First of all, I will say that you need to be able to tether, and get to the page where your provider is telling you to spend some money to enable this. As far as I am aware all someone can do is check the user agent of your device. There are lists of possible mobile user agents out there, and if you are on a desktop, it will not match that list and you will no longer be allowed to browse the internet from your laptop. But the solution is pretty simple: emulate the user-agent on your browser (most browsers have some way to do this) and you can happily browse the internet again. There is nothing to download for the phone, and I know Google Chrome comes with a basic emulator that does the trick. *Note that this will give you a mobile-specific view of your websites unless they have a "desktop (full) version" button like we do here at macRumors.
1. Open chrome
2. Get to the T-mobile page which tells you you can't tether.
3. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose "inspect element"
4. Press escape to get another popup within the same section.
5.Click "user agent"
6. Enable "spoof user agent" and select your phone (although any mobile device should work).
7. Uncheck all other things in "screen". "device", and "sensors" so you don't actually browse like you do on an iphone.
8. Try to load your page again. Voila!]
Also note that with Chrome you have to do this for every new tab you're on, which sucks. But Firefox has a "user agent switcher" addon you can download which should do the trick without the hassle.
This may work with other carriers, but I'm unsure.
1. Open chrome
2. Get to the T-mobile page which tells you you can't tether.
3. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose "inspect element"
4. Press escape to get another popup within the same section.
5.Click "user agent"
6. Enable "spoof user agent" and select your phone (although any mobile device should work).
7. Uncheck all other things in "screen". "device", and "sensors" so you don't actually browse like you do on an iphone.
8. Try to load your page again. Voila!]
Also note that with Chrome you have to do this for every new tab you're on, which sucks. But Firefox has a "user agent switcher" addon you can download which should do the trick without the hassle.
This may work with other carriers, but I'm unsure.