t-mobile / share account?

I'm assuming that if I sign up for an unlimited t-mobile account, my
daughter and I can share the account as long as we don't both try to log on
at the same time? Any comments?


--
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www.lucky-you.net

Stud Muffin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
: I'm assuming that if I sign up for an unlimited t-mobile account, my
: daughter and I can share the account as long as we don't both try to log on
: at the same time? Any comments?

Well, read the terms and conditions before signing up. Probably they
will not want more than one person using the account (even if you use
it at different times). Can they tell? In theory - yes, because each
computer has a unique MAC address. In practice do they make sure not
more than one MAC address uses the account? Not sure, but I kinda
doubt it.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
************************************************** *****************

I found the answer to my question. These aren't friendly people. "one unit
per login session" sounded OK, but "sharing the service" may constitute
"fraud or theft." I guess you'd better not let a friend use your t-mobile
telephone, either.

6. Use of Service. Unless otherwise set forth by us in writing, you are
receiving a single user account solely for your use of the Service through
one unit per login session. You agree not to resell or attempt to resell any
aspect of the Service, whether for profit or otherwise, share your IP
address or ISP Internet connection with anyone, access the Service
simultaneously through multiple units or to authorize any other individual
or entity to use the Service. You agree that sharing the Service with
another party breaches the Agreement and may constitute fraud or theft, for
which we reserve all rights and remedies.

Stud Muffin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
: I found the answer to my question. These aren't friendly people. "one unit
: per login session" sounded OK, but "sharing the service" may constitute
: "fraud or theft." I guess you'd better not let a friend use your t-mobile
: telephone, either.

I can sort of see their point, though. They base the price for
their unlimited service on an average of what one person would consume in
bandwidth per day. If everyone shared their account, that average
would go up, and their costs would be higher. They are in this to
make a profit, after all.

As far as your cell phone: most cell phones do not have unlimited
minutes. Even when some do (evenings/weekends), it is at an off-peak
time when there is plenty of cell capacity to be used up. So, they
wouldn't really worry about people sharing your cell phone with you.
In fact, if you share it and you go over your peak minute allotment,
they make more money. It's a different business model than "unlimited
access wifi".

Even so, T-Mobile wouldn't be able to tell if you were sharing your
cell phone with anyone. As I said, they can tell if you login with a
different laptop to their service. Whether they actually do track
your MAC address, though, is not so certain.

T-Mobile WiFi service has been pretty good for me, though I admit it
is expensive and probably not worth it for many.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
************************************************** *****************

"Andrew" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message > Even so,
T-Mobile wouldn't be able to tell if you were sharing your
> cell phone with anyone. As I said, they can tell if you login with a
> different laptop to their service. Whether they actually do track
> your MAC address, though, is not so certain.


Where does T-Mobile say anything about only one device? I have a couple of
laptops...a real small one for airline out of town travel and a larger one
for mobile use that I keep in my car. I also have logged in at Starbucks
through a friend's laptop. In addition I'm planning on getting a
T-Mobile/Siemens Pocket PC phone one of these days and plan on using that
with a wifi card at their locations. It's one user not one device.

I think the only way they could track multiple users on the same account
would be if there was an unreasonable amount of geographical
separation...say if I gave my account information to a friend to use on his
vacation and he logged on in Washington DC and an hour later I log on in
Seattle and then later in the day he's back on in DC. That would be a big
flag. That's also how credit card companies and cellular companies track
fraudulent use.

"Stud Muffin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:HuVYa.100011$uu5.14526@sccrnsc04...
> I found the answer to my question. These aren't friendly people. "one
unit
> per login session" sounded OK, but "sharing the service" may constitute
> "fraud or theft." I guess you'd better not let a friend use your
t-mobile
> telephone, either.
>
> 6. Use of Service. Unless otherwise set forth by us in writing, you are
> receiving a single user account solely for your use of the Service through
> one unit per login session. You agree not to resell or attempt to resell
any
> aspect of the Service, whether for profit or otherwise, share your IP
> address or ISP Internet connection with anyone, access the Service
> simultaneously through multiple units or to authorize any other individual
> or entity to use the Service. You agree that sharing the Service with
> another party breaches the Agreement and may constitute fraud or theft,
for
> which we reserve all rights and remedies.

I don't see how this prohibits using various devices (at different times) to
access the service. "One unit per login session" merely prohibits you from
using any kind of connection sharing to share a single wi-fi connection with
other devices. You should be able to use a laptop now, and a PDA or other
laptop later without a problem.

Now, "you agree not to...authorize any other individual of entity to use the
Service" would prohibit you from allowing others to access the service using
your account. As stated in another message, an unreasonable geographic
separation from on login to the next would raise a red flag here.

go for it!

The way T-mobile keeps raising its rates, it may be the only way to
make it affordable..

I just had a bunch of prepaid minutes taken from me cause I didn't use
them up in 120 days.

With their minimum times, T mobile is way too expensive for someone
who just wants to check their email.

Douglas


"Stud Muffin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<7gSYa.66013$Oz4.16069@rwcrnsc54>...
> I'm assuming that if I sign up for an unlimited t-mobile account, my
> daughter and I can share the account as long as we don't both try to log on
> at the same time? Any comments?

Douglas Tatelman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
: go for it!

: The way T-mobile keeps raising its rates, it may be the only way to
: make it affordable..

Of course, T-mobile can monitor the MAC address of every laptop that
connects to your account (whether they do or not - they *can*
anyway). If they were so inclined, they could see which accounts have
two or three different MAC addresses consistently logging in (not just
one, then you got a new computer, then just the new one). And in that
case, they could do something nasty for violating their terms.
Whether they'd actually take it that far is another story.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
************************************************** *****************

Charles Tomaras wrote:
> "Andrew" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message > They can
> certainly track the MAC addresses used for one account and
>> call you on it - at least ask, "How many people are using this
>> account?" Sure, you could always reply that only one person is using
>> it and they'd have to prove otherwise. Yes, if you login with one at
>> a Starbucks and then login in with a different MAC address at another
>> Starbucks 50 miles away 10 minutes later, they might figure
>> something's up...
>
> I guess I'm safe because I don't use a Mac...I'm PC all the way!

Wrong kind of MAC doofus. Mac is a computer. MAC is a code embedded onto
a network card.
--
------------------
Jeffrey
ICQ# 44404094
Yahoo!: mrmac14
------------------

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 18:48:35 GMT, "Stud Muffin" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I'm assuming that if I sign up for an unlimited t-mobile account, my
>daughter and I can share the account as long as we don't both try to log on
>at the same time? Any comments?

Coming from a carrier/ISP background, I can tell you that their
primary concern is that you don't have multiple -simultaneous- users
eating bandwidth.

Normal end-user IP/web/email traffic is "bursty", and the network is
designed and optimized with that in mind.

Network bandwidth is expensive, and the name of the game in the
Service Provider business is Bandwidth Optimization. The more people
who violate the Terms and have multiple -simultaneous- users on the
network, the more it hurts all the users and the Provider is going to
have to crack down on them.

Coincidentally, tonight I start work as the top level of tech support
for T-Mobile's core transport ATM network. Give me a couple of days
and I could tell you more than you would ever want to know about their
network.

Oh, and I'm also a T-Mobile customer. Guess I'll be getting an account
upgrade soon... :-)

Mike
Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.