Using a cell phone as a modem?

[malv83]

I recently signed up for an AT&T unlimited prepaid account. Unfortunately AT&T was able to detect the MC7455 sierra modem and block internet access (I am able to connect to the tower which usually doesn't happen if the IMEI is blocked so they might be doing some Level 3 verification). I've been using EasyTether on my phone that is tethered to a homebrew Centos-based Linux router. I'm also running an additional OpenVPN on the router to to mask all traffic and prevent any video throttling.

For those that don't know, EasyTether runs a server on the phone and a client on the machine. Data is sent to the server app on the phone and then the app send the data out to the internet which makes the data usage appear as though it coming from the phone and not being routed through the hotspot/tether connection. It doesn't require rooting the phone or installing a custom Android build.

This solution works reasonably well except the signal is crap compared to my MC7455 + 2x2 mimo panel antenna (around 15db/10db difference in the RSRP/SNR numbers). My modem gives me around double the speeds. Given how relatively cheap a used Cat20 cell phone can be on Ebay (~$150, even cheap if the case is cracked or damaged), has anyone tried cracking open a phone, attaching the antenna connectors to an external antenna, and putting it in a cute little modem box? It seems like it would be a decent and inexpensive solution and you wouldn't have as much risk of getting detected and kicked off the network.

[Didneywhorl]

I've not seen that. I have heard of people putting the phone on tether to a router and plugging it together inside an enclosure and setting up as high as they can to get the best signal they can.

BillA is the phone tether expert here I believe. Hopefully he can chime in.

[St1300]

This what I want to do but no help so far has been given, anyone care to chime in