AT&T tells unofficial tethering users it will upgrade plans
updated 09:25 pm EDT, Wed April 27, 2011
AT&T to switch unauthorized tetherers to $45 plan
AT&T has sent out a second SMS warning to subscribers it believes are illegally tethering their phones, and this one contains a more stern message. The carrier has told these users they will soon be automatically upgraded and billed for its tethering plan, which includes 4GB and raises monthly data plans by $20 to $45. AT&T's basic plans only include on-device Internet access and messaging.
Numerous iPhone owners on AT&T use apps that let them turn their phones into Wi-Fi hotspots and share their handset's data connection with tablets, notebooks and other phones. Although many have argued that AT&T shouldn't discriminate regarding how the data is being used, the unofficial solutions still technically violate its terms for how data is being used. AT&T like most carriers is looking for identifiers that label the OS or the app type to determine whether data is on the phone or from a desktop app. [via GottaBeMobile]
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
There should be laws against this kind
of harassment.
That's the problem with big mergers, they reduce the options; otherwise it would be a matter of switching networks.
Maybe there's a technical solution. It might be that the carrier in question is logging the IPs connected to the customer's number; if that's how the find out it should be a simple matter of setting the tethered hardware's IP to the match the registered device's.