Is T-Mo blocking ALL tethering now? Upsell notice

[jet1000]

This seems to run counter to everything I saw in the news a few weeks ago. Anyone able to confirm this change?

It's only included in the 5GB or 10GB data plan. You can see it for yourself if you go onto the T-Mobile website, and select a plan. The 5GB & 10GB plan description will say "with Smartphone Mobile HotSpot Service".

It's not included in the 2GB plan. That doesn't mean that someone won't find a work around to tether on the 2GB plan---but T-mobile will likely try to block it and force an upsell.

[jarrodpd]

I left Tmobile when the upsell started a few years ago.

I was calling Tmobile phone sales considering a Galaxy S3, and the sales rep said that Tmobile has removed tethering restrictions based on customer complaints. He said that anyone who purchases a dataplan can now tether within the dataplan's terms (eg: 4g speeds for GB allotment, 2g speeds over allotment).

This seems to run counter to everything I saw in the news a few weeks ago. Anyone able to confirm this change?

Im on a plan that can't be altered or at least I haven't found a way. I haven't been charged for tethering or received a upsell pad when using it on my iPhone or Mytouch 4G slide. I have a 5Gb plan though.

[mvl_groups_user]

Per the website, I see that hotspot is only available on 5GB+.

But when I asked the phone rep (Tmo's own pre-sales number), he clearly said to ignore the categorization as it was more of a usage guide, and that I could tether on 2GB just like I used to in 2009, as Tmo did away with all the blocks and upsell process.

Is anyone still getting an upsell blockage on their phones on any plan?

[crackerjack_17]

Is anyone still getting an upsell blockage on their phones on any plan?

I got the notice on a Preferred Android $20 for 5 GB plan yesterday. They haven't blocked anything though and I streamed a movie and downloaded a 100 mb podcast.

[Scottish Skyedance]

I tethered GNex with my laptop because I forgot to bring Clearspot. Fortunately, I don't get any problem.
I am with grandfathered Even More Plus 3 in 1 plan.

[newguy78]

I left Tmobile when the upsell started a few years ago.

I was calling Tmobile phone sales considering a Galaxy S3, and the sales rep said that Tmobile has removed tethering restrictions based on customer complaints. He said that anyone who purchases a dataplan can now tether within the dataplan's terms (eg: 4g speeds for GB allotment, 2g speeds over allotment).

This seems to run counter to everything I saw in the news a few weeks ago. Anyone able to confirm this change?

Damn, sales rep will tell you anything to get a sale it seems. I guess the rep was somewhat true. The new 5gb and 10gb web plans comes with the tethering, the 2gb does not.

[5318008]

Any official word on tethering with the prepaid monthly plans w/ unlimited data?

--posted from my phone

[JMccovery]

Any official word on tethering with the prepaid monthly plans w/ unlimited data?

--posted from my phone

You'll get the upsell message on any stock Android device that T-Mobile sells (not sure about the One S and GS3II). At least I noticed it when I went to use my phone's built-in WiFi Hotspot, but if you root and freeze the "Tethering Manager" app, it should not be blocked. I have the $70 Unlimited/5GB Monthly4G plan.

[papajonpizza]

i have the $30/mo prepaid (unlim web 5GB of 4G, unlim txt, 100 min) and I tether via bluetooth to a nokia 5230 symbian os

I get the upsell message all the time now using google chrome unless the webpage is secure (https://). for some strange reason, if i use firefox, i don't get the upsell. i have the ability to turn hotspot on my laptop so any laptop that connects to my hotspot, also gets the upsell if using chrome or IE (but no upsell on firefox. also no upsell message on iphones or ipods that connect to my hotspot

these behavior are consistent with the browser's user agent as t-mobile's enforcement policy detection tool discussed here on this thread a few weeks ago. i don't want to change my google chrome's user agent to bypass detection as that would give me mobile version on some websites, lol. plus, they could change their detection method later.

personally, i connect and disconnect many times a day. if i know i'm only going to connect for 5 minutes or less, i use google chrome to check email, (google mail is https) and firefox for everything else. if it's going to be longer than 5 minutes, i fire up openvpn and connect to home ddwrt openvpn router. no way for t-mobile to see the traffic so no upsell message anywhere. if i do this before starting the hotspot, the same benefit to the laptops that connect to me.

Any official word on tethering with the prepaid monthly plans w/ unlimited data?

--posted from my phone

[mvl_groups_user]

I went to a store and the store sales rep told me that 2GB will not support hotspot, but some phones work anyways (notably WinPhone7). Doesn't seem to make sense if it is pure agent detection. Android definitely won't work per the sales rep.

Not wanting to have to deal with the problem, I bought 5GB w/included hotspot and bought the Galaxy S3 today.... so far so good though I'm still downloading all my old apps and haven't tried tethering yet. The device is as big externally as my Archos 43 with a slightly bigger screen, OS is much faster, though a bit crippled compared to Archos.

[papajonpizza]

there's a couple of ways that t-mobile is blocking unpaid/unauthorized tethering. one is by blocking the "connection". the other is by displaying a message on the internet browser (user-agent detection).

"connection" refers to wifi-hotspot app, or usb-tethering or bluetooth tethering. i believe on some of the newer android phones, they block the wifi hotspot app. rooting the phone seems to resolve this t-mobile block.

after the connection is successful, the upsell message is the next issue... i'm currently dealing with this.

when i get a newer faster phone in the future and i want to use the wifi hotspot, i will just pay the $15/mo addition to the $30/mo and be completely legit. i will get significantly increased speed than my current bandwidth limit of around 1Mb/s (due to the slow nature of bluetooth tethering)

I went to a store and the store sales rep told me that 2GB will not support hotspot, but some phones work anyways (notably WinPhone7). Doesn't seem to make sense if it is pure agent detection. Android definitely won't work per the sales rep.

[cheaplikeafox]

finally got the upsell method even though i rarely tether with the wifi hotspot :/ I was wondering does the user agent switcher work for the samsung galaxy 2/3 and htc one S? or does the user agent switcher just basically work for all phones that get the upsell msg?

thanks.

[eccentriceric]

I got a HTC Mytouch 4G now and i can only tether for about an hour and then i get the upsell message on my phone in the status/ notification bar. with my Galaxy S 4g i used to have i could still tether at 3-4G but 2G seemed so slow i couldn't load anything. Now with the Mytouch, i loose internet even with 4G. it's shame really. i only use 1GB of my 2GB plan, so upgrading to the 5GB plan is a waste of money. a shame they want me to pay to tether and pay for more GB's then i use. So i have a question. Does the 2G work better with the tethering plan? i don't want to waste my money if it's still so slow it won't load anything. But then again even without tethering the 2G on the phone itself seems very slow and can't load maps or weather maps. I miss my turns because i can't get the maps loaded fast enough to see where i need to go.

[cheaplikeafox]

has anyone had their upsell message disappear? I initially had it but now it is gone...odd but that's ok with me.

[XRISTO]

There's mixed signals on this thread, some people say all restriction for tethering have been illiminated by T-mobile while others are still getting the upsell page. Has anyone, particularly with T-zones, been getting the upsell page lately?