Database Develop

[MOD] Enabling tethering without paying for apps

Blatantly ripped off from richhed's thread. I'm a cheap [email protected]$#^&* so I wanted to enable wifi hotspot without paying for apps. Here's how.
I'm writing these instructions for Win7 x64, and assuming that your USB drivers and busybox are working. YMMV. No, I won't help you fix your phone if you brick it, and won't be responsible if it doesn't work for you.
1. Download Superoneclick 1.6.5 for rooting your phone. Your phone needs to be rooted, if you haven't done this yet you need to do it now.
2. Download SQLite database browser on your PC and unzip to some folder. Remember where this is.
3. Plug phone into PC and turn airplane mode on.
4. Open a command prompt as administrator (right-click, open as administrator)
5. Navigate in the command prompt to where your Superoneclick is unzipped (for me, it's in a folder on my desktop)
6. Run 'adb shell'
** note** all commands from step 7 to step 12 are in the ADB shell
7. su (if you rooted in step 1, you may have to allow access, watch your phone as it may ask)
8. mv /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.old
9. chmod 777 /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases
10. chmod 664 /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.old
11. exit
12. exit
13. in the same command window which your second 'exit' command dropped you to, type 'adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.old ./telephony.db'
14. Run SQLite database browser and open the telephony.db file that you downloaded to the Superoneclick folder in the last step.
15. Click 'browse data' and select table 'Carriers'
16. You should see a long list of APN settings for various carriers, the ones you are interested in are rows 4, 6, and 7. Highlight row 4, named 'AT&T US HSDPA'. Scroll ALL THE WAY TO THE RIGHT where the title of the last column says "preloaded." Double-click the field that says 'true', and in the resulting dialog box change the "true" to "false" and click "Apply Changes". Repeat this step for rows 6 and 7.
17. Edit the 'type' (3rd last) field of row 6. Right now the field says 'tether'. Double-click and change it so that it says 'default,agps,fota,supl,tether' and apply changes.
18. Change the 'apn' (6th) field in row 6 from 'broadband' to 'wap.cingular' and apply changes.
19. Click 'save' and exit the DB browser.
20. Back in the command window, type 'adb push ./telephony.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.new'
21. Run 'adb shell'
** note** all commands from step 22 to step 32 are in the ADB shell
22. su
23. cd /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases
24. su radio
25. cp telephony.new telephony.db
26. chmod 660 telephony.db
27. rm telephony.new
28. exit
29. cd ..
30. chmod 771 databases
31. exit
32. exit
33. Disable airplane mode
34. Go to Settings>Wireless + Networks>Mobile Networks>Access Point Names. Select radio button for AT&T Tether.
35. Reboot phone.
36. Mobile Hotspot will still validate but will turn on when using this APN. You might have to switch APN's after a reboot, I've had to and at least one other user has had to.
If you ever want to revert, we saved the file as /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.old in step 10. Just 'su' and 'cp' that puppy overtop of the existing telephony.db, remembering of course to enable airplane mode.

Not trying to start anything, but theres already a pretty good thread on this bro.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list
2.07 works flawless

lsxrx7 said:
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list
2.07 works flawless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for me as well

lsxrx7 said:
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list
2.07 works flawless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this without modifying the sql db's??

stop linking android-wifi-tether.
Infrastructure AP (what this and richhed's method and others enable) > Adhoc (what android-wifi-tether enables)
Google the differences. Ill give you a couple reasons to start
1) a lot of corporate laptops disable adhoc connections
2) Adhoc only allows WEP - crackable in 30 seconds, a huge security risk. Infrastructure allows WPA2...
so if you dont care about any of those, then yes, android-wifi-tether is fine... and much simpler.

andy2na said:
stop linking android-wifi-tether.
Infrastructure AP (what this and richhed's method and others enable) > Adhoc (what android-wifi-tether enables)
Google the differences. Ill give you a couple reasons to start
1) a lot of corporate laptops disable adhoc connections
2) Adhoc only allows WEP - crackable in 30 seconds, a huge security risk. Infrastructure allows WPA2...
so if you dont care about any of those, then yes, android-wifi-tether is fine... and much simpler.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sweet. thanks bro

andy2na said:
stop linking android-wifi-tether.
Infrastructure AP (what this and richhed's method and others enable) > Adhoc (what android-wifi-tether enables)
Google the differences. Ill give you a couple reasons to start
1) a lot of corporate laptops disable adhoc connections
2) Adhoc only allows WEP - crackable in 30 seconds, a huge security risk. Infrastructure allows WPA2...
so if you dont care about any of those, then yes, android-wifi-tether is fine... and much simpler.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Number 2 is kinda a mute point as if your using your phone to tether i doubt its going to be your primary connection. Also the fact that your not even going to see your phone after about a 100ft for tethering it would be pretty easy to narrow down someone hacking into your wep

LancerV said:
Number 2 is kinda a mute point as if your using your phone to tether i doubt its going to be your primary connection. Also the fact that your not even going to see your phone after about a 100ft for tethering it would be pretty easy to narrow down someone hacking into your wep
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Number 2 is pretty important; it only takes about a minute to hack through WEP when the connection is in use.

Yea think you missed it completely
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

Thanks for this, I will try this out this weekend.

Bakano said:
is this without modifying the sql db's??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I flashed Motorola Atrix 4G U4_1.5.2 last night, restore my apps with mybackuppro this morning and this was the first thing I tried.
Just loaded it. Didnt have to do jack. Changed SSID, changed encryption. Not letting me change password, wanking the 13 character requirement when I enter a 16 character ASCII password is too short.
But the app worked beautifully. I have tried the other methods, modding db's. That didn't work until I added this below.
Tether without at&t tethering plan: (thanks to Fixter)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=193

after doing this. mobile hotspot is still greyed out in settings. It says 'high speed coverage required'. granted i am on edge with no way to test 3g atm. I am wondering if this is normal and if there is a way to enable the hotspot over edge? (yes i know it would be impractically slow)

Finally got around to doing this and it worked great.
A few corrections to your steps.
Step 3. Plug phone into PC. (I know stupid explanation, but some people may forget.)
Step 15. Select Table 'Carriers'
Step 34. 34. Go to Settings>Wireless + Networks>Mobile Networks>Access Point Names. Select radio button for AT&T Tether.
Finally, I had a ton of APNs listed in my phone. Something like 80. The ATT ones were listed near the bottom. I am not sure if this is because who I purchased my phone from, Walmart, but maybe you should give some description of rows 4,5, and 6 so that people will not get confused. I figured it out fine, but you never know.
Finally, this works in webtop, but it appears that on every reboot of the phone you have to change the APN setting when you first use webtop. It doesnt seem to matter if you are already in tethering, you have toswitch away and then switch back. After you do this once everything works fine until the next reboot.
Thanks again.

andy2na said:
2) Adhoc only allows WEP - crackable in 30 seconds, a huge security risk. Infrastructure allows WPA2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't so much someone could access your wifi tether, but more that the data can be captured and easily decrypted. Anything you do over that connection may as well be broadcast for all to see. (Unless you're using https etc for everything)
I use the android-wifi-tether app on bluetooth only, unfortunately it also sucks battery more than the usb port on my mac can supply so the battery depletes in a few hours.
Thank you to the OP for providing a way to enable the built-in tethering.

krkeegan said:
A few corrections to your steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, OP fixed.

Thanks for the step by step

I am not sure if it made any difference to it working, but as I'm with Telstra (Australia) I added 'default,agps,fota,supl,tether' to the entry for "Telstra Internet" and it works perfectly.

Not sure if this has been beaten to death yet, but do we for sure know that AT&T cannot track this? How are connection speeds?
I've read a few posts expressing concerns about AT&T automatically switching people to the tether/4GB plan (I have the 2GB plan), and also slow (<1mbit) download speeds. Can someone shed some light on this?

i think they can tell when we swtich from "phone" to "wap.cingular," it showed a record of me switching between the two. I also looked up my data usage and got 2 reports of usage rather than just one. still my data plan has remained unchanged. this also happened when i would switch out my sim card b/w my windows 7 samsung focus and my dell streak, and att didn't do anything. i figure if they contact me about this i can just say i've been swapping my sim card between phones. don't think they can tell the difference there (may be wrong).

[GUIDE] Reverse Tethering Wildfire --> Internet Pass Through

My First Guide. Hope it Helps..
HOW TO REVERSE TETHER YOUR PHONE / INTERNET PASS THROUGH​
Reverse Tethering / Internet Pass through is the method in which you can make your android phone use the internet connection of your computer without a WIFI and by using a usb cable. It is helpful for those people who don’t have a WIFI at their place and for those who don’t have a good internet plan for their mobile.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS​
Rooted Phone With S-OFF
SuperUser [QR Code]
BusyBox [QR Code]
Terminal Emulator [QR Code]
Windows O.S. [I am using Win-7]
USB Cable for your phone
THE PROCESS​
Connect Your Android Phone to your PC. Make sure you are rooted and have terminal emulator installed. Turn on USB Tethering from
SETTINGS -> WIRELESS AND NETWOKRS -> TETHERING AND PORTABLE HOTSPOT -> USB TETHERING.
Screen
Next you will get a new connection in your PC. Open Networking and Sharing Center from
CONTROL PANEL -> NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER
You get a scene in a similar manner.
Screen
Now There will be one connection which will be your Main Net Connection and the Other one will be your Android Phone’s Created Connection for tethering. Click on your main net connection i.e. the one you use for Connecting to net Local Area Connection(in my case).
You will get the following screen.
Screen
Now click on Properties.After this click on sharing and tick on Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s internet connection and click ok for any dialog box shown and click ok to come back to the main networking screen.
Screen
Now click on the new connection made by the android phone Local Area Connection 2 (in my case)
You will get the following screen
Screen
Click on properties. Then go to Internet Protocol version 4(TCP/IPv4) and click on properties.
Screen
Now You need to enter 192.168.2.1 in IP address and enter 255.255.255.0 in Subnet mask and keep remaining things empty.
Screen
PART ON THE PHONE​
NOTE:- ALL CODES HAVE TO BE WRITTEN WITHOUT QUOTES
Open Android Terminal on the Phone and type "su". Provide it superuser permissions.
Screen
Now type “ifconfig usb0 192.168.2.2 netmask 255.255.255.0”
Screen
“busybox route delete default”
Screen
You may get an error here but it does not matter.
Now type “iptables –F –t nat”(* -F in caps is must)
Then type “busybox route add default gw 192.168.2.1”
Screen
“setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8”
Next (setprop “net.gprs.http-proxy” “” ) [*Note :- here the code is written in bracket to avoid confusion.. The quotes(“”) are required.
Screen
CONGRATS.... YOU ARE DONE!!
RESULTS​
Works on Android Browser.(FOR ME)
Works on Opera & Opera Mini.
Works on XDA Premium App.
DOES NOT Work on Android Market.(Finding a Solution... if anyone gets it working please tell)
You may need to repeat this process each time you connect the phone to PC.
Works even without a SIM inserted.

Nice guide
To enable the market click settings under the sharing tab and add a new service called market with the port number 5228.

how use other app for internet

No resolution
currently m using a wildfire and cannot switch on USB tethering until mobile network is connected followed all the steps but no luck

I am also a wildfire user. I did so many searching for reverse usb tethering, what I searched for were similar to the script of this thread. I follow all the steps but also not success.
I did do some searching, I just GUESS the main problem is the router at my home. My computer access the modem via router, maybe the router cannot give my WF a IP so my WF cannot access the internet? I dunno.
I didn't try access the internet with my computer connecting directly via modem without router since my home wire connection is so so so so complicated, but I believe that it will success. Would somebody try it and share your experience?

I think you can write a batch file for this. Using netsh and adb it would be easily done just from PC

thanks for the guide worked for me.
Problem though is that after i turned off the tethering and disconnected my phone from the pc then reconnect it again just to check if it works the 2nd time, if found that usb tethering is having an error and does not turn on.
question is how to disable this or how i disconnect my phone from pc the right way? well after restarting, tethering is again ok and

I did it on linux!
The configuration on the PC is next:
Code:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
ifconfig usb0 192.168.2.1 netmask 255.255.255.0
iptables -A POSTROUTING -t nat -s 192.168.2.1/24 -o wlan0 -j MASQUERADE
On the phone same az you did, but I had to edit
Code:
setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8
to match my DNS server i.e.
Code:
setprop net.dns1 87.120.131.2

worked !!!!!!!!!!!!!

After about two months of searching I finally found this guide which makes it work. Thanks a lot! Surfing everything is fine but downloads just don't start (market or browser) I'm using G2x by the way so I guess this should work for most people.
meknb said:
Nice guide
To enable the market click settings under the sharing tab and add a new service called market with the port number 5228.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this which enabled me to browse the market. It won't download anything. I even forwarded the port on my broadband modem and the downloads don't start. Just keep saying "Starting downloading..."

How to make a script for apps like script manager so we do not have to keep typing the configs everytime we restart our phone?

URLs instead of QR Codes, please.
rahuliyer95 said:
[*]SuperUser [QR Code]
[*]BusyBox [QR Code]
[*]Terminal Emulator [QR Code]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone with URLs to the above, please? I don't have a QR code scanner

mnongkhlaw said:
Anyone with URLs to the above, please? I don't have a QR code scanner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://market.android.com/details?...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5ub3NodWZvdS5hbmRyb2lkLnN1Il0.
https://market.android.com/details?...t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInN0ZXJpY3Nvbi5idXN5Ym94Il0.
https://market.android.com/details?...251bGwsMSwxLDEsImphY2twYWwuYW5kcm9pZHRlcm0iXQ..

Thank you!
rahulparekh said:
https://market.android.com/details?...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5ub3NodWZvdS5hbmRyb2lkLnN1Il0.
https://market.android.com/details?...t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInN0ZXJpY3Nvbi5idXN5Ym94Il0.
https://market.android.com/details?...251bGwsMSwxLDEsImphY2twYWwuYW5kcm9pZHRlcm0iXQ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, does it work with Market, email etc? Have you used it with Samsung Galaxy S2?

mnongkhlaw said:
Thanks, does it work with Market, email etc? Have you used it with Samsung Galaxy S2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This method actually stopped working for me after I reflashed CM7 on my phone. (TMobile G2X). It doesn't work with market but I think ASProxy makes it work.

rahulparekh said:
It doesn't work with market but I think ASProxy makes it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is ASProxy ?

method worked good all apps working...
i can browse through market also but when select download option downloading and freezes.. what could be problem ??

mnongkhlaw said:
What is ASProxy ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a proxy app which supposedly allows all Google apps to work on reverse tethering and such. Search the market for it.

rahulparekh said:
It's a proxy app which supposedly allows all Google apps to work on reverse tethering and such. Search the market for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind a tutorial on how to get ASProxy to work?

mudkipstar said:
Do you mind a tutorial on how to get ASProxy to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had a chance to use the app as reverse tethering stopped working for me before I got the app.

[Q] Wifi password problem ( Rooted device )

Hi every body
I have rooted my note 3 n900 , but I still can't view the wifi passwords that stored in the device .
This what I have :
ctrl_interface=wlan0
update_config=1
device_name=ha3gxx
manufacturer=samsung
model_name=SM-N900
model_number=SM-N900
serial_number=4d00c01646b88081
device_type=10-0050F204-5
config_methods=physical_display virtual_push_button
p2p_listen_reg_class=81
p2p_listen_channel=1
p2p_oper_reg_class=124
p2p_oper_channel=149
okc=1
ss_enc=1
autoscan=exponential:8:128
cred={
imsi="41503-"
}
network={
ssid="happybirds"
psk=86a7e933f7c97d0f40b9be1ea61432f3
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
priority=29
frequency=2412
autojoin=1
}
As you notice the psk= numbers and letters
How can I solve this ..??
Thank you in advanced

Hi!
I encountered the same thing. The psk key seems to be encrypted. Interestingly on my note 2 with 4.2.2 the wpa_supplicant.conf is unencrypted. Either this is a "feature" of 4.3 or, what I tend to think, it's samsung specific. The whole thing idea behind Knox is to "increase" security for company usage. So an unencrypted psk might seem to be a bad idea for samsung. I'm gonna flash my note 2 with a modified 4.3 original ROM and gonna take a look into the conf then if it is also encrypted then.
Did you notice the "ss_enc=1" line? Maybe this toggles the encryption. There seem to exist a system function with that name to encrypt addresses with a specified key. Gonna try to switch it off with "ss_enc=0" and see what happens.
Can anyone share some deeper insights in this issue?
---------- Post added at 06:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 PM ----------
Ok, no use toggling 0. It was right reactivated after a reboot. Would have been to easy otherwise. Maybe thw behaviour is toggled somewhere in another conf, but my guess it is "hardcoded" somewhere. What a pity.

I don't see how not viewing stored Wi-Fi passwords is an issue. You should know the password already if it's your Wi-Fi. If you forgot it, you can access it via the Wi-Fi router, or reset it. If your companies tech support input it for you, they can input it again. Can you give me some insight as to why you need to retrieve already stored passwords?

440bro said:
I don't see how not viewing stored Wi-Fi passwords is an issue. You should know the password already if it's your Wi-Fi. If you forgot it, you can access it via the Wi-Fi router, or reset it. If your companies tech support input it for you, they can input it again. Can you give me some insight as to why you need to retrieve already stored passwords?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are quite some reasons:
- Not keeping a second list for the passwords of all the networks stored in your device. Am I the only one who has 20+ networks stored?
- Many ppl think there is no way of retrieving the psk from the device once stored, like many years ago in Windows XP
- Because it should pe possible; no other linux distribution of my knowledge does it; so why is it done and how is it done?
- security by obscurity is a bad thing.

Quetsch said:
There are quite some reasons:
- Not keeping a second list for the passwords of all the networks stored in your device. Am I the only one who has 20+ networks stored?
- Many ppl think there is no way of retrieving the psk from the device once stored, like many years ago in Windows XP
- Because it should pe possible; no other linux distribution of my knowledge does it; so why is it done and how is it done?
- security by obscurity is a bad thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion "Because I have 20+" isn't a valid reason to retrieve wifi passwords. I still wait for a valid one.
You can obtain stored wifi passwords very easily from a rooted device! The only thing is you need to decode them. So even after you retrieve them it's still a P.I.A.! It would be much easier to create a list of 20+ ssid's and passwords and email them to yourself. Or keep an excel file of them on dropbox. It's a pain because once we enter our password into our phone it's encrypted. Most people use WPA-PSK encryption. I don't have a secret decoder ring for this. Do you? If so tell me what the password to my wifi with an ssid of Not_Yours_5G is. My wifi password will tell you how to retrieve wifi passwords from a rooted note 3. The information I pulled from my note 3 is below.
ctrl_interface=wlan0
update_config=1
device_name=hlteuc
manufacturer=samsung
model_name=SAMSUNG-SM-N900A
model_number=SAMSUNG-SM-N900A
serial_number=████████
device_type=10-0050F204-5
config_methods=physical_display virtual_push_button
p2p_listen_reg_class=81
p2p_listen_channel=1
p2p_oper_reg_class=124
p2p_oper_channel=149
okc=1
ss_enc=1
autoscan=exponential:8:128
cred={
imsi="310410-"
}
network={
ssid="attwifi"
key_mgmt=NONE
priority=3
frequency=2462
autojoin=1
vendor_spec_ssid=1
}
network={
ssid="Not_Yours-5G"
psk=ecf55efba6a17197586f8577509a018dc7bee71883c82fde8b8557038cb1aae6
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
priority=6
frequency=5805
autojoin=1

I have the same problem..
how do we decrypt the psk ???

e2luispa said:
I have the same problem..
how do we decrypt the psk ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here can see the password on my old Note 2 but not on Note 3.

I got same problem also
my note 3 has X-Note 18.0 on it (4.4.2)
Any one managed to decode wifi passwords ???

Hi, still no one knows hot to decrypt this psk passwords ?

Setting up LG Urbane with iOS

As we all know the setup process on iOS severely neuters the watch in terms of available apps and wifi being enabled.
I have enabled root and it looks like all the required files are present (wpa_supplicant etc) however icant seem to see how to enable the wifi.
Anyone have any ideas where to look, imagine its an init script somewhere.
N

Attached is the Android Wear Google maps apk
Ive done a TWRP backup of an Android setup and an iOS setup, so far the system directories are identical.

Managed to get wifi working, you need to populate the config file
\data\misc\wifi\wpa_supplicant.conf
then enable wifi
svc wifi enable
Still no data in the interface tho!

ninocass said:
Managed to get wifi working, you need to populate the config file
\data\misc\wifi\wpa_supplicant.conf
then enable wifi
svc wifi enable
Still no data in the interface tho!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear,
have you pulled the wpa_supplicant.conf, then edit and then push it again? where is the exact lcoation?

626s vm hot spot

Hey everyone I'm rooted and everything so I've been trying to find a way to get around paying $30 for a hot spot that should come with the phone. anyways I found a way to disable the "you are not subscribed to hot spot" thing but when I connect anything to the hot spot I keep getting errors saying the DNS couldn't resolve server names. I tried for hours with different DNS servers so I'm guessing it's something vm has done. If anyone could help me with this I would greatly appreciate it I used it a lot before I got this phone and now I'm kinda stuck :/

I know from experience that you can usb tether with pdanet and it'll hide your tethering with metro. It will not however hide hotspot HOW EVER you can use its experimental feature internet sharing which is essence creates a hotspot however I've only ever been able to connect to a phone that was with metro AND the phone that was hotspotting was not with metro. Trying to do so with my metro phone give me dns errors as well.

I haven't tried to use USB tethering yet only because some of my things can't be tethered via USB. I just don't see why I'd be getting DNS errors now and never did before. Oh wel. Surely someone here will have a solution for me soon.

schuylar156 said:
I haven't tried to use USB tethering yet only because some of my things can't be tethered via USB. I just don't see why I'd be getting DNS errors now and never did before. Oh wel. Surely someone here will have a solution for me soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you are rooted, but I'm using Wifi Tether Router (just google an apk file) instead of trying for the native hotspot function.

javierrr13 said:
I don't know if you are rooted, but I'm using Wifi Tether Router (just google an apk file) instead of trying for the native hotspot function.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure? I tried this app before and it wouldn't broadcast the network. And yes I am rooted. I found a way to partially get the native hotspot working but it's a pain in the butt. If I could figure out how to edit the apn settings I'd have it going in 5 seconds but they're locked and htc phones don't have a "hidden menu" like lg phones.

Weird... Well, If you can't get that working, I'll let you know my current configurations for that app.

keep up the good work guys.
I'm looking for a solution for the hotspot on my 626 from Verizon.

native mobile hotspot and tether on cricket
I was able to use the phone as a wifi hotspot by doing the following:
1) install the following apps: MK explorer, Axel (xml editor)
2) phone must be rooted
3) using MK explorer navigate to the following folder (root directory): /system/customize/ACC
4) make a copy of the default.xml file and rename it in case it gets corrupted
5) run Axel and open the default.xml file for editing
6) scroll down about 80% from the top of the file to find the entry (find didn't work for me):
<app
name="Tethering_provision">
^ <item
type="integer"
name="TetheringGuard_Rule">
. 3 (note:dot is in middle)
7) edit the entry to change the 3 to 0
8) use "save as" and save modified file
9) rename the edited file to default.xml
10) reboot
11) go to settings->more->mobile hotspot and tethering, click on Mobile Hotspot, click on OK, change the hotspot name and password to what you want
12) after this step the phone just sat there so I rebooted
13) hotspot now works
I have no idea if this is hidden from the carrier