12 ms·

I haven't paid-by-the-byte for 4G for about half a decade now. It's unlimited with my reasonably priced monthly contract (about $30USD/mo), from a mainstream pr

I haven't paid-by-the-byte for 4G for about half a decade now. It's unlimited with my reasonably priced monthly contract (about $30USD/mo), from a mainstream provider in the UK (Three), lets me tether and gives me free data when I'm abroad too (I'm in the US and France a few times a year typically). I hope this doesn't sound too let-them-eat-cake, but I'm surprised that anyone with work-on-app-in-a-café-in-a-trendy-city lifestyle wouldn't have a sim plan with unlimited, or at least a very high allowance of, data.

dazc 9y ago
Yes, I get what you're saying, maybe I just know a lot of tight-fisted people? I have one colleague who won't answer an email or whatsapp unless she's on free wi-fi somewhere. This is an extreme example but I know others who are not much worse.
- rorykoehler 9y ago
  Tbh that sounds like an excuse to not be bothered by work 24/7
  - dazc 9y ago
    Maybe, although she doesn't worry about messaging me at 8pm?
RossM 9y ago
I'm on that all-you-can-eat tariff with Three as well, but tethered data is normally limited to 30GB/month or so. Did you make any account changes to get unlimited or are you bypassing the tethering detection? I haven't seen unlimited tether plans, but it would mean I could work virtually anywhere.
- baby 9y ago
  Change your ttl to 65 and you'll be fine
  - ahakki 9y ago
    Could you expand on this? I have always wondered how carriers recognize tethering vs normal use.
    - pferde 9y ago
      The TTL (time-to-live) field of outgoing packets is one of the ways to detect when someone has another device behind the connected device (phone). The traffic from this device has an extra hop to go through, so TTL of every TCP packet will be decreased by one, compared to packets originating from the phone, when it reaches the ISP. This, together with the fact that default TTL different OSes set for packets they send is well known, and virtually no user ever changes these defaults, means that if the ISP detects different packets with TTL for example 64 and 63 coming from you, you very likely have something tethered to your phone. There are tools like https://github.com/p0f/p0f https://github.com/p0f/p0f (it does much more, than just this, though) to make exploiting this technique easy. I remember we used p0f to detect unauthorized connection sharing in a certain university dorm network, and caught quite a few people.
hux_ 9y ago
That and find a good library. Libraries are designed for people to focus. Cafes are not.
- dazc 9y ago
  I guess your not in the UK? Libraries here are not quiet places anymore. Wi-fi often sucks too.
  - hux_ 9y ago
    You are not trying hard enough. I was at Trinity College Library, Dublin a few months back. There are few spaces that are more peaceful and inspiring to work in than that one. You have to understand that cafés like churches or pubs or the town square have traditionally been designed as the "The Third Space" in people's lives behind home and work. It were community building happen. It's designed for that, not for work. Howard Schultz founder of Starbucks tried to bring this to the US where he felt people were loosing touch with those community spaces but still had/felt a need for them. It has been very successful for his company to tap into that need. But on the flip side lot of misguided notions have developed in peoples(cafe owners/patrons) heads about what that third space is for or why they need it.
    - dazc 9y ago
      Dublin isn't in the UK though.
    - petecox 9y ago
      free wifi to freeloaders who aren't students though?
      - noxToken 9y ago
        I can't speak for all universities, but my alma mater allows public access on a limited basis. For example, you can apply for courtesy membership if you have a basic need for research purposes. It can be as simple as, "I'm trying to build a static analysis tool, and I need books or publications on ASTs." It makes sense to me, because one of the tenets of higher education should be to serve in the interest of the community.
mnm1 9y ago
I'm not aware of any such plans in the US. All carriers throttle "unlimited" plans so unlimited plans simply don't exist. Not with the major carriers anyway.
- lotsofpulp 9y ago
  ATT unlimited plus says you might be throttled after 10GB of tethering, but in my experience, I haven't been restricted. I think it only throttles you if the tower you're connected to is saturated.
- Dylan16807 9y ago
  I suppose it's a matter of how much streaming video you need while you're working.
gambiting 9y ago
That's not really fair though - Three hasn't offered unlimited for years now, I also have friends who bought Unlimited few years ago and they will continue to have it until they switch plans, but that level of unlimited, where you can tether and where you can literally download 500gb+ a month and no one will care doesn't exist in the UK today. No mobile ISP offers such a thing as it stands right now.

dazc 9y ago

Yes, I get what you're saying, maybe I just know a lot of tight-fisted people? I have one colleague who won't answer an email or whatsapp unless she's on free wi-fi somewhere. This is an extreme example but I know others who are not much worse.

rorykoehler 9y ago
Tbh that sounds like an excuse to not be bothered by work 24/7
- dazc 9y ago
  Maybe, although she doesn't worry about messaging me at 8pm?

RossM 9y ago

I'm on that all-you-can-eat tariff with Three as well, but tethered data is normally limited to 30GB/month or so. Did you make any account changes to get unlimited or are you bypassing the tethering detection? I haven't seen unlimited tether plans, but it would mean I could work virtually anywhere.

baby 9y ago
Change your ttl to 65 and you'll be fine
- ahakki 9y ago
  Could you expand on this? I have always wondered how carriers recognize tethering vs normal use.
  - pferde 9y ago
    The TTL (time-to-live) field of outgoing packets is one of the ways to detect when someone has another device behind the connected device (phone). The traffic from this device has an extra hop to go through, so TTL of every TCP packet will be decreased by one, compared to packets originating from the phone, when it reaches the ISP. This, together with the fact that default TTL different OSes set for packets they send is well known, and virtually no user ever changes these defaults, means that if the ISP detects different packets with TTL for example 64 and 63 coming from you, you very likely have something tethered to your phone. There are tools like https://github.com/p0f/p0f https://github.com/p0f/p0f (it does much more, than just this, though) to make exploiting this technique easy. I remember we used p0f to detect unauthorized connection sharing in a certain university dorm network, and caught quite a few people.

hux_ 9y ago

That and find a good library. Libraries are designed for people to focus. Cafes are not.

dazc 9y ago
I guess your not in the UK? Libraries here are not quiet places anymore. Wi-fi often sucks too.
- hux_ 9y ago
  You are not trying hard enough. I was at Trinity College Library, Dublin a few months back. There are few spaces that are more peaceful and inspiring to work in than that one. You have to understand that cafés like churches or pubs or the town square have traditionally been designed as the "The Third Space" in people's lives behind home and work. It were community building happen. It's designed for that, not for work. Howard Schultz founder of Starbucks tried to bring this to the US where he felt people were loosing touch with those community spaces but still had/felt a need for them. It has been very successful for his company to tap into that need. But on the flip side lot of misguided notions have developed in peoples(cafe owners/patrons) heads about what that third space is for or why they need it.
  - dazc 9y ago
    Dublin isn't in the UK though.
  - petecox 9y ago
    free wifi to freeloaders who aren't students though?
    - noxToken 9y ago
      I can't speak for all universities, but my alma mater allows public access on a limited basis. For example, you can apply for courtesy membership if you have a basic need for research purposes. It can be as simple as, "I'm trying to build a static analysis tool, and I need books or publications on ASTs." It makes sense to me, because one of the tenets of higher education should be to serve in the interest of the community.

mnm1 9y ago

I'm not aware of any such plans in the US. All carriers throttle "unlimited" plans so unlimited plans simply don't exist. Not with the major carriers anyway.

lotsofpulp 9y ago
ATT unlimited plus says you might be throttled after 10GB of tethering, but in my experience, I haven't been restricted. I think it only throttles you if the tower you're connected to is saturated.
Dylan16807 9y ago
I suppose it's a matter of how much streaming video you need while you're working.

gambiting 9y ago

That's not really fair though - Three hasn't offered unlimited for years now, I also have friends who bought Unlimited few years ago and they will continue to have it until they switch plans, but that level of unlimited, where you can tether and where you can literally download 500gb+ a month and no one will care doesn't exist in the UK today. No mobile ISP offers such a thing as it stands right now.