[General Topics] Planterz:
Wifi Tether Router used to not count against my tethering allotment, but now it does.

I also USB tether with PdaNet+, but I don't know yet if they detect this and count it against my allotment. I won't know (unless someone else confirms or denies) for a few days, because I only noticed this today after getting a text message that I've hit 80% of my allotment (6.1 out of 7.0GB), and I've got a few days left on my billing cycle, so I have to be cautious and conservative until it resets. I know Wifi Tether Router does this because tested it while watching the "Space Mutiny" MST3K episode on youtube (I got about half-way through it and went from 6.1 to 6.3GB used). I'll keep an eye on it and give updates when I have something to report.

I did get the dreaded text message about violating the TOS by concealing tether usage to circumvent my 7.0GB allotment with my plan. It's interesting that they're able to detect, and now track wifi tethering with Wifi Tether Router, yet are still threatening to "punish" abusers. Because what would be the point since I'd hit my 7.0GB allotment and get throttled to 128kb/sec? This leads me to believe that other methods might still work. Maybe signing up for a VPN? I'm still worried though (since I'm already flagged), and I'm going to radically change my habits, at least for the time being. I'd hate to have to switch to Sprint. I do use a lot of data. Right now I'm at 118GB with a couple days left on my cycle. Once (the first or second month after switching) I hit just shy of 400GB, but that was because I'd just come from Verizon where I had a 4GB limit (and absurd bills because I'd go over), so I did a ton of downloading. Most months I'm under 200GB. Maybe the FCC will slap T-Mobile on the wrist and tell them they can't do this, but I have no idea if what they're threatening is truly kosher or not. It does irk me that Legere has been spending the last couple years spouting all this "Uncarrier" and "truly unlimited" stuff, and first they semi-throttle during peak times if you go over 21GB/month, and now this business. Yet, music streaming doesn't count? What if someone streams 12 hours of music every day, using the cheapest plan? How much data does that use? How is that less evil than downloading torrents to my phone then transferring them over to my PC instead of just tethering and downloading to my PC (arguments about torrenting/piracy aside). How is tethering and watching Amazon Prime, youtube, or whatever on my TV any different than doing the same on my phone? Same data, same content, yet I'm a data thief?

As I mentioned, torrenting is another issue, because you're uploading as well as downloading, so I can see why they'd get upset with that. I also find it irksome that in their press-release they mention nearly 3000 customers (wow, I'm one of 3000!), some who use as much as 2TB/month. I can't even conceive of actually using that much data for myself. So it's obvious that those users are running torrent servers (constant ones, not just download and delete), or game servers, or running a hotspot for entire household. And I don't like being lumped into that group of true abusers, even though I lose some moral ground on the torrent issue (plus the whole piracy thing).

I guess I need to buy some more 64GB microSD cards...