Troubleshooting the VISIBLE throttling issue...

[uberhaus]

Troubleshooting the VISIBLE throttling issue...

I also got throttled back to 5Mbps max and was able to find a workaround. I'm using a rooted Pixel 3 connected to an ASUS router. None of the typical hacks work anymore, but I was able to find a solution to get back to unthrottled speeds.

I installed VPN Hotspot on the rooted Android device along with a dummy VPN (AdGuard - not the version in the Google Play store). This fixed all my issues, but I have no idea why this works.

If someone with the expertise would like to investigate why this solution works, here are the links to the apps/info I used...

https://github.com/Mygod/VPNHotspot
https://github.com/Mygod/VPNHotspot/discussions/216

Someone... please enlighten us as to what this workaround is actually doing!

I also posted this on the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTE.HAC ... 0833690843

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

What is your confusion?

VISIBLE does aggressive deep packet inspection and shapes the traffic accordingly.

You're bypassing that by using a VPN and VISIBLE does not yet do that level of aggressive deep packet inspection yet.

So this will work until VISIBLE shapes your kind of VPN traffic or blocks your account citing some TOS detail.

[gscheb]

What we are wondering why doesn't just TTL work anymore?

My self now I got to use TTL and VPN on client device. One or the other don't seem to work.

The other way seen it work is with app called vpn tether. But it is cumbersome to set up every time works with a proxy in WiFi setting in client device.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

What we are wondering why doesn't just TTL work anymore?

Because it's the laziest way to detect tethering and as we know - easiest to get around.

ATT doesn't care. VISIBLE does. VISIBLE wants people who are mostly on wifi and barely use their phone service.

[uberhaus]

What is your confusion?

VISIBLE does aggressive deep packet inspection and shapes the traffic accordingly.

You're bypassing that by using a VPN and VISIBLE does not yet do that level of aggressive deep packet inspection yet.

So this will work until VISIBLE shapes your kind of VPN traffic or blocks your account citing some TOS detail.

As mentioned in my post, AdGuard is a dummy VPN which, from what I understand, routes traffic internally through the AdGuard internal VPN on the device to handle ad-blocking/filtering, before routing packets out through the WAN connection on the device. This isn't setting up an encrypted tunnel between the device and an external VPN server (thereby bypassing Visible's deep packet inspection).

This is where the confusion lies. The VPN Hotspot/AdGuard combo seems to be doing something that I'm not aware of that's in effect bypassing throttling restrictions. If we knew what that was, we could possibly emulate that on other setups.

[LoveMeSomeCALTE]

As mentioned in my post, AdGuard is a dummy VPN which, from what I understand, routes traffic internally through the AdGuard internal VPN on the device to handle ad-blocking/filtering, before routing packets out through the WAN connection on the device. This isn't setting up an encrypted tunnel between the device and an external VPN server (thereby bypassing Visible's deep packet inspection).

This is where the confusion lies. The VPN Hotspot/AdGuard combo seems to be doing something that I'm not aware of that's in effect bypassing throttling restrictions. If we knew what that was, we could possibly emulate that on other setups.

Aha! Appreciate the clarification. That's an interesting usecase for a VPN. Appreciate the explanation.

Are you comfortable with WireShark? You can compare the packets with and w/o AdGuard and gain some insight.

[gabe1475]

Not sure if this helps anyone, but with my new setup. If I run a speedtest, getting throttled. Plug into my work laptop, where everything is routed through a VPN and no issues. I think that is what you were saying above, but either way that works well for my use case as that will be most of my use when we are remote.