Netshare questions/comments/discussion

[justanothernerd]

Hey everyone,

I did a search through the forums, and I found a lot of information about Netshare and such, and I'm trying to make a decision about whether or not I should risk getting burnt by AT&T for tethering.

From the iPhone Terms & Conditions:

Prohibited and Permissible Uses: Data Service sessions may be conducted only for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) corporate intranet access (including access to corporate email, customer relationship management, sales force automation, and field service automation applications). PROHIBITED USES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, USING SERVICES: (I) WITH SERVER DEVICES OR WITH HOST COMPUTER APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WEB CAMERA POSTS OR BROADCASTS, CONTINUOUS JPEG FILE TRANSFERS, AUTOMATIC DATA FEEDS, TELEMETRY APPLICATIONS, PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) FILE SHARING, AUTOMATED FUNCTIONS OR ANY OTHER MACHINE-TO-MACHINE APPLICATIONS; (II) AS SUBSTITUTE OR BACKUP FOR PRIVATE LINES OR DEDICATED DATA CONNECTIONS; (III) FOR VOICE OVER IP; (IV) IN CONJUNCTION WITH WWAN OR OTHER APPLICATIONS OR DEVICES WHICH AGGREGATE USAGE FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES PRIOR TO TRANSMISSION; (V) USING THE SERVICES FOR ANY ACTIVITY THAT ADVERSELY AFFECTS THE ABILITY OF OTHER PEOPLE OR SYSTEMS TO USE EITHER THE SERVICES OR OTHER PARTIES' INTERNET-BASED RESOURCES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF NETWORK OR SYSTEM RESOURCES (WHETHER INTENTIONAL OR UNINTENTIONAL) AND "DENIAL OF SERVICE" (DOS) ATTACKS AGAINST ANOTHER NETWORK HOST OR INDIVIDUAL USER; OR (VI) INTERFERENCE WITH OR DISRUPTION OF OTHER NETWORK USERS, NETWORK SERVICES OR NETWORK EQUIPMENT. EXCEPT FOR CONTENT FORMATTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH AT&T'S CONTENT STANDARDS, UNLIMITED PLANS CANNOT BE USED FOR UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING OR STREAMING OF VIDEO CONTENT (E.G. MOVIES, TV), MUSIC OR GAMES. FURTHERMORE, UNLIMITED PLANS (EXCEPT FOR DATACONNECT AND BLACKBERRY TETHERED) CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY APPLICATIONS THAT TETHER THE DEVICE (THROUGH USE OF, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, CONNECTION KITS, OTHER PHONE/PDA-TO-COMPUTER ACCESSORIES, BLUETOOTH® OR ANY OTHER WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY) TO LAPTOPS, PCS, OR OTHER EQUIPMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE.

They explicitly make the point that tethering is a no-no. However, they do say that streaming music is wrong, but we still have applications like Simplify and Pandora out and no one seems to be getting in trouble for that. I mean, according to the Terms & Conditions, "telemetry applications" (aka, Google Maps) aren't allowed! So is this just AT&T making an idle threat, or do people actually get caught for this sort of thing?

From everywhere I've search on these forums, I haven't seen anyone get caught using Netshare. Does anyone know exactly how the traffic is routed to AT&T? It would be a dead give-away if iPhone traffic is funneled into certain ports, but if I were to use my laptop on the go for email and internet, the only ports I would be using are 80 (for http), 25 (for SMTP) and 143 (for IMAP). How would my browsing signature be any different for my laptop if I only use functions that an iPhone would use anyway? Will AT&T pick up what browser I am using?

For the legal types on the forum: are those Terms & Conditions even legal? It seems strange to me that a company can say "unlimited data", yet impose both caps and severe restrictions on how one can use it. It's almost if an ISP were to say you could only use your connection on a Mac, but not a PC (or in this case, a phone and not a computer). Didn't Comcast Cable get in trouble a few weeks ago for restricting P2P? If I recall correctly, the FCC busted them for violating Net Neutrality. If one were to treat AT&T Wireless as an ISP (which it basically is), wouldn't their Terms & Service violate the principle of Net Neutrality?

Anyway, I'm contacting the FCC to find out - at the least, I don't think AT&T Wireless should be able to advertise a 5 gb/month data plan as being "unlimited."

-Adrian

 

[kobefan234]

I use it and att has not charged me i dont think they even notice

 

[nimda0]

I use it and att has not charged me i dont think they even notice

They don't. I don't care what anyone on these forums CLAIMS to know about tethering. They don't notice, and as a company don't care, and yes it's an idle threat to prevent the masses from doing it. They make the policy just in case they ever need or want to stop you.

At the moment, they do not care, and make no attempt to stop you. I know someone who works for At&t, and i've talked to NUMEROUS area managers from this company, and 1 person from the corporate office. All of them said teh same thing.... we don't come out and say you're allowed to do it, and the policy clearly says you AREN'T allowed to do it, but they don't enforce it and cannot recall any instance where they've ever had to.

 

[speedracer3000]

BTW, if you think Netshare is cool, you might want to look into PdaNet from Cydia (jailbreak) for the TRUE tethering experience.

 

[buccsmf1]

yea, there are lots of people on this board that will tell you at&t is going to charge you a ton for using this. these are the people that are bitter that they didn't nab a copy while it was available so they're trying to rain on everyone else's parade. they don't care if you use netshare, its a fact

 

[kobefan234]

BTW, if you think Netshare is cool, you might want to look into PdaNet from Cydia (jailbreak) for the TRUE tethering experience.

Is that better than Netshare?

 

[nimda0]

Is that better than Netshare?

It's supposed to be faster

 

[speedracer3000]

Is that better than Netshare?

yes, with Netshare I was only able to use Safari, pretty limited. With PdaNet ALL the apps are available, this includes FTP, Mail, skype voice and video, Firefox, VMWare etc. It's just like if you have a laptop connect card, without paying additional $$$/mo for it. It's also easier to setup than Netshare and works perfectly well on both Mac and PC.

 

[kobefan234]

Thats cool i might jailbreak to get this but then i feel i purchased netshare ($10.00) for nothing!

 

[mtfield]

I really wish I had bought netshare when I had the chance... I don't have a need to tether much, but several times a year I take a fairly long train ride and would love to be able to have internet on my mbp while in route... So if apple and att did come out with a tethering service I wouldn't want to purchase it because of how rarely I use it... I would jailbreak, but I had a fairly bad experience with it with my 2G iphone.. so i'm a bit stuck i suppose...

 

[rKunda]

I'm sure it's possible that AT&T notices—or could find out if they wished. But I have to imagine that the entire amount of users that bought netshare in its total time available was pretty low. Even lower is the numbers that use it... and lower still for those that use it with any frequency.

If I had to guess, AT&T, if they even consider it anymore, cut their losses at the app being pulled.