I have unlimited cellular data on my phone but not if I use it as a hotspot.

Flying Squid · 9 months ago

I have unlimited cellular data on my phone but not if I use it as a hotspot.

@solrize · 9 months ago

If it’s an android phone, enable dev mode, install adb on your laptop, run an sshd under termux on the phone, and you should be able to set up iptables to forward packets from the laptop through the phone. The phone won’t know that it’s being used for tethering. Although I hadn’t seen the stuff about packet TTL before. Maybe it’s as simple as just adjusting that.

@owenfromcanada · 9 months ago

A less complicated method that I used for years:

Install SimpleSSHD on your phone
If you’re running Windows, install PuTTY on your PC
Connect to SimpleSSHD through PuTTY/ssh and set a parameter for dynamic forwarding (CLI option is -D 8888)
Set your web browser or application to use SOCKS5 proxy at localhost port 8888

It doesn’t redirect all traffic (you’d want to avoid system updates, for example) but might be easier than messing with iptables.

@[email protected] · edit-2 9 months ago

It may be easier to just run a VPN on the phone and route the traffic through it? WireGuard runs on Android. I’ve never tried configuring it to forward data through it though, but it should work.

@owenfromcanada · 9 months ago

I tried that, the carrier could still differentiate it from local traffic (or at least my speed test results were vastly different).

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

It’s possible they’ve gotten smarter these days.

I don’t know how ISPs are allowed to do this when it’s a very obvious violation of net neutrality.

@owenfromcanada · 9 months ago

If I recall correctly, they justify it by claiming they need to do deep packet inspection to balance traffic. There’s a fuzzy line between them needing to optimize their network equipment and respecting privacy, and the rulings seem to favor the former.

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

There is an app that can change TTL value through iptables. It requires root.

@fne8w2ah · 9 months ago

Back in the day PDANet was the app to go to enable unlimited tethering.

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

Still works for me as of last year. Now I use rooted android with ttlfix.

@[email protected] · 9 months ago

This is what I’ve been using and it works for the most part other than the connection just dropping with too much use, only other thing I’ve used is PairVPN which had the same problem but was 100x worse. Is there something better around nowadays? I have a carrier locked phone and can’t ROM or root