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ivicaivica
Did you raise the TTL on a Mac by any chance?
Tethering is being detected by T-Mobile...
NoWayOut I tried it couple of months ago on my laptop running Linux (openSUSE) and it worked. However, I never had to use it again.
I also did try it on Windows but that did not work.
ivicaivica
Thanks, my gut tells me that the carriers have closed this loophole for the "mass" operating systems. The CEO's of these carries belong behind bars, IMHO.
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nrt
I only see the default APN. Not sure about the IP address, it never occurred to me to check, since I expected the damn thing to be plug and play. I am away from home now, but will check later.
The developers will do well to look at this. I know it is a low priority, but... it is not working as expected.
cgro0550 If you have a more plausible suggestion for it, say it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP_stack_fingerprinting
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/47819/how-can-phone-companies-detect-tethering-incl-wifi-hotspot (note that the part about MAC addresses is arguably sort-of correct for IPv6 but probably wrong for IPv4)
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8958772
https://www.jitbit.com/alexblog/310-how-to-hide-tethering-from-your-mobile-operator/
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What seems to have been established so far is that increasing the TTL value by 1 does not
work on Windows and MacOS. It appears to be working on Linux.
NoWayOut What seems to have been established so far is that increasing the TTL value by 1 does not work on Windows and MacOS. It appears to be working on Linux.
Two Linux kernels (Android and another one on a laptop) may well fingerprint the same way. If there is no TTL jitter then the tethering may go unnoticed. Windows, macOS, Plan 9, etc., may fingerprint very differently, in which case TTL tweaking by itself won't work.
Meanwhile, I don't think my carrier has a "tethering quota", though I admit I haven't checked recently. Maybe switching carriers is an option?
In the US, all the three big carriers do it.
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NoWayOut pdanet+ or pairvpn, and you have to be doing something different be it an app, setting, configuration. I've never gotten notices even before I used GoS, although I was using apps mentioned above to mask it. Since GoS I don't bother with em.
Using a Verizon MVNO Visible & UsMobile I've hit and blown past my cap on both plans with nothing more than GoS guilt in hotspotting. No issues.
NoWayOut In the US, all the three big carriers do it.
My carrier is Verizon. They write:
Many of our monthly phone plans and certain prepaid plans let you use 5G Ultra Wideband, 5G and 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot on capable devices for no additional monthly charge.
I looked at my "plan features" page and it says only:
Personal Hotspot
Use your shared data to turn your smartphone into a Wi-Fi connection for your other devices.
So it's not clear to me that I have a tethering quota. They may have some plans with tethering limits, but that may be avoidable - on Verizon and maybe also on other carriers.
NoWayOut Are you running a full system VPN on Windows? If you aren't, they can see you're connecting to Windows services and therefore must be running Windows. Raising the TTL by 1 and running a VPN should be adequate. You should verify that the TTL is being raised with the way you're configuring it.
a month later
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Hi, this cannot raise the TTL, and macOS' PF does not support TTL mangling unlike iptables.
I have an alternative way of bypassing this detection here: https://github.com/felikcat/unlimited-hotspot/#3-moving-past-a-dpi-firewalls-throttle-triggers
I mention it since I want more people rather than myself to test, I also use T-Mobile, as seen here.
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NoWayOut That's due to TCP fingerprinting methods, other people say use a VPN but if you can get away with not using one as I currently do, that's faster.
Linux's TCP/IP stack is very similar to Android, so it's easy to look like an Android phone.
macOS you can make look like iOS easily. For Windows I am not sure, but it is very different compared to both macOS and Linux.
There is anti-DPI programs for Windows that are more comprehensive than the macOS and Linux alternatives, so you might not have to worry about it.
N3rdTek
PDANet+ or PairVPN needlessly slow down your internet. They're either outdated, or over-complex methods.
5 days later
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felikcat
I am sorry, but your guide was completely incomprehensible to me. What am I supposed to do if I want to use my GrapheneOS Pixel 7 Pro as a hotspot for my MacBook Pro?
Am I supposed to install anything on the Mac?
Or just install Power Tunnel on the Pixel (did this, used the VPN method, hotspot usage was detected right away)?
Also, I assume we are talking about Wi-Fi hotspot, as I never use USB.
Please clarify!
Thanks.
I was wondering how T-Mobile detects hotspot usage and hadn't been able to evade the detection using the various online tutorials and the advice given here.
If I understand correctly, they check the TTL counter of the passing data packets (that your internet traffic is wrapped in). If there are extra "routers" (like a wifi hotspot) on the way from cell service router to the target device, the TTL will be lower, than it would have been if the packets originated from the smartphone, since when passing each router the TTL value get's decremented by one.
So to bypass this, you need to change (increment by 1) the default initial TTL value (64 on MacOS) on your connected device - i.e. your MacBook, so the cell service doesn't notice the difference from the stock android initial TTL (which is 64, as I understand) once the packet reaches your service provider:
sudo sysctl net.inet.ip.ttl=65
Haven't tried doing that myself, though.
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Look, not to sound petulant, but all of this obviously does not work. It is just bunch of untested "what ifs" and even in the best case scenario (phone acting as a hotspot for your computer) is this a real hotspot? The way I see it, a real hotspot would let any device connect to it without the device being modified. What if I want to connect an IoT device? Should I modify its TTL? This is preposterous and half-assed. It is obvious that no one knows exactly how T-Mobile is detecting hotspot use and no one knows how to prevent hotspot detection on the phone without modifying the connected device.