[mlurp]

Very interesting! I'm on a budget mobile service provider (Cricket), and only recently discovered that they disable using my phone as a hotspot on my plan.

I called them up, because I wouldn't mind paying a small amount extra every month to have that ability. However, they told me that they actually couldn't provide it with my phone even if I paid, because they didn't support my phone (Pixel). Then they tried to upsell me on "compatible phones"...

I used this phone as a hotspot with my previous provider, so I know it can be a hotspot. But I don't know much about the technical side of this. Does anyone know if what they're saying is plausible? (Ie, they can't offer it for my specific phone)

I briefly tried a few apps for this purpose, but none of them worked.

[ghostly_s]

Can't comment on Cricket, but I'm researching low-cost carriers at the moment and discovered a similarly curious situation regarding Republic Wireless. I found some strange restrictions in the plan regarding tethering, looked into it and found they don't support iPhones at all. Why? They won't admit to this on their website, but apparently their "cell service" actually uses some proprietary hybrid cell/wifi network, where they piggyback off public hotspots and route your traffic through them when available, so the "cell data" you are paying for is actually priced on the premise that the bulk of it will be utilized as wifi data, instead. They of course can only enforce this in Android devices by futzing with the network stack at a level Apple doesn't allow.

[hundchenkatze]

Interesting, I used Republic a few years ago during their beta period. Back then they were very upfront about routing calls/data over wifi whenever possible, even marketing it as a feature on their home page. Now I can't find any mention of routing over wifi on their main pages.

edit: Here's their page from 2012, they were marketing it as "Hybrid Calling" https://web.archive.org/web/20120103104716/http://republicwi...

[jjwhitaker]

It makes a lot of sense and I have several friends who use similar services. But if Tethering disables wifi (at least connecting to wifi as your phone is now acting as a router) then their hybrid component breaks and only uses cell which may be throttled, limited, or not available. It sounds like more a CYA against higher bills from whoever they are renting service from while keeping their Hybrid setup functional for better service. I'd be frustrated if my budget plan had terrible service when tethering because 80% of my traffic is normally over wifi and works fine but now is being funneled 100% into cellular.

[ulysses]

"They won't admit to this on their website"? I think it's more that they won't shut up about it. Their entire business model and their marketing is all based on the idea that most people are around wifi most of the time.

The cell data you pay for is your cell data usage, you (of course) don't pay them for your wifi data usage.

[ISL]

Have a look at Ting. No worries with tethering (with my Pixel or any other device I've tried).

(Disclaimer: Happy customer and investor with Ting/Tucows since 2012)

https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205422068-Tethering-...

[eythian]

What happens when you try? Does it pop up a message saying that your provider hasn't authorised it?

I used to use Vodafone NL, and apparently they used a SIM provider ID that matched Verizon or something in the US, so my phone (Pixel 1 at the time) would ask Verizon if this SIM was allowed to use tethering, and of course it said no. Part of the reason I moved carriers, also the new one has unlimited data which is better anyhow.

Vodafone had no idea what was going on, although they did try. Eventually they just said they couldn't help.

Anyway, maybe something similar going on for you.

[mlurp]

When I try to turn it on, a dialog box pops up, telling me to go to some att website or dial 611. I think att because Cricket piggybacks off them.

[codedokode]

So basically Google that made Pixel is betraying users by giving out that they want to use tethering?

[criddell]

My Google annoyance is that they don't build call recording into the phone. I know they probably do it to avoid their customers getting into trouble using it where they shouldn't but there are lots of illegal things I can do with my phone that they don't try to police.

[magduf]

The problem is that feature would constitute something made explicitly for illegal uses, much like drug paraphernalia, so would expose them to huge liability.

Of course, it's only in some states (like Maryland) where recording conversations without permission is illegal, but that's enough.

[MrStonedOne]

No.

Google already has this, with google voice, press 4 during a call to start recording it. (only on originally incoming calls.)

One: most laws do not require permission or consent per say, simply having the feature also pimp out a recording that says "Call is now being recorded" like the google voice feature already does is enough to keep it legal.

Two: "Made explicitly for illegal uses" is a wide stretch for a call recording feature.

[criddell]

I don't use Google Voice anymore but I was never able to get call recording to work. For one, I think it only worked on incoming calls which is pretty useless.

[criddell]

They could leave hooks in there and let third parties build out the apps that do the recording.

[mrep]

At least with android, i can install an app outside of the app store like foxfi [0] that will allow me to tether it. IOS also blocks users from tethering if their carrier doesn't allow it and you cannot get around that without jailbreaking. This is one of my favorite things about switching to android.

[0]: http://foxfi.com/

[PopeDotNinja]

I know Cricket user who rooted their Pixel 3a to get around this problem. Seems to work fine for them.

[mlurp]

Yeaaaahhhhh..I found that option while searching, but I don't want to risk messing up my phone

[_fbpt]

Magisk (Android rooted-phone modding platform) has a Tethering Enabler module, but it hasn't been updated to recent versions of Magisk (Magisk constantly breaks compatibility with older modules). There was an update not released on their official download channel, and it works for me.

[fox8091]

I actually updated it for the latest Magisk here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/magisk-tetherin...

Do be aware though that I haven't found a generic way to bypass TTL detection, as most solutions use the "mangle" table in iptables, which requires a kernel module on Android. Unfortunately, this is not generic and would be per-kernel.

[gberger]

They probably haven't developed the whitelisting for this particular phone.