Am I Going to Lose Free WiFi HotSpot / Tethering?

[jsrober]

Hi,

I have a Classic Family 1000 plan where I get 1000 shared minutes for two lines for $49.99 per month. I pay an additional $30 per line for data. I have a Galaxy 4G and a G2 on the account.

Both phones are able to turn on WiFi hot spot. This is an awesome feature. I use it all the time with my laptop and tablet. I don't push a lot of bytes, but it's super nice to use the laptop for email and light browsing. I rarely exceed more than a GB per month per line.

I see that T-Mobile is now charging an extra fee for WiFi tethering/hotspot. I'm curious to know what actions I might take will result in me losing the current "free" (no extra charge) capability I have now.

Is it my plan that gives me this capability or is it my phone? If I upgrade to a Galaxy 2, Galaxy Nexus, or HTC Amaze will I lose "free" (no extra charge) WiFi hotspot/tethering?

What if I keep the same phones, but switch to the $99.99 per month (2 lines, unlimited voice/data/text) plan. Will I then lose "free" (no extra charge) WiFi hotspot/tethering?

If I root the phone a install CyanogenMod (or some other non T-Mobile ROM) will I circumvent having to pay for WiFi hotspot/tethering? I have CyanogenMod on a Vibrant that my kids play games with and I like it enough. I feel comfortable rooting a phone and installing a new ROM, but I'm not the kind of guy that does this just for sport (there has to be a reason).

John

[TMOCustomer]

Don't know about your plan. If you are on 2008 or older terms and conditions you should tether free. To my knowledge ALL T-Mobile branded HSPA+ phones 21 mbs or faster currently sold by TMO have software to block tethering. Rooting the phone and deleting it is the most common solution I have found on forums. ROM66 said you can hange the APN to bypass this restriction as well. I have read that TMO is also analyzing the headers on internet traffic to see if it is mobile or pc traffic. There is software you can download to make your pc browser appear to be mobile. Clockwork mod has a tether app which routes pc data through an android app disguising it as mobile data for $4.99 in the market. I have not got it to work but others report success. T-mobile is supposed to have an unadvertised promotion where you get free tethering with a new contract on the plans with 5 and 10 gb data.

[IsLand_BoY]

As of right now, it's a block on the phone's side. There's a process called 'Tethering Manager' that runs on the newer phones (like the Galaxy S II) that block tethering if you don't pay for the add on. Removing/freezing the service means you can tether freely, so that's what I did via rooting.

I don't think you have anything to worry about on your older phones that you use to tether. That should continue to work until T-Mo finds a better way to weed out the people who don't have the tethering add on.

BTW, you should consider talking to the retention department. There's a "preferred" data plan (5GB then throttled) for $20/mo that most here on HowardForums have, including myself. You'd have to call 611 and say "loyalty department" at the prompt.