When the fuck did a mobile hotspot become something you have to pay extra for?
It's my goddamn motherfucking mobile data and MY PHONE. I should be able to use it however I want. My wifi went down because the greedy, cunt-faced shitbags at Comcast stole taxpayer subsidies to enrich themselves instead of actually providing the service we're paying for. I tried to switch to a mobile hotspot and my phone refuses to open one. Everyone responsible for this shit should be fed to alligators locked away in a fucking gulag. We have no rights and live in a corporate plutocracy.
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Must be a USA thing, never heard of such a thing.
Same here.
Is this a USA only thing?
USA mobile carriers have been charging for tethering since devices implemented the tethering feature. Android enforced it through carrier firmware. I don't remember how apple enforced it.
I remember having to jailbreak all my iPhones so I could get it for free. As iOS started feeling more limited, I bought a galaxy phone from Europe because the international phones didn't have the carrier firmware.
Then T-Mobile was the first big carrier to offer free tethering - I switched to them from AT&T. And now more carriers are offering free tethering because it's losing them customers probably.
It is important for context to understand that this should only apply to unlimited data plans. Conceptually it is because there is limited spectrum available to consumers overall which limits bandwidth. Financially, they should not do this to anyone who is paying per gigabyte for their data plan. It's your data that you paid for. That has not stopped them from trying. If it is unlimited, it simply stops abusers from running an entire household off of spectrum that everyone has to share.
As per usual, the truth is lost in the nuance.
Under my current plan I get unlimited data and 10GB free tethering.
I get 5gb of tethering included on T-Mobile with an "unlimited" plan. I already have an app that routes the traffic through my VPN so only used a few MB for when I forgot to turn on the forwarding.
What app is that? I have 10gb tethering on my phone and would love to do that
VPN Hotspot on Fdroid. Its overly complicated, has not been updated for 2 years, and requires root but it works for me.
Carrier only detects traffic if I run it wrong.
No it's not just an American thing. On my carrier I can have unlimited data all I want but hotspot is limited to 5GB/month and I have to pay for more or it goes down to 512Kbps basically unusable.
But, but, but... this is Lemmy. I thought it wasn't legal to say anything here that implies America is not the sole evil in this world?
Used to be a thing with O2 here in the UK. My iPhone 3G (so, 2009?) was affected so I had to install an app that allowed me to tether.
Italian here, Vodafone did this thing to me and I switched to Illiad, never looking back
IIRC they outlawed it and Vodafone’s hotspot is now free as well.
Iliad master race
USA here, AT&T does not do this, tethering is included.
Sort of. The plans we've had from at&t for the last 5 years included only 15gb of hotspot usage along with unlimited mobile data.
Seems like a fair amount of hotspot data except we live in the sticks and mobile has been the only Internet option.
On the upside were weeks away from gig speed fiber being installed to the house.
I was about to say maybe look at the newer satellite tech, but that's way better!
Satellite Internet is shit. Even the musk one of us actually any faster needs to fail simply because he would profit from it, and he deserves just nothing but depression.
Don't assume that's when it will be available. We had the fiber line dug in through our neighborhood back in March, but they're still laying it in other areas nearby, and apparently they are waiting to turn it on until they're done with all of it, which is supposed to be done sometime this fall, according to the original plan announced before they started any of it, sometime last year. If there's been any delays since then I guess I'm stuck waiting longer.
And since I'm stuck at home due to a major medical issue (hopefully should only be a problem for another year or so), once it does become available I will still have to convince my parents that ditching our cable connection and using online streaming to get all their channels and ad free streaming of anything not currently broadcasting along with Internet that's literally 40x faster than what we have here now while AT THE SAME TIME saving like $80-$90 per month is worth it. Mom in particular is so hesitant to have to learn anything different that I think she'd rather still pay the higher amount just because she's used to it.
We've had the fiber trunk line run through the back yard for 6 months or so. Luckily they have called and installs are running 4 to 6 weeks out at the time they called.
Feel very lucky fiber is even go an option. We are a good 3 miles from the closest town of 25 or so houses and 20 miles from the nearest city where the fiber originates from. It's a joint venture with a small company and our electric utility.
"Included".
Imagine getting a steam deck and you're out and about and you use your hotspot so you can play a game. Your game needs to be updated. Now imagine you have the $35 plan. You won't even make it to playing your game before you get throttled to 128KB/s.
Hotspots are the new thing they've modeled the plans around. First it was minutes, then it was texting, then it was data, now it's hotspots.
edit: I've been arguing about this with them for ages because we WERE on a grandfathered plan from when they bought out cingular. They got rid of our plan (Kicked us off said plan.) and these are the only 3 options they have left.
edit2: Forgot to mention. The rationale they give for this is that they "don't want people using their cellular data to replace their home internet".
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
My carrier has been giving me weekly data packs since mid May, with a use-or-lose-it condition, so I have been actively not using my home connection and connecting everything I can remember to my phone's hotspot.
The moment you pay/receive the bandwith, it's yours to use as you understand; the network can't interfere with its usage.
That is gross overreach.
That's the way AT&T used to be with their minutes. They called it rollover. Now they basically do everything but tell you to fuck off.
I'm in the US. I remember being told it was a thing on Verizon. But I've used my mobile hotspot many times and never had an issue.
Us vzw customers are almost all on some version of an "unlimited" package now, which includes hotspotting. If you had one of the lower valued plans, hotspotting can still be expensive. Hitspotting can still push you over your "unlimited" data allowance however, at which point your traffic gets deprioritized aka slow af.
Definitely a USA thing since Comcast were mentioned.
Here in New Zealand I have a friend who uses his Mobile hotspot to connect his Xbox to it to play games online at no extra cost from the mobile provider.
Doesn't that introduce lag? I remember testing mobile vs wired fibre, it's about an extra 100ms lag.
I thought it would but surprisingly he seems to get into matches with a latency of about 80ms which isn't too bad honestly.
It still makes me laugh though.
Same.
I know for a fact this is a thing in Japan.
Blows my mind too.
I hope they keep their shit overseas, don’t need it here.
russian here, it's the same shit
you can get around that by setting TTL to 65 on your pc tho
A few mobile plans offered by Telcos here in New Zealand used to have this as well, not sure if they still do
It's been like this in Canada for years. I'm not sure making our phones a wifi hotspot was ever free come to think of it.
I remember it definitely being a very common thing in USA a decade or so ago. I never knew it disappeared. I don't think it would ever fly in Europe.
It does, or at least did. I'm in the UK, and it used to be fairly common. Over the last few years, maybe the last decade, more and more providers used the lack of tethering restrictions as an advertised feature to show that they were better than the competition.
Now that we've left the EU though, I wouldn't be surprised to see the restrictions come back. We've already lost free EU roaming on a lot of tariffs.
The fact that as soon as the UK left the EU carriers removed the free roaming shows the importance of government regulations
It's not only important. This example and many others like usb-c/pd, removable batteries shows it's working.
Of course… People are dumb enough to want regulation when it serves their needs and can’t see far enough on how it would hurt others..
Maybe on carrier bought phones where they removed the feature. If you bought an unlocked Nexus or Pixel and a SIM only plan you could always tether as much as you wanted on any UK plan.
It was nothing to do with the phone. I tried to find one for my father to use for his computer, as he only used the internet now and then, but the SIM only plans had data restrictions on tethering.
They started off as unlimited pay as you go with prices charged by the megabyte then gigabyte, then once high data plans came in, they started to get restricted.
As I said, it's been changing, but as far as I know, there are still plans with tethering restrictions.
I don't see how they could know.
There used to be jailbreak tweaks in the iOS 4 days that would allow you to use it regardless of your carrier.
I remember it as well. That's when I started buying unlocked phones and rooting them to get around having to pay. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out there wasn't a fee anymore. I really hope that having to pay for hotspot isn't coming back.
Hotspot began as a paid feature. It only became free as carriers lost grip on the devices on their network.
Depends which country you're talking about
You're probably right. This was the case in the US and Canada.
Most of Europe (and even moreso the rest of the world) didn't have serviceable mobile internet until years after US and Canada, so it makes sense that they missed the initial wave of hotspot premiums that North America suffered through.
And before any one tries to be snarky, yes Sweden rolled out 4G before anyone else, but it didn't take off until well after NA already dominated the space.
Yeah, I used to have to use an app like FoxFi to get free hotspot functionality with Verizon, but they have since made it free on my plan.
That is outrageous. US telecom companies need to be nationalized or burned down.
Singapore?
Death penalty for lack of hotspot? Really?
I've heard about this happening and I couldn't believe it.
I don't even understand this from a networking perspective.. Your phone just becomes a router, forwarding requests, so from the ISP perspective it's still the same?
How do they even know?
They worked with OS developers, certainly. My phone says it's "verifying" for a sec before it fails.
Or we could
cut their cocks offhave a very nice chat with them about the ethics of taking advantage of consumers.Is that actually it? So could software be written to just +1 TTL on incoming and -1 on outgoing packets and then problem solved?
You would need pretty low level access so that comes around to custom rom again..
You can spoof MACs so couldn't you spoof a IMEI as well? Theoretically speaking, not on your bog standard $2 ISP modem
Yes, I don’t know all the solutions but one would be using iptables in linux and mangling the packets to adjust ttl, “normal” ttl can vary by carrier though, and with many phones there is an extra hop to account for as the phone is a router. You should be able to tell from a ping or trace route whats “normal”, but nowadays with carrier grade nat, I think it gets messed up sometimes.
You can spoof inei information, but it appears difficult r/privacy thread on the topic.
That is a very old thread, I bet things are different than they were 8 years ago
That's some bullshit right there. Can you get around this with a custom rom?
"Yes but actually no." If they can get a custom ROM flashed, yes. But it's very likely everything is just locked down, so it's not an option.
EDIT: According to the other comments even that might not help. YMMV
Very likely. Even an unlocked phone without carrier bloatware is likely to work - f-droid might even have something to do it without rooting, or even something to access hidden settings and disable whatever bloatware or setting is blocking it
Back in college, we would use a hotspot on someone's phone (with mobile data off) as a WiFi router to play LAN games.
I just checked my Pixel 6a and it doesn't let me do that.
Thank you, smooth-brained developers at Google. I love not being able to do what I want with my purchased device.
That's not Google pushing that message. That's your mobile service provider.
It's Google.
I think there's a misunderstanding. I was trying to convey in my previous comment that Google does not allow me to create a hotspot with my mobile data turned off.
I put my SIM in my backup phone, a OnePlus Nord N10, to prove it to you. I can create a hotspot with my mobile data turned off on it.
I can't do so on my Pixel 6a.
EDIT: Apparently it's working for others on Pixels. See this comment further below in the chain. Not sure why its disabled for me.
Did you buy your Pixel directly from Google? If you got it from your cell carrier, they probably have the option to lock certain settings. I have a Pixel 5a from Google and I can tether all I want.
Bought from the Google Store. Running Android 13.
Which Android version are you on? And just to confirm, you're trying tethering with your mobile data off, right?
I'm on 13. I just turned off mobile data and I am able to turn on the hotspot.
Sounds like a murica problem. Maybe you're getting too much freedom already?
Certified USA moment
https://github.com/pyamsoft/tetherfi
Awesome! I'll be sure to give it a shot when I have the chance.
Just downloaded it and I'm already sharing my connection with my tablet. Beautiful! Thank you so much for the link!
This is a game changer for me! Thank you
Doesn't work for me :(
Does this one handle https connectivity properly? I know that EasyTether failed in this without paying, and I couldn't get it to work for anything...
Is this an American thing I'm too European to understand.
Are you really paying to just activate wifi hotspot? How is thst justifiable by any means?
Your problem seems to be that you are residing in the U.S
This is one reason why I will never pay for a phone I cannot root if a rootable option exists.
Strangers on the internet constantly tell me I am a fool to root "'cause security", and I just shake my head.
If I pay $700 for a phone, I own it. If I'm paying for X gigabytes of cellular data, I will not be told I cannot use it "for that".
I almost never see advertisements, am blocking tracking and malware at the device level, and impriving sound output quality. I use kernels that are patched up way better than the device default, and have superior battery life, and cpy over-clocking.
I'd go insane if I had to deal with all those restrictions, invasion of privacy, and monetization of my life at my expense.
The options grow thinner every year. Not too many high spec devices can be rooted at all these days.
Perhaps. I'd have to see how it blocks ads and malware. If I can get the features I want, I'd be happy to remain unrooted because I am taking risks if I lose the phone or it is outright stolen.
You don't have to root to use graphene? I always thought you did and that was basically the only reason I haven't switched. Thanks!
Nope, I'm running it now! You unlock the bootloader, flash the ROM, then lock it back up. As long as you don't mind the lack of Android Auto, it is basically a completely flawless experience and I have loved almost every moment of it. Especially if you host your own services like nextcloud and jellyfin, everything works seamlessly!
Eh, I drive a clapped out 2009 Honda fit. Android auto has never been a thing for me lol. I'm gonna look into it some more now that I know the process isn't a pain in the ass
Rooting and custom rom get interchanged a bit. Rooting just means gaining access to root, graphene os is a custom rom and you don't necessarily have access to root. Personally i've been running custom roms for years with no root but it's my property and damn sure better be able to root it if I want to. Anyway, with either root or custom rom you can probably get around your carrier's tethering restrictions which is what OP meant.
yeah but for privacy like running grapheneos, rooting might not be a good idea. I absolutely agree that the option needs to be there though.
That depends on how well it blocks adware and malware at the system level, and how much control it has over individual permissions for each app.
I'll take a closer look at Grapheme since I'm hearing a lot more positive reviews lately.
Out of interest, are there good resources on archiving those optimisations when rooting you would recommend? I'm low key interested in cracking android open when I'll have to buy a new phone eventually but haven't yet looked into the topic.
By optimizations, do you mean the malware blocking, audio improvements, and CPU tweaks?
Most work through Magisk. I flash a kernel from the pixel 6 XDA forum that uses a magisk module to help it work. That has optimizations and I can use a kernel manager to tweak it's settings. And I use adaway which is a DNS level ad blocker. ViperFX4Android is a godlike audio transformer.
Still using xprivacylua to restrict apps' ability to track, use camera and speaker, and get my contacts. I have a tool that stops phone charging at 90% so I don't over-wear the battery.
I use NeoBackup to backup all my apps with data, plus some system data like WiFi hotspots, call history, Bluetooth pairings. When I factory reset or otherwise have to start over, I restore that to get everything back. On older phones, I use TWRP to flash and do nandroid backups, etc. I'm not sure why TWRP is still not available on Pixel 6.
With root, I can do all this, without it I can't even backup the apps, and any ad block I can use makes it impossible to run a VPN to protect my privacy as they use VPN to block the sites.
If I can't unlock the bootloader, then when the OS becomes too bloated to be useful, I have to toss my phone instead of stripping the bloat with a degoogled ROM. I get another 3 to 5 years out of it by replacing stock. That's a boat-load of money, right there!
For example, I'm still using my Pixel 2XL as a viable device (minus Sim). That is about 6 years old now. It is on the 7/23 patch of android 13 right now. It might get 14.
My AdAway host lists block over 650,000 known malware and ad sites.
I'm pretty happy with my setup, and have confidence I'm at least partially protected from the crap out there.
Just because most people don't seem to know this: Comcast's wifi service Xfinity is actually mostly fed by the routers Comcast cable customers have in their homes. So as a cable customer, you're paying the electric bill and giving up part of your bandwidth to support Xfinity.
1: that's why I always use my own modem and router
2: you can opt out of this (and I highly recommend everyone does that cares about their bandwidth), though it is shitty it's on by default
3: only paying Comcast customers can take advantage of this. So if other people can use yours, it means you can use other people's when you're out and about as well.
If it's implemented well, it's honestly not a bad idea. Just need proper security and and QoS and that extra bandwidth you aren't using anyways can be safely lent out to others within WiFi reach. On the other hand, I trust Comcast in implement such a feature well? Heck no!
The value is only for Comcast though. You're a paying customer to provide a feature for them. There's no discount to you as the customer, but they really try forcing people it use it and usually try to imply owning your own network equipment is somehow bad (because they can't use your equipment for their business needs).
You can demand they turn that shit off, though. Granted you have to call them, but they stopped those shenanigans right quick when I told them to.
Those under the Optimum/Altice monopoly should know this as well. Their new modems will try to pull that nonsense too. I just requested an old style modem that doesn't have the wifi capability and use my own router.
If optimum wants to sell their overpriced b.s Internet service they can set up their own wifi network without piggybacking off of the one I pay for tyvm...
Laughs in European
I've never had to pay extra for hotspot usage even though all of the phones I've had were bought directly from the service provider.
The US cellular providers are super greedy
LycaMobile blocks both hotspots and VPNs in Europe. I made the mistake of buying a SIM from them once.
The moment they deliver it and it is paid for, you can do whatever you want.
I don't know what service this guy is using but we don't have to pay extra for hotspots. None of the major carriers charge for it that I'm aware of anyway.
In America, some carriers disable hotspot on the devices they sell and hold you hostage. There are many ways around this. The best way is to use OEM non carrier phones. Other options include pdanet and several other apps designed to bypass the carrier software locks. My graphene os hotspot works perfectly no matter what carrier I use
Edit: Oh, and you can forget it on iphones. Apple loves sucking carriers dicks and fucking you all over. They go out of their way to ensure the carriers are robbing you before allowing hotspot use
I don't think that's a thing in Europe.
Because the Republican party wants it this way. They've burned down net neutrality at every possible opportunity because it doesn't affect them; they barely understand how to send an email, much less connect a device to Wi-Fi without calling their offspring to do it for them.
They say it doesn’t affect them, but then they cry censorship when their chud-services are slow and treated like D-Grade refuse by their ISP.
It was annoying hearing all the conservatives arguing against net neutrality with such timeless classics as “Government Regulation only makes things worse” as an excuse to get rid of the regulation that helped protect them.
Other greatest hits include defanging the CFPB then getting mad when the private company BBB can’t do anything about their shady pool cleaning service charging them for services that were skipped.
it happened in Italy too, it stayed up less than a year than thay made it illegal
Here are a few examples that could support the claim that Republicans have opposed net neutrality regulations:
Here are some sources that could counter or provide an alternative perspective to the claim that Republicans uniformly oppose net neutrality:
As for your last point, you act like any of those dinosaurs know how to.
Definitely sounds like a USA specific issue. In Australia we pay for GBs data, it's up to us what we use it on. I'd be appalled if they tried to pull that bullshit here.
Most carriers include 'unlimited' data, usually broken up in XXXGb at full speed, then unlimited data at much lower speeds.
Isn't a hotspot a hardware feature?
What is this comment section going on about it being a paid feature originally? How did people pay for software restricted hardware?!
Two ways a carrier can restrict this:
Isn't the second point highly illegal?
You will own nothing and be oppressed.
The hardware isn't restricted, anymore at least. It's usually restricted at the network level. The hotspot uses a different connection. I've been on plans where I can use hotspot, but it just redirects all traffic to a page telling me it's not on my plan, or like on Visible where hotspot traffic is throttled to 5mbps. This also causes hotspot traffic not to go through a VPN if you tried.
Edit: if you're rooted you can bypass this with VPN Hotspot which lets you pass your hotspot through whatever VPN is active
You have to pay for your hotspot?
It started when unlimited plans first became a thing. Prior to that, you paid for a specific amount of data up to a cap, then paid a premium if you went over, so they didn't care how you used it. When US companies first started offering unlimited plans, they excluded teathering, or added an extra charge for it, because you can use so much more data that way. Many companies have dropped that - I know my Verizon plan let's me teather - but some still have it.
Yup, they tried to enforce that here in Denmark as well with the unlimited plans. Luckily, they lost the case to our Ombudsman and they were forced to allow hotspots
The "pay for mobile hotspot" is more of a carrier thing than an Android thing. iPhone users suffer as well.
On Android you can at least use apps like SecureTether. It's a bit clunky, but it works on my Pixel 6a.
What I don't appreciate is Google completely turning off the ability to create a hotspot WiFi network even if your mobile data is off. In college we would connect multiple laptops to a phone hotspot and play LAN games.
::: spoiler Typical Google shenanigans
:::
*More of an American thing ftfy
I can't hear you over my strict antimonopoly regulations
It was a thing in the UK for a bit as well, but they seem to have backed down in the last few years.
I used to have to pay extra for hotspot data until the last few years in the UK too.
You guys are really screwed importing all US shit f*ckury culture. and now you are even double screwed after brexit.
Meh, it's not as bad as some people will have you believe, in the same way I don't believe the US is probably as bad as all the news coming out makes it look.
How about tipping, I hear its making its way to becoming as common place as in the US.
Not really, most people in the UK used to tip at a sit down place anyway providing the service wasn't naff. There's no "acceptable percentage" like the US though and restaurants still have to pay at least minimum wage so tips are an actual bonus not just shoring up underpaid staff. I noticed a lot of takeaways charge a delivery fee post Covid since people don't have cash anymore so the drivers were probably not getting the tips they used to. Never seen it for fast food and the like yet though.
Don't you just go into your normal android settings, go to connections, mobile internet hotspot, toggle it on? When are you ever prompted to pay for anything? Why do you need a separate app??
In the US, the service provider can control if that feature is available. If you try to enable it it will ping the service provider to see if you paid for that ability. This is done because the data usage goes way up when you start using hotspot.
When we lost the first fight for net neutrality.
What the fuck? Aussie here. Ive had a dozen phones, both locked to carrier and unlocked, and never been unable to turn on hotspot. Thats madness.
I haven't renewed my student unlimited data plan since 2011. It lasted through a company merger and a pandemic. I'm never renewing my plan. My first born will inherit this plan when I die.
Since fucking always, at least with my phone on AT&T
Yea really I remember having to pay for service one of those like physical hotspots way back in like 2010ish.
Yeah, any carrier that sells a bespoke physical hotspot device would try to milk more money out of customers by disabling it on software in their phone's ROM.
Not one mention in this thread of Net Neutrality. How quick we are to forget.
my pixel 7 with grapheneOS let's me use a hotspot and USB tether. the USB teathering is way faster I've found. I don't pay for teathering and I quit getting my phones through the carrier just because they lock them down and put a bunch of crapware/Spyware on them. You remove it and it magically reappears, they get paid to put these dumb apps on the phone. Just feels like when you buy the phone through the carrier you don't own it.
Where are you?
In Canada I've never heard this being charged for
This is a thing that I think only happens in the US.
I moved to Brazil from the US and my wife found it super weird that I asked her how much would they charged me after she asked me to activate my hotspot.
Indeed. Canada is wrong about a few things, but this ain't one of them.
USA
It was always an extra paid option for me back in the day. Had to jailbreak the phone to use it. These days it's just available now for free.
The day (North) American people realize: they live just to feed corporations' greed, lobbying is just legal bribery, their government doesn't give a flying fuck about them, most developed countries' offering and protection is miles further away from what they have... they won't do shit. Because the system works as it's intended to. Maybe ask to bring American freedom to America? 🦅 🇺🇸
How do they detect that you are using a hotspot? Isn't the phone using NAT internally? Like, with NAT they don't know whether a request comes from your phone or from the hotspot
The carrier can look at the packets TTL and assume if it's not what they expect then it must have originated from another device via the hotspot. Verizon did, or maybe still does, use this to throttle hotspot traffic but not data originating from the phone.
This is correct. I pay for the unlimited plan with Verizon, but it only has 5GB of hotspot data. I use an
iptablesrule to increment the TTL by one, giving me unlimited data on my laptop.T-Mobile used to work the same way when I used it back in 2016.
Very nice. Unfortunately in Windows so no iptables for me. Nice to know this is possible...may have to see if I can do this with vbox or inside WSL.
Surely there is some way to configure this on Windows. I'm so unfamiliar with Windows software anymore, but I'm sure that any firewall worth it's salt would be able to increase the TTL on outbound packets.
I think on windows you can set that in the network driver options irrc. Either in the nic configuration or the ip stack config. I've at least seen it while I was diagnosing network issues a few years back.
iptables on your tethered machine or your android phone?
iptableson my laptop (not tethered, but using the phone's wifi hotspot). I don't even have a jailbroken android phone anymore because my banking app stopped working on custom ROMs and fighting with it wasn't a good use of my time.Doesn't that violate net neutrality?
I'm curious about this as well.
It has been like that from the beginning. If you're root your phone you can do it for free usually.
This has been a thing the mobile carriers (AT&T in particular) have demanded of handset makers- that they give the carrier the ability to lock down the tether feature so they can sell an upcharge on your plan (or a piece of hotspot hardware they can charge you a whole separate line for) so that they can un-cripple it and pretend they didn't take that away to begin with. This ought to be regulated like the taking-away-of-the-feature-in-the-phone-you-paid-for that it is.
So I figured out a while ago there there's an app called PdaNet+ along with Foxfi. It let's you use your phones mobile connection instead of a hotspot to connect your external devices. It's worked wonders for me and although I haven't had to use it much due to unlimited data and access to wifi where I am, it's useful if you aren't in that situation. I believe the app key unlocker is about $8 but it's worth it for the features it offers.
Companies have been making the tether feature on phones throttle the data rates forever so this is unsurprising
When net neutrality was the law you could do that and the phone company couldn't charge you. The company branded phone could just not support it. Before that it was ridiculously expensive, and now it depends on the company. Most post paid plans take it out of your fast data with no extra fee.
If your phone is unlocked then this feature is free already.
Long time ago, but it’s entirely dependent upon carrier.
Mint for example doesn’t have an extra fee for hotspot. Mine didn’t work after setting up service and I had to chat them, but they fixed it and it works fine. Cricket didn’t charge for it for a long time, until they did, and I no longer use them as a result.
You just need to find a carrier that includes it for no fee. At least you can vote with your wallet on those things. And when they ask why you are canceling and porting your number, be honest it’s because of their hotspot policy, and other carriers don’t charge for it.
Since never, unless you live in the corporate hellscape - most sensible parts of the world have regulations about this, but I guess not being ripped off is un-american or something?
Yup, I can stream 1080p videos all day long on my phone, use tb of data, no issue from AT&T, no throttling, no overcharge. Switch on my Hotspot and go above 20gb on my laptop? That's a paddlin!
Fucking, greedy shitbags.
Did you get a "subsidized" phone?
I've rooted a tracfone and installed a Hotspot. No one was the wiser.
If my carrier did this I would switch. Having a backup connection for outages at home has saved my butt multiple times.
The US carriers have been fighting the battle for years between expanding the networks providing high speed data and competing with other carriers to provide it more cheaply.
If you're sitting on a plan that's 5 or 10 years old you could be sitting on a 30 or 60 gig plan where you can do whatever you want with those gigs.
Or you could be sitting on a brand new super cheap plan that blocks you from tethering altogether if they can.
Or you could be sitting on one of their top tier unlimited plans where you can tether up to 20 or 30 gig.
The numbers features and prices seem to change with the wind and they're not often in the mood to kick you out of your existing plans.
The carriers all have pretty bad capacity issues in urban and rural areas were they either have too many people or not enough towers per square mile. They're all trying to expand but every time you have a local power outage and everyone tries to use their cell phone at the same time nobody gets through anywhere for data.
AFAIK an unlocked phone can hotspot no matter what. My plan does not include mobile hotspot data and yet I use it all the time.
This is wild. I live in Ireland. For €12.99 a month, I get 200GBs of data, unlimited texts and calls to other mobile phones in Ireland.
I use my hotspot A LOT and have never paid extra for it lol. I can't imagine paying more for it.
If you have an Android download pdanet which lets you hotspot count as phone data. Also if you get a small hotspot but unlimited phone data you can turn it on and set the TTL or connecting devices to 65 (I think look it up) and it will think it's the phone connecting. Happy pirating
What phone do you have? I've never heard of an android phone not having wifi Hotspot....
Some service providers lock that feature, because it's tied to much heavier than normal data usage. I have Verizon, and while they don't lock mobile hotspot, they do give me a different hotspot data restriction than my phone.
They definitely used to lock it behind a paywall; back in the early 2010's the ROM they shipped had the option greyed out unless you paid for the data tier that supported it
Yup and there was generally a way around it even though most often it involved rooting the phone or using USB passthrough.
The most recent plans included using a hotspot but now they are trying to unbundle everything on their new plans to 'save' you money by letting you only pay for what you want. Using a hotspot is costs $10 more a more now if you switch to the new plan. If you actually turned on everything that was already included you'd be paying more than now so you not even really saving anything either.
The phones have wifi hotspot but the carrier blocks it. Yes the phone manufacturers in US allow the data carriers to block hotspot.
It is a thing on iPhones. I didn't have to pay extra, but activating it on my mom's iPhone required contacting the carrier. Such bullshit. Also, wasn't an iPhone bought on a contract, it's not even a thing where I live, you buy phones in normal electronics stores
No clue if this will work for you or not, but there are a few things you might try.
This is the reason I was forced to use android and root my phone. I used a custom ROM to bring back the tethering option then connect to a VPN and used the rooted terminal to mess with the iptables and routing to mask the fact I was tethering. Uuuugh, I don't miss those days. Luckily the market changed in my country and went the other direction so I don't have to deal with this anymore.. Still have the old shell scripts saved tho ;)
I have never even heard that was a thing. Wow.
I agree. Long ago, mobile Hotspot just came with my plans. Now it's extra, which is stupid. Just another way for them to make $$
It's insane that they get away with this because it's digital. Imagine if you were doing some handiwork and your hammer was like, "Our policy has changed. If you wish to continue hammering nails >3in, please subscribe for $30/mo."
Don't have to imagine. Change your metaphor from hammer to car, and you're experiencing it in realtime.
Slightly different topic, but I'm just waiting for the day when all the major music companies stop allowing their artists to appear on Tidal, Spotify, etc and instead launch their own exclusive apps and streaming services. So you'll need a Warners subscription, and a Sony subscription and a Geffen subscription and an EMI subscription...
If it happened with TV and moves, it could happen with music too.
Thats insane, in Australia at least it's still just a data plan - buying a cheap prepaid SIM or mobile plan for data is a common thing since our Internet infrastructure is shithouse. I hope no aspiring telco middle managers cotton on to this.
Canadians might have some of the shittiest service and prices in the world, but at least we don't pay extra to hotspot?
If you're running Android you can use PDAnet to act as a mobile hotspot. You can connect your devices to your phone through wifi.
Edit: I didn't notice what community this was posted in. Obviously you're using Android 🤦
Reading this post on my non-Android device, it's all good!
I have Verizon. The "unlimited" plans are a huge scam, even if you can get your hotspot on, it's basically unusably slow. But if you can swap over to a pre-paid plan, which is a huge pain in the ass, you'll get ~15 GB a month for the same price and you can use it however you want. I don't know why they make it so damn hard to use their service.
I haven't been a huge Google fan lately, but I can say that mobile hotspot is included in my Google Fi plan.
Since the beginning.
Mobile providers have always tried to charge for hotspot service. Since I started buying my own phones, not through the provider, I haven't had a problem with it turning on, and I haven't seen any additional charge for using it (just normal consumption of the data). I don't think that most providers can tell the difference in traffic natively from the device and from something on its hotspot, so restrictions are likely phone specific. If you have Android, install a custom ROM (I'd suggest anything AOSP), and for iPhone, IDK. Maybe do a complete reset to the official version from Apple (not the carrier specific version of the firmware).
Restoring your files and apps is the most difficult part of the process and generally takes a while (usually a few hours of setting up accounts on different apps, but it should kill off your carriers control of your device in regards to hotspot limits
I understand the frustration, 100% I do. I'm equally angry about the state of things, fact is, there are things you can do about it, like buying your devices unlocked, non-carrier specific from trusted endpoints. This is easy to do with Apple and Google, as they both allow end users to buy their products right from their website or in stores (if such stores exist). But other manufacturers will only sell to distributors, like your carrier, who screws with the firmware before you get your hands on the device. Avoiding such distributors is the key point here. Being unlocked doesn't mean much if you're still running the carriers firmware which disallows the feature unless you do something like pay them.
It's not a nice solution, since most people have, or are purchasing their devices through carrier contacts and discounts, and generally for untampered devices, you need to buy them all at once, up front. The only saving grace is that a lot of manufacturers are now putting the untampered version of the phone firmware online, and you can typically find a way to wipe the device completely and install the manufacturers untampered version with enough time and effort; it's gotten easier, but I wouldn't say it's easy. Just that it's possible...
Easiest way to tell if you're running a carrier version of the firmware is if the carriers app comes pre-loaded and won't allow uninstallation. Only "revert to factory version" and disabling the app are possible (this means it's in the protected OS space on your device). If you can fully uninstall it, or it is not present when you factory reset the device, you're probably running a clean version.
Of note, you can still run their app, the presence of the app as a default application usually means it's tied into a root-level service that restricts access to features and/or spies on you (probably both). The app itself is likely fine, but the underlying service is generally the troublemaker. The service may install with the app, but as long as it doesn't have root level permission, it can't stop you from using the features built into the phone.
I had to switch plans a couple of years ago and investigated a lot of options
Your best bet is prepaid, most of them don't have that bullshit.
I went with AT&T prepaid because it included data in Mexico in Canada, I pay $100 for 3 months of service (there's also $300 for 12mo), you can get prepaid cards discounted at target most of the time so you don't pay full price and it's supposed to be 8GB only but I have been over that data so many times and they never throttle down my speed
Google Fi. Not only do you get to hotspot, but you can order a free data-only SIM to share your data plan across multiple devices (like a tablet)
Those 2 things are the only reason I've stuck with Fi for his long. The deprioritization at crowded events is pretty annoying sometimes.
I worked for a mobile device manufacturer for a few years and prepaid plans combined with an unlocked phone are definitely the most cost effective choice. You get several gigabytes of mobile data for about $25-30/month and combined with a lowish end device (~$300), I spend less in an upgrade year than some pay per month for their postpaid phone service with the financed phone.
I had one lady once send me her >$1000 monthly Verizon bill because she thought that would work for a receipt. It was about 20 pages long, had 4 financed devices with 5 lines. It was an insane window into how some people live
Visible service has unlimited hotspot/tethering, however its throttled.
For a while I used it as my main internet connection by tethering it via USB to a router that spoofed the TTL packets, which bypassed the throttling.
I can vouch for Visible. AT&T was too expensive. Mint (T-Mobile) didn't have signal at my office. Red Pocket cut my service off for using too much unlimited data. Visible is cheap and unlimited. The signal is excellent too. I don't need anything more.
I like this part
It was like this for a long time- depending on plan and carrier. It happened even on my window mobile phone in 2008
Too right. It's not like it's consuming more data
Even if it is, that's my
FUCKING RIGHT AS A PAYING CUSTOMER
It happened after we moved from unlimited data to capped data and back again.
Wait, do you mean the feature to give someone a hotspot? Not from America, so I am confused.
yes, it happened in Italy too, but they made it illegal in less than a year.
here they set it up like this:
what the fuck dude? how does that even pass in America? People in my country would riot over that shit! I pay you for the data, now fuck off.
Ummm. I use the hotspot on my Android and iPhone fairly regularly. Didn't have to root or jailbreak anything. Just turn on and go. Both on Verizon.
Are you sure there isn't some setting you aren't enabling first??
Some really stingy providers remove the hotspot option from their customised Android ROM, and on iOS they throttle packets not originating from the mobile device itself
The ToS for whatever phone plan the customer picks usually covers this from what I've seen
Today I Learned.
Didn't even know that was a thing anymore. Something to keep in mind. Thanks for the heads-up.
Been this way for at least a decade in good ole 'Murica?
Idk, but here in the Philippines we don't have any law that prevents telcos from doing the same, yet literally every telco allows mobile hotspot usage without restrictions or extra charges. Same for almost every other things American telcos do to fuck up their customers. America probably needs more telco company competition.
In the meantime, you can try TetherFi and see if it works for you.
This was an issue when hotspots first came out on Android (for me in the UK). Carriers were charging £5-£10 p/m to let you use your own data allowance faster. In the past, the workaround for me was to Root the phone and run 3rd party hotspot software instead of using the build in Android OS hotspot feature.
Can a carrier block your use of hotspot if you bought the phone from a 3rd party? Isn't this the case that when you get a carrier subsidized phone they mess with it to keep you locked to the carrier?
I know with Verizon in the USA, they recently changed their plans to remove the hotspot as a feature from their lowest tier so they can sell it back to you as a feature, or get you to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
I use EasyTether to use my unlimited data as a USB hotspot for my PC. Works like a charm but requires a bit of setup in the developer settings.
Oh I still remember the outrage when Android added support for allowing Carries to block this a few years ago. But the Google folks just said „works as intended“ and proceeded.
Is there a /r/USdefaultism already on Lemmy...? 🤓
Before you post anything, make sure it applies globally or don't say it all! Even if you're asking questions. /s
Choose your network provider more carefully.
Are you trying to connect up to a computer? Look up "USB tethering" in your settings - you should be able to plug your phone into your computer through a USB port and share its data connection no problem. If you're only using one device, it's actually better than a mobile hotspot. You can also do it over Bluetooth if for some reason you want lower bandwidth. YMMV as I'm across the pond, but I get stats from my telecom company about my usage and it doesn't list anything USB tethered as hotspot related so I think it should go under your company's radar.
But also like, what the absolute fuck man? How? Why?
Bluetooth tethering is also not allowed and my phone charger doesn't fit into my computer.
Many years ago I switched from iOS to Android specifically because android allowed you to circumvent carrier restrictions on hotspot functionality (at least unofficially). I guess Ajit Pai has bent the knee to telecoms now.
He was a corporate lawyer for Verizon
I have a "legacy" unlimited plan and they are now adding $3 per line per month to my bill because of mobile hot spot access. 2 of the 3 phones on my plan are pixels that don't even have the ability to be a hot spot.
What pixels can't hotspot?
What phones cant hotspot? If have had some really cheap bottom of the barrel phones and never had one that couldnt hotspot
I have Verizon. When I turn on my hotspot, it comes up with a message saying checking subscription status, and then after that it will allow me to use my hotspot. Last week they apparently were doing an "update" that they didn't let anyone know about that killed the service for the entire day. That sucks when you really plan on having your hotspot.
@waterbogan @Goatastic it's not the phone, it's the carrier. Some plans allow it, some don't.
Maybe the older pixels? My pixel 4 could and I use my hotspot on my 7a all the time.
Every Pixel ever could create a hotspot. I've used the feature on every Pixel I ever had, and on every Nexus I owned before that.
any of the a's. my 3a, 6a, and wife's 5a cannot hot spot. it's one of the downsides of the cheaper phones
What? I have a 4a (non-5g even) and it can hotspot, it's arguably cheaper than the 5a and 6a so i don't think that is the issue
what are you talking about? I have a 6a and 3a, literally just used my hotspot last night to watch streaming services on my roku.
Why would they have tutorials on how to turn it on and off too? https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-302085/
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/2812516?hl=en
maybe do 30 seconds of research before you make such a silly statement?
never heard of this before
My wife had a 3a and it had hotspot
I bought it unlocked, not sure if it makes a difference
I've never had problems with hotspotting on all my pixels. I think this only occurs when you get the handset from the network rather than unlocked and off plan. After all only the phone knows where each packet came from.
My 6a can hotspot without issue on AT&T...
6a phone. Can hot spot.
My old 3a and my current 5a can hotspot anytime I want. You must be buying carrier locked phones.
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/2812516?hl=en
ummm you sure about that hoss?
Wait WHAT? You can't hot spot on Pixel even if carrier allows it? Which models?
Infuriating that you pay for their service but there are so many*{§}©®™
When you bought your phone from a carrier? There are probably ways you could get around it though.
It's a "corporate socialist plutocracy" sir. The socialism is of course for the poor unfortunate corporation not those dirty nasty little pleb shits.
You must be young. It was that way for a long time. They are just reverting to what it used to be.
It all boils down to companies refusing to let ANYONE have anything for "free". Even though you're already paying for a service, you're potentially trying to "share" it with others who may need it but arent paying for it! But if they may NEED it, shouldn't they also be paying separately for it??? Fucking disgusting double dipping backwards companies.
I'm not even sharing it with others. I just want to use my own internet.
It’s not your internet.
You should be thankful to be allowed to use internet instead of digging in a coal mine, you shmuck.
Who do you have that locks you out of the hotspot function?
Remember that short period of time when net neutrality was law? Good times...good times...
It happened with some companies in recent years I think due to more people working remotely and they decided they might be able to try to capitalize on such capability as an "extra feature" but I think there are some plans that include it in their package (as it was previously, before being decoupled)
You're trying to use an external hotspot or your phone built-in?
Always. I recall it in 2007
Depends on the company. Verizon usually considers it's a "free" feature, but there was a time when it was extremely limited and they'd charge you.
That's diabolical
It's been this way for over a decade with AT&T
A lot of company are doing that, in Canada or USA. It's completely disclosed, e.g. https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans check the Domestic mobile hotspot line entry, depending on your plan there's a limit in speed or GB.
Just use USB tethering my dude
Exactly. Fucking pieces of shit.
Remember when home internet didn't have data caps?
Wired internet sure does not have data caps where I live.
Not an issue here. Can open how many hotspots we want as much as the phone support.
If I remember correctly, it used to be a thing here in Australia, but I've not heard of it for a decade or more.
I didn’t know they still locked this feature behind a payment, it’s scummy they can also tell you how much data you can use this way too. I remember there being a program that tunneled the stats a certain way to bypass it but you had to use usb or Bluetooth PAN. I think it was called easy tether.
I had no idea something like that even happened. This is absolutely terrible.
I have been using smartphones forever and have never had a plan that did not charge extra for this feature... Granted I have always used verizon, so maybe its a verizon thing?
What phone do you use?
it doesn't matter, even if you have a custom rom thay would know anyway.
it has to do with APN.
Samsung
And have you bought it from a carrier, or directly from Samsung/retailer?
Carrier.
Well, that explains a lot. Samsung is in bed with telcos.
I always buy unlocked Android phones and they've all had mobile tethering included for no additional charge. Samsungs.
Paying extra for unlocked is the way to go. I can easily switch carriers at anytime and I'm sure to let customer service know that when I see prices increase or things I don't like. They are usually accommodating as to not lose your business
That isn't how that works... Your phone doesn't determine the cost for hotspotting - your provider does. That's like saying Samsung gives you unlimited data.
They probably do that, but even upon activating your hotspot on an unlocked phone, it contacts your provider to check if you're allowed to.
Then you're probably on the plan that "allows" you to use your own phone.
Yes. This is your mobile carrier's fault. I'm on an old tmobile plan on an unlocked device and can hotspot to my heart's content. When hotspot came out, almost everyone charged for it.
It's not a service you pay for. It's part of your phone's operating system. If you're using a vanilla version of Android or iOS, it's a standard feature.
its a feature on the OS yeah, but cellular carriers throttle the mobile hotspot speeds to shit if you dont pay for it. On T-Mobile if I mobile hotspot I get like 0.5 mbps
How do they even know you're using it? Wtf
If it's your phone take the battery out
With Google Fi you get 5GB of free mobile hotspot.
So like 5 youtube videos?
I don't know. I have never tried to use my hotspot for YouTube videos. If my internet goes out, the only thing I'd use the hotspot for would be working from home if that was needed. There's other things to do in this world that don't require internet. At that point you bitch at Comcast and get them to fix your shit and get credited for the lost time.
Bitching about the mobile provider that you knew the terms of the service when you signed up is misguided when the issue is that your home internet provider is not living up to their end of the agreement by not providing you with the service for which you're paying. If you don't know what is included in your own phone plan, that's a you problem. Find a new provider.
Ah if you need it for work then teams/skype/zoom work calls will quickly burn through the 5GB. I'm not sure who the comments about bitching are directed to
The OP complaining about their mobile provider not having free tethering. Like brother, you knew that when you signed up for the service (or you should have if it was an important thing you needed). It's not meant to replace a home internet connection. If you need a sizeable amount of hotspot, don't skimp on your mobile plan.
Like I can understand being annoyed that you have to pay more for it but it shouldn't be a surprise that you don't have access to it. Learn what you're paying for before you sign up for it. If your internet goes out and you need to rely on it, it shouldn't come as a surprise that you don't have it.
Don't assume companies are going to do what's best for you. They won't. They will try to screw you over. So, understand what services you're paying for and if they don't meet your requirements, find something else. I'm not defending the companies but you should know what you're paying for.
Technically, if you have taken out a contract on your phone and are paying it off. Its not your phone. until it's paid off. And its not your data, the carrier can set the terms of what its used for since you are technically borrowing it from them and paying for your use at the end of each month.
At least im pretty sure thats how it works
Edit: why is this getting downvoted? Is this not how it works? Would no one care to correct me?
It's fairly straightforward to do this on a Raspberry Pi. You connect the pi to the internet via ethernet or wireless and then follow the instructions for creating a wireless access point.
Hotspot is usually included in specific plans. If you are prepaid you do have to pay extra for it.
Am I the only one not living under a fucking rock?
Why would you run such a gimped operating system on a device in your own house? Or like... can't you just get a phone with a normal system? Why does the ISP even have a say in this? Or do you have to pay them to use your own toilet too? Because that is equally as absurd