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Can T-Mobile Really Distinguish Between SIM Card Usage in a Phone vs. a Router? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a unique and challenging situation regarding internet access and would really appreciate some insights from this community.

I live in an area with limited internet options – no fiber and subpar 5G connectivity. The only available wired internet is via an outdated telephone line, offering a mere 2mb download speed, which is far from sufficient for my needs. My job involves sending and downloading large files regularly, often exceeding 100GB, so a fast and reliable internet connection is crucial.

Currently, I'm using T-Mobile's Mobile Unlimited plan on my phone, which gives me about 50mb download speed. It is called „L Nielimitowana” (I'm from Poland). It's manageable but not ideal, especially since I need to keep my phone constantly connected to my PC. This setup is far from ideal for my work.

I approached T-Mobile about a 5G router plan, but they informed me that they don't offer 5G router plans in areas with suboptimal connections to avoid providing unsatisfactory service. However, they did propose an alternative: getting a second SIM card with unlimited 5G internet at half the price of my current plan. But here's the catch – the representative and the contract clearly state that this SIM card will not work in a mobile router, only in phones.

This brings me to my main questions for you knowledgeable folks:

Is it true that T-Mobile (or other carriers) can distinguish if a SIM card is being used in a router instead of a phone? If so, how do they do it?

Are there any workarounds or specific types of routers that might bypass this limitation?

Having a router with this type of internet would be a game-changer for me, so any advice, insights, or experiences you can share would be immensely helpful.
Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don’t have an answer to your question, only more questions — When you download large files, are you downloading onto your phone using the phone browser, and then copying onto your computer from the phone? Or downloading directly onto the computer using internet sharing from the phone?

Coming from the US, I am using a T-Mobile unlimited plan here that will give unlimited connection to the phone itself, only. If I connect a computer to it the data to the computer is sharply limited.

So for me, the way you are already doing it wouldn’t work, and I could easily put the SIM in a router but then I’d only get slow data for everything connected.