IssueTracker

I can attest that Yakju 4.1.2 update on stock Galaxy Nexus broke radio, bluetooth and wifi. The phone enters airplane mode on its own. The radio loses all telco signal (only recover after a 10 second airplane mode). Bluetooth pretends to connect but the headset is unusable. Wiifi that the same issue as bluetooth.

All in all, the phone connectivity is in a really poor state. Most people could not reach me today and I had to keep checking the phone the whole day to see if the radio/wifi was still working which it mostly wasn't.

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Same on nexus S, wired tethering

Vert bad bug...

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Same issue. Cannot tether.  Wifi will connect and assign an IP.  No throughput.
Version 4.1.2 Build JZO54K

Update, Bluetooth tether works. Wifi does not.

same thing here. Want to get back to previous version :(

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I have the same issue. 4.1.2 broke wifi tethering

I reverted back to 4.1.1, out of curiosity, what is everyone's frequency? i'm using   850/1900 HSPA. My theory is that 4.1.2 breaks tethering in some way.

Same to me. Cannot tether.  Wifi/usb will connect and assign an IP.  No throughput.

Same here on the nexus S.

I was having the same problem but I spoke to my network's help line, they made a setting change on my line and all is working again now.

Signal Strength suddenly become bad ..along with Some issue with USB Port as its not deducting while connecting to PC

@#13: could you please ask them what they changed so others can try?

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Have the same problem in my Galaxy Nexus, tethering does not work. I updated last weekend to Jelly Bean 4.1.2. Everything was fine with ICS.

I have the same problem on my Galaxy Nexus 4.1.2. Previously with 4.1.1 everything was fine.

Ref. my comment #13 and request for further info #15, I have spoken to my network operator and the fix they employed was to send out a service text that updated the APN settings. I'd perhaps suggest checking yours and making sure 4.1.2 hasn't messed with them.

In my case I am with EE in the UK and it was their OrangeBroadband APN settings that needed repairing.

@#19: thanks for looking into this and providing the update. I think however that your issue is different, since my APN settings were fine (I did a reset right now though just to confirm), and having bad APN settings would mean that the phone cannot access the Internet either, which, in my case, works flawlessly (I can browse, use online apps and stream online radios, the only thing I cannot do is tether)

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@#20 Those were exactly my symptoms too - full internet access on my Nexus S but no data pass through for tethered devices (iPad or TF700 or my wife's Nexus S). The fault coincided with my update to 4.1.2 and my network migrating from Orange UK to EE. I hoped it was the network update that was the cause (I didn't want to believe that it was 4.1.2 as I knew that if it was I'd be without tethering for a long time) so I went to them first. Orange/EE don't block tethering, thankfully - they just use their systems to spot it and charge 1GBP/day each day I use it.

Same here on my Nexus S.
:(

Same on my galaxy nexus, 4.1.1 worked, 4.1.2 no usb or wifi tethering. Contacted my carrier for the correct apn, they told me it never should have worked, they didn't have tethering enabled on my plan, they enabled it and re pushed apn(no change, I had the correct one) now wifi is working but usb still broken. I didn't try bluetooth before but it is working now.

Your carrier should not have any affect in tethering on stock android (unless google has changed something without telling us)

Chester, agreed, I'm only presenting data, not conclusions. He seemed surprised that I've been tethering for two years without it enabled, (first on my one now on my galaxy) however, they didn't even know that I could change my APN manually.

Here may be an explanation :
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/10/09/heres-whats-new-in-android-4-1-2-at-the-low-level-developer-commit-logs/


project device/sample/
bcd21a3 Change apns-full-conf.xml
a5c1fcb Fixup tethering APNs
de5e5b4 [maguro/crespo][sample] change apns-full-conf.xml

@#19 Would you mind posting the APN settings that fixed your phone? I'm not sure if I'm suffering the same problem as you, or this bug with the 4.1.2 update. The Orange -> EE switch happened at the same time.

I'm afraid that we are gonna have to wait to new version release (Key Lime Pie 4.2) to fix it.

<Huge slap on the forehead> Just found out, that the upgrade turned off the Bluetooth tethering under Settings -> More ... -> Tethering & portable hotspot. After turning it on and doing a "Reset to default" under Settings -> More ... -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names, it works.

Sorry zoltan (Comment 30) Can you be more specific on how you solve it so I can try it. I don´t understand your instructions. I´m a little novel in this stuff.

Sure, here it is step by step:
1. Go to Settings
2. Choose "More..."
3. Choose "Tethering & portable hotspot"
4. Enable "Bluetooth tethering"

Try it, if it still doesn't work:
(first two steps are the same)
3. Choose "Mobile networks"
4. Choose "Access Point Names"
5. Click on the 3 dots below each other to see the menu and choose "Reset to default"

Should work by now.

I've just tested tethering with a colleague of mine.
Same galaxy nexus with 4.1.2 but 2 different operators, his phone works with tethering my phone don't.
I exchanged the sims and my phone started working in tethering. So I think it's an operator issue but as far as 4.1.1 my nexus worked also with my operator.

I think that the APN settings in 4.1.2 are incompatible with some networks or has minor differences from the previously working 4.1 APN settings which stop data pass through working correctly. The extent of the break is network dependant

Thank you zoltan.
If I do that: "Reset to default", my connection data account dissapears. And I have to create a new APN and put all over again the parameters. Is that correct? Now I don't have way to check it out, but I hope so this fix it

You should try to do the reset while being connected to a wireless network. I think the phone does have some APN config stored in the firmware, but I also think that it should try and fetch the latest config from Google when you do the reset.

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WiFi hotspot connects and remote device shows WiFi connection but greyed out - no internet pass through ie no data connection. Galaxy nexus yakju 4.1.2 JZO52K build

from time to time m data connection drops, rebooting the fone nor going to airplane mode solves the connectivity.
I have to delete all my apn and do a reset to default for solving the problem.
But after some time the problem occurs again.

Same here, nexus S with CM 10.not sure if carrier fault or jelly bean's

Native tethering broke on my GSM Galaxy Nexus 4.1.2 JZ054K.  When tethered my tablet gets to the internet, but apps on my phone get no data.  When I shut down tethering I can see that I should get HSPA or 3G service, but my phone apps get no data.  Waiting doesn't help, and toggling airplane mode on and off doesn't help - I have to restart my phone to get data again.  Never had this problem before 4.1.2.

I'm sorry, I should be more specific.  It's native Wifi tethering that's broken.

I don't use tethering, but I do notice I lose connectivity when I switch from HSPA to EDGE at work. It wasn't bad at first, but now it's almost with every network change. Hopefully this is fixed in 4.2. I've rolled back to 4.1.1, which isn't a big deal seeing as there wasn't anything major changed.

Nexus S with Fido/Rogers. The 4.1.2 update has the same effect on wifi hotspot and usb features as described above.

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Could you post some instructions to roll back to 4.1.1?

I thought this was related to tethering, but I haven't tethered since yesterday's reboot and this morning I had no data connection.

I've been searching for a forum that talks about this issue since it started from the 4.1.2 update. ok so let me get this straight...there's no fix until the next JB update? Im running 4.1.2 on my Galaxy Nexus on the Rogers network. I've tried doing a factory reset, re-root, and install other apps that are meant for wireless tethering and I haven't been able to fix this problem. Have there been any releases from Andriod talking about this? I cant accept that we can only just sit and wait.

@ #48, Apparently, I haven't really dug into it to see why, but on Rogers
and therefore Fido, the new 4.1.2 build respects their tethering controls.
I'm on Fido and all of their data plans that are 2gig and over come with
tethering, I just had to ask them to turn it on and now it works. The only
thing I changed on my phone was to go from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2 and it stopped
working (Both USB and WiFi, didn't test bluetooth), they twiddled some
settings on their end and now it works again(usb, wifi, bluetooth). They
also re-pushed the APN to my phone but I didn't see a change there so I
don't think that's what did it.

If your on rogers, the same network as Fido, perhaps check your plan to see
if you should have tethering and ask them to enable it?

This APN thing is not working on a 2g network.

My experience..... Samsung Galaxy S3, All You Can Eat Data on Three here in UK, after JB update native tethering stopped working (only use on laptop)

... Settings-More Settings-Mobile Networks-Access Point Names- then on menu...Reset to Default.
Then in Portable WiFi hotspots, after enabling it, configure allow laptops MAC address and in Advanced options I set Channel to 11, instead of Auto.

This got it working for me after days of frustration. Hopefully it might help someone who has a similar problem.

Another experience corroborating the "4.1.2 respects operator tethering policy" theory. I don't use tethering often but some android update in the past few months did indeed break it. I'm on a Orange UK SIM-only plan with extra "Mobile Internet 500MB/month". Apparently this extra did _not_ include tethering so my occasional prior use was technically infringing. But for £1 a month extra the new version of the same "extra" does include tethering and now it all works.

Yesterday, I called my operator (Fido) and they told me that if I can use data on my phone, I can share it. Since I cannot share, but use data on my phone, they cannot do anything more since it is a software issue.

#52: I am exactly the same, problem I have is I use Tethering like 3 times a year, if that.. Seems a shame to have to pay £12 a year for that privilege that I have always had. I don't have an unlimited plan so I can't see why I should be charged to use the Small amount of internet I have on my tarrif via a tether.

I've had this problem since my Nexus S got the Android 4.1.2 update, which is quite annoying since I used to rely on tethering to connect to the Internet on my laptop when I was travelling, and now I can't do that any more.

What I don't understand about the answers above that mention the APN settings (I've restored the defaults to no avail, by the way) is why should my network operator have a say on whether I use tethering or not? I've never signed up for a plan that listed "tethering"  as an option, and have always taken for granted that with an unlocked SIM-free Nexus S I should be able to tether no matter what sort of data plan I had. Is this not the case? Is it really up to the network operators to enable tethering?!

Another Galaxy Nexus with this problem here.

I've tried to install back 4.0.4 version from Google Stock Images and it works ok. 4.1.1 works ok too. The problem is appearing updating to 4.1.2.

I hope this will be fixed on next OTA for 4.2 version...

Maybe the problem is here?

https://android.googlesource.com/device/sample/+/a5c1fcb/etc/apns-full-conf.xml

I have "MásMovil", a "subsidiary" company of Orange Spain that uses different APN configuration than the mother operator.

Maybe if the APN settings are not matching with that database, Theter don't works...

This is that I think; anyway I'm not an expert...

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To comment 55. Yes, I did tether with the same phone before and updated to 4.1.2. after didn't work afterwards.

I upgrade my plan today with 1 GB data (pay actually 3 CAD less now) and tethering is activated now and works again. Fido's data plans below 1 GB don't allow tethering. Only worked before because the old software allowed to "override" the setting from Fido.

@#59 And your new plan requires different APN configuration than the older one?

I had the exact same experience as #59(my bill even went down as well), I
posted before (see #49) and no, my APN did not change, nothing changed on
my end, they enabled tethering on their end and it started working.

Okay, I've been all afternoon trying things and I think I've come to some conclusions.

I think only the APN preinstalled (those that appear automatically) are what allow tethering. So the phone is what blocks it.

-I tried SIMs of operators that are not on the factory APN in different phones (Android 2.3.7 mostly) doing tethering and it worked at all, except my Galaxy Nexus (for Android version).

-Then I used an Orange SIM in the Galaxy Nexus (whose Operator APN come preinstalled in phone) and it worked. But to change the APN name (which should not influence) and not signed. Then I restored the factory APN and it worked again, which shows what is said.

-As you can see here:
https://android.googlesource.com/device/sample/+/bcd21a3 requiring operators are changing their APN, which helps this theory.

The question now is ... Where are all these APN settings in Android? If we can access them (via root obviously) and insert the APN we want as we do tethering preinstalled without problem.

Sorry if there is any inconsistency, I used a translator to help me write.

regards

I may be experiencing a similiar issue, I believe all was well for tethering until 4.1

After 4.1 it appears that while I am tethering my network connectivity goes to garbage.

Run Terminal Emulator on phone (Galaxy Nexus build jz054k)
Connectivity without tethering:
12% packet loss, avg181ms

Connectivity while tethering:
15% packet loss, avg 190ms

Connectivity from laptop:
95% packet loss, avg 2000ms

This is not entirely consistent, but the horrible tethering performance is fairly consistent, sometimes it's bearable but often it's garbage.  I did as my carrier for a reset recently but I haven't noticed any changes since then.

I will probably try to manually update to 4.2 sometime in the near future, if that doesn't work than I'll downgrade to 4.0 and see how that goes.

&60 I am not aware that they changed anything other than upgrading my plan to 1 GB data transfer and that plan allows tethering. They did not change anything on my phone.

Same issue here ... HTC One X S-Off Ice Cold Jelly AOKP ROM .... Base 4.1.2r1 .... I guess will have to wait for 4.2 ... *SIGH*

Tested tethering with 4.2 update.  Tethering still broken

Chester, which phone are you using?  Build / Version?

Android 4.2 (stock takju)
Baseband I9250XXLH1
Kernel 3.0.31-gd5a18e0
Build Number JOP40C

Asked on: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34118277#post34118277

I was hoping 4.2 would fix the issue, apparently not.

Have you run a ping test on your phone? (Terminal emulator, ping google.com without tether.  Initiate tether monitor difference)

I tried a ping while tethered using a usb connection and i had no issues.  I will try a wireless tether tonight when i have a device with wifi

I don't think is an apns-full-conf.xml problem. In fact the file contains the list of many 3g operators in order to automatically configure your phone when you start using the phone for the first time. I use a virtual operator and to configure the APN I just created a new one and all the possible attribute values are just the same as those in the apns-full-conf.xml.
Any ideas where to look for?

To add to #71, I manually added the "Fido Tethering" apn that was removed from the xml file and that did not fix my problem. So I'm still stuck with my own compiled 4.1.1 version for now.

4.2 Seems to have fixed it for me and my Galaxy Nexus, which using other 4.x versions would disconnect shortly after the screen timed out.

No, 4.2 hasn't fixed it for me :-(

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How can one go back to the 4.1.1 version?

#76 there are no factory image of that one since it will always ask you to upgrade.
Personaly, I had to download the source code of 4.1.1, compile it and flash it. That is a bit overkill, but as a developper, that was kind of nice :P

I confirm that 4.1.2 and 4.2 break tethering when used with a virtual operator.
I've rolled back to 4.1.1 and now it works like a charm.

VERY VERY annoying, please fix!!

@ #76 4.1.1 is on dropbox for you here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31778139/takju-jro03c-factory-bf087655.tgz  If you are a root user, when it says upgrade to 4.1.2 is downloaded and ready to install use your file explorer of choice ie root explorer - go to /cache there you will see the zip file of the ota update - either move it somewhere else if you might want to use it in the future, or delete it.... then you can let the phone try to install the update, as it is no longer in cache the display will say something like rebooting in 10secs, it will count down to zero and then go no further as the update is no longer in cache - it will never trouble you again to update ;)

@ #77 nice work Simon ;)

@ #76 #77 #79 have a look at this tool: it's great.

http://www.wugfresh.com/nrt/

You can even decide which version and which build you want to restore.

Hi - I just called EE in the UK and they said they needed to update my phone's settings (due to changes in 4.1.2) - which they have now done, and it all seems to be fixed. Not sure why they aren't updating all Nexus S by default, but there you are.

@ #81
Rob, I don't suppose they told you which "settings"??

I've just called Italian Poste Mobile virtual operator and they told me that's an Android bug and they have no solution :-(

After 10 calls to MásMóvil (Spain Virtual Operator) they tell me like #83.

This is an Android bug and there is no solution.


I repeat, I think all this is involving default operator APN. Here en Spain I don't have problems with Orange or Vodafone. Just only with virtual operators such as MásMóvil or Eroski Móvil.

I hope google can fix this...

Nexus S i9023 with virtual operator, Italy
Upgrade to 4.1.2 broke tethering
I downgraded to 4.1.1 tethering works fine but the OTA notification is annoying

#85 Which virtual operator?

Nexus S
Upgrade to 4.1.2 broke tethering
Installed a 3rd-party tethering app (android-wifi-tether by Müller, Lemons, Buxton)with root an it works.

Nexus S 4.1.2, Coop Voce (virtual operator), same issue with tethering not working

#88, the same here: Coop Voce and tethering not working

Same for me, LG Optimus Black updated to android 4.0.4 oficial version, tether broken, virtual operator (MasMovil) Spain. I'm software developer can help with some debugging here.

Tried with Orange SIM, succeeded.

@ #90. So it is related I think to supplier but not suppliers fault. Something has changed in the code.. telephony or networking somewhere?

Everything remains the same, except the android version, even i can go back to gingerbread and works perfectly

I found a workaround , "chapuza" in spanish to solve this issue. With this application from market:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riteshsahu.APNBackupRestore&hl=es

I've been able to backup my provider APN as system and restore it, then i changed APN type to "default,dun", and magically everything works, still don't know why happens but i made it work

@ #93 does your wireless plan have tethering enabled? i attempted to change my apn through the default means to exactly what you did and it is still broken.

The application you linked to shouldn't work see the note in the description: "NOTE: Starting with Android 4.0/ICS, 3rd Party apps do not have access to write APN settings, hence this app no longer works for restoring backups APN as a normal app. "

You should continue reading...

"...You can convert it to a System app using Titanium Backup on a rooted phone and use. Instructions:
- Open Titanium Backup
- Go to backup/restore tab
- Find APN Backup & Restore on the list
- Long press on the app when you find it
- Select Convert to system app
- Open APN Backup & Restore
- Click menu and disable ICS check"


Should do this to backup and restore in system mode.

You did not specify that you had a non stock install.

Please answer the question asked in #94.  If your wireless carrier has tethering enabled for your plan then this is a false positive.

I'm on a rooted stock install and yes, I have a tethering enable.

[Comment deleted]

For me USB tethering is not working...
My stats:
Nexus 4
Android 4.2.1
all stock
no root

Tethering my WIFI connection via USB is working for about a minute and then it is failing. USB connection states that it's still connected but no Internet connection. It seems as if connection fails when phone goes in standby, because as soon as I wake the phone again connection is established again "BUT" Wifi settings are set to always stay on while in standby.

On my old Galaxy S(i9000) CM10.1 but same settings(wifi always on) it's working great!

Galaxy Nexus Android 4.2.1 on Fido with 2GB data add-on, issue was account was missing tethering access. First-level support told me I had it, second-level support found it missing and enabled it, now portable hotspot works.

Hey guys android most of the ROM version 4.1.2 has issue if you want to downgrade the ROM just follow the below steps.For my s3 i did the same thing working awesome..

Install the 4.0.4 ROM or 4.1.1 ROM(Make sure that you are downloading your country region ROM) via ODIN to your device and follow the below steps your problem will be resolved...If you don't know how to flash the ROM via ODIN Google it and see simple steps to flash the ROM..

After you see the ‘PASS’ message displayed by ODIN, but the phone
it seems like it got stuck at the Samsung logo screen for more than 15
mintues, then you should use the following instructions to manage to boot
into your Android 4.0.4 ICS XXALF2 home screen:

Power off the phone. Remove its battery and after that re-insert back into
its Galasy S3 location.
1.Boot into custom recovery mode by pressing and holding simultaneously
these buttons: volume up + home + Power.
2.When in Recovery mode you will need to first select ‘wipe data/ factory
reset’ and after that confirm this action.
3.Next, select ‘Wipe cache’ and confirm.
4.Go back to the main recovery screen and select ‘reboot system now’.
5.Galaxy S3 I9300 should be able to boot normally into its home screen and
it should pack the stock ICS XXALF2 stock firmware.

Thats it your phone comes to normal and enjoy the new year gift by me...

Please don't provide any negative comments i have tried it in several galaxy s3 device working fine...

[Comment deleted]

to #101 : do you have some thing for the nexus4 ?

to #79 : your post looks to be for nexus galaxy !!! any thing or idea for nexus4?

see http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39617

So I wanted to clear something up here, if it hasn't already been cleared for anyone who is a part of this list.

I have worked for Rogers for 3.5 years, so you could say I have a good amount of carrier knowledge and experience.

Carriers monitor your wireless data. That doesn't mean line-by-line, but they have an idea of where it's coming from, and where it's going.

Specifically, they have always wanted to monitor what data being sent to your phone is for "tethering" purposes.

Throughout the previous iterations of Android (<4.1.2), Android has not identified for the carriers which data is for tethering, and which is not.

Android 4.1.2 introduced that ability (and requirement) for Android devices to properly flag when data is for tethering purposes. This is the first time this has been used in a vanilla release of Android.

As it pertains to Rogers:

Rogers allows all data plans equal to or larger than 1GB/month to tether data, free of charge. So if you were on Rogers before 4.1.2, and proceeded to upgrade, you would only have been negatively affected by tethering if you had a data place of less than 1GB/month.

Rogers does not allow customers with data plans of less than 1GB/month to tether. Period. Not even for an additional cost. That means, if you want to re-enable tethering through Rogers with Android 4.1.2 or greater, you will need to upgrade to a 1GB/mo data plan or higher.

As it pertains to other carriers:

Other carriers *MAY* not care which data plan you're on when it comes to allowing tethering. It's at the carrier's discretion. Example: Wind Mobile (Canadian carrier).

Wind doesn't care what kind of data plan you have (probably because they only have 1 data plan anyway: unlimited). So if you took your Rogers Android 4.1.2 device to Wind, your tethering would work just fine. This is because Wind doesn't block access to your tethered data using the tethered-data-flag introduced in Android 4.1.2 based on your plan type.

For Rogers customers with a data plan of 1GB/mo or greater that can't tether after 4.1.2:

Call Rogers technical support. Tell them you have a plan of more than 1GB/mo but you're missing the product code to allow tethering. This is usually only a problem for customers with older 1GB or greater plans, because the tethering product code was not always automatically attached to your plan as it is now.

For all the people saying it's APN settings and you just need to find the magic APN settings: this is not entirely true. I don't know enough about APN settings to say with certainty, but now that Android 4.1.2 respects the carriers' decision to block tethering on certain plans/devices, APN settings may not help at all. In fact, the only reason they may have helped anyone here so far is much more likely due to having incorrect carrier APN settings to begin with. Whether that's because 4.1.2 screwed up your APN settings or because of some other reason, I can't say, but I feel confident in telling you that APN settings as a fix is not a great idea, and will NOT work for many, if not most. I encourage you instead to call your own carriers and find out if they allow tethering on the data plan you're on. After all, it may have worked before 4.1.2, but it would have been working WITHOUT their permission.

For everyone frustrated by this update to Android: Android respecting a carrier's request to know if data is for a tethered device IS NOT A BUG. IT IS A FEATURE. It's not a feature for users like you and me, it's a feature for manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, so they can in turn build devices that carriers can have more control over.

So, to be clear, THIS IS NOT A BUG. Google INTENDED to respect carrier tethering rules. The only way to circumvent this is to either get a plan from your carrier that allows tethering, revert to a build of Android of 4.1.1 or earlier (I used wugfresh NRT tools, google it, they're amazing and simple: FOR NEXUS DEVICES ONLY, SORRY), or for a developer to find and KILL THE FUCKING ABILITY FOR ANDROID TO TAG DATA AS TETHERING DATA and release that to the public; either by providing an modded Android image, or as an app (much less likely to work unless you're rooted).

I hope this helps people here, and anyone who comes here looking for why their tethering has stopped working.

#105
I would be fine with that if that really was the case. As I said for my part, I called my provider and they told me that they always give tethering with their plans and that if I can access Internet with my phone, I should be able to do tethering UNLESS there is a software bug.

So for me, this issue is a real bug.

[Comment deleted]

#106
I get your frustration, but I'm trying to distinguish between the term "bug" which indicates there's a faulty piece of code, and a feature, which in your case, has resulted in tethering not working with your carrier due to your carrier not properly enabling tethering with the wireless standards that most carriers use. Your issue is related to your carrier and your phone, and is not an error in Google's Android source code.

As an example, if I were to put my SIM into your phone, because my carrier properly deals with tethered data flags, your phone would tether properly. If you think Google is at fault for your carrier's incompetence, you're barking up the wrong tree :(

I don't expect Google will ever revert back to not respecting tethering flags, so instead, I'd focus my attention on jump-starting the developer community to mod the android source code to eradicate this feature and release it for users that a) have problems with their carrier (like yourself), or b) don't want carriers to dictate how I use my own fucking data (carriers really are scumbags for reasons like this).

I don't know how high you've escalated your issue with your carrier, but I can only recommend you continue to escalate it through as many levels of technical support as possible until someone there figures out that they haven't hit a switch yet to enable tethering data when it's flagged as tethering. After all, a company's policy, which 1st level tech support repeats to us endlessly, is not always properly implemented.

No disrespect to 1st-level tech support, but there's a reason they're only 1st-level: they don't get enough training to help people with these sorts of problems. They're trained to help grandma and grandpa open their email or spout off carrier APN settings.

@108

I opened this ticket because it is indeed a bug. Upon tethering the connection repeatedly resets. No feedback is given to the user that they cannot tether. I had checked the patch notes and saw no clear indication that the tethering implementation had been changed to respect carrier flags.

If this was truly an intended feature then it was implemented incorrectly.  The correct implementation would provide a message to the user indicating that they must contact their wireless provider to tether instead of giving the illusion of tethering. Other phone manufacturers provide this message and I expect it on a Nexus device as well.

If this message is monitored by any sort of moderators, if they see fit they can change this to a feature request.  As a user without tethering enabled on my wireless service, i expect a message in android indicating i cannot tether when i attempt to do so.

Listen, I feel your pain, I'm extraordinarily unhappy with Google's decision to cave to manufacturer and carrier requests to designate what is data for tethering and what is not, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that they did it for legal reasons in addition to coercion. If you are upset that Google didn't explicitly tell android users "Hey, you were tethering regardless of your carriers' terms of use, you can't do that anymore.", don't expect an apology any time soon. For all we know, this was a feature that should have been functional from the first Android release, but was improperly implemented until 4.1.2

In any case, I have to reiterate, tethering without carrier consent *CAN* break your terms of use with your carrier, so don't expect Google to change this functionality. Instead, the developer community is our best chance we have of disabling this tattle-tale feature. I encourage you all to present this to developer forums and communities around the world in hopes that we can continue circumventing carrier data-snooping.

#110, you don't seem to be listening. #109 said that there should at least be a message displayed to say to contact the provider. Like that, the user can know that this is not working properly due to our carrier and then we could say the carrier that the issue is on their side.

For now, the carrier is saying this is a software bug and you are suggesting it is the carrier that has an issue. Without any information provided to the user as a message, we are stuck between two parties.

@110
I'm fully aware of all your points, however you misread my comment.

Interface programming 101 is to always indicate to a user when something is happening or can't happen.  The fact that we are getting no feedback as to why tethering is not working leads the user to believe that the OS is broken.

To be fair, there's nothing else in Android that indicates when there's an issue that is carrier-related and not software-related. I'm not saying it wouldn't be good. To the contrary, I'd LOVE that. I'm an industrial engineer by trade, so stuff like that is my bread and butter.

However, Android doesn't tell you when your 3G or LTE APN settings are incorrect, doesn't tell you when your data is being blocked (not talking about tethering, just regular data to the device that's connected directly to the carrier), and until ICS, didn't even give you any indication of how much data you were using (which, as we know, is not even related to the carriers' summary, and so could be reported incorrectly, depending on carrier calculations of what constitutes data to be charged).

So to say that it's a bug that Android doesn't notify the user that the carrier is blocking data is short-sighted. If that's the bug report that was intended, I'd suggest this instead be a feature request that android pull more information from carriers in an effort to allow as much transparency on your carriers' tabulation of your usage. But ultimately, it's up to carriers to comply with that feature, so it's not guaranteed to work properly even if Google implements it.

As to the carriers "saying" it's a software issue rather than a carrier issue, that wouldn't change even if you got that functionality on your phone. That's for 2 reasons: 1) phone-line tech support people are just as likely to make that up to get you off the phone (they're assessed based on the call quantity, not call quality), and 2) even if you sent them a screenshot of your phone identifying the issue as being carrier-related, they wouldn't care, because they follow directives from their company's internal policy (never admit we have a problem until we have a solution).

This isn't speculation, this is 3.5 years working behind the iron current of Rogers Wireless. Sad, evil in every way, but painfully true. :'(

@113
When you have no data you get several indicators telling you that no connection can be made.  The browser gives you an error, your connection indicator stays grey or indicates no connection. When tethering is being restricted we get no indication from the OS. This is a major problem.

As for the message, there is absolutely no reason a message cannot be displayed.  If Google is following the industry standard then they only allow you to tether when you get a confirmation from the tower (likely the same flag that is causing issues for everyone in this thread now).

Other manufacturers seem to be able to indicate to the user that they aren't aloud to tether, for example RIM will give you a nice little message indicating that the tether attempt failed and you must contact your provider to have it enabled.

So i reiterate that this is still a problem and requires a Google developers attention.

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"When you have no data you get several indicators telling you that no connection can be made.  The browser gives you an error"
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That's not Android telling you there's an error with your connection to your carrier. That's an error from your browser (whether it's a browser developed by Google or someone else, like Dolphin browser) telling you there's no internet connection. This indication method is protocol agnostic (you'll get the same browser message regardless of whether you're connected to wifi or 3/4G), and for that matter, OS agnostic.

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"your connection indicator stays grey or indicates no connection"
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This indicates you have no connection to Google services. It's possible to have a working internet connection without a connection to Google services while the indicator is grey. Example, you have not added a Google account to your Android device, but you have a working Wifi or 3/4G connection, you can still use the browser to browse the web.

Also worth noting, when a carrier blocks tethering, the connection on the device that is using a tethered connection for internet access is grey. And, in the case of bluetooth tethering, you can tether to bluetooth and use the access point device's wifi connection to share internet over bluetooth.

Example: my Nexus 4 has no SIM card. I connect my Nexus 4 to my home's wifi connection. I pair my Nexus 7 to my Nexus 4 using bluetooth. I enable bluetooth tethering on my Nexus 4. I enter my bluetooth setting menu on my Nexus 7, hit the settings button on the Nexus 4 row, and check off the check box to use the paired device for internet access. I have now successfully tethered my Nexus 7 to my Nexus 4 using bluetooth, and can use the WiFi connection on my Nexus 4 to gain internet access on my Nexus 7. I get a blue bluetooth indicator (as opposed to a grey indicator when tethering is blocked by my carrier through a 3/4G connection).

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"As for the message, there is absolutely no reason a message cannot be displayed. If Google is following the industry standard then they only allow you to tether when you get a confirmation from the tower (likely the same flag that is causing issues for everyone in this thread now)."
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Android cannot have the ability to indicate a blocked tethering effort if carriers do not provide this level of transparency to Google. And, from a logistical standpoint, a flag need only go in one direction.

i.e. If Android sends the tethered-data-request flag to the carrier, the carrier is not obligated to respond with a reason code for the data being blocked. However...

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"Other manufacturers seem to be able to indicate to the user that they aren't aloud to tether, for example RIM will give you a nice little message indicating that the tether attempt failed and you must contact your provider to have it enabled."
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If that's true, and *ALL* carriers are required to send the reason code (in this case blocked tethering code), then it is ABSOLUTELY a feature request that Android pass that information on to the user. It's not a bug unless there's code within Android that is supposed to do this already but is somehow not functioning properly.

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"So i reiterate that this is still a problem and requires a Google developers attention."
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Agreed, but you're probably not going to get their attention in a BUG REPORT if it's not a malfunctioning piece of code, but instead a missing "courtesy", as you've identified it.

Anyway, I've done more than my part to help you and the others with understanding the reason why tethering has hit a snag in 4.1.2 and beyond. If you want to justify to yourself and the other people here why you think this should be a bug report and not a feature request, have at it. I'm moving on.

#115
look, on this thread, there are people saying they are experiencing a wrong behavior and:
- some of them could fix it by calling their carrier
- some of them could fix it by updating their APN settings
- some of them are still stuck with the issue even though

we know that Google added the new flag to say when it is tethering, but until an Android developer comes to confirm if yes or no a bug was introduced at the same time (cuz you know, bugs appear when there is new code/feature added), your guess on the final issue is as good as anyone else guess. We could actually all be experiencing different issues.

So please, don't say your guess is better just because you worked for a mean carrier. This is simply unrespectful of everyone's contribution and unproductive.