heading over to my friends place this coming weekend and we will be playing freelancer together doing mining possibly some combat not sure yet , has the stance on same IP players changed ? should I take my 3g modem with me so we show as different connected players ?
Yes, the same rules still apply as before. You cannot mine or trade together simultaneously if you are on the same network connection. Escorting while trading or mining is fine, so long as the escort/scout ship is not carrying commodities for the purposes of credit making or equipped to assist with mining.
For example, I fly a Pelican as an escort to my fiancé's Geisha frequently. As long as I'm not holding any cargo, but she is, I'm fine. If as another example, I were to mine into my fiancé's transport, that would be a no-go.
There was a sanction report that came out about a month or two ago covering this sort of situation. I would say that flying completely separately might be okay, especially if your trade routes are completely different. I wouldn't hedge your bets on that though, since I can't give a green statement on that, myself. I'd probably check with an admin about that, first.