[Q] tethering and my htc and att?

I think their system is flawed. I hadn't used EasyTether in a LONG time when I got the email from them about tethering this week. I went to a store and had them inspect the phone to ensure that I don't have any way to tether so they added it in my notes.

Next day I got a txt saying that I am still tethering so I called the number in the txt and told the woman that I am not able to tether even if I want to and that the store verified that in my notes (which she did see). She claimed that ANY connection to a computer now (i.e. charging and file transferring) can be detected by the system and misconstrued as tethering, and I did charge off the computer the night before getting that txt so to me it almost seemed possible that their systems could be inaccurate like that. But then she said when I use bluetooth to stream audio from my phone to my car that is also counted as tethering and I don't buy that at all.

I asked her if they're just threatening me because I always use a ton of data and she said no because I am unlimited and I can use whatever I want as long as I am not connected to anything else.

And now yesterday I got snail-mail from them about tethering. Which I have not been doing. In any way whatsoever. Makes me wonder if they have access to my Market transactions and see that I once downloaded EasyTether last year. So frustrating.

Help with rooting.

I need help rooting my HTC Inspire. I have tried download the advance ace hack kit from this site and it seems to be down. can anyone help me out? thanks?

struff said:

I think their system is flawed. I hadn't used EasyTether in a LONG time when I got the email from them about tethering this week. I went to a store and had them inspect the phone to ensure that I don't have any way to tether so they added it in my notes.

Next day I got a txt saying that I am still tethering so I called the number in the txt and told the woman that I am not able to tether even if I want to and that the store verified that in my notes (which she did see). She claimed that ANY connection to a computer now (i.e. charging and file transferring) can be detected by the system and misconstrued as tethering, and I did charge off the computer the night before getting that txt so to me it almost seemed possible that their systems could be inaccurate like that. But then she said when I use bluetooth to stream audio from my phone to my car that is also counted as tethering and I don't buy that at all.

I asked her if they're just threatening me because I always use a ton of data and she said no because I am unlimited and I can use whatever I want as long as I am not connected to anything else.

And now yesterday I got snail-mail from them about tethering. Which I have not been doing. In any way whatsoever. Makes me wonder if they have access to my Market transactions and see that I once downloaded EasyTether last year. So frustrating.

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I use my sdcard via USB as a mass storage device CONSTANTLY. I'm pretty sure this will see a lawsuit if they are considering that to be tethering AND they pursue this.
I would probably take the 5GB + tethering plan at my unlimited price, but NOT for a premium (especially since they are throttling after 3GB now anyway)

daylan.dean said:

I need help rooting my HTC Inspire. I have tried download the advance ace hack kit from this site and it seems to be down. can anyone help me out? thanks?

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Not polite to hijack a thread especially when it has nothing to do with the thread topic. Just download using the non-USA link, it is not down.

ST3ALTHPSYCH0 said:

I use my sdcard via USB as a mass storage device CONSTANTLY. I'm pretty sure this will see a lawsuit if they are considering that to be tethering AND they pursue this.

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I do that too. Or I should say that I used to...I stopped doing it after talking to the rep on the phone out of fear. I can't see how/why they would count that as tethering but after getting email, txt, and snail-mail, for now I am not taking any chances just in case they do have something new going on. And I totally agree that would and should be a lawsuit if that is what they're doing.

I would probably take the 5GB + tethering plan at my unlimited price, but NOT for a premium (especially since they are throttling after 3GB now anyway)

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I couldn't do that. I go way over that every month (I have no idea why and the rep I see at the store can't figure it out either).


But anyway, I am curious if any current EasyTether users are getting warnings too.

struff said:

I think their system is flawed. I hadn't used EasyTether in a LONG time when I got the email from them about tethering this week. I went to a store and had them inspect the phone to ensure that I don't have any way to tether so they added it in my notes.

Next day I got a txt saying that I am still tethering so I called the number in the txt and told the woman that I am not able to tether even if I want to and that the store verified that in my notes (which she did see). She claimed that ANY connection to a computer now (i.e. charging and file transferring) can be detected by the system and misconstrued as tethering, and I did charge off the computer the night before getting that txt so to me it almost seemed possible that their systems could be inaccurate like that. But then she said when I use bluetooth to stream audio from my phone to my car that is also counted as tethering and I don't buy that at all.

I asked her if they're just threatening me because I always use a ton of data and she said no because I am unlimited and I can use whatever I want as long as I am not connected to anything else.

And now yesterday I got snail-mail from them about tethering. Which I have not been doing. In any way whatsoever. Makes me wonder if they have access to my Market transactions and see that I once downloaded EasyTether last year. So frustrating.

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Ok guys. First the People that you talk to when you call ATT are dumber then a noob with an Iphone. They have no idea what they are talking about outside what their manual says. ATT has been nailing people for tethering when they use alot of data under the "Fair Usage" Clause in the TOS. If you use more then 5gb of data they say you are tethering.

They can not detect if you are swapping files by USB cord. They can only detect if data is sent over their network. Who ever said this needs to be fired on the spot.

zelendel said:

Ok guys. First the People that you talk to when you call ATT are dumber then a noob with an Iphone. They have no idea what they are talking about outside what their manual says. ATT has been nailing people for tethering when they use alot of data under the "Fair Usage" Clause in the TOS. If you use more then 5gb of data they say you are tethering.

They can not detect if you are swapping files by USB cord. They can only detect if data is sent over their network. Who ever said this needs to be fired on the spot.

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I always presume that we know more than they do. But knowing how much they're cracking down on this, I wouldn't put it past the company to come up with some flawed method of detecting connections.

I have always used tons of data ever since I got my Inspire in March 2011 (as well as a warranty replacement I got in June 2011) and I never got anything about tethering from them before this week. I never even got a throttle txt msg until two months ago (even though I kept going over and around the end of last year I hit 10GB and was never notified or throttled). The rep I saw in the store and the rep I talked to on the phone this week both told me that just because I am an extra high data user, that alone would not trigger the anti-tethering messages (which is the way it should be but who knows what they're actually doing in reality).

The store rep told me that since she inspected my phone and put the notes in my account, they will not change anything on me. But the phone rep the next day said that even though my account has been noted by both reps, it wouldn't matter because it is an automated system that changes people's plans.

I've tethered for the past couple of months off and on without issue.

I am a LOW data user overall (tethering is for web-data entry around town and occasional web surfing and occasional RDP to my home desktop)

I have very few programs installed on my laptop.

I close certain programs before tethering (dropbox, skype, gtalk, etc)

I've not had any issue with ATT regarding this let alone notification from them.

My main goal is to not stand out... if I am one of many in a school of fish, the sharks will never care. However using 5+ GB in a month or OTHER things that stand out to ATT will likely flag your account for prolonged inspection

PDANet app has an option when you install on computer to hide usage. This seems to work, or so they claim.

struff said:

I always presume that we know more than they do. But knowing how much they're cracking down on this, I wouldn't put it past the company to come up with some flawed method of detecting connections.

I have always used tons of data ever since I got my Inspire in March 2011 (as well as a warranty replacement I got in June 2011) and I never got anything about tethering from them before this week. I never even got a throttle txt msg until two months ago (even though I kept going over and around the end of last year I hit 10GB and was never notified or throttled). The rep I saw in the store and the rep I talked to on the phone this week both told me that just because I am an extra high data user, that alone would not trigger the anti-tethering messages (which is the way it should be but who knows what they're actually doing in reality).

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Not to get too off-topic but I have been still trying to figure out why I use so much data. I found My Data Manager app and have been using it to look at where I am using so much. If the app is accurate, the phone itself uses a BOATLOAD of data all by itself. The biggest offender is "DCS Service" which has used 296 MB in the past five days. Google Voice has used 16 MB and the preinstalled Facebook app (which I don't even open or use because I prefer the website instead) has used 15 MB.

Everything else so far isn't a big deal aside from the common sense things like Pandora and Google Music which not only use their own amounts of data but also use the identical extra amount of data as "Streaming Media" (in other words if I use 55 MB of Pandora, it also uses 55 MB of Streaming Media, which seems like double-dipping to me). I also didn't realize that I am averaging about 10 MB per day in web surfing and 5-7 MB per day in Gmail and almost 100 MB per day on Instagram (yikes! that is stopping soon for sure).

But anyway, getting back towards the original point, if they're simply saying that someone is tethering just because of high amounts of data being used, that's really not fair considering the things that can't be stopped on some phones. I mean, we buy these phones which have bloatware to begin with and the bloatware uses data without our knowledge, plus that behind-the-scenes data use for DCS Service. That alone could turn out to be 1800 MB this month for my phone even though the only auto-sync items I have selected are the built-in weather updates and Gmail and Calendar and Contacts (I don't use any of the others). So I can't even begin to imagine how much data I would use if I did indeed try to tether.