How Can I Tether Without My Carrier Finding Out? [Ask Lifehacker]

By Alan Henry Oct 17, 2011 10:00 AM 61,130 84

Dear Lifehacker,
I just bought a new smartphone, and I want to tether it to my laptop when I'm traveling and visiting friends. It won't be too often, so I'd really rather not pay my wireless carrier for a tethering plan. How can I tether my phone to my laptop without my carrier knowing about it?
Signed,
4G Wants To Be Free

Photo by Preetam Rai.

Dear 4G Wants To Be Free,
We understand where you're coming from. Most smartphones have the ability to serve as wireless hotspots built into their mobile OSes and their hardware without any added cost, but wireless carriers know that they can charge for the functionality, so they do.

Before we go any further, we should point out one thing: tethering your phone without a plan from your carrier could be a violation of your carrier's terms of service agreement, and can result in either you having to pay hefty overages for the data you use while tethering, or in extreme cases can wind up getting your account canceled if your carrier finds out. Most carriers know it's not in their best interest to cut off a paying customer who wants to tether their phone however, and they'll usually just send you a letter to say "hey, we noticed you're tethering, and if you keep it up, we'll automatically enroll you in a plan with a monthly charge to cover your usage."

If you want to avoid that happening to you, here are some ways to make sure you don't attract attention, and if you do, some ways to go legit.

One of the telltale signs to your carrier that you've probably been tethering your phone is if you start racking up massive overage charges in a very short period of time. If your data plan caps you at 2GB/month, and you normally use less than one, but suddenly start blowing through your cap on a regular basis, one of the best things you can do is bump up your data plan to a level appropriate for the amount of data you're using. You're not exactly hiding anything here and you're not covering your tracks, but you'll save yourself money in the long run and you're moving your data plan to an appropriate level for the amount of data you actually use, thus drawing less attention to your activities.

If you can get into an unlimited plan, that's one great way to make sure that your carrier doesn't start to wonder about your data usage habits because or a recent rash of plan overages. Unfortunately, more and more carriers are shying away from unlimited plans, but if you can get onto one, it may be worth it depending on how much tethering you plan to do. Again, it's worth noting that making sure your data plan includes whatever data you may use by occasionally tethering to your laptop is only a way to avoid drawing attention to yourself - it doesn't actually do anything to cover your tracks.

In the same vein as making sure your data plan accommodates the data used while tethering, it's also important to not use too much in general. Since you said you only plan to tether occasionally, like when you're traveling or visiting friends, it's important to try and use Wi-Fi if it's available (and use a VPN to secure your connection) instead of just tethering because you can. The best way to make sure you don't draw attention to yourself is, of course, to not do it—or do it so irregularly that your carrier won't consider your data usage pattens abnormal or worth closer scrutiny.

Another way to make sure you don't draw too much attention to yourself while tethering is to avoid using the tethering apps that your wireless carrier is on the lookout for. It may sound obvious, but some AT&T users report that they were busted by AT&T when they started using the MyWi tethering app partially because it simulates the phone's built-in tethering functionality, and is easy for your carrier to spot. PC World explains that many apps simply unlock and turn on the phone's built-in tethering features, and apps that do this are the easiest to detect from a carrier's perspective.

Instead, consider an app like PdaNet, which gets the job done, connects your phone to your laptop differently, and also gives you the option to hide your tethering activity from your carrier. PdaNet isn't the only app that promises to hide tethering activity from your carrier, but it's definitely one of the best and most well-known. Most carriers are worried enough about PdaNet and apps like it that they do to great lengths to keep you from installing them. Android users have to side-load the app because carriers have asked Google to hide the app from their users in the market, and iOS users all have to jailbreak to get them.

Even apps that promise to hide your tethering activity from your carrier can only do so much. Bumping up your data plan and only tethering when you absolutely have to help, but they only do so much as well. In the end, you're playing a cat-and-mouse game with your carrier that can at any time end up with you getting a text message or a letter from your carrier warning you that they know you've been tethering your phone for free and that if you keep it up, they'll enroll you in a tethering plan.

In cases like this, it may just be worth it to go ahead and sign up for a tethering plan so you can do it whenever you choose and not worry about overages or trying to hide from your carrier. Plus, once you're signed up, your carrier will give you tools to help you do it—which you can promptly ditch and go back to tethering the way you choose.

Also, if you really want mobile wireless access but you don't want to pay your wireless carrier more than you already do, getting a warning notice may be a good opportunity to investigate mobile hotspots and USB modems from other carriers that offer more speed for your money than tethering to your phone. For example, if you're tethering to your phone on AT&T and have a hard time keeping a data connection at all, you may consider a 4G USB modem from Verizon Wireless or a portable MiFi hotspot from T-Mobile. Many even offer pay-as-you-go or prepaid plans so you only pay for what you use, as opposed to keeping a rolling monthly contract, which could wind up costing you less than a tethering plan or new contract.

Ultimately though, if you want the ability to go above-board with your tethering, it may behoove you to just go legit and not worry about it anymore. If you don't want to pay for it because you hate your carrier, branch out and sign up with another one you may hate slightly less.

One thing that's important to remember is that if you do attract the attention of your carrier, they have more advanced tools to examine your usage patterns, bandwidth utilization, and data traffic to determine whether you're tethering than you have tools to hide your activities. The best thing you can do is try to manage your usage so you never draw that attention in the first place, and use the tethering apps that don't automatically sound the alarm to your carrier's network management teams that you're tethering without a plan. Keep in mind though that even though you do all of this, you may be busted eventually anyway, and you'll have to decide whether you want to keep pushing your luck, spend money on a tethering plan, or find someone else to give your mobile wireless business to. That said, good luck, and let us know how it goes! Photo by Paul Irish.

Love,
Lifehacker

PS - Do you feel tethering to your smartphone should be free? Do you have a preferred tethering app that you would suggest to 4G Wants To Be Free? Have your say in the comments below.

You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+. Related Stories

Microproductivity: Get More Done and Lower Your Work Stress Without a Second Wasted [Productivity]

Our days are filled with small, unused pockets of time during which most of us turn to smartphones for a short shot of Sudoku, bird-on-pig warfare, or some other brief distraction. Designer Stefan Pintaric fills those precious seconds with tiny but rewarding tasks that ultimately make him feel less preoccupied and stressed about work. He calls it being microproductive; here's how it works.

When the clock strikes 5:00, or 6:00, or 11:30 (whenever it happens to be that you deem your work day over), it's common to find relief through disconnecting—from your workplace, your clients or from whatever project is occupying your thoughts. This can be harder in practice than in concept: looming deadlines, demanding or irate customers, and one's own perfectionist tendencies can mean the work day never really ends.

Paradoxically, I've found that one of the best ways to stop the constant preoccupation with work is to keep at it, filling my downtime with easily accomplishable yet rewarding tasks. This has become vastly more feasible with the advent of smartphones and tablets, and the ubiquitous presence of the laptop for most professionals.

The key to microproductivity is to eliminate the goal-setting, task-list mentality that we typically employ to keep on top of our workload. Microproductivity instead holds that getting anything done is better than getting nothing done. Don't plan to finish a major task in an unrealistic time-frame; the point of the practice is to squeeze productivity out of whatever time you have.

Instead, consider some of the following points for staying productive on the go. You'll find that nagging anxiety at the back of your mind will fade as you know you're doing the most you can.

True downtime is any time where you're waiting for some prerequisite event to resolve in order for you to progress with whatever it is you want to do. The length of these waiting periods then determine what kind of small tasks you might be able to accomplish reasonably before your wait is over.

We encounter these periods of true downtime every day: the queue at the grocer, the elevator ride or the wait for the subway. Periods such as these already see us turning to our phones to check the time, or to see if we've got a new text message from last night's date. These are the ideal times to get microproductive; rather than pushing through yet another level of Angry Birds, get something—anything—done instead.

The smallest periods of downtime are the most lucrative from a productivity perspective: They happen with great frequency, adding up to a substantial amount time on the whole. However, since that sum-total time is divided into such small increments, it is important to use those increments for tasks which are realistically accomplish-able within them. Here are a few examples of 30 second tasks:

Sort your email. Individual messages may vary wildly in length, meaning you might not be able to read a long proposal, but a quick glance at the subjects will let you sort them meaningfully so you can respond appropriately later.

If you're using Gmail, setup labels for different task groupings. The more detailed you get here, the more useful to your workflow. If you're an editor, labels like "Rough Draft" "Final Review" and "Pre-Press" are examples of ways to tag your mail so that you can respond to it later. A designer might benefit simply from tagging the extensions of different attached filetypes—".psd" ".css" ".ai"—from your teammates.

Set Alarms. Every day has it's own schedule, no matter how typically consistent your routine is. Use your elevator ride to set an alarm for when you want to start your lunch, and one 10 minutes before you want to return from it. Those "I lost track of the time" answers when you're arriving late for a meeting will be a thing of the past.

Further, you can time your tasks to ensure you're on top of things. Again, as with your inbox, you don't have to set every alarm you'll need for the day in 30 seconds; just thinking of and setting a few will make your day easier.

Take a "Note to Self". Considering most cellular phones, intelligent or otherwise, have some kind of audio recording capacity, why waste time trying to type out a note to yourself when you could record your own voice? It may seem awkward at first, but as you get into the habit, you'll quickly see that 30 seconds of audio will tend to contain more information—and more coherent information—than your hurried touchscreen or predictive-text memorandums. You'll spend less time trying to decipher your own shorthand, and more time re-connecting with your Eureka moments.Update Your Project Status. Whether it's using project management software, a shared Google Calendar, or an email list, quickly checking in with your team to let them know where you're at with your task list is really valuable, and takes next to no time to do.Prune Your Contacts. Over the course of a given week, the number of people we communicate with in our professional lives can often lead to our having hundreds or thousands of contacts in our various lists. While retaining this information can be useful for repeat business, oftentimes this can lead to substantial bloat. When you have five different John Smiths and you only ever talk to one, consider eliminating a few of the others. The old fashioned Rolodex had one advantage over the cell phone: you had to be choosier about whom you put in there.Give out your card. Just because you're not in a professional setting doesn't mean you don't have a professional opportunity in front of you. One of the best things you can do to promote yourself remains the tried and tested approach of giving out your card. Start thinking of it when you're out and about on your daily errands; you'll start to see opportunities you may have been ignoring.

Introducing yourself and giving your card to your butcher may well result in his giving you a call to redesign his signage, build him a website, or get in touch with his sister who's a major player at a local design firm. That 30-second handshake and card exchange can have huge payoffs down the road.

Ultimately, you'll start to figure out how best to use your downtime to stay productive your way. The above examples hint at just a few of the activities that can be accomplished in a negligible amount of time, but as you add your own, you'll find the rewards increase exponentially.

So the next time you're on the escalator, in a line-up or waiting for the train, think about being microproductive—your inner taskmaster will thank you.

Agree with Stefan? Disagree? Do something similar yourself? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Microproductivity: Not a Second Wasted | Explore Create Repeat

Stefan Pintaric is the Editor of Explore Create Repeat , a blog put out by the team at 4ormat.com providing inspiration to creative professionals. Explore Create Repeat aims to give its readers content focused on the creative process and its interaction with the challenges of freelancing. Stefan also fronts Toronto weirdrock band Trematron and creates music for local independent game developers as PixelPorn.

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DIY Door Reminder Buzzes if You Leave the House Without Locking Up [DIY]

By Whitson Gordon Oct 12, 2011 3:30 PM 11,766 8

If you run out the door every morning without remembering to lock it (or remembering if you did), this little DIY project can help remind you to lock the door by simply buzzing when you forget.

DIYer pppd put this together using nothing but an ATtiny13, two reed switches, and a buzzer. Even if you're not super experienced with electronics boards, it should be a simple device to put together—and the peace of mind it can give you as you rush off to the bus in the morning is priceless. Hit the link for more details on how to build it. Now if only someone could build the same thing that tells me when I've left the oven on, too.

Door Lock Reminder | Dangerous Prototypes Forum via Make

You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
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Clean a Bicycle Chain without Special Cleaning Tools [Bicycle]

By David Galloway Oct 16, 2011 4:00 PM 17,399 38

Most bike shops recommend that you purchase mechanical bicycle chain cleaners or pay their repair shop to clean dirty chains, but you can clean a chain simply and inexpensively using a wide mouth bottle, any degreasing dish soap, and a chain tool to break and rejoin the chain.

Outdoor activity blog Pig Monkey shares this method inspired by a method from bicycle technician Sheldon Brown. Break the chain using the chain tool ($7 at Amazon) and drop the chain into the wide-mouth bottle, add an ounce or so of the dish soap, and fill with water. Shake the bottle for a minute or so and let it set for 15 minutes. Then dump out the water and repeat until the water is clear. The author states it should take around 3 cycles.

Bicycle Chain Cleaning | Pig Monkey

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Use a Tub and a Toilet Plunger to Clean Clothes Without a Washing Machine [Cleaning]

If you live without a washing machine or yours is broken and you need to do a load of laundry, you can use your bathtub or a large Tupperware container and a clean, never-before-used toilet plunger to make your own washing machine and get your clothes clean quickly.

The key here is to use a clean, never-used toilet plunger. The Tupperware container or your bathtub will mimic the washing machine basin, and the toilet plunger will be your agitator. If you use the bathtub, use only as much water as you need: if you fill the bathtub, you'll wind up wasting a lot of water and it won't be as effective.

Add some water and soap to your basin, whether it's a container or the bathtub, and use less soap than you would for a full load of laundry. Put the plunger at the bottom, and add your clothes. Let them soak for a while to loosen up the dirt, and then rapidly plunge the bottom of the container to create agitation in the water, mimicking the action of the agitator in a mechanical washing machine. After a few minutes, drain the soapy water, rinse with clean, and hang to dry.

This tip works best if you're just out of a washing machine for a short period, live somewhere without one (and you don't want to spend $4 to wash and another $4 to dry at the Laundromat,) or if you're camping and need to clean some clothes. Have you ever hand-washed clothes this way? Let us know in the comments below. Photo by Dana Franks.

How to: Bathtub Laundry | Instructables

You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+. Related Stories