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Comment by anonymoushn | Hacker News Reader

In the peninsula where many Hacker News readers probably reside, their network is pretty great. In Austin, using T-Mobile is a lot like not having a data plan and having a phone with only moderately high probability. People who call you will sometimes get some message saying that your number doesn't exist.

The opt-out process for T-Mobile's DNS hijacking is not satisfactory:

> Note: In order for opt-out to work properly, you need to accept a "cookie" indicating that you have opted out of this service. If you use a program that removes cookies, you will have to repeat this opt-out process when the cookie is deleted. The cookie placed on your computer will contain the site name: "http://tmob.search-help.net.

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> > Note: In order for opt-out to work properly, you need to accept a "cookie" indicating that you have opted out of this service. If you use a program that removes cookies, you will have to repeat this opt-out process when the cookie is deleted. The cookie placed on your computer will contain the site name: "http://tmob.search-help.net.

Do you have more information about how this works? I cannot imagine how a cookie would affect whether the DNS server returns NXDOMAIN. The site could possibly do it by IP but then the cookie wouldn't need to exist. If opting out just changes the ads to a 404 that is still DNS hijacking.

The DNS server needs to return NXDOMAIN if a domain does not exist. Nothing else.

I hadn't actually tried using the opt-out, but I did think it was impossible for it to work as described. I tried it just now, and it just replaces the ads with a 404. So it would be more correct to say "There is no opt-out for the DNS hijacking."

Sure there's an opt-out -- don't use their DNS servers. Throw Google's or OpenDNS's into your device's settings.

All port 53/80 traffic is proxied through Harmony anyways...

I guess. It looks like I need to jailbreak my phone to change the DNS server, so if I get around to it I can opt out. It will work as long as the DNS hijacking just returns incorrect results from T-Mobile's DNS server, rather than replacing any NXDOMAIN response from any DNS server.

I had tmobile in Austin for years and its was always superb. I only switched for an incentive I definitely regret.

To play devil's advocate, how exactly do you propose they store such a user preference? And keep in mind cellphones don't have stable IPs.

Unless you're telling me the text message, minutes, and data usage numbers on my bill are all made up, I'm pretty sure the carriers have a way to track whose phone belongs to who. Or, if they can't provide a working opt-out, it should be opt-in only (using the cookie).

It can't really be opt-in using the cookie, as nobody should be touching any cookies in the process of a DNS lookup. Otherwise I agree completely; the carrier obviously knows that this is my phone or they couldn't tell me how much data I'm using.

I propose they remove this horrid practice which is annoying, breaks spec, and potentially intrudes on my privacy. Problem solved.

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