is a way to fool it if you do want to tether on PAYG, but I lost the will to live halfway through the article I found on the net about it so cannot confirm if it works or not.
There isn't a foolproof way. You *may* be able to get away with it for a short time if you have the knowledge of what checks a provider is doing at that point in time, and said provider isn't using DPI.
Ah, from someone who really knows! :)
Glad I didn't bother to try it then!
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I tether a lot on GiffGaff which they officially block but they don't seem to enforce.
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I tether a lot on GiffGaff which they officially block but they don't seem to enforce.
IME experience, you can take the piss a fair bit the first time :y
Obviously the non unlimited data packages allow tethering anyway.