Vodafone "unlimited" mobile plan

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#2059352 20-Jul-2018 15:16

sbiddle:

Geektastic:

Why would VF restrict the way you use the data (eg no hotspot)?

Surely 20GB is 20 GB regardless of the device on which you are viewing whatever you download with the 20GB? What am I missing?

For the very same reason Spark and 2degrees impose the same restrictions. Imposing TTL restrictions to stop hotspotting only on the traffic after 22GB of a plan seems to be impossible to do.

If there were no hotspot restrictions on this plan it would be smashed by people using it for FWA applications.

I'm not any the wiser really. What is a TTL restriction? (TTL means Through The Lens and is a method of light metering in my job!)

quickymart

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#2059407 20-Jul-2018 15:57

Where is the notification of the data reduction from 22GB to 15GB? Is it on their website?

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#2059411 20-Jul-2018 16:05

quickymart: Where is the notification of the data reduction from 22GB to 15GB? Is it on their website?

Yes

John

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#2059418 20-Jul-2018 16:14

Geektastic:

sbiddle: ... Imposing TTL restrictions to stop hotspotting ...

I'm not any the wiser really. What is a TTL restriction? (TTL means Through The Lens and is a method of light metering in my job!)

I believe he is referring to 'Time To Live', an attribute of network packets traveling on a network. Quoting Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

The time-to-live value can be thought of as an upper bound on the time that an IP datagram can exist in an Internet system. The TTL field is set by the sender of the datagram, and reduced by every router on the route to its destination. If the TTL field reaches zero before the datagram arrives at its destination, then the datagram is discarded and an ICMP error datagram (11 - Time Exceeded) is sent back to the sender. The purpose of the TTL field is to avoid a situation in which an undeliverable datagram keeps circulating on an Internet system, and such a system eventually becoming swamped by such "immortals"

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#2059480 20-Jul-2018 17:18

IcI:

Geektastic:

sbiddle: ... Imposing TTL restrictions to stop hotspotting ...

I'm not any the wiser really. What is a TTL restriction? (TTL means Through The Lens and is a method of light metering in my job!)

I believe he is referring to 'Time To Live', an attribute of network packets traveling on a network. Quoting Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
The time-to-live value can be thought of as an upper bound on the time that an IP datagram can exist in an Internet system. The TTL field is set by the sender of the datagram, and reduced by every router on the route to its destination. If the TTL field reaches zero before the datagram arrives at its destination, then the datagram is discarded and an ICMP error datagram (11 - Time Exceeded) is sent back to the sender. The purpose of the TTL field is to avoid a situation in which an undeliverable datagram keeps circulating on an Internet system, and such a system eventually becoming swamped by such "immortals"

OK. So...if you can forgive my lack of technical knowledge in this field, is the simple answer that if you use a hotspot, the network cannot control the data cap/speed? And that's why they won't let you?

tdgeek

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#2059496 20-Jul-2018 17:24

Geektastic:

I'm confused.

How can you market something as 'unlimited' when it is actually not unlimited?

It is Unlimited. There is no cap on the data that you can use. Simple. At 22GB if it throttles, there is still no cap where it turns off.

If its not unlimited data, when does your cap get reached and you can use no more?

We all know that mobile is linked to towers, and the capability is finite. You can have Unlimited where it may throttle at 22GB, or you can have a 20GB plan where its guaranteed to be as fast as the service can provide. Then it stops.

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#2059499 20-Jul-2018 17:26

Geektastic:
Linux:

Geektastic:

I'm confused.

How can you market something as 'unlimited' when it is actually not unlimited?

@Geektastic It is unlimited at a reduced speed after the included data cap is reached

John

Ah. But it's also limited from day one with regard to use, if I understand correctly? I can't, for example, use it to browse using my iPad via the phone. Although I'm unsure what difference that makes to Vodafone etc.

As you said, it is unlimited [data] Whats an iPad got to do with it, you would subscribe to am Unlimited mobile plan for the phone.

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#2059500 20-Jul-2018 17:29

Geektastic:

IcI:

Geektastic:

sbiddle: ... Imposing TTL restrictions to stop hotspotting ...

I'm not any the wiser really. What is a TTL restriction? (TTL means Through The Lens and is a method of light metering in my job!)

I believe he is referring to 'Time To Live', an attribute of network packets traveling on a network. Quoting Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
The time-to-live value can be thought of as an upper bound on the time that an IP datagram can exist in an Internet system. The TTL field is set by the sender of the datagram, and reduced by every router on the route to its destination. If the TTL field reaches zero before the datagram arrives at its destination, then the datagram is discarded and an ICMP error datagram (11 - Time Exceeded) is sent back to the sender. The purpose of the TTL field is to avoid a situation in which an undeliverable datagram keeps circulating on an Internet system, and such a system eventually becoming swamped by such "immortals"

OK. So...if you can forgive my lack of technical knowledge in this field, is the simple answer that if you use a hotspot, the network cannot control the data cap/speed? And that's why they won't let you?

Pay attention! :-) @sbiddle said "For the very same reason Spark and 2degrees impose the same restrictions. Imposing TTL restrictions to stop hotspotting only on the traffic after 22GB of a plan seems to be impossible to do. "

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#2059568 20-Jul-2018 18:42

tdgeek:
Geektastic:
Linux:

Geektastic:

I'm confused.

How can you market something as 'unlimited' when it is actually not unlimited?

@Geektastic It is unlimited at a reduced speed after the included data cap is reached

John

Ah. But it's also limited from day one with regard to use, if I understand correctly? I can't, for example, use it to browse using my iPad via the phone. Although I'm unsure what difference that makes to Vodafone etc.

As you said, it is unlimited [data] Whats an iPad got to do with it, you would subscribe to am Unlimited mobile plan for the phone.

It says you can't use the plan for tethering or as a hotspot.

So I am trying to understand why that is.

tdgeek

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#2059579 20-Jul-2018 18:51

Geektastic:

It says you can't use the plan for tethering or as a hotspot.

So I am trying to understand why that is.

Its the same thing, not two things you cannot do. Mobile is finite. If they allowed this, maybe they feel that many will use it unreasonably. "I switched back to 60GB fibre as I can now use my phone to watch Netflix on my TV"

Unreasonable congestion.

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#2059963 21-Jul-2018 14:02

How does Vodafone restrict the video streaming quality to 480p?

Maximum video quality is 480p/SD while streaming using mobile data

dauckland

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#2216742 14-Apr-2019 06:36

Hi

I've been thinking about possibilities and limitations of these plans.
Having read some about way connectivity is manages I think there might be a way around the "no tethering" limitation.
This I think currently only can apply to a static setup.

Here are my thoughts.
All connectivity is limited with the use of TTL counter.
This mans all connections have to terminate at the handset.
But.
I think this might work with use of a VPN connection and some simple routing on a gateway.
My choice of routers would be Mikrotik or PFSense, having done numerous scenarios with use of VPN on those (i.e. DNS or all host traffic routing via VPN).
If the router makes a connection using a 4G USB stick or similar it will become the end hop for the TTL.
But if all local clients' traffic is wrapped into the VPN connection, then it be immune to the TTL limitation.

There is some talk about this on the following Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/

This is clearly not an ideal workaround.
Without rooting your phone it would be hard if at all possible to achieve this using standard WiFi sharing.
Plus the VPN would add additional connection delay.
But this might be something useful for people outside of good land-based connectivity but within good 4g coverage.

Your thoughts.

Damian

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#2216764 14-Apr-2019 09:01

Linux:
Geektastic:

I'm confused.

How can you market something as 'unlimited' when it is actually not unlimited?

@Geektastic It is unlimited at a reduced speed after the included data cap is reached

John

So I think what is being said is that it is unlimited without restrictions until one hits ones cap, then its unlimited with all the restrictions after that.

I would point out that a synonym for restriction is limitation.

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#2216841 14-Apr-2019 11:00

dauckland: Hi

All connectivity is limited with the use of TTL counter.
This mans all connections have to terminate at the handset.

There are several discussions on here from when the plan was introduced discussing the TTL scenario. Don't expect it to go undetected if you're going to abuse caps by doing it.

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#2216959 14-Apr-2019 14:16

dauckland: Hi

I've been thinking about possibilities and limitations of these plans.
Having read some about way connectivity is manages I think there might be a way around the "no tethering" limitation.
This I think currently only can apply to a static setup.

Here are my thoughts.
All connectivity is limited with the use of TTL counter.
This mans all connections have to terminate at the handset.
But.
I think this might work with use of a VPN connection and some simple routing on a gateway.
My choice of routers would be Mikrotik or PFSense, having done numerous scenarios with use of VPN on those (i.e. DNS or all host traffic routing via VPN).
If the router makes a connection using a 4G USB stick or similar it will become the end hop for the TTL.
But if all local clients' traffic is wrapped into the VPN connection, then it be immune to the TTL limitation.

There is some talk about this on the following Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/54a7dd/bypassing_tmobiles_tethering_data_capthrottling/

This is clearly not an ideal workaround.
Without rooting your phone it would be hard if at all possible to achieve this using standard WiFi sharing.
Plus the VPN would add additional connection delay.
But this might be something useful for people outside of good land-based connectivity but within good 4g coverage.

Your thoughts.

Damian

If you want 4G for you main home internet, Skinny BB does 120gb for $59, or 240Gb for $79. VF do RBI options through NetSpeed and Wireless Nation for around $100/120gb too, no faffing about with VPN and special gear either.

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