Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

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BRUTE
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by BRUTE »

seems right, they would still need a MITM, which a VPN should help prevent.

bryan
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by bryan »

Augustus wrote:
BRUTE wrote:wouldn't having a root CA certificate also allow anyone to fake any certificates? and lots of root certs have been leaked. lots of bad actors have them, anyway. like the government of north korea.
Yes and no. From what I understand, it is not that easy, you have to explicitly trust the certificate AND perform a man in the middle attack. Basically the attacker in this case is intercepting traffic, decrypting it, contacting the remote server, encrypting that data, and sending it back to you. thus the requirement for them to install a trusted root certificate on your machine, that way they can make a certificate for the domain you are visiting on the fly and sign it. if it's your personal machine, on a network that isn't controlled by attacker, that is not possible unless you are already compromised by some kind of malware, in which case you're screwed no matter what you do.

It is however easy to do on say a company laptop where the certificate is preinstalled and you must use their network. http://security.stackexchange.com/quest ... ls-traffic
I would like to emphasize the malware and pre-installed (e.g. by employer, though it could also be by a person that plugs a USB stick into your PC while you are not looking or swapping your 4g wifi hardware with another) bit.

Hell, a lot of applications you run that talk over the network never use encryption (maybe until recently). Especially android apps..

Of course, a lot of this SSL stuff isn't done correctly anyway and has been easier to subvert in practice than you would think. For android apps and web browsers, it was the case that the full chain of certificate authentication was often never done (only authenticate of the one cert). There are always talks on this subject at DEF CON, Black Hat, and even Google IO (this year talking of improving the APIs to make it harder for developers to screw this up in Android M, N).

p.s. I would be surprised if three letter agencies _didn't_ have MITM points/taps from popular VPN exit nodes or other points (like AWS). Not so sure about smaller attackers.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by SavingWithBabies »

I came across this today:

https://www.calyxinstitute.org/civicrm/ ... et=1&id=19

Via: https://boingboing.net/2016/09/22/i-hav ... nel-t.html

So $500/year for the first year and $400/year after for unlimited 4G on Sprint network. Given the above details about how others are making this happen on the Sprint network, I'd be a tiny bit worried that Calyx is not legitimate however it seems to be (nothing more than a smell test, I didn't put any effort into researching yet).

At $400/year, this might not qualify as cheap to most people. It is a tax-deductible charitable donation which might be useful for some.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by SavingWithBabies »

AT&T is offering an interesting device called a Mobley. The device is $100 and then it's a month to month $20 + fees (~ $24?) for "unlimited" data. Or you can get the device for free with a two year commitment.

The Mobley is a small box that plugs into a vehicles ODB II port (typically used for reading engine error codes and/or emissions testing), has built-in wifi and an AT&T sim card and cell modem. Unlimited data which is really 22 GB at full speed and then more but subject to congestion slowdowns. The device detects when the vehicle is turned off and turns off 30 minutes afterwards.

The device is open to use beyond intended as one can buy an ODB II port adapter, a 12v power supply and then power it up outside of a vehicle. It also happens to have a micro USB port on it. If that port is used to plug it into a router that supports 3G+ modems, it works with most and can be used via a router. For power, a popular choice is a USB 5v to 12v step-up power adapter so the Mobley can be powered with a typical 5v USB port/charger/battery pack.

So... If you're willing to bend the intended usage a little bit (bending it a lot would be popping out the SIM card and sticking it into a mifi device), you can get "unlimited" AT&T data without much of a commitment or cost. If interested, google "howard forum mobley" for much more.

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fiby41
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by fiby41 »

Reliance Jio free 1GB a day at 4G after which unlimited at reduced speed. It was launched in September, I'm using from December, it was supposed to end on 31st March, but if you are reading this, it means it is still running.

I've time until 15 April to become a paid user. It's the largest free to paid user migration with 72 million prime (paid) members.

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fiby41
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by fiby41 »

fiby41 wrote:
Tue Apr 11, 2017 10:15 am
I've time until 15 April to become a paid user.
Today is supposedly the last day of free internet. Yesterday I paid Rs 99 for Prime Membership of 1 year.
Then Rs 309 plan which gets me free voice over LTE (VoLTE), unlimited data (1GB high speed 4G data per day, after which speed throttles to 128 Kbps) and 100 SMS a day. This is for 3 months (84 days, 84 GB) of Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan.

Before this there was an almost identical Jio Summer Surprise offer for Rs 303. Airtel and Vodafone filed a complaint to TRAI (telecom regulatory authority) for competitive pricing and so TRAI 'advised' Jio to rollback which it did.

Before Jio I used to pay Rs 99 for 1 GB data per month to government owned MTNL. Worst part of it was that I had to keep tab on how much data was remaining as when the 1GB got used up, it started eating into my voice/call/account balance. It would not stop until the account balance reached 0, or unless I didn't realise that the data pack was over and stoped using the net.

cheap, semi-reliable... It's cheap and well, it's name is Reliance Jio so...

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Ego
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by Ego »

1USD= 64.47INR

So, Amazon Prime in India costs 99INR = $1.56? The cell phone plan costs $4.79 for 84 days of service or $20.81 annually? Wow

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fiby41
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by fiby41 »

Ego wrote:
Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:44 am
So, Amazon Prime in India costs 99INR = $1.56?
TBH I just watch whatever is on TV but if I particularly take a liking for something, then I have to compulsively watch all the seasons and read the fandom wiki pages. :'(

But I remember seeing a billboard ad from when it was launched so I looked it up. Apparently it was launched here on my birthday.

It is ₹499 and not ₹99.

Pro-tip: You can use your Indian Amazon Prime account to view Prime Videos in other countries, at which point you'll see the catalogue for that country. This means that if you have an Indian account, you can still access the full US catalogue of Amazon Prime Video. IOW, you can get an Amazon Prime account when in India to watch content of your country after you are back home.
Ego wrote:
Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:44 am
The cell phone plan costs $4.79 for 84 days of service or $20.81 annually?
For 84 days only. It's limited to one recharge only and not applicable if already recharged with Jio Prime + ₹303 or above plan.

I think bringing the price point lower, it's to get users to become paying customers who haven't made a single recharge yet and prevent them from going back to their previous service provider treating jio as a throwaway.

BTW I used their payment gateway to get 1 of 5 (1 /transaction) ₹50 vouchers which I can redeem when/if I make my next recharge.

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fiby41
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Re: Cheap, semi-reliable internet access

Post by fiby41 »

Cmonkey's post which is related
viewtopic.php?t=6523

fiby41 wrote:
Sat Apr 15, 2017 11:03 am
Ego wrote:
Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:44 am
The cell phone plan costs $4.79 for 84 days of service or $20.81 annually?
For 84 days only. It's limited to one recharge only and not applicable if already recharged with Jio Prime + ₹303 or above plan.
₹399 for another/next 84 days
(as opposed to ₹309 for the past/previous 84 days.)

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