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

Flying Squid@lemmy.world to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 855 points –

What is the difference between cellular data being used on my phone and cellular data being used on my notebook? Data is data.

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How do they know if the source of data is hotspot? I'd imagine there is a way to stop your phone grassing on you.

There's different internal network configs (APNs), and hotspot uses a different one than regular mobile data. ( or at least it used to). Those can be configured and metered separately from the carrier's end.

LineageOS, and maybe some other custom ROMs, wouldn't do that and would put the hotspot and mobile data on the same APN to get around that.

Can confirm, switching to Graphene solved this problem for me a long while ago.

Doesn’t unlocking the bootloader break Google Pay?

You can lock the bootloader again after the flashing process is done(because it will add the signing key of the new OS), but unfortunately the NFC Payments in Google Pay still won't work because Google only allows it on 'certified' Android systems (aka only the preinstalled OS)

Isn't this dependent on the ROM, like lineage shouldn't be locked where as calyx is locked likewise for graphine os

Ugh. I was dumb and got a Samsung that was offered to me for cheap on the spot. If I had done any research I would have learned that there's no alternative OS options. Now I'm stuck with it, because I'm poor, so I just try to avoid using it. I should keep an eye out for something used that's compatible.

While it's not at the same level as Graphene OS, Samsung is pretty well supported by Lineage OS. AFAIK at least in Europe Samsung phones have an unlockable bootloader, but YMMV.

Nah. Nobody's figured out how to access the ROM on my specific model, unfortunately, and I'm 900% sure Canadian telecom oligopolists will not be cool about unlocking like that.

In my defense, if it was a laptop it would have been much less foolhardy.

I'm still hoping for LineageOS on the Nord N30 but I can't Even find a stock ROM to root it.

Even on my unlocked, non vendor phone it seems to not recognize hotspot data as different for some reason.

Back when they just began recognizing it, they noted peculiar traffic. Desktop websites, batch downloads normally unavailable to that system. This assumes that you utilized the internal hotspot system and didn’t create a separate one. Now? Not sure whether their system is more robust but it should, theoretically, be possible to obfuscate your traffic using third party hotspot software. No clue where to look for that anymore.

I used to routinely use 100gb of data on my jailbroken sprint iPhone. Did that for almost 3 years. Never heard a peep from them. But this was forever ago.

If you used the package I think you did, that’s not unusual. Absolutely will not remember the name but there were numerous tweaks that just flipped the hotspot switch but a couple that allowed you to use a hotspot without directly using the inbuilt function. One was free and broadly used.

That was great, and you didn’t have to pay some extra tethering fee every month either (or something like that, it was so long ago for me).

If you root your phone and install a custom rom, you can get around it and they can't tell.

If you're factory, it sends that hotspot info to them.

You have to turn that feature on.

Could you install a different OS like suggested here https://dubvee.org/comment/1855949 / by Admiral Patrick below?

Yeah, installing a new OS on a phone isn't something you do easily like on a PC.

You have to unlock the bootloader, which requires an unlock code from the manufacturer, then you have to factory reset it, and that's even if your phone/carrier allows it. Many don't (which is why it's so hard for me to replace my phone...grrr).

So yeah, installing a new OS on your phone is typically going to require quite a bit of effort and some level of commitment as well as a device that's bootloader unlockable and supported by an alternate OS (each device and model requires a custom build).

It's....a whole thing. It really shouldn't be, but it is :(

and that’s even if your phone/carrier allows it.

This is why you should buy the phone outright yourself then get a SIM only deal, rather than paying for your phone in contract.

Yeah I do, but SIM unlocked and bootloader unlockable are two different things. Sadly, not every phone (or even the same phones made for different carriers) are allowed to be bootloader unlocked; I have no idea why, but it is and sucks.

Yeah it's definitely true, even with the same manufacturer it can be hit and miss. You gotta do your research before you buy.

I haven't done it in a while, but it kinda depends on the phone, some were very easy to flash in the earlier days of Android.

Yeah, my old Moto Play G4 was a breeze. Wasn't quite "Press any key to continue" but not much more difficult.

My OnePlus was a little more work, but that was mostly because of the OP website acting up and refusing to generate my bootloader unlock key. Also had to do things differently since it didn't have an SD card to hold my install stuff like the Moto Play did.

I had one where you could literally run an app on the phone, no ADB or anything. Can't remember what phone it was now but it might've actually been a Moto Droid

One one hand, that sounds extremely convenient. On the other, I shudder thinking what a malicious app could do with that 😆

Edit: Unless you're talking about doing it through TWRP. I had to flash that over fastboot, but once installed to the recovery partition, I could boot into that and install the rest of Lineage and extra packages straight from the SD card. Updating the system was just downloading the new Lineage .zip to the SD card, booting into TWRP, and clicking install.

Exploits go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!

No, but I did use TWRP on my Droid 3 I think, and as I recall it was pretty nice.

Maybe, but it's not worth it just for a few days, which is all I'll need it for. I just forked over $15 for another 10 gb.

$15 for 10GB?! USA phone bills are extortionate!

Yeah, it really sucks, but at least there aren't roaming charges anymore.

Lol when I travel to the US I get 12GB roaming per month included for no extra charge.

You think our phone bills are extortionate? Try Canada. They're worse. Which is really saying something.

I just have unlimited data in 200 countries on Fi in the US.

It's worth it for more than a few days, custom ROMs ftw.

Personally my minimum features are:

  • Long press back button to force close and kill an app.
  • Call recording.

All the other stuff and customisation is just tasty gravy.

negotiate. i called my last carrier from my new carriers retail store front. they practically begged me to stay and said they'd give me everything i asked for.