HOWTO: access https (and other blocked ports) with free WAP

[Ahndee]

Here's a rundown of how you will get unrestricted internet access (all ports) with the free WAP plan (this essentially makes the $20 internet plan redundant...)

• Items required: You need a computer with "always on" internet access where you have full access to - just running a cheapo *nix box on an old computer somewhere in the garage is all you need
• Setup instructions: Set up an SSH server on the home computer which listens on one of the unrestricted ports (I use pops (995) since I don't use that otherwise). The easiest way to do this is to open this port on your firewall/router and remap it to port 22 (ssh) on your home box. If you are paranoid about security, you wouldn't want to use passphrase authentication but upload your public key to the server and allow only public key access (I won't go into the details of ssh here, you should be able to find this on the internet - for MacOS X, you could use SSH Helper for easy setup).
  Since you most probably have a dynamic DNS at home, you should look in to a service like dyndns.org to give yourself a "domain name" so that you can always address your computer when you are away.
• Accessing from abroad: In order to be able to connect to any port (https, ...) connect to wap.voicestream.com using a GPRS connection from your phone (i.e., my T68i works well, connected to my laptop with Bluetooth).
  Now open a ssh connection to your home box:
  ssh -N -C -p 995 -D 1080 username@home.dyndns.org (of course, substituting the correct values for username and your home's computer name instead of home.dynds.org, and the correct port instead of 995 in case yo are using something else...)
  This set up an encrypted tunnel to your home computer, compresses the data (always nice since you are on a slow connection) and sets up a dummy SOCKS proxy (again, if you are using MacOS X, you might look into SSH Tunnel Manager for setting up the connection with a single click)
  Now, just make sure that you have a SOCKS proxy enabled in your internet connection (you would use 127.0.0.1 and port 1080 as the correct settings) and you should be able to access every port you want (at least from every SOCKS-compliant program)

(Tested with MacOS X 10.3.2 running on both computers, no problem logging into the https site of my online banking)

HTH,
Ahndee (just thought my first post here should be worth for others to read )

[bifur]

Hehe, nice, I would test it but my ×××× linux computer died on me, using my notebook for now. Im hoping to get it fixed when I figure out whats wrong with it so then ill do some testing and confirm with linux. Anyone else try it yet?

Bif

[vboyz103]

bump for a good post. We had the discussion before but nobody really tried, including myself, cuz I'm too lazy. Anyway, this is great stuff, and again just to prove that *nix rules all.

Good post.

[mirandabam]

I didn't realize 993 and 995 (IMAP/SSL and POP3/SSL) were open under the free WAP -- are they really?

[Ahndee]

Originally posted by mirandabam
I didn't realize 993 and 995 (IMAP/SSL and POP3/SSL) were open under the free WAP -- are they really?

Don't know about imaps but pops definitely worked for me (and has been reported as being open on these boards before)

[JohnnyWang]

I pray for the day when Tmobile either gets rid of free wap, or offers faster speeds for the internet customers.

Anyhow, the 19.99 I would save by doing what you suggest is not worth the time and effort.

[galfert]

Very cool. I always thought this might be possible but I never bothered to try.

Does anyone know if I can set this up with an Windows XP box? or if not how about a Windows Server 2003? If extra Windows software is requred can someone recommend what would do this job on a wintel box....thanks.

[parsec]

Originally posted by JohnnyWang
I pray for the day when Tmobile either gets rid of free wap, or offers faster speeds for the internet customers.

Anyhow, the 19.99 I would save by doing what you suggest is not worth the time and effort.

You may be willing to pay $19.99/month for internet access from your phone because you use it every day or whatever, but why should the rest of us who would use this for a couple hours every other month have to pay that? Why should T-Mobile get rid of free wap? Just because you can't be bothered to read the threads about how to use it? I know three people myself who plan on switching to T-Mobile, once their contracts expire with Verizon, because of the free wap. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to count the total number of megabytes the 4 of us use in one month on one hand. That small amount of bandwidth is basically free for T-Mobile anyway.

[hehehhehe]

Originally posted by JohnnyWang
I pray for the day when Tmobile either gets rid of free wap, or offers faster speeds for the internet customers.

Praying for the misfortune of others... you must not get a lot of love.

[Ahndee]

Originally posted by galfert
Does anyone know if I can set this up with an Windows XP box? or if not how about a Windows Server 2003? If extra Windows software is requred can someone recommend what would do this job on a wintel box....thanks.

The following should probably work (I haven't tested but would be interested to hear other's results...)

http://lexa.mckenna.edu/sshwindows/

[Ainvar]

Originally posted by parsec
You may be willing to pay $19.99/month for internet access from your phone because you use it every day or whatever, but why should the rest of us who would use this for a couple hours every other month have to pay that? Why should T-Mobile get rid of free wap? Just because you can't be bothered to read the threads about how to use it? I know three people myself who plan on switching to T-Mobile, once their contracts expire with Verizon, because of the free wap. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to count the total number of megabytes the 4 of us use in one month on one hand. That small amount of bandwidth is basically free for T-Mobile anyway.

For one you are ripping Tmobile off. Two it is not the people who use very little badwidth, it is for the people who want smoething fo nothing and abuse it. I hope they get rid of it and make people pay just cause they are trying to cheat the system. I pay 19.99 a month cause I use https, telnet, and other ports and apps. I can easily setup the proxy at home or on my hosted site since I have that ability. Do I no, and I dont need too. If you want some other than what is offered pay for it. If you cant afford then you dont need it, or you need to get a better paying job, or budget your money better.

Heh people always trying to cheat somebody else. canceling a contract and signing up for a new phone is just as bad as this and vice versa. So hoping for misfortune of others that cheat the system sounds really really really good.

[hehehhehe]

People who use free wap (what I was referring to, which can be clearly seen above) and those " that cheat the system" are not the same thing. Remember that T-mobile is offering free WAP to get more customers, not to be "nice."

I was with AT&T who I stayed with for 3 years and I got one free phone in the beginning. I just got a new phone through T-mobile when I switched, am I cheating the system? Should I have paid for a new phone, a SIM card, and then called T-mobile to activate my SIM and pay for the activation fee? Should I also pay $20 to browse plain WAP sites (not HTTPS or anything else) too?

You guys have some major chips on your shoulders.

Peace.

[JohnnyWang]

I ment more those people cheating the system, not people using WAP the way it was ment to be used.

Reason it irritates me is the network gets congested with non paying ×××××××s cheating the system, meanwhile I get ××××ed while trying to email some important business documents.

[andyhrn]

I've been using a FREE WAP with all ports open( it's very easy to do-just change proxy settings for connestion) for a 3 monthes and now switched to 19.99 plan.
I'm a havy (may say abusive) internet user.So I think T-M just was unhappy with my "free" internet acivity and I couldn't use internet
for more than a few minuts.Connection to server stay active(FREE WAP) but ping can't went trough.They start to trace my proxy setting . I changed them a few times per day(different proxy addresses) but with a new proxy I've been able stay online and use secure sites only for a short period of time .So I changed to another one and the same story(btw all proxies I've been using before has been blocked and I needed a new ones).
The End.

[3gsmlover]

I was able to access Cingular CSD a month back then when I was using my T39m to access t-zones. It didn't load my t-zones start page, then I thought it might be a problem with the page with the unsupported phone. So I go to my bookmark to access Yahoo! wap site. Since I used that phone on Cingular before, the yahoo page dial the Cingular CSD phone number and was able to access to Yahoo! So I think it might work to access secure sites via Cingular CSD. Give it a try!