got a broadband prob at the moment so trying to use phones as internet access points. ive used mine before for tethering on giffgaff, but it doesnt seem to be working as it did before. itll get google, but no other websites for some strange reason. i made it into a wifi hotspot instead and that works fine, but im limited to 1Gb data.

so…… ive looked at getting through the wifes ‘3’ account. hers is unlimited data, but no tethering allowed. so i tried the wifi hotspot option and its working. my question is….. why is it working? i understand the difference between tethering and wifi hotspot but i cant understand how wifi hotspot is allowed but not tethering. surely its all the same data being used?

thanks

I do both on my three contract. Wasn’t aware tethering was forbidden…

wifi hotspot is a from the phone not the provider so nothing they can do about it basically works the same, both my kids attach to my phone when we are out with kindle’s or pads

Tethering on Three is allowed. I use it daily.

I’m interested to know more, couldn’t get mine to work on tethering (altho EE says you can) so downloaded pdanet and it worked. only used it once last year on hols tho, not tried again recently.

3 do not allow tethering, unless your contract/data plan allows it

yeah, think its specific to her plan, no tethering.

wifi hotspot is a from the phone not the provider so nothing they can do about it basically works the same, both my kids attach to my phone when we are out with kindle’s or pads

hmmmm……. but surely someone allows her to use only so much data? if you were with virgin, or talktalk say, dont they have a limit to the amount of data allowed to be d/loaded? unless youre unlimited?
so it can only be three that would monitor that?

what am i missing here??

wife just tried to get on internet and the address bar said something about tethering block and wont allow it.

so……. looks like tethering and wifi hotspot are the same thing then? and three have noticed that shes trying to use her phone with a laptop and stopped it? all seems a bit strange to me. baffles me how they know as well…..

Yeah, some of the gifgaf/3 deals I looked at specifically prohibited tethering. I went for a better package so I could use my unlimited data for the lappy/Ipad as well.

Usually all they do is sniff the browser type and if it isn’t a phone browser it gets barred. Quite easy to work around.

The cheeky buggers charge extra if you want to allow tethering

you can’t tether on 3 unless you have the one account, I know this when I last renewed, even though they have all you can eat packages it’s the only contract which allows it.

Tethering used to be frowned upon by the networks and they would charge handsomely for trying it on but most now have provision for it in their contracts.

EE and O2 certainly do now.

Cheers

Danny B

aye, looks like its definite. she had a text saying her account suspended for tethering!! shes got to ring em and get it sorted and text says she get smacked botty if she breaks terms and conditions again.

so in answer to my original post, looks like the wifi hotspot and tethering are one and the same. and are overlooked by the providers.

thanks for your help 🙂

As long as you don’t take the piss you can tether on a 3 contract, I have a few times without issues, when we were away a few months ago I let the mrs use my unlimited data as she’s only got 100mb. AFAIK, they’ll spot pretty much straight away if you use a laptop, but if you’re tethered to an ipad or other mobile device they aren’t too bothered.

I can use my EE iPhone as a personal hotspot no problem, ie phone acts as wifi provider for other devices.

I also have a three mobile wifi device, works great. Much much faster than internet through EE and very flexible as can have multiple devices connected which the EE hotspot struggles with.

Usually all they do is sniff the browser type and if it isn’t a phone browser it gets barred. Quite easy to work around.

Care to elaborate?

I use 3 all the time as my broadband and have since I found it was faster than sky !

Using the wi fi hot spot on my I pad right now, and get through about 7 – 8 gb a month

All allowed on my unlimited data 1 plan contract so no worries other plans however would not allow it.

and how much is your plan mate if you dont mind me asking?

£5 to add tethering to a 3 account for a month. You can do it online or over the phone.

Irks me to pay a fiver a month when I’m just using the data allowance I’ve already paid for. Seems a bit backwards of three when a lot of the other networks aren’t charging extra (though I guess not many are still doing unlimited data.)

Care to elaborate?

You need to use a browser where you can set the browser type string (e.g safari on OS X with Xcode installed.)

I some times use wifi hotspot for my tablet or laptop (if I forget my MIFI unit). It doesn’t half blast through the data cap, maybe 5 days to use most of a months 2gb allowance; I can fiddle with my phone all day every day and not get anywhere near it. I can understand the extra charge if you have an unlimited allowance because surely its based on browsing on a phone and therefore much lower data usage?

sadexpunk – Member
and how much is your plan mate if you dont mind me asking?

Three 1 plans now start from £15 a month on SIM only, though mine is more as I got it when I got my ( at the time ) brand new on the market S3

Alternatively if you VPN out over a tether I doubt there’s much they can do. Not tried this on three yet but I can’t see how they could tell if it was the phone or a tethered PC.