Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be

Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by jonpurdy on Monday September 09, 2024 @12:38PM (#41490302)

Since you mentioned it, on MacOS when tethering:

sudo sysctl -w net.inet.ip.ttl=65

When done, switch it back:

sudo sysctl -w net.inet.ip.ttl=64

I went from 0.3Mbps on T-Mobile to 50+ Mbps with this; on providers that limit hotspot speed by examining TTL, this can be an effective way to get around it.

(They assume if they see TTL as one lower than expected, data is passing through a hotspot/phone instead of directly from the phone.)

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Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by betaby on Monday September 09, 2024 @01:44PM (#41491222)

There is no harm in keeping it at 65 permanently. Unless you think that TTL somehow helps to more uniquely identify you.

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Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by jonpurdy on Tuesday September 10, 2024 @09:32PM (#41507341)

Good to know! I'm not a networking expert so figured leaving the default made sense just in case.

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Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by LorenDB on Monday September 09, 2024 @12:45PM (#41490398)

Linux uses a similar command:

sudo sysctl net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl=65

I assume there is an ipv6 version as well, but I haven't needed it.

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Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by betaby on Monday September 09, 2024 @03:06PM (#41492296)

net.ipv6.conf.all.hop_limit=65 + net.ipv6.conf.lo.hop_limit=65

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Re:Smartphone Tethering: A Bigger Grind Than It Needed to Be by ghotli on Monday September 09, 2024 @04:46PM (#41493576)

You're the real mvp on this thread. Thanks I figured this was in place but never thought through the ttl bit.

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