Verizon new data plans - Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

With Big Red unveiling their new Share Everything plans yesterday I am looking at ways to cut down on Data usage. I have un upgrade available now and plan on using it before the deadline that will buy me some time before I need to change over.
Any suggestions out there to reduce 3/4G data use? I got with the family about switching over to wifi when available, but i know the Mrs will forget so are there any apps that will automatically switch to wifi when available?
I have four phones on my plan and I'm the big user with 5G/mo.....hit 6 one month so I need the most changing.

just leave wifi and data on all the time, it will switch on its own.

droidstyle said:
just leave wifi and data on all the time, it will switch on its own.
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Thanks sir. Thought so but I never use wifi so this will be new to me for sure. Default to wifi I'm assuming?
Everyone is up in arms, but I'm thinking I can actually save money with the new structure if I can get data down to under 6G for the fam. Family meeting this weekend to set up everyone's phone for wifi default and then see what happens next month.

This may be more than you want to mess with, but if you are concerned about the extra battery usage from having both wifi and data on all the time, you should check out an app called Tasker. It is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to automate all sorts of things on your phone. It costs $6.49 and there is learning curve, but there are lots of examples of exactly this kind of thing available on the Tasker developer's website. I have Tasker configured to turn on wifi and turn off data when I am at home. It reverses the settings when I leave. If you are not picky what wifi you use, you could set it up to do this any time a wifi signal is detected.

Not real concerned with battery.....its a losing battle with this phone anyway so I just make sure I have my back up when I know I'll be out. But thanks for the tip on Tasker....I'll look into it.

Related

What good is the WiFi Connection

The WiFi connection on this phone is worthless. You turn it on, it finds an access point but it still uses the phones cellular connection to browse the internet or any other data related app. What is the point of this thing?
no it does not.
Thanks for the reply GeLopez but it sure seems that way. I because regardless if I am connected to an access point or not the Internet is still slow.
jskoland said:
Thanks for the reply GeLopez but it sure seems that way. I because regardless if I am connected to an access point or not the Internet is still slow.
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Try turning Wi-fi off then go into start/settings/connections/connections settings. Pick the advanced tab/select networks. Try different combinations to achieve the desired results depending on how and what you are using the PPC to connect to. Now ok out of everything and turn Wi-fi on, now connect to your access point. Should work now. Let me know.
I will be out of the country for a few days beginning tomorrow, and wi-fi is going to be essential for me to avoid roaming charges. With wi-fi and Skype, I've got connectivity anywhere in the world.
I only use my WiFi and never use Carrier data.
Works like a charm.
Is there a setting that needs to be set. I can connect with any local wireless hotspot with this phone and the internet traffic on the phone is as slow as just using the carrier data network.
jskoland said:
Is there a setting that needs to be set. I can connect with any local wireless hotspot with this phone and the internet traffic on the phone is as slow as just using the carrier data network.
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Check under Start Menu -> Settings -> Connections -> Wifi -> Adapters. Make sure that the connections are set to The Internet and not to Work. Also, make sure your wifi connection in there is set to accept a server-based ip address.
Thanks for the advice, I will give it a try.
I hope you get the wifi working for you. I use it all of the time and would be lost without it. I would not have purchased this phone if it was without.
Complain with sprint
I WAS GETTING THE SAME THING, I WOULD CONNECT AT HOME USING WIFI, BECAUSE I DIDNT HAVE A INTERNET PLAN, AND THE FIRST MONTH I GOT A HUGE BILL. I COMPLAINED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR UNTILL I GOT TO THE TECH GUYS, NEVER GET SATISFIED WITH WHAT THE CUSTOMER REP TELL YOU, HES GANNA TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY NO MATTER WHAT, JUST KEEP PUSING AND ASKING TO SPEAK WITH A MANAGER, ONCE YOU GET TO THAT GUY HE SHOULD SET THINGS STRAIGHT.
FIRST, HE CANCELED MY CHARGE FOR INTERNET USE.
2ND, I WAS GIVEN FULL UNLIMITED INTERNET ACCESS FOR LIFE. (ALONG WITH A OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE BACKING UP THE FREE INTERNET INCASE YOU EVER GET CHARGED FOR ANY INTERNET RELATED FEE.)
iM PERTY SHURE I COULD OF KEPT PUSHING IT AND GET MORE OUT OF IT, BUT FREE INTERNET FOR LIFE WAS A PERTY SWEET DEAL. THATS A 100$ MONTHLY FEATURE FREE.
heres what i did.
first i complained about the fact that the wifi, was a feature of the phone htc, not sprint. why should i be charged for using my own wifi. Dell doesnt charge me when i connect their laptop with my wifi at home. why are you?
i specificly rememberd i also said " the wifi is not for you to be charging, it is not a service that you offer it comes with the phone, so does this mean that your going to charge me, everytime i create a word doccument, every time i play solitare, everytime i take a picture with the phone camera? thats just redicolous, you have no right to charge me for a feature that the phone offers, it has absoloutly nothing to do with sprint.!"
I bet you backup your claim, they will give you stuff too.
y2jcjy2j7 said:
I WAS GETTING THE SAME THING, I WOULD CONNECT AT HOME USING WIFI, BECAUSE I DIDNT HAVE A INTERNET PLAN, AND THE FIRST MONTH I GOT A HUGE BILL. I COMPLAINED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR UNTILL I GOT TO THE TECH GUYS, NEVER GET SATISFIED WITH WHAT THE CUSTOMER REP TELL YOU, HES GANNA TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY NO MATTER WHAT, JUST KEEP PUSING AND ASKING TO SPEAK WITH A MANAGER, ONCE YOU GET TO THAT GUY HE SHOULD SET THINGS STRAIGHT.
I bet you backup your claim, they will give you stuff too.
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I bet the whole deal was your fault. I bet you used the data connection instead of the wifi connection. Because it is impossible for them to track your wifi usage. You let the dialup data connection go thru with is the default connection and rang up the huge bill.
You are the reason there are mandatory data plans with PPC and why our service gets more expensive.
drewcam888 said:
I bet the whole deal was your fault. I bet you used the data connection instead of the wifi connection. Because it is impossible for them to track your wifi usage. You let the dialup data connection go thru with is the default connection and rang up the huge bill.
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Exactly what I was thinking. Good work on screwing Sprint out of their money somehow though. The customer service rep you were talking to must've been retarded.
My wifi always works fine.

AT&T Tethering Crackdown - Have you been served?

Well - it was only a matter of time before AT&T stepped in. BGR reports that AT&T is cracking down on people tethering without the appropriate data plan.
This leads me to two questions:
(1) How do you suppose they know who is doing this? (Excessive use? Looking at data flows? etc.)
and
(2) For those who are using tethering without plan, what method do you use and does it make a difference?
(A) Adding APN (via aRoot script or other method).
(B) Modifying existing APNs (via richhed's method).
(C) Using App like Barnacle or Wifi-Tether.
Lets discuss!
Ed
Use C, they can't prove you're doing it. Modifying your APN is an idiotic method to use.
i dont go over 2-3gb much
but i want to know i have it when i needed it
this is totally crap
That report is coming off of the iPhone. It's likely something they've done in iOS 4.3 that checks for something specific. Using the APN method is risky since it's easy for at&t to spot.
I've been tethering my Captivate since August and nothing yet....although I am a light user.
As soon as AT&T warns me that I'm using too much data, I'm going to warn them that their ****ty network and lies about 4G violate MY terms of service.
Meursau|t said:
As soon as AT&T warns me that I'm using too much data, I'm going to warn them that their ****ty network and lies about 4G violate MY terms of service.
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you tell 'em!
n7slc said:
That report is coming off of the iPhone. It's likely something they've done in iOS 4.3 that checks for something specific. Using the APN method is risky since it's easy for at&t to spot.
I've been tethering my Captivate since August and nothing yet....although I am a light user.
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" It is safe to assume that a large portion of the unofficial, tethering populous is jailbroken iPhone users and rooted Android users."
Glad i have unlimited data plan and no need for tethering
tomlee337 said:
Read on engadget today that AT&T is cracking down on people using tethering without a tethering plan. So far only people that have an Iphone are getting cracked down. I use the APN method. Will this be safe because I dont want to lose my unlimited data plan and get knocked down to 4gb + tether because thats what they are doing.
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i dont believe any android users have gotten the email/text YET. But you wont lose your unlimited data until after you receive the first warning email/text
There was an informative comment in the engadget comments:
For all you wondering how they can tell:
All IP packets have something called a TTL associated with them. It stands for Time To Live. Every "hop" along the network from one router to the next reduces the TTL by one. When it reaches 0, the packet is dropped. This was introduced to keep routing problems from overloading the network. If for example, by some error a packet was going around in a circular path, the TTL would eventually reach 0 and prevent a packet storm.
The thing is, ALL routing devices do this. OSes use standard TTLs. For example, let's say both your iPhone and laptop use 127 for the TTL. AT&T will receive packets from your iPhone with a TTL of 127, but since the packets from your laptop pass through your iPhone first, they arrive at AT&T with a TTL of 126. They can detect a tethered device this way.
Apple uses a TTL of 64 for the iPhone, by the way. So change the TTL on your computer to "65" and there should be no problem. Here's how to do it:
1. Click Start - Search and type “regedit”. This launches the WIndows Registry.
2. In the registry, navigate to the following registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\Tcpip
\Parameters
3. In the right pane, right-click and select New – DWORD (32-bit value) and set its name as “DefaultTTL” and set its value anything between “0? and “255?. The value sets the number of Hops or links the packet traverses before being discarded.
REPORT
+ 81
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and..
TTL is a good start. However, deeper packet inspection would reveal HTTP requests from sources other than "approved software packages" (i.e. the http request would show a browser name like chrome). Protocols other then HTTP would be equally revealing.
Deep packet inspection is expensive; so they probably look for people whom consume a generous amount of monthly bandwidth and sniff their traffic.
The only way to protect yourself would be to encrypt your packet payload, until it reached a non-AT&T intermediate node. And of course, eventually that type of behavior would be a red flag. However, they would not be able to PROVE you were tethering, they would only have a reasonable suspicion (which appears to be enough for AT&T).
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Im not sure what the default TTL is for the plethora of Android devices or if this is even how ATT is finding out. Maybe Android users have not gotten letters yet is because of what someone said earlier: apple included something in 4.3 to detect this. Also, IF they are using TTL to detect, there are way too many Android devices with presumably different TTL values for them to precisely detect who is tethering.
from most the reports ive seen ATT has been usually handing these notices out to users that have heavy bandwidth usage. By heavy i mean, 18gb+ a month, this has been the case at least for most iPhone tethering users according to modmyi. It is pretty random tho as I've seen someone use as much as 33 gb in a month and not get served. but if ur within the 5 gb - 10 gb range i dont think you have to worry
Meursau|t said:
As soon as AT&T warns me that I'm using too much data, I'm going to warn them that their ****ty network and lies about 4G violate MY terms of service.
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Yep tell it like it is.
I have not been given a notice, how ever i am ahead of the curve on this, i spent hours 2 nights ago searching for this very report because i noticed that on all of my devices including my CR-48 att was blocking it and not allowing them to connect to the network, i was scared that they had found out.... some hours later it started to work again... now i saw this this morning and i know it is just a matter of time, i immediately have started looking for other carriers but the thing is once one goes they all seem to follow suit so i am not sure what i am going to do
t0dbld said:
I have not been given a notice, how ever i am ahead of the curve on this, i spent hours 2 nights ago searching for this very report because i noticed that on all of my devices including my CR-48 att was blocking it and not allowing them to connect to the network, i was scared that they had found out.... some hours later it started to work again... now i saw this this morning and i know it is just a matter of time, i immediately have started looking for other carriers but the thing is once one goes they all seem to follow suit so i am not sure what i am going to do
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At least with verizon, you have to deal with the same ****ty service, but you get LTE instead.
(I'm on at&t....)
t0dbld said:
I have not been given a notice, how ever i am ahead of the curve on this, i spent hours 2 nights ago searching for this very report because i noticed that on all of my devices including my CR-48 att was blocking it and not allowing them to connect to the network, i was scared that they had found out.... some hours later it started to work again... now i saw this this morning and i know it is just a matter of time, i immediately have started looking for other carriers but the thing is once one goes they all seem to follow suit so i am not sure what i am going to do
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maybe... pay for the actual service? =P
dLo GSR said:
maybe... pay for the actual service? =P
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What service are you paying for? We already pay for data. Data is data. What if internet providers started saying you pay for data to be sent to the modem, but you have to pay an additional service to "tether" it to another device such as a router or computer?
dLo GSR said:
maybe... pay for the actual service? =P
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well first of all that would cost me my unlimited data plan... so that is stupid, 2 i have been a smartphone user for about 12 years and tethering was always included, than they removed it from devices but if you knew what you were doing you could do it on your own, as years have gone on it has changed to get to this ... this is one thing i will not budge on and never will, i do not condone pirating or anything else how ever , if i pay for a data plan to surf the internet from your network than what device i choose to use to do it is of no matter, i do not tether and have multiple devices hooked up or allow other people to use my connection, it is a matter of what device i am using to view the same thing, this does not justify and extra $45 a month charge because i wanted to view the same internet on my tablet instead of my phone while sitting on my couch, or if i want to tether while driving to use navigation. I am viewing the same thing on only one device
POOP - I misread
t0dbld said:
well first of all that would cost me my unlimited data plan... so that is stupid, 2 i have been a smartphone user for about 12 years and tethering was always included, than they removed it from devices but if you knew what you were doing you could do it on your own, as years have gone on it has changed to get to this ... this is one thing i will not budge on and never will, i do not condone pirating or anything else how ever , if i pay for a data plan to surf the internet from your network than what device i choose to use to do it is of no matter, i do not tether and have multiple devices hooked up or allow other people to use my connection, it is a matter of what device i am using to view the same thing, this does not justify and extra $45 a month charge because i wanted to view the same internet on my tablet instead of my phone while sitting on my couch, or if i want to tether while driving to use navigation. I am viewing the same thing on only one device
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But it's those that DO use it on 5+ devices, pulling in 20GB a month that ruin it for everyone else. Not to mention crowd our whole network with unnecessary traffic.
Since I rarely tether, have a built-in Navi for my car, and don't buy into the whole tablet frenzy, I may not feel your specific needs. But for those that are abusing the workaround, I have zero sympathy.
andy2na said:
I just got the tethering text... Im on the unlimited plan and have used about 2gb this month. I mainly use webtop with the hacked tethering method.
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um sh*t
so this is not iphone only .....
lsxrx7 said:
um sh*t
so this is not iphone only .....
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right, Android users are NOT safe...
Ive been using android on ATT since last July and have not touched an iPhone since, so theres no ambiguity with this.

Block Data Requests to Network on SGS2 (AT$T)

Hi community, I'm a noob to posting and I'll apologize up-front. This is my first XDA thread, but I've been a silent creeper on here since the Windows Mobile 6/6.1/6.5 era. After searching here, Google, and other forums, I am still at a loss for the proper procedure for doing what I'm about to request. I have an LG Incite (CT810), which is a Windows 6.1 phone. I'm familiar with network settings, access codes, registry edits, ROMS, etc.; however, I'm new to Android and I won't even pretend to have a solid idea of what I'm doing.
Here's the situation: with my Incite, I have a "smartphone exclusion" and "data opt-out" features on my plan. This meant that for 3 years, I did not pay for data for any of the lines on my grandfathered family plan as the data network is mostly unusable in my portion of north Florida. Where I live, work, and go to school all have wi-fi and I have been largely successful managing things that way. On the Incite, you did the following to prevent all data requests from going from the phone to the network...Start>Settings>Connections>Connections>Advanced>Select Networks. Relatively straight-forward.
I now have a new SGS2 i777 sitting on my desk with both the new and old SIM cards available (as I have not yet activated it). After working extensively with premier/enterprise customer care, my plan now looks like it did 1 month ago when I was promised that I could upgrade to anything "other than an iPhone" and maintain my contract "as-is" (i.e. no data plan). I signed into my account last night and sure enough, the Enterprise Data Pro 2GB had been removed and the Data Opt-Out had been reinstated. I've been reading about IMEI crawlers and network connection monitors...and though I can't do anything about the first, I was wondering if there's anything that can be done to prevent the second from the phone side (like my Incite did). For example, making all background and active data refer to the wi-fi connection and throw an error if it wasn't connected.
I still have 2 weeks left in my "buyer's remorse" period to activate or figure out what to do. Basically, I don't want to pay for something I can't use--especially since I'm on a fixed income. In summary, are there internal settings to prevent network data or is there more work I need to do from the customer care side?
Thank you ahead of time for your patience with me.
You ight get more help in the i727 skyrocket forums, your posting in the Original SGS2. There is a big difference in phones. Sorry I am not of any further assistance since I am not running stock samsung roms so I havent tried what your wanting to do. I am on CM7 builds. I believe in CM7 there is a spot to choose 2G, 2G+3G, and other settings. But I am not aware on stock samsung roms. Take a look or see if your post can be moved to the Skyrocket forum for better help.
Sent From My KickAss ATT SGS2 SPORTING CM7
Headslap moment...it's an i777 SGS2 normal (non-Skyrocket) sorry about that. lol told ya I was a n00b.
I'm interested in all options: rooting, roms, apps, stock settings, etc.
Does anyone know if there's a code you dial that will take you to the engineer menu to adjust modem settings? (e.g. the Incite is 5476278#*#) 3G in this area is poor and 4G is non-existent so I probably don't need those either.
lo-fi_engineer said:
Headslap moment...it's an i777 SGS2 normal (non-Skyrocket) sorry about that. lol told ya I was a n00b.
I'm interested in all options: rooting, roms, apps, stock settings, etc.
Does anyone know if there's a code you dial that will take you to the engineer menu to adjust modem settings? (e.g. the Incite is 5476278#*#) 3G in this area is poor and 4G is non-existent so I probably don't need those either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understand what you want correctly, you are looking for a way to completely disable data service over the cell network on the phone side, while maintaining the ability to use data over wifi? If that is the case, I don't know of a way to do this on stock firmware, but many custom firmwares include the option to disable data. Perhaps I'm missing your goal though...
Edit: menu>settings>wireless and network> mobile networks> enable packet data. If this is accessible on stock (can't remember, it's been a while) that might do what you want
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA App
I don't know how you managed to keep your old non-data plan as any new smartphone requires a minimum data plan, no ifs, ands or buts.
Miami_Son said:
I don't know how you managed to keep your old non-data plan as any new smartphone requires a minimum data plan, no ifs, ands or buts.
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I gave my girl my captivate ( she had some old slider phone) and she just put her sim in and uses everrything on wifi. Didn't upgrade to a data plan.
If I understand OP correctly, then i think it's too easy to do.
I don't fully capture what OP's first or second mean but, my take
1. If you already "data opt-out", then you cannot receive any data, meaning you cannot access their network.
2. If you don't want to use their mobile network but just wifi, then turn off their network under Wireless and Network/Mobile Data (or DAta network) settings.
In fact, I turned it off frequently, for this month billing statement, I only consume 2.3MB so far LOL
Miami_Son said:
I don't know how you managed to keep your old non-data plan as any new smartphone requires a minimum data plan, no ifs, ands or buts.
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Persistence mostly. I don't know if it will stick when I move my SIM card over though. See screenshot below
votinh said:
If I understand OP correctly, then i think it's too easy to do.
1. If you already "data opt-out", then you cannot receive any data, meaning you cannot access their network.
2. If you don't want to use their mobile network but just wifi, then turn off their network under Wireless and Network/Mobile Data (or DAta network) settings.
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Click to collapse
+1 I'll definitely check that out when I get a chance to charge it. I just ran it down until it shut off so it'll be on the charger for a while once I get to my residence.
Idk if data opt out is same as data block but I use that on one of my lines with an Inspire 4G. With that route you lose mms though. Same with blocking it under wireless settings.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Changing phones does not affect your plan unless you buy a subsidized phone that requires a minimum data plan. I went from an Incite with an old unlimited plan and kept it when I went to a Tilt 2 that I bought off eBay. I simply swapped my SIM and it worked just fine. When I used my upgrade for the Captivate I was forced off my unlimited plan. If you go the full 30 days with that phone I suspect you will see yourself put on a 200mb plan. Did you get a new SIM with the phone? I got one with my SGSII and if I didn't activate it within the 30 days they would have charged me the full price of the phone.
Apndroid shuts off data through changing the apns for you.
The manual way is to type up a new apn with bad settings. Voice calls will still work, but data will never be able to connect. Wifi will be unaffected. No special settings needed anywhere else on the phone.
Sent from my páhhōniē
Settings>Wireless and Network>Mobile Networks>Use Packet Data
Uncheck the box at the menu above and you will not use cell data. WiFi data will work just fine. Just verified this on an unmodified, completely bone stock ROM. Changing the APN settings to incorrect values can be done as an added defense, but shouldn't be necessary. Hope this helps.
ou812bkewl said:
Settings>Wireless and Network>Mobile Networks>Use Packet Data
Uncheck the box at the menu above and you will not use cell data. WiFi data will work just fine. Just verified this on an unmodified, completely bone stock ROM. Changing the APN settings to incorrect values can be done as an added defense, but shouldn't be necessary. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Even better
Sent from my páhhōniē
disable data connection on sgs2
I'm using the app Android Task Manager Pro Ver 2.2.6 it really helps on stopping the data connection so i wont go over my data plan.
Miami_Son said:
Changing phones does not affect your plan unless you buy a subsidized phone that requires a minimum data plan. I went from an Incite with an old unlimited plan and kept it when I went to a Tilt 2 that I bought off eBay. I simply swapped my SIM and it worked just fine. When I used my upgrade for the Captivate I was forced off my unlimited plan. If you go the full 30 days with that phone I suspect you will see yourself put on a 200mb plan. Did you get a new SIM with the phone? I got one with my SGSII and if I didn't activate it within the 30 days they would have charged me the full price of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After speaking to enterprise business customer care many, many times, I was advised that there are extremely limited instances where business users can upgrade their plans and continue to use their old settings. I offered to buy an SGS2 on Newegg or Amazon at full price, so that I could maintain my plan (like you can with an unlocked phone and a T-Mobile Value-1000 plan utilizing the "bring-your-own-phone provision"), but the agents told me that I would be "upgraded" to a data plan based on the IMEI change from my Incite to my SGS2. Two t2 agents told me that buying a full-priced phone and then correcting the account was unnecessary as EBCC could correct the plan after the fact (even with an upgrade). I followed the instructions to a "t" and bought the phones via the EB OLAM, received them, emailed the agent 3x over the course of a week, but never heard back.
After 3 calls to EBCC, I reached a veteran tier 2 agent who said that correcting the plan based on my circumstances was "easily" done, but that the agent whom provided her email address had "owned" the problem and needed to get one last opportunity to take care of it. She said she emailed the prior agent and to call back and request tier 2 or a supervisor if she didn't contact me. Idk if she was just avoiding doing it or what, but I waited as instructed. I called back and reached a tier 1 agent who recited the normal stance regarding smartphones. Several tier 1 agents later, I reached one who spoke to her supervisor whom read the litany of notes and approved the plan adjustment. Will this work for anyone else? I doubt it, but who knows. ...probably won't work for me either lol...
The screenshots in my previous post were generated 5 minutes before I posted them--they are accurate. My concern from here on out is that the phone will attempt to download data or connect to 4G (2 of the 3 conditions that will generate a forced data plan--IMEI is the 3rd, but understandably, people don't like discussing that one on here). I'll try out the bone stock packet disable setting suggestion shortly and see what happens.
So with a quick search for a similar phone, I found *#*#INFO#*#* Which took me to the Testing Menu. From there, pressing Phone Information>Preferred Network Type>GSM Only. I'm not yet activated, but I'll reply back if that worked.
...making progress!
I saw a Captivate earlier, but has anyone had success keeping a 3.5/4G phone data plan-free?
Miami_Son said:
When I used my upgrade for the Captivate I was forced off my unlimited plan.
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How did they get away with that? I've been grandfathered for years, even when I got my first 3g phone. I don't know anybody who was actually forced down to a tiered plan.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
mkosmo said:
How did they get away with that? I've been grandfathered for years, even when I got my first 3g phone. I don't know anybody who was actually forced down to a tiered plan.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
When you buy a subsidized phone you have to agree to their terms. That requires you to sign a new contract, which did not give me the choice of keeping my old plan. Maybe I could have made a stink, but at the time they no longer offered unlimited plans and I really wanted the Cappy.
That's only true if you upgrade through 3rd party retailers. Even that, you can call AT&T to get your unlimited data plan back. No, you are no forced to give up the unlimited data when signing a new contract. The problem is most 3rd party retailers can't keep your unlimited with their computer systems, only AT&T stores can do so.
Success!
I swapped out the sim cards without formal activation earlier tonight...no dreaded "We noticed that you're using a smartphone..." text! (At least not yet). Packet data was enabled in the network settings--it seemed to have no effect. From as far as I can tell, the process involves the following...
I came from a grandfathered plan with a smartphone exclusion and data opt-out. I upgraded online and then called [enterprise] customer care and got both items added back along with getting my IMEI updated as available for the opt-out. That seems to be it. Nothing on the phone side. From what multiple tier 2 agents have told me, that will absolutely not work with an iPhone, but who cares about iPhones anyways
I'm curious which combination of data block, smartphone exclusion, and IMEI database update are necessary to make that work for others in situations similar to mine (useless data network where I live/ commute). Will this work with a dumbphone and a data opt-out (block)? I don't know. Perhaps someone who's in a position to upgrade could try it. Using a 3G sim card in a dumbphone, call customer care (611) and request a wix block/ data opt-out on that line. I doubt they'll put the smartphone exclusion on it if it's not a smartphone--if it is then they'll probably put a data plan on instead. After you can log into the online account management, check the features on the line and verify the data opt-out and then try to put your 3G sim into a 4G smartphone and make some calls. Warning: in the event that you weren't intending to upgrade to a smartphone anyways, you might cause yourself a lot of headache getting the data back off once your sim is back in your original non-smartphone (assuming that data block by itself isn't enough to curb the data). Please chime in if it worked because I'm sure there's at least a few members who would be interested.
Loving the Samsung Galaxy S II and XDA...I can't wait to decide which mods I'm going to do first...
Response to the "Dandrumheller":
YES, the stock ROM has that option. It is the best solution that doesn't require any hassle.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

[Q] how does aT&t know your tethering??

[Q] tethering caught with fox fi- with proxy
i have been a big fan of tethering since my old iPhone days.
the switch to android has been a big step and i am not telling anyone to tether so please don't abuse this.
i used foxfi with proxy for about 4 months until last night. got a email from AT&t stating that i would be moved to a tethering plan for 65 dollars more a month and one less gig than i had before. so for all those that use foxfi with proxy, it doesn't work. i know pda net dosent work from friend who also got a letter, before me.
so i am stuck .. no more tethering for me.. i am actually retiring from it. but i still keep the option on my phone if such an emergency arises.
hears where i am asking for the opinions of the xda members. i am not sure how at&t knows, but they did, and it doesn't make sense that they scan all every packet of data. any ideas how they know?
i did do one thing that i found hidden on my samsung notei717. under network settings it only shows ONE apn. but... if you download a apn-manager it shows a hidden APN-att-entitlement. is this how they know? i thought it was only used for people who pay for tethering? is it also used to track tethering?
i ended up using a sql editor and removed the line for this APN from the(/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db) rebooted phone and now its gone, phone works well and i havent seen any problems yet. ( i did make a copy if anyone wants to see the original)
might anyone in here have any ideas of how at&t knew ?
i am more curious if anything.. even my wife told me, that i have a big enough screen, just use it as a computer from now on.
was it this APN that gave it away? (i tethered a android tablet for internet and games)
I'm on T-Mobile and have been caught tethering, I use chrome extension user-agent switcher. Choose the Android user-agent. If some pages require IE then just precede with HTTPS.
Try it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Another thought you could use the tether, establish a VPN tunnel to a home machine and then use the internet that way. it'll encapsulate your traffic from your laptop to your home PC so AT&T could see is traffic but not what and where. From what I've read it's either 1 of 2 ways how AT&T detect if you're tethering:
1) by detecting what type of response headers and ports your connecting on. A VPN tunnel would protect you.
2) the other rumor is that by using a tethering program (or one that's built in for that matter) uses a tethering specific APN which AT&T tracks that way. So in theory if you could specify which APN you use for tethering that would protect you.
I haven't wanted to test out these theories because I have unlimited plan and don't want to risk it.
Theoriginalgiga said:
Another thought you could use the tether, establish a VPN tunnel to a home machine and then use the internet that way. it'll encapsulate your traffic from your laptop to your home PC so AT&T could see is traffic but not what and where. From what I've read it's either 1 of 2 ways how AT&T detect if you're tethering:
1) by detecting what type of response headers and ports your connecting on. A VPN tunnel would protect you.
2) the other rumor is that by using a tethering program (or one that's built in for that matter) uses a tethering specific APN which AT&T tracks that way. So in theory if you could specify which APN you use for tethering that would protect you.
I haven't wanted to test out these theories because I have unlimited plan and don't want to risk it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have deleted the alternate APN ( which is hidden even from root users) so i am not sure if that is it.
is it possible to alter the TTL ? and if so how?
- also how would i tweak my note to use a VPN?
mac1845427 said:
i have deleted the alternate APN ( which is hidden even from root users) so i am not sure if that is it.
is it possible to alter the TTL ? and if so how?
- also how would i tweak my note to use a VPN?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I'd handle the VPN on the laptop/computer instead of the phone itself. Inherently there's an overhead for a VPN and requires processing power which would slow down your throughput on your phone if the phone was handling that.
Here's a link that has a decent walk through if you want to use the phone for the VPN.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smartphones/securely-connect-your-android-smartphone-via-vpn/3321
What APN did you delete? can you post the values of it? Also why do you want to change your TTL?
I do not know how at &t does it, but a friend was one of the first owner of a 10" tablet with internal 3g years ago. His provider accused him doing tethering.
We assumed that they check the screen resolution of the browser which some web sites use to optimise the layout.
After short discussion, he could convince them and they droped the case.
Not that I'm in any way knowledgeable in the context of this topic, but when you mentioned the alteration and/or deletion of hidden APN data...
Bear in mind that a stock GB build for the ATT note, contains 1352 separate APN's....
And I'm not sure if the hidden file will capture the additional data or not to prevent detection, but I thought I'd post anyway just in case it helps at all ...g
Edit : I can't say for sure where these APN logs are stored or how/when they are accessed, but I know they exist as they can be seen when backing or restoring the GB or ICS UCLF6 Builds when tracking the line by line process.
Good luck to you gentlemen, I have nothing else to offer on the subject ....sorry ....g
xblosa said:
I do not know how at &t does it, but a friend was one of the first owner of a 10" tablet with internal 3g years ago. His provider accused him doing tethering.
We assumed that they check the screen resolution of the browser which some web sites use to optimise the layout.
After short discussion, he could convince them and they droped the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the case, that sort of data can be masked by a VPN tunnel. But I think it's a little more complex than that because there's quite a few tablets on AT&T now.
Theoriginalgiga said:
If that's the case, that sort of data can be masked by a VPN tunnel. But I think it's a little more complex than that because there's quite a few tablets on AT&T now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, they will have improved their detection, but it will be based on fingerprinting for the traffic of commonly used desktop applications. VPN will avoid this, but using VPN all the time might be suspiscious per se.
xblosa said:
Sure, they will have improved their detection, but it will be based on fingerprinting for the traffic of commonly used desktop applications. VPN will avoid this, but using VPN all the time might be suspiscious per se.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, it would look suspicious, but suspicion isn't enough to warrant AT&T to switch your account.
I got the email from AT&T about a year ago warning me about tethering and I called the number and she said their system looks for many thing and throws up red flags when it can prove you are tethering. She said they have to have proof before they can warn people. I was using my device to tether an iPod touch and she told me the reason I was caught was because I had downloaded apps from the App Store on an I device but my sim card was never shown to be inside an Idevice. It was crazy because I used several devices to tether for at least three years without being caught and within a week of using the iPod I was caught.
How dare we use the services we pay for! Such arrogance I have never seen to think att shouldn't be able to double dip. Vote Romney 2012 and deregulate more!
I got a warning once after watching Netflix... on my phone. They're usually bull****.
Sent from my SGH-I717 using xda premium
Earlier this month, I was on vacay and decided to use my phone to tether to my laptop (wasnt going to pay $12 at the hotel for damn sure), and I forgot and left it on thru one night. I didn't really "tether" per say, I turned my phone to a hotspot actually and it's not like my internet usage was higher than normal neither.
Why does at&t trip when you gotta pay anyway? (if no unlimited plan of course)
SayWhat10 said:
Why does at&t trip when you gotta pay anyway? (if no unlimited plan of course)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well because AT&T wants to get you for every single penny they can. They want to charge you for a data plan, then a tether plan and roaming plan, and idevice plan, a non-idevice plan, a gps plan, a navigation plan, a text to speech plan, your grandma is a dirty girl plan, your connected to more than one tower at a time plan, a video chat plan. I'm sure you get the point, if they can squeeze that extra penny from the people and force them to pay higher prices, even though it alienates their consumers, they know people aren't going to leave. The market isn't who has the best service gets the most customers anymore. It's you will use us because we're all owned by the same company and we just give you the illusion that you have choices, but in reality all your money are belong to us.
/climbs off of soapbox
I have a 3 gig plan and use about 8 gigs a month.. I tether my ps3 and play online and stuff like that.. I have never heard from AT&T..
Surely they can see when I'm connected to Playstation Network using massive amounts of data..
Its powered by Jellybeaned AOKP!
Did you delete the tethering manager program?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
johnrippa said:
How dare we use the services we pay for! Such arrogance I have never seen to think att shouldn't be able to double dip. Vote Romney 2012 and deregulate more!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly !!..g
drnecropolis said:
I have a 3 gig plan and use about 8 gigs a month.. I tether my ps3 and play online and stuff like that.. I have never heard from AT&T..
Surely they can see when I'm connected to Playstation Network using massive amounts of data..
Its powered by Jellybeaned AOKP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aside from charging you for tethering...they dont charge you for the overage from the 3gig to 8gig? that has to be a lot

[Q] Controlling data use without Data Wise - possible?

Guys - I've just come from an HTC Sensation on JBMIUI to a Lumia 620. There is no 620 forum yet but the same question applies AFAIK to all WP8 phones and this is currently the most active WP8 forum - so apologies - I hope this sparks some useful discussion.
I'm on a Vodafone UK work contract with a meager 500MB data allowance each month. Having watched the Jimmy McGee video on the front page of XDA about why he has given up on WP8 (one key reason was his data use trebled from his Android handset), I'm now seriously worried about my own data use.
Vodafone UK don't support Data Sense and won't cap my data use through their systems (as Tesco's can do with one click in their web based account manager - Yea! Go little guys!). Voda do however like to royally stick it to you for exceeding your allowance. One month when they had accidentally removed my data bolt-on, I got a bill for over £400 for just under 700Meg of data - no warnings of approaching or exceeding my limit or of running up a bill 20 times my normal monthly amount - the bastar... er... not nice people!
Thankfully they eventually backed down and even apologised for that little mistake and I am a low enough data user to never have exceeded my data allowance on any other occasion.
BUT - accidentally running up this sort of bill would count as a disciplinary matter with my employer - so - is there any other way anyone has found to accurately monitor / track data usage? If not I'm going to have to switch off data and only turn it on when I absolutely need to - a major pain in the ass and one which kinda defeats the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place
Any suggestions gratefully received, equally, comments from longer term Lumia users who have managed to run their phone without sky-high data use would be good to hear!
BelfastLad said:
Guys - I've just come from an HTC Sensation on JBMIUI to a Lumia 620. There is no 620 forum yet but the same question applies AFAIK to all WP8 phones and this is currently the most active WP8 forum - so apologies - I hope this sparks some useful discussion.
I'm on a Vodafone UK work contract with a meager 500MB data allowance each month. Having watched the Jimmy McGee video on the front page of XDA about why he has given up on WP8 (one key reason was his data use trebled from his Android handset), I'm now seriously worried about my own data use.
Vodafone UK don't support Data Sense and won't cap my data use through their systems (as Tesco's can do with one click in their web based account manager - Yea! Go little guys!). Voda do however like to royally stick it to you for exceeding your allowance. One month when they had accidentally removed my data bolt-on, I got a bill for over £400 for just under 700Meg of data - no warnings of approaching or exceeding my limit or of running up a bill 20 times my normal monthly amount - the bastar... er... not nice people!
Thankfully they eventually backed down and even apologised for that little mistake and I am a low enough data user to never have exceeded my data allowance on any other occasion.
BUT - accidentally running up this sort of bill would count as a disciplinary matter with my employer - so - is there any other way anyone has found to accurately monitor / track data usage? If not I'm going to have to switch off data and only turn it on when I absolutely need to - a major pain in the ass and one which kinda defeats the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place
Any suggestions gratefully received, equally, comments from longer term Lumia users who have managed to run their phone without sky-high data use would be good to hear!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat on GiffGaff PAYG.. I ate through £10/data in one day. The trouble is WP8 still has an active data connection even when wireless is turned on. I am not sure if it's just the small period when wireless kicks in from wake, or if it's on all the time, but either way there is unnecessary data usage and no way to disable account sync like you would on Android.. (bar disabling data completely). In my opinion this is a huge bug...
Battery saving seems to disable data sync well, however it also disables location services.
marky9074 said:
I'm in the same boat on GiffGaff PAYG.. I ate through £10/data in one day. The trouble is WP8 still has an active data connection even when wireless is turned on. I am not sure if it's just the small period when wireless kicks in from wake, or if it's on all the time, but either way there is unnecessary data usage and no way to disable account sync like you would on Android.. (bar disabling data completely). In my opinion this is a huge bug...
Battery saving seems to disable data sync well, however it also disables location services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the phone is asleep, Wifi is also asleep unless a background app specifically calls for it. Any data access the phone needs while it is asleep is done over the data connection. There fore your phone will always use data when it is asleep, even if you are in a wifi connected area that the phone is setup for. It does this to conserve the battery as seeking a wifi connection all the time uses more battery that the phones radio does.
Solarenemy68 said:
When the phone is asleep, Wifi is also asleep unless a background app specifically calls for it. Any data access the phone needs while it is asleep is done over the data connection. There fore your phone will always use data when it is asleep, even if you are in a wifi connected area that the phone is setup for. It does this to conserve the battery as seeking a wifi connection all the time uses more battery that the phones radio does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is ridiculous imo, neither android nor apple have this behaviour (I have both). Presumably leaving wireless on would be a workaround.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
marky9074 said:
Which is ridiculous imo, neither android nor apple have this behaviour (I have both). Presumably leaving wireless on would be a workaround.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the Android. My HTC Inspire was setup so it would use data while asleep and wifi was only active when it was awake. This maybe a default setting that AT&T phones have. I say this becuase my Desire was also an AT&T phone although I was running energy ROM on it but that ROM worked the way I just described as well.
This is only an issue for those who have very limited data packages and IMO should not be using a smart phone if that is the case in the first place. I had a 2GB package and it was close to being over used each month. So when I got my 920 I went to a 3GB package which is just right for my use. If I go over they charge me 10 bucks for each GB of overage.
If you are unable to get a similar plan in your area then it seems to me the provider is trying to put a cap on smart phone users and that would mean it may not be a good idea to have a smart phone on that provider unless you have money to spare. Just my opinion of course.
Solarenemy68 said:
Depends on the Android. My HTC Inspire was setup so it would use data while asleep and wifi was only active when it was awake. This maybe a default setting that AT&T phones have. I say this becuase my Desire was also an AT&T phone although I was running energy ROM on it but that ROM worked the way I just described as well.
This is only an issue for those who have very limited data packages and IMO should not be using a smart phone if that is the case in the first place. I had a 2GB package and it was close to being over used each month. So when I got my 920 I went to a 3GB package which is just right for my use. If I go over they charge me 10 bucks for each GB of overage.
If you are unable to get a similar plan in your area then it seems to me the provider is trying to put a cap on smart phone users and that would mean it may not be a good idea to have a smart phone on that provider unless you have money to spare. Just my opinion of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a HTC Desire before the Galaxy Nexus, and I do remember it turning off wireless when asleep, however it never reverted to a data connection. I can't remember how the GN was, always on I think. I've used all three phones on the same contract and the WP8 is the only one that has made a data connection whilst asleep (I would have seen it before in the last three years of use, and its only happened since using this phone).
Agreed that most people have a plan. On Giffgaff in the UK you can buy a plan for a month (a goodybag), however if you use virtually no data (because you are always within the vicinity of wireless) its even cheaper to stay PAYG. Ordinarily I can make £10 last a couple of months for calls and texts (free intra network). But I burned £10 on data in one day last week, and I never even touched the phone!
This is the article I was referring to when I said I thought it was a 'bug':
http://wmpoweruser.com/no-universal-data-counter-feature-in-wp8-as-data-sense-is-carrier-dependent/
Adding insult to injury, Windows Phone 8 still hasn’t solved some of the painful problems of Windows Phone 7: it still leaves mobile data on even when connected to WiFi, and turns WiFi off when the screen is locked, which together can lead to completely unnecessary usage of mobile data. Arguably, solving these two trivial problems would be much more useful to the majority of Windows Phone users than introducing carrier-exclusive data-saving features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
marky9074 said:
This is the article I was referring to when I said I thought it was a 'bug':
http://wmpoweruser.com/no-universal-data-counter-feature-in-wp8-as-data-sense-is-carrier-dependent/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hasn't this issue been partly rectified with the Portico update? They added a setting to keep WiFi on behind the lock screen. Also If you do not want to use data and sync your accounts manually you can turn on battery saver, as that stops most if not all background syncing and makes you do it manually to save battery, in this case it is more about saving data.
I would highly recommend turning on battery saver and seeing if this reduces your data usage. However just remember you will have to manually sync all your accounts to get updates.
Bjd223 said:
Hasn't this issue been partly rectified with the Portico update? They added a setting to keep WiFi on behind the lock screen. Also If you do not want to use data and sync your accounts manually you can turn on battery saver, as that stops most if not all background syncing and makes you do it manually to save battery, in this case it is more about saving data.
I would highly recommend turning on battery saver and seeing if this reduces your data usage. However just remember you will have to manually sync all your accounts to get updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery saver works well, but (i'm pretty sure) it turns off location services as well, which is a shame.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
marky9074 said:
Battery saver works well, but (i'm pretty sure) it turns off location services as well, which is a shame.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tested it and you can turn on location with battery saver on. I fired up Nokia drive and everything worked.
Bjd223 said:
I just tested it and you can turn on location with battery saver on. I fired up Nokia drive and everything worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it does took forever in drive beta, but in HERE Maps worked straight away...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

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