Straight Talk Data Proxy with an IPhone?

[gyropilot]

Hi everyone,

For about a month now I've been using a Straight Talk SIM in an iPhone 4S which is carrier locked to AT&T. So far the service has been great. I'm a light data user... 20MB has been my biggest day... 1 to 5 MB is typical.

Over the course of the past month, I've run the SpeedTest app a few times to see if there was any difference with the ST SIM. The SpeedTest app has always worked fine for me with the ST SIM. I've also checked and found I was able to stream MPEG video from my home's security camera system just like when using a regular AT&T SIM. I'm aware streaming video violates the ST T&C's, but I only do it occasionally and very briefly.

Well today I decided to check my home security cameras once again and this time I found I couldn't connect. Normal web access, email, even videos through the YouTube app work and are unaffected. Data throughput speed seems normal. Some careful troubleshooting revealed the video stream from my cameras is apparently being blocked. My SpeedTest app also isn't able to test data download speeds anymore... only upload speeds. The ping delay in SpeedTest also seems to have increased.

When I swap in an active AT&T SIM into my iPhone, I can access my security camera stream normally and SpeedTest works just fine. The ping delay with the AT&T SIM is greatly reduced.

At this point all the evidence seems to suggest my iPhone's data is now being routed through a Straight Talk proxy server. Most of you are well aware the iPhone doesn't have a place to review or change a data proxy, even when doing the T-Mobile SIM swap, so I haven't been able to verify this theory.

Has anyone experienced this?

Any suggestions on how I might eliminate the proxy routing?

I've tried various combinations of SIM swapping and rebooting to no avail.

Thanks in advance!



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[maestroteague]

Speedtest still working on my iPhone 4S. I also sometimes use the xtreme labs speedtest app on iPhone. It gives more consistent, realistic upload results than the speedtest.net app.

[gyropilot]

Speedtest still working on my iPhone 4S. I also sometimes use the xtreme labs speedtest app on iPhone. It gives more consistent, realistic upload results than the speedtest.net app.

Just curious, what method did you use to set the data APN on your iPhone 4S to att.mvno?

I ask because this might be a clue as to why some of my iPhone 4S data is being blocked. I've been using a network config file downloaded from unlockit.co.nl lately. Originally I used the Apple Configurator software.

Thanks!


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[maestroteague]

I did jailbrake and used tetherme.

[gyropilot]

Further testing reveals using a VPN over Straight Talk eliminates all data blocks. SpeedTest works and I can view the video feeds from my home security cameras.

This behavior confirms a cellular data proxy has somehow been installed on my iPhone. When I get a chance I'll use the Apple Configurator program to install a new cellular profile with the APN proxy field blank to see if this clears the StraightTalk proxy.


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[gyropilot]

Just as I suspected...

Installing a new data configuration profile using Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility eliminated Straight Talk's proxy. All data blocks have been eliminated and the throughput speeds reported by the SpeedTest app are way faster.


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[golfermarsh]

Just as I suspected...

Installing a new data configuration profile using Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility eliminated Straight Talk's proxy. All data blocks have been eliminated and the throughput speeds reported by the SpeedTest app are way faster.


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What did you set your settings to in the configuration utility?

[gyropilot]

What did you set your settings to in the configuration utility?

Just use the standard APN settings as recommended by Straight Talk, but leave the APN proxy fields blank in the configuration utility.


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[paroots]

Just use the standard APN settings as recommended by Straight Talk, but leave the APN proxy fields blank in the configuration utility.


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I wonder if you would be so good as to provide a step by step recipe of how to use the iPhone Configuration Utility to set the APN values on my iPhone. I haven't actually found a screen with all the APN parameters. The closest thing I've found is Configuration Profiles/Advanced, but it doesn't include a field for att.mvno, etc.
Pete

[gyropilot]

I wonder if you would be so good as to provide a step by step recipe of how to use the iPhone Configuration Utility to set the APN values on my iPhone.

Pete,

See THIS POST for complete details.

Regards,

John L.

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[paroots]

Pete,

See THIS POST for complete details.

Regards,

John L.

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Thanks. It's done and qualitatively I seem to be getting much better speedtest download results. I should email myself a second profile with the proxy server included so I can switch back and forth and see if there is a statistical difference. BTW, you mentioned you did some testing. Was that to verify that the proxy server was indeed removed? If so, how did you determine that?
Pete

[gyropilot]

BTW, you mentioned you did some testing. Was that to verify that the proxy server was indeed removed? If so, how did you determine that?

In my case, with the APN proxy in place I couldn't get the SpeedTest app to perform the download test, nor could I view the video stream from my home security cameras. Without the proxy, they worked normally. That was the extent of my testing.

John L.


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[paroots]

In my case, with the APN proxy in place I couldn't get the SpeedTest app to perform the download test, nor could I view the video stream from my home security cameras. Without the proxy, they worked normally. That was the extent of my testing.

John L.


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Thanks. I just created a second APN profile with the Proxy and sent it to myself via email. The proxy was taken from the Straight Talk website as proxy.mvno.tracfone.com:80. I then ran sequential tests in the order shown below with and without the Proxy included. The tests were conducted around 6AM ET. The 3 numbers in each test were Ping, Download, and Upload:
w/ proxy:
127 3.70 0.45
119 4.39 0.43
130 4.20 0.48
w/o
259 1.67 0.72
261 2.19 0.07
261 2.13 0.28
w/
170 0.01 1.04
184 3.73 1.09
170 4.56 1.05
w/o
250 5.12 1.13
237 4.34 1.06
254 5.67 1.07

To tell you the truth, I don't see a meaningful difference other than the one very low reading with Proxy (ie, 0.01). One theory that might explain the situation is that routing through the Proxy might aggravate download speed during high mvno network usage. The above results were most likely conducted during a period of low network usage esp. since last night I rarely saw downloads above 1.0. Next time I encounter high network usage ie, slow download speeds, I'll redo the test.
Pete

[gyropilot]

I then ran sequential tests in the order shown below with and without the Proxy included.
...

Next time I encounter high network usage ie, slow download speeds, I'll redo the test.

Interesting results.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your additional tests.

John L.

[hoppyjr]

It also makes sense that any throttling would happen at the respective mvno server, since the mvno can control it much easier than the larger AT&T servers- no?



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