Root Mobile AP & Tethering

[stjalsma]

So, I have the At&t Captivate. I have installed the 2.2 Froyo for Samsung that leaked a few weeks ago and have rooted.

My question is, my mobile-ap (wifi hotspot) and usb tethering are fully functional. I never got a warning from at&t when launching the services informing I needed any extended plans. I do have unlimited 3g data service so I am not worried about data consumption.

Does at&t know that I am using these services?

Love the Captivate and the Froyo with ROOT BTW...

 

[Tweakrr]

So, I have the At&t Captivate. I have installed the 2.2 Froyo for Samsung that leaked a few weeks ago and have rooted.

My question is, my mobile-ap (wifi hotspot) and usb tethering are fully functional. I never got a warning from at&t when launching the services informing I needed any extended plans. I do have unlimited 3g data service so I am not worried about data consumption.

Does at&t know that I am using these services?

Love the Captivate and the Froyo with ROOT BTW...

There is little doubt that the provider can tell you are using tethering, as the data pattern is very different from normal phone usage. On the other hand, there have been few if any reports of any real repercussions.

With the Captivate in particular, tethering is enabled by default on the original rom. USB or Wireless tethering looks the same from the provider's end, so they can't tell what you are using.

I suppose there is a risk, but there is a risk with basic rooting as well...

 

[Joedv]

My question is... since I pay for unlimited data... unless they can show that someone other than myself is using my phones data, then what's the difference? (other than they want to come up with yet another way to squeeze more money out of us)

 

[HeXiiK]

They can see if you are downloading large amounts of their data. I think with at&t it's not *unlimited*. You get 2GB of downloading data per month. With using your phone as a router you will very quickly download 2GB of data from them. The browsers we use only use 50-100 Kilobytes per page. That would require 1,000 Kilobytes to equal 1MB it takes 1,000 MB to equal 1GB. Web pages that we download with our computers are almost 5x more. The difference between them knowing is a "mini-browser" vs. "large browser". I would think though if you had another device that used the "mini-browser" you could get away with it.

 

[Degoins]

I called at&t today and they said tethering wasn't available for the captivate. I'm wondering if it will ever be an option? I've tried to get it to work on my cap but no such luck. I'm not real savvy when it comes to this stuff.

 

[CrimsonPride]

I called at&t today and they said tethering wasn't available for the captivate. I'm wondering if it will ever be an option? I've tried to get it to work on my cap but no such luck. I'm not real savvy when it comes to this stuff.

did they say its not available even for purchase? because i have it on my phone but have never used it. alot of people do use it so im sure it works

 

[Degoins]

The guy told me that it wasn't an option for captivate. I told him I wanted to upgrade and he said it wasn't available for my phone. If anyone else has bought this from at&t please let me know. I'm talking about making your captivate a wireless hotspot not just a modem.

 

[hd779]

Tethering and wireless hotspot are not available on stock captivates (at least I never saw anything about it when I was unrooted.) Tethering and wifi hotspot is a default component of the android OS but is taken out by AT&T. If you want these services then you will have to root your phone and download an app like barnacle, or install a rom like cognition. AT&T can tell what you are doing. As far as having an unlimited plan, some of us have what is termed an unlimited plan, but on AT&T there is no such thing. Get over 2gb and At&t will notice and let you know that you are using too much, which will make them more likely to look at what you are doing.

 

[Degoins]

Yeah, I have the unlimited plan as well but it is anything but that. It blows my mind as to why they would take that away from the android phone, oh wait that would compete too much with the iphone.........

 

[rom_monger]

I travel for my work, so I'm a long time mobile ap user and have a little experience in this. I do still have the technically "unlimited" usage contract. In 2 years (using wmwifirouter on older windows phones, and now incognition froyo 2.2 on my captivate), I've only had At&t contact me, in sept 2010 after my 1st month with the captivate that I rom'd. This happened when I hit around 13gbs of data in consecutive months (netflix and constantly streaming music). They contacted me asking if I was tethering, as they tried getting to get a tethering plan, which I replied "No, just using my phone, it's android so I'm able to go all websites", as they asked how I could go over so much, I just said "I travel and stream music 24/7. they argued with me, but in the end I said "my phone has android, that's what your company puts on the phones, I have an unlimited plan, and I'm going to continue using it, or your company can cancel my contract". That's the last I heard from AT&T, though I have lowered my usage, averaging about 7-8gbs of data per month. I've seen other forums where people say they average 10gbs per month usage, I don't know if others have had their contracts voided, but I believe thats about all they can do.

 

[FiveMilline]

So, I have the At&t Captivate. I have installed the 2.2 Froyo for Samsung that leaked a few weeks ago and have rooted.

My question is, my mobile-ap (wifi hotspot) and usb tethering are fully functional. I never got a warning from at&t when launching the services informing I needed any extended plans. I do have unlimited 3g data service so I am not worried about data consumption.

Does at&t know that I am using these services?

Love the Captivate and the Froyo with ROOT BTW...

I was using pda.net and turned off my cable internet service. i use about 20 gigs a month and no one has ever contacted me. just flashed to froyo 2.2 and now using the mobile ap to tether my xoom without a problem. i will let you know how it goes if someone contacts me about my usage.

 

[Wierdbeard65]

With the Captivate in particular, tethering is enabled by default on the original rom. USB or Wireless tethering looks the same from the provider's end, so they can't tell what you are using.

Hi,

Everyone else is saying to root and install stuff, but you say differently. Can you explain how to use this feature please?

Thanks!

 

[Rootmepls]

Last time I was in the AT&T store I had a salesperson/tech getting me a SIM card for my old iPhone since they swapped them to the Cappy.

While there he was checking out the ROM and some of the features I had on it.
He seemed very Root friendly so I mentioned I had tried to use Market Enabler to install a tether app on my phone but it didn't work and GMarket blocked it for AT&T.

So he shared a little trick that works perfectly. You need to be somewhere with a WiFi connection.

1. Turn off WiFi
2. Turn on Airplane/Flight Mode (This disables your SIM)
3. Turn on WiFi connect to the Market now and all Tether/AP apps will be available to you now. Google Market at this point doesn't know you are an AT&T user.

Get what you want downloaded and installed and just Turn off Flight Mode to get your phone connection back. Many of these Tether apps require root of course but its very simply to root the Cappy. Now you can set up mobile access points with encryption or tether the phone with usb.

Enjoy