T-Mobile US CEO: "[6,000] Subscribers are stealing data with all kinds of workarounds"

The MNOs fight against abusers by tethering is back again - this time in a direct and open way.  

John Legere [pictured], President & CEO, T-Mobile USA published an open letter to his customers:

"This week, I am taking aim at a select group of individuals who have actually been stealing data from T-Mobile. If their activities are left unchecked their actions could eventually have a negative effect on the experience of honest T-Mobile customers. Not on my watch.

.. these violators are going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds to steal more LTE tethered data. They’re downloading apps that hide their tether usage, rooting their phones, writing code to mask their activity, etc. They are “hacking” the system to swipe high speed tethered data. These aren't naive amateurs; they are clever hackers who are willfully stealing for their own selfish gain. It’s a small group – 1/100 of a percent of our 59 million customers – but some of them are using as much as 2 terabytes (2,000GB!) of data in a month. I’m not sure what they are doing with it – stealing wireless access for their entire business, powering a small cloud service, providing broadband to a small city, mining for bitcoin -- but I really don’t care!"

Related post - "[Analysys Mason]: Smartphone Traffic Uses Wi-Fi (81%) and Generated at Homes (90%)" - here.

"These abusers will probably try to distract everyone by waving their arms about throttling data. Make no mistake about it – this is not the same issue. Don’t be duped by their sideshow. We are going after every thief, and I am starting with the 3,000 users who know exactly what they are doing. The offenders start hearing from us tomorrow. No more abuse and no risk to the rest of our customers’ experience. It's over. If you are interested, you can find more info in our support forum.

I’m not in this business to play data cop, but we started this wireless revolution to change the industry for good and to fight for consumers. I won't let a few thieves ruin things for anyone else. We’re going to lead from the front on this, just like we always do. Count on it!"

See "Stopping Network Abusers: An Open Letter to T-Mobile Customers" - here.

[Analysys Mason]: Smartphone Traffic Uses Wi-Fi (81%) and Generated at Homes (90%)

A new report by Martin Scott [pictured], Practice Head, and Aris Xylouris, Research Analyst, Analysys Mason analyses the smartphone usage of consumers in France, Germany, the UK and the USA.

The finds that "19% of all smartphone traffic observed in the panel was carried over the cellular network. LTE will make cellular networks more attractive relative to Wi-Fi, but we still expect the proportion of total smartphone traffic carried over the cellular network to decline to 16% by 2019. The volume of data will grow significantly on both types of network

.. 90% of panellists’ Wi-Fi traffic that we were able to categorise and identify came from home Wi-Fi connections and 89% of panellists connected to such networks. This is not necessarily a single residential connection – for example, many people connected to multiple home Wi-Fi networks, presumably those of friends and family.

Also:

• Beyond the home, the narrative is more fragmented – 60% of consumers connected to operator-branded hotspots (for example, AT&T, BT or O2 hotspots that were not also branded as community Wi-Fi), but this accounted for only 2.1% of all Wi-Fi traffic generated. The greatest value of such hotspots, it seems, is not generally in easing the congestion of particular macrocells, but in reinforcing brand presence and improving QoE in areas with poor cellular data performance. 

• The role of tethering is a complex part of an operator’s strategy and can, in some situations, help (with the generation of further monetisable traffic) and sometimes hinder (when the tethering is used instead of higher-priced dedicated tariffs).[The chart above] indicates tethering where the smartphone was not the cellular bearer – the cellular connection was shared from either a Mi-Fi device, a tablet or another smartphone.

See "Consumer smartphone usage 2014: mobile data usage" - here.

PCC Deployments [241]: C Spire Wireless [US] Deploys Shared Data Plans and BoD with Openwave Mobility

Openwave Mobility announced that "C Spire Wireless has implemented Openwave Mobility’s Promotion and Pricing Innovation (PPI) Mobile Data Charging solution to power the company’s CHOICE and SHARED Data plan offerings, providing unmatched flexibility, control and value for customers: 

• C Spire’s CHOICE plans enable prepaid and postpaid customers to purchase passes for premium data services such as video streaming and tethering at the time of consumption via an intuitive in-line subscription experience. CHOICE passes allow customers to pay for only the services they need, when they need them, and comes with the ability to monitor usage in real time to avoid bill shock.

• C Spire is also leveraging PPI to power its SHARED Data service plans which allow customers to purchase monthly data plans with varying quotas that can be shared among multiple subscribers and devices. C Spire’s SHARED Data plans provide a much wider range of options for customers to choose from to meet their individual needs as compared with other similar offerings on the market. Subscribers of both CHOICE and SHARED Data plans benefit from the overage protections provided by PPI’s intuitive real time end-user engagement interface. Upon reaching data quota thresholds, subscribers are notified in-line and can elect to purchase a Top-Up pass with a simple click of a button.

See "C Spire Wireless Partners with Openwave Mobility to Launch CHOICE and SHARED Data Plans" - here.

CSG Updates PCC; Adds Parental controls, Tethering, Bill Shock

CSG Systems International announced "CSG Integrated Charging and Policy (ICP) 2.0 .. Key features include support for the use of parental controls, mobile tethering, managing bill shock, and setting defined usage and spending limits and notifications ..  When policy and charging are combined, solutions for managing flexible customer consumption caps, and enabling choices for monetary top-ups, quality or speed upgrades/downgrades become possible. CSG ICP 2.0 enables these scenarios in an adjunct fashion to the CSP’s existing systems through an interoperable, standards-based framework.

With CSG ICP 2.0, CSPs can realize faster time to market and monetization of new services on advanced networks using new pre-configured use cases that support multi-device plans and tethering plans out of the box"

See "CSG Evolves Integrated Charging and Policy Capabilities" - here.

Ericsson: Online Video 25-40% of Mobile Traffic Volume; Tethering - 2-4%

 
Ericsson published its Mobility Report for Q3, 2012 with lots on interesting data on mobile traffic, devices, coverage speed and penetration. See "Ericsson Mobility Report Shows Rapid Smartphone Uptake and Doubling of Mobile Data Traffic" - here and here and the report itself (here).

Among the more surprising finding is the relatively low percentage of on-line video - 25-40%, even for tablets. While 20% were classified as "others" and some other classes (like social) may also carry video this is still lower share compared to other reports (which usually shows 40% as the lowest value).

Tethering also shows small percentage (2-3%) - so either the surcharges prevent users for using it, it is too complicated to use or just not useful ...

Some highlight related traffic management:

• Traffic Mix - the chart below ".. shows how the most widely used online applications contribute to overall mobile data traffic volumes, and how these contributions vary by the type of connected device. This is based on average values from the measured networks. Actual values in individual networks can differ a lot. Regardless of device type, online video is the biggest contributor to traffic volumes (25-40 percent), followed by web browsing (15-20 percent). Traffic drawn from mobile PCs is notable for having significantly higher file sharing activity than other devices. Online audio, email, software downloads and social networking are also important contributors to data traffic on tablets and smartphone devices. The file sharing part under smartphones comes from tethering traffic. 

• Tethering - The next chart "shows the penetration of tethering from mobile phones with different operating systems. Tethering can easily be set up on the majority of Android and iPhone devices currently available on the market. This is one reason why these devices are the ones most commonly used for tethering. There is a large variation between networks created by different operator policies towards tethering. On the average network, around 3.5 percent of Android smartphones are used to tether other devices and enable internet access. The tethering penetration is around six percent in the network with the highest amount of Android tethering users. One trend is that operators increasingly charge consumers for tethering devices. However, some regulator and consumer interest groups have opposed introducing tethering fees to data plans.
  Mobile data tethering traffic was identified correlating the IMEI TAC (terminal identifier) of the terminal accessing the HSPA network and the user agent HTTP header field containing information about the end user terminal and application. Identifying tethering with the same terminal model is thus not possible. Measurements were performed during one week. The percentage of tethering users would be higher if measured over a month. Only subscriptions with data traffic are considered, voice-only subscriptions are excluded".
  
  [the chart shows the largest value measured in one of the networks, Average value of the measured networks’ values (black line) and the smallest value measured in one of the networks]

Israel: MNOs Cannot Block, Limit or Charge for Tethering

The Ministry of Communications in Israel has determined that mobile operators cannot limit or block customers' use of mobile equipment tethering capabilities, based on the local Net Neutrality laws.

This follows the actions made by some operators, either by slowing down such traffic (by Hot Mobile) or surcharge the use of tethering (Partner/Orange).

According to the law, mobile operators cannot "Blocking or limiting any built-in features of telecommunication equipment and devices (including by way of setting tariffs)" unless it is "arising from necessity for appropriate and fair traffic management".

See the order here (Hebrew).

The Net Neutrality law is now in effect for mobile services only (here); However, the ministry proposed recently to expand it for fixed services as well (here).

T-Mobile UK: The Same Full Monty, but w/o Tethering

T-Mobile - Tethering with Metering Only!

Back in January, T-Mobile UK annouced a new "all included" service plan with "No fair use restrictions apply to internet, calls or text messages .. Customers signing up to The Full Monty 24 month plan will not only have the reassurance that there are no caps on their calls, texts and internet, they will also have access to unlimited WiFi2, and can use their mobile internet for whatever they like – including tethering (using a smartphone as an internet connection for a laptop or tablet), streaming and downloading" (see "T-Mobile launches The Full Monty – the UK’s first plan to offer unlimited calls, texts and internet" - here).

Well - tethering was a promise T-Mobile cannot sustain. While other MNOs go for limited, data sharing plans, T-Mobile stays with the [unique?] unlimited offering, but without tethrring.

According to John McCann report for Tech Radar, this is no longer the case - "UK network T-Mobile has confirmed that new customers signing up to its Full Monty tariff will not be eligible for unlimited tethering on their device .. a T-Mobile spokesperson who said: 'From 8th August, tethering is not permitted for new customers under the terms and conditions of the Full Monty .. We have a range of smartphone and mobile broadband plans that include tethering for customers who want to stay connected on other devices'".

See also " T-Mobile UK: 'Mobile Broadband is not for watching videos or downloading files'" - here and "T-Mobile UK: Following a further review of our policy ..."- here.

See "T-Mobile blocks tethering for new Full Monty customers" - here.

Verizon Wireless Adds Shared Data Plans (1-10GB)

 
The long awaited shared data plans have finally arrived to Verizon Wireless (see " Verizon Wireless will Offer Shared Data Plans in 2012" - here).

  

The mobile carrier announced its "Share Everything Plans that will forever change the way customers purchase wireless services. Share Everything Plans include unlimited voice minutes, unlimited text, video and picture messaging and a single data allowance for up to 10 Verizon Wireless devices. In addition, the Mobile Hotspot service on all the devices is included in the Share Everything Plans at no additional charge. The groundbreaking Share Everything Plans debut on June 28 and will be available to new, as well as existing, customers who may wish to move to the new plans".

  

See also "Infonetics: Shared Data Plans - an Opportunity with OSS Needs" (here) and "Tekelec Adds OTT Features, Shared Data Plans and Location Based Services" (here).

  

As can be seen in the table below, the subscriber has to chose its monthly shared data allowance (1-10GB), to be shared by up to 10 devices, for $50-100 charge (in addition to line access, per device). So - 2 smartphones with shared 2GB should cost $140 (including unlimited voice and SMS). 

There are also "data only" plans:

See "Verizon Wireless Unveils New Share Everything Plans For Basic Phones, Smartphones, Tablets And More" - here.

DPI Deployments [151]: 3UK Identifies and Controls File Sharing, Tethering and High Data Use

    

While 3 UK mobile data plans are "all you can eat" plans, the UK operator decided that some restrictions should apply. 3's network is "designed for data" but "it’s a fact that no mobile operator has an unlimited amount of network capacity, so while we’ll continue to invest, we also have a responsibility to make sure the network we already have is used wisely".

3 UK launched recently a new management tool, TrafficSense, which "..looks at types of data traffic and behaviour that stop other users from enjoying a fair allocation of our network. TrafficSense™ will only manage a very small percentage of users on our network – and the vast majority will actually benefit from higher speeds and a better internet experience".

TrafficSense identifies "File sharing, Tethering and High data use". See " About TrafficSense" - here.

File Sharing includes "peer-to-peer download services like BitTorrent or Napster [see "Napster, the Service that Started DPI, is Gone" -here] and downloading and sharing files using certain sites specifically set up to share files". See more below. 

DPI Deployments [108]: Public Mobile [Canada] Uses Procera for Personalized, Device Aware, Policies and Charging

   

Procera Networks announced that ".. Public Mobile deployed Procera’s PacketLogic solution set in implementing new 3GPP-standard charging models that are enabling personalized services, such as on-demand pre-paid data roaming .. In order to keep prices down, the wireless company needs visibility into its network traffic that is both granular and scalable ..Public Mobile is also an early adopter of Procera’s new PacketLogic Report Studio feature, generating analytics for their business decisions. Already, they have used the solution to respond to customer trends in smartphone use, enabling accurate capacity planning and enforcement of terms of service"

Public Mobile operates in Toronto and Montreal area, and claim to have 150,000 subscribers as of Q3 (here - note the comments). One of their web pages (here) answers with a simple "no" the question "Can I use my data phone to connect to the internet on my laptop (tethering)?", which may explain the need for a device aware DPI solution.

Brian O'Shaughnessy (pictured), CTO, Public Mobile said: "Procera's proven ability to cost-effectively implement device-aware policies and their flexibility in new charging models were the primary reasons we selected Procera for this deployment .."

See "Procera Networks Delivers Optimal Solution for Public Mobile" - here.

Allot: 25% of MNOs Have a Transparency Issue with "Unlimited" Service Plans

[Posted on 11/11/11 11:11 EST]
 
Recently, UK's BCAP (Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice) published a set of guidelines to "bring clarity to advertisers and consumers on the use of "unlimited" and "up to" speed claims in telecommunicatons and broadband ads" (here).

According to the findings of Allot Communications' recent research ("based on data collected from over 100 mobile operators worldwide .. during the third quarter of 2011 from publically available sources"), it is time for everybody to adopt such rules, as "38.5% of all operators sampled offer data plans which are branded Unlimited .. Only 13.5% of operators sampled are currently offering ‘True Unlimited’ plans". 

So - one quarter of operators have a transparency issue - a fundamental component of Net Neutrality 

 

Allot Communications' inaugural MobileTrends Charging Report also "shows that 35% of operators are already implementing Value-based Charging strategies such as Bill-shock prevention and Social Networking plans that make applications such as Facebook, MySpace & Twitter zero-rated .. 15% of operators sampled charge for tethering, mainly in North America and EMEA [see examples for Verizon and AT&T]".
 

See "Allot MobileTrends Charging Report Shows 35% of Operators Already Offering Value-Based Charging Plans Such as Toll-Free Facebook" - here (press release) and download the report from here.

US Net Neutrality: Different Things to Different People -> Lawsuits to Come

    

Dexter Thillen, Senior Analyst, IHS Global Insight article at RCRWireless says that "Net Neutrality becomes law [here], but lawsuits to come"

"The FCC’s rules point out three major areas of ensuring principles—transparency, no blocking and no unreasonable discrimination—but the issue is sometimes complicated by the use of different terms to define these principles, whether it is open, fair or neutral .. for example, Verizon, whose latest “network optimisation” programme [here] clearly follows the transparency principle—but it also blocks tethering applications on its LTE network despite the licence requirements calling for open access, showing that different interests can occur even within the same organisation"

"There still exists some role for regulators to ensure all services have fair and transparent access, but regulation will never satisfy all the different parties, as their diverging interests are too far apart, but as the Dutch case has proven, consumers might suffer from too draconian regulation as the introduction of the new ruled [here], where no content could be blocked by mobile operators, led to a sharp increase in data prices in the market."

See "Analyst Angle: Net neutrality becomes US law with lawsuits to come" - here.

Sandvine: "developers will try to find new ways to have their tethering apps go undetected on CSP’s networks"

    

Tom Donnelly (pictured), Sandvine's COO new post on the compnay's blog explains the recent trends in tethering business interests (background - here): MNOs revenues, detecting and avoiding following the recent measures taken by AT&T and Verizon. 

"In the US, both Verizon (here) and AT&T (here) have begun to identify subscribers who violate their Terms of Service (TOS) by using unauthorized tethering applications on mobile networks .. Given that tethering app developers charge between $10 and $50 for a software license, and that CSPs stand to gain potential additional revenues from tethering subscriptions, both developers and network operators have significant financial interest in tethering services.  We have very likely only seen the beginning of a cat-and-mouse game between app developers and CSPs, as developers will try to find new ways to have their apps go undetected on CSP’s networks ..  For mobile network operators who want to enforce their terms of service, Sandvine’s network policy control solution provides tethering detection, enabling CSPs to confidently and reliably conclude when a subscriber is tethering, and ensure accurate billing".

See "Tethering App Turmoil" - here.

Verizon Can Also Detect Tethering

   

So far all news about tethering detection in the US were about AT&T (here and here) and Carolina West Wireless (here).

When Verizon introduced the new UBB and tethering ($20 surcharge) rates last month (here) it was expected that they will have the technology (DPI) to allow them to detect tethering. Now, it seems that it is already deployed and working.

A recent report by Dan Rowinski to ReadWriteWeb says: "It appears that Verizon is starting to block hotspot tethering for consumers using jailbroken devices without data plans. A ReadWriteWeb employee using a jailbroken tethered Verizon Motorola X without a data plan was sent to this page outlining Verizon's hotspot data plans today when trying to access a hotspot. This is a new development, since the employee used her jailbroken device as a hotspot two days ago"

The redirected page explains that "With Mobile Broadband Connect, you can use your Verizon Wireless handset, Smartphone or BlackBerry as a modem for your notebook when you connect the two using a USB cable, enabling you to access the Internet or your company intranet".

See "Verizon Blocks Hotspot Tethering for Jailbroken Devices" - here.

AT&T Continues to Push UBB - Now to Illegal Tethering

   

AT&T continues in its efforts to increase ARPU while trying to cap its bandwidth "abusers". Last week the carrier announced a new "fair use" policy for unlimited users (see "AT&T to Throttle Top 5% of Unlimited Subscribers" - here) and now it takes a new measure against illegal tethering (see previous action - "AT&T Detects and Enforces Tethering Policy" - here).

Zach Epstein (pictured) reports to BGR that "AT&T confirmed to BGR that it will soon begin revoking unlimited data plans from jailbroken iPhone users and other smartphone users who utilize unauthorized tethering and mobile hotspot solutions ..  which is expressly prohibited by AT&T according to its terms and conditions ..  A new report from 9to5 Mac claims that users will begin losing unlimited plans as soon as August 11th, but AT&T stated that the policy enforcement date varies depending on when the offending subscriber was sent the notification letter".

  

See "AT&T to soon begin revoking unlimited data from jailbreak hotspot users" - here.

DPI Win: Vedicis Detects Tethering on the Fly for an APAC Mobile Operator

  

Vedicis (here) announced earlier this month that "a major APAC mobile operator has selected Vedicis Policy Control & Enforcement Solution for tethering monetization and congestion relief. .. [the] Solution provides user bandwidth monitoring, clear identification of tethering usage to be compared on the fly with their subscription packages, and inline actions for control (either bandwidth limitation for users without relevant data packages or alerts sent to SMS systems to propose directly a package upgrade)".

See "First win in APAC for policy control and tethering monetization" - here.

More on tethering solutions and deployments: Sandvine (here),Procera (here), Verizon (here), AT&T (here), Carolina West Wireless (here).

Verizon's UBB Starts July 7; Tethering Surcharge: $20

 

Verizon plans to increase ARPU with tiered pricing (here), will become a reality soon, based on volume based billing and tethering surcharge. The speed factor mentioned before is not there - probably waiting for broader LTE coverage and availability of devices.

  

Droid life reports that "we’ve just received word that tiers are scheduled to start the day after the promo ends (on the 7th) for new customers and will look something like this… Data plans:  2GB – $30/month; 5GB – $50/month; 10GB – $80/month. If you would like to add tethering on to any of those packages, you can purchase 2GB of data at an additional cost of $20 per month"

See "Exclusive: Tiered Data Plans Headed to Verizon July 7, Packages Start at $30 for 2GB" - here.


Detection of tethering requires some network intelligence - see how AT&T does it (here). See also "Openet CMO:"Verizon prepared their network with a policy management infrastructure sufficiently in place, to handle the volume increase with stride" - here.        



Source: Verizon

The site got a letter sent to Verizon employees (here) by one of Verizon's Area VP of Marketing and Sales Operations, saying: "..Our legacy data pricing structure was designed to address a somewhat different customer need profile than what we are seeing and can expect in the future ..  Data usage has more than doubled over the last three years. .. Whether it’s social media (85%+ of Smartphone users), mobile internet (88%+ of Smartphone users), or email/applications (71%+ of Smartphone users), this usage has one thing in common—dramatically increased demand for data and media consumption... As a result, we are evolving our approach around how we package our data solutions and pricing to our customers. Coming soon, Verizon Wireless will move from our existing pricing format to a structure designed to allow customers to choose the right data solution that best aligns with their needs .. The successful launch of our new data pricing solutions represents a key milestone in our continued march to excellence".

DPI Deployments (67): US SPs - GCI, Thumb Cellular and Carolina West Wireless Deploy Sandvine

 
Now it Sandvine's turn to name customers (see my post on Procera - here) - and we get 3(!) in one press release. So here is what Sandvine's customers have been doing with the DPI gear recently:

• GCI [Alaska - 140K wireless, 145K access lines and 118K cable subscribers - end of Q1, 2011] - " ..detect network conditions that trigger policies within their fixed networks to manage traffic congestion, improve connectivity and enhance subscribers’ Internet experience"
   
• Thumb Cellular [Michigan] - "..deployment of bandwidth-based service tiers, which allows them to provide 3G data services with a high degree of customer satisfaction.  Thumb is also deploying Fairshare Traffic Management to ensure quality Internet access for their subscribers at all times of the day"
   
• Carolina West Wireless [North Caroline] - "using Sandvine’s network policy control solutions’ device awareness capabilities to detect tethered devices .. Upon tethering detection, subscribers are prompted to opt-in to a service tier which matches their usage behavior" (see "Sandvine on Device Awareness"  - here).
  
  Slayton Stewart (picture), CEO, Carolina West Wireless said: “Tethering incurs unpredicted data traffic costs, but through the ability to identify tethered devices, we can offer a tiered service package that caters to this need while recouping some of our costs”

See "ISPs Garner Competitive Advantage Through Evolving Use of Network Policy Control" - here.

New Way to Stop Tethering: Remove Applications

   

"Kellex" reports to droid-life that "After receiving a tip that Verizon may be blocking Wireless Tether from the market, I decided to do a little digging on the variety of devices I own.  Sure enough, from all of my phones, including the Nexus S I have running on AT&T, I was unable to find Wireless Tether in the market.  So to see what was really going on, I jumped into the browser-based Android Market to see if I could find the app and definitely did.  But what you are seeing [see chart], is my list of devices, all of which cannot accept this app".

See "Is Wireless Tether About to Get the Android Axe? Carriers Finally Starting to Block it?" - here.

I am following the tethering issue for sometime now, and so far saw the way AT&T handles it - by detecting "suspicious" traffic patterns, and sending customers a note (see "AT&T Detects and Enforces Tethering Policy" - here and "Sandvine on Device Awareness (Tethering Use Case)" - here).

Will Google follow Apple? Apple's iOS version 4.3 introduced the "Personal Hotspot" function which allows tethering - but it took them a while to do it, maybe in order to comply with AT&T's service policy (see "Someone doesn’t like the Ipad Tethering" - here).

AT&T Detects and Enforces Tethering Policy

      

Apple's iOS now supports tethering ("Personal hotspot") although it was there months ago (see "Someone doesn’t like the Ipad Tethering" - here), and Apple's best friend offers a data plan with tethering (for extra $20/month - see "AT&T - No More Unlimited Mobile Data" - here). 

So why the world had to wait for so long? It seems we were waiting for AT&T to be able to detect tethering.
   

This is over now. osXDaily reports that "AT&T is beginning to crack down on unofficial iPhone tethering methods, including users of MyWi, the unofficial iPhone WiFi hotspot app that is popular among jailbreakers. Customers are being notified that their service plans need updating to subscribe to a tethering plan, and that they will be automatically subscribed to a DataPro 4GB package that costs $45 per month if they continue to tether. In the email, AT&T also notes that if customers discontinue the use of tethering, no changes will be made to their plan".

See "AT&T Cracking Down on Unofficial iPhone Tethering & MyWi Users" - here (includes the letter sent by AT&T to those suspected using "unofficial" tethering).

How does AT&T do it?

See some background "Why Do Mobile Carriers Need Device Awareness?" - here and note the anonymous use-case mentioned in "Sandvine on Device Awareness (Tethering Use Case)" - here ("..one use case that Sandvine has assisted with, using device awareness, is enabling service providers to offer a special tier to those customers wishing to tether their mobile devices. Tethering is the use of your cell phone or other Internet-enabled mobile device as a modem for another device, like a notebook or PDA. It enables you to go online from your laptop, for example, in situations where there’s no other means of Internet access. By being able to identify “tethering” devices, a service provider can offer a service tier or package that caters to the subscribers’ needs).