Mobile Hotspot on Lumia 640 with Cricket $70 unlimited plan?

[Windows Central Question]

Cricket Wireless' unlimited plan doesn't technically allow mobile hotspot, but I know it's possible to work around it because I'm able to use it on my Moto X Pure with Cyanogenmod ROM installed.

I'd like to buy a 640 as a backup phone, but only if I can use the mobile hotspot with the unlimited plan.

Can anybody confirm whether it's possible to use mobile hotspot on Cricket's $70 unlimited plan with the Lumia 640? I'm thinking it might be possible with an install of W10M insider preview...

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Insider Preview doesn't do anything to unlock the restricted tethering option. W10M/WP check with the carrier to see if your IMEI is authorized to use tethering. I've been poking in the registry to see if I can disable this, but I've had no luck thus far.

I'm on: L640, W10M Fast, Cricket.

If you want to tether without anyone bothering you, FireFoxOS.

Found it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/win.../enabling-tethering-internet-sharing-t3024128

Relevant key change:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Services\ICSSVC\Settings]
"Enabled"=dword:00000001
"EntitlementRequired"=dword:00000000

 

[rhapdog]

I'm on: L640, W10M Fast, Cricket.

If you want to tether without anyone bothering you, FireFoxOS.

Thanks for your solution. Just switched to Cricket today, and I just need tethering for the next 10 days. Then I'll have home Wi-Fi.

FireFoxOS? Yeah, no. Why do you say that exactly? I'm using a CyberFox Browser, but not going an OS route, as it defeats the purpose of having all my devices on W10. Any way to make sure I don't get bothered by Cricket? Or just keep the usage low key?

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Thanks for your solution. Just switched to Cricket today, and I just need tethering for the next 10 days. Then I'll have home Wi-Fi.

FireFoxOS? Yeah, no. Why do you say that exactly? I'm using a CyberFox Browser, but not going an OS route, as it defeats the purpose of having all my devices on W10. Any way to make sure I don't get bothered by Cricket? Or just keep the usage low key?

Because FFXOS was the only mobile OS that put the user first. You were in complete control of your data and it was an open book. It was an incredible platform that died too early, though it didn't go silently. A lot of WP10's Privacy controls are very, very similar to those of FFXOS, and came shortly after FFXOS launched theirs.

And why FFXOS? Because it natively allows tethering on any plan as there is no carrier locked firmware. Open, baby.

Is it the best choice for everyone? No, but it had its benefits.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Any way to make sure I don't get bothered by Cricket? Or just keep the usage low key?

I failed to reply to this, for whatever reason.

I'd say just be on the conservative side with the tethering to not get a notice from CricKet. I've tethered on 4 devices so far (ZTE Open, ZTE Open C, Mozilla Flame, L640) and they've yet to bother me. Though to be fair, the sum total of my tethered data consumption across those devices is likely less than 2gb, and this is over the course of two years.

I really only ever use it in emergency situations (field work) where I can not get data access for my equipment other than through my phone, so I'm generally not moving much data, and generally only connected to a handful of devices at once.

Your mileage will vary, of course, but I don't think you have much to worry about unless you use your phone in place of your home router and start a multi-screen NetFlix streaming party with the whole block.

 

[rhapdog]

Your mileage will vary, of course, but I don't think you have much to worry about unless you use your phone in place of your home router and start a multi-screen NetFlix streaming party with the whole block.

Not likely. I'm just without home Wi-Fi until August 11th, and have been since I started Cricket on July 30th. So far in the last 5 days I've used 1.1GB of data from a combination of phone only to laptop and phone. I'd say both are about equal in that share. Once I get moved into the new place I'll have Wi-Fi so no worries there. If I ever use it again after that point, it will be as you, in emergency situations only.

I doubt they'd be likely to suspect a user of their 5GB plan to be abusive in that way. They more likely monitor the unlimited accounts closer, though.