vB Easy Archive - media net tethering

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media net tethering
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Posted by: anubis9278

well it looks like now, national, media net tethers will get their numbers terminated if they dont have data connect. So sorry. CSP said so.

Service Plan rules for tethering.

Posted by: lagerbrewer

Quote:

Originally Posted by anubis9278

well it looks like now, national, media net tethers will get their numbers terminated if they dont have data connect. So sorry. CSP said so.

Service Plan rules for tethering.

Do they have a way to detect it?

Posted by: Dapss

Does that include PDA Connect users who tether every blue moon also?
If so that sucks

Posted by: ivwshane

Where exactly is this on csp?

I'd be checking csp more often if I could log in directly to it:|

Posted by: Rcadden

Yeah there it is, front page on CSP. That sucks, kinda. I don't tether anymore, I'm more worried about being mistaken for a tethererer...

None of the documents are very clear on how they are going to determine if you're tethering. Anyone want to email Tracey and find out? And will users at least get a letter in the mail, letting them know they're under watch and giving them a chance to port out if they choose? There definitely needs to be more information on this.

I am impressed, however, that they offer up plenty of documentation as to how to tether.

I use exorbitant amounts of data on my N80, without tethering. I hope they don't mistake it, that would suck for them to lose me.

Posted by: anubis9278

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Where exactly is this on csp?

I'd be checking csp more often if I could log in directly to it:|

Service Plan rules for tethering

type the above in search on csp, its the title of the doc.

Posted by: happyfrappy

I'm wondering if this means people with non-wap browsers on a phone will get tagged no matter what MediaNet plan they have. Recently got pegged for data when I wasn't even tethered!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rcadden

I use exorbitant amounts of data on my N80, without tethering. I hope they don't mistake it, that would suck for them to lose me.

I think you should be careful of the built-in browser with Cingular, looked at my recent bill and they pegged me for 40 cents in "data" because I used my Z530i's built-in browser for reading a non-wap news site. Looks like they're randomly tracking usage of html sites or our phone's built-in mail clients.

If they terminate a customer's number, would that include an ETF? If not, wow I'll have a reason to shop around for a new carrier sooner

Posted by: ivwshane

Thanks for the info.

The question still stands though, how does cingular intend on keeping track?

It's very easy to tell what device you are using but how hard is it for cingular to keep track?

Posted by: lagerbrewer

Part of me thinks that the activity would be a givaway. Not the volume, but the type of sites if they really got into it and looked. Like eBay. If I'm ebaying with my tether than I'm not using the eBay WAP site and I would imagine that could throw up a flag.

Posted by: Sprinter

Wirelessly posted (6800 by Nokia: HTC-8100/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

I think for now this info was posted to CSP to just infom sellers of the policy. i've heard reps in stores and over the phone tell customers they can tether with non-data connect plans. Until now, there has been no clear word on if tethering was available at all with phones or pda's. now we should all know that if we are to sell somone data who intends to tether, we should sell the data con plans.

as far as tracking the use goes we've had no word on how cingular will do it. it would have to be the sites visited instead of volume since 3G phones use tons of data but they usually do it on certain sites.

Posted by: anubis9278

policy has been in effect for a while. no one followed it. i knew since last year.

Posted by: blessd24

I thought generally they would just try to put them on the correct plan or bill them. No termanating them.

Posted by: anubis9278

seems harsh but look what they did to off network. no vaseline.

Posted by: happyfrappy

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

The question still stands though, how does cingular intend on keeping track?

It's very easy to tell what device you are using but how hard is it for cingular to keep track?

MediaNet's start page already changes its layout to optimize for GPRS vs EDGE phones. Somewhere in this subforum I remember a rep/tech saying that when a device uses data services the network grabs the device ID/IMEI-Cingy will always know what device we use for MediaNet/data.

Since I've done web development for over 5+ years I used to work on ways to track usage and done it for a few people/offices in the past in logging network resources(via browser+network card). I'll guess the APN/proxy is logging with sorting wap vs html traffic plus browser ID and it helps Cingular track customers with branded phones. Those of us with non-Cingy branded phones which usually have a non-branded Netfront based browser, could be raising flags without us knowing due to the lack of any customization ID tag. If small office/biz can make Internet Explorer plugin with an ID for tracking reasons(like Alexia's plug-in toolbar), a carrier could do the same via customization since it involves customers buying services from MediaMall.

That would be my best network/software level guess and ideas of how Cingy did their tracking deployment. If I'm right, thankfully I don't work for Cingular

Quote:

Originally Posted by lagerbrewer

Part of me thinks that the activity would be a givaway. Not the volume, but the type of sites if they really got into it and looked. Like eBay. If I'm ebaying with my tether than I'm not using the eBay WAP site and I would imagine that could throw up a flag.

While your right about that, it still raises the possibility of customers getting flagged for using something like Opera Mini. Those which have 3G phones could have less hassle to get a billing mistake or improperly flagged status removed easier due to their usage.

Also I just checked OLAM, looks like they credited the mistake. The sites I've browsed with my phone were stuff like pawsox.com, Prov Journal(newspaper of RI) and university webmail- all done with the browser having image loading disabled. When I was using my Z500a, my usage was roughly the same since Nov 05- very possible Cingy is monitoring the network more so than before(due to Treo users on MediaNet).
Anyways heres a screenshot for those left wondering how I caught it: