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AT&T Cracks Down on Tethering

wayrad

Android Expert
I don't see any other mentions of this TUAW article, so thought I'd post a link. Although it specifically refers to the iPhone and AT&T, there's no reason other providers couldn't detect and move against tethering in the same way.

AT&T aggressively moving against unauthorized tethering

Excerpt from the TUAW article (authored by Richard Gaywood):

"AT&T is ruining a lot of people's days with a customer mailshot explaining that its "records show that you use [tethering] but are not subscribed to our tethering plan." iOS, of course, will disable the built-in tethering facility if you do not have an appropriate carrier plan.
There are a few jailbreak apps, the most popular of which is MyWi (previous TUAW coverage), that bypass the plan check and enable tethering independently. When you run MyWi or similar apps, your iPhone creates a wireless hotspot that allows you to connect other devices without the explicit permission of your carrier. Until now, people have assumed that AT&T either doesn't care or cannot determine that the traffic comes from a connected device rather than the iPhone itself. Clearly, those assumptions are incorrect."
 
Interesting. I'd be curious how they do in fact determine if you are tethering. The article supposes by excessive use of a non-mobile browser, but many Android owners prefer a full website so they set the UA to identify themselves that way.

While I do occasionally tether my laptop, i most frequently tether my N1 to my Nook Color to grab content while out on the road. Since it is Android based and therefore a mobile browser, i would expect that type of detection to fail, as it would if iPads were tethered to iPhones.
 
Probably the same way by which a website detects whether you are on a mobile device or not.

However, I have noticed that when I tether my laptop to my android, I end up in mobile version of websites as well.
 
Sounds a whole lot like back in the day, when broadband providers tried to charge for using a router... And to pay for each computer you connected.

We see how that went. It lasted for a year or two, then died quickly.
 
I plan to obtain a tablet with WiFi only and then tether to my phone. I assume that the carriers see this happening and are trying to nip it in the bud, as tablets are their next killer revenue source.
 
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