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steveneddy
October 22nd, 2009, 02:47 AM
I had been using my Blackberry Curve 8330 from Sprint as a modem to get internet access while out on the road without paying for the service. It is simply a matter of using the correct script and the phone connected. I suppose I used more bandwidth than a regular phone should have been using so they cut me off.

The last few weeks I haven't been able to get any internet access on my PC while using the hacked PAM method no matter which method I tried.

So - I called tech support. They know everything. :)

The guy on the other end of the phone was nice when I explained what I had been doing and he didn't rip me for it. He suggested I merely pay $15 for the PAM (Phone As Modem) service and all would be good.

So - I did. Know what? I should have been doing this all along. A USB wireless modem or a Mifi router (or however it is classified) are $60 per month or so for internet service. Plus the hardware.

I didn't get in trouble and I found that the service was actually affordable and I didn't have to purchase any more expensive hardware.

I connect just as I had in the past and the speed is good.

I travel extensively all over the US so I will give it the old college try and see how many places I can actually get internet service.

Cheers!

3rdalbum
October 22nd, 2009, 04:16 AM
You're lucky - you can't do that here. If you use your phone as a modem on an Australian carrier, you get charged an arm and a leg. A dollar per megabyte or something like that.

However, if you use a mobile broadband stick which uses the exact same network, you can get 2gb for $30, or better.

I still wouldn't use my mobile broadband stick as my main internet access as it's still expensive compared to ADSL, and a heck of a lot slower.

t0p
October 22nd, 2009, 04:47 AM
I use a 3G phone as a modem. I also have an HSDPA "mobile broadband" USB dongle.

With the phone (on a pay as you go tariff) I pay 2 pounds 50 p for 5 days "unlimited internet access". And it really does seem to be unlimited. Thing is, my mobile service provider says we are not allowed to use phones as modems. But they don't seem to have realized, despite the serious amount of data I've been getting through for a couple of years now.

With the USB dongle, I get charged 15 pounds for 1GB of data. See the difference?

Okay, so connection speed is better on HSDPA than 3G - sometimes up to 100Kps (800kbps) compared to 50Kps (400kbps). But HSDPA isn't available everywhere. And when there's no HSDPA signal, I get bumped down to 3G. Or even GPRS! And I still have to pay 15 pounds for 1GB data transfer, even if it's over GPRS at 5Kps (40kbps)!

When I bought the dongle, I was thinking it would become my main mode of connection and the phone could be a backup. Especially as I was getting worried that maybe my mobile phone service provider would suss out what I was doing and clamp down on it. But the way it's worked out, I still use the phone as my main connection, and the dongle comes out if I can't get a 3G signal (they're with different carriers).

Oh, and get this: with the phone as modem I can use bittorrent. I don't do that often, but the option's there. Whereas bittorrent is blocked on the dongle. I wouldn't use the dongle for bittorrent anyway, not at 15 quid per GB. But you'd think they'd let me use it for what I want, the price they're charging me!

steveneddy
October 22nd, 2009, 04:15 PM
So far in Colorado I received internet in the Rocky Mountains and in Greenley.

Paqman
October 22nd, 2009, 04:37 PM
Do you know how they identified the tether? Were you using the right user agent string? I was planning to use my Android phone if I got a netbook.

RaZe42
October 22nd, 2009, 04:39 PM
Why should one have to pay extra to use a phone as a modem? It's still the same data travelling (and the same data plan, therefore cost/amount of data).

And if one pays for unlimited data, then one should get unlimited data. That's the way it works over here in Finland.

steveneddy
October 23rd, 2009, 02:00 AM
Do you know how they identified the tether? Were you using the right user agent string? I was planning to use my Android phone if I got a netbook.

The tech explained to me that the "system" determined that there was too much data going across the server for a phone to be using. It determined by this fact alone that I must be tethering. I would suppose that IF one were using Sprint as I am, and you did tether your phone WITHOUT the tethering plan, which I didn't have initially, and you didn't download massive amounts of data you may be able to get by with it for a while.

I used it this way for several months before it caught up with me.

Since I need an internet connection that is reliable, and what they offered was only $15 extra, I didn't see any reason not to add this option to my phone plan.

I already have the Simply Everything on the phone (unlimited internet, talk and text) and tethering for only $15 makes it a perfect deal for my needs.

Besides, I can write it off at the end of the year as a business expense.

Paqman
October 23rd, 2009, 05:05 PM
The tech explained to me that the "system" determined that there was too much data going across the server for a phone to be using.

I guess that's the one thing that you can't spoof. Were you caning the internet hard on your phone before that? I wonder if it was the change in usage they detected, or just the total amount.

steveneddy
October 24th, 2009, 03:42 AM
I guess that's the one thing that you can't spoof. Were you caning the internet hard on your phone before that? I wonder if it was the change in usage they detected, or just the total amount.

I think the longer I used this "feature" the more brazen I became about not being charged for any internet activity while tethered to my PC.

So, yeah, the last month it worked I was actually performing Ubuntu updates across the phone. I'll bet this is what tipped the server off to what i was doing.

I must say that I have actually been half way across the US and it seems to work very well where ever I need a connection.

Tonight in OK City.