Slashdot Mirror

It's not broken on GSM Motorola phones.

Check http://www.taniwha.org.uk/ for the scripts.

I just upgraded from the Sony T39M to the Motorola V550 and I love it. I purchased the USB lead and it works really well. Go to http://www.taniwha.org.uk/ to download the modem script for either GPRS or CDMA depending on your provider and you can then use the phone as a modem. As for ringtones? Go to iTunes, convert your favourite song to a 32Kb MP3 then upload to the audio folder on the phone (you'll need Bluetooth for that or a copy of VPC running W2K if you're going to use the software). Now your ringtone is something you like and because it's an MP3 of a REAL song you get something people won't necessarily want to kill you for. :D The only thing it won't sync is the Tasklist in iCal but it will do the calendars themselves.

I also have a RAZR, but I have only been able to sync over USB, although I have not tried bluetooth since upgrading to Tiger

1 great point about the RAZR:

My law school does not support Apple laptops on their wireless network. They use SecureW2 software to secure the network which isn't available for the Mac, and I have been unable to figure out a work around. Thus, the only way for me to get on the network when I am sitting in classes without ethernet ports in the desk is through my RAZR over bluetooth. My Sony Ericsson Z600 used to let me on, but it would continually drop me after a few minutes. With the RAZR, I have stayed on for 3 hours without being dropped.

I have T-mobile's $19.95 a month unlimited internet plan. Download speeds are about the same as a 56k modem, with slightly greater latency.

Also, I recommend Ross Barkman's homepage for modem scripts for Mac OS. He also has the setting required for most major carriers worldwide, and it has saved me from having to call T-mobile many times. The scripts allow you to put the required APN names in where the phone number would go, and it will automatically use the right dialing sequence info. This resource has be invaluable.

While I was able to (finally) get the phone to allow my laptop to connect, after calling customer service and having them flip a switch that was missed during the original configuration, I get about 20-40Kbs, based on some of the free "measure your connection speed" tools on the internet. While I never intended to play games via this method, I was still hoping for better than dial up. I thought EDGE would give me that.

Details of my situation, any of which could be a contributing factor: I am connecting via BlueTooth from a PowerBook, running OS X 10.4.1 using Ross Barkman's 3G scripts. I am using a Moto v551, which for sure is EDGE compatible; and I have been testing the speed of the connection from Gaithersburg MD, which is a scant 30 minutes N of Washington DC. While I'm not actually in the city itself, I would bet that if my speed with Cingular isn't so good here, it's not going to be any better in any of the corn states either.

I hope to get into the city to see if it just doesn't extend this far out; could be an issue with the modem scripts too, I suppose, or maybe BT connections are limited. Or something.

Bottomline is that I found this an incredibly frustrating experience, purchasing my first phone: all of these vendors are long on promise and short on delivery, with complicated, expensive plans, limited explanation of what they'll actually deliver for the price, and you have to sign up for 2 years just to find all that out. I'm really much more interested in having the feature work than just listed in the brochure, believe it or not. And based on this experience I sure as hell am not inclined to to purchase any of the other services that they want to cram down my throat.

Veovis is right that *this device* will not allow you to use you cellphone to connect a computer to an analog dialup ISP. However, at least with T-Mobile this is moot because you can do that without any devices except your phone.

I do *NOT* pay for gprs packet service from T-Mobile. However, sometimes I find myself in the middle of nowhere (Waterloo, IA) in a hostile environment (my mother-in-law's spyware-infested computer) and am dying for any other way to get a safe connection. Since long-distance is free on my cell phone, I hook my V600 up to my Powerbook (either with the cable or by bluetooth), use the modem scripts from here and dial in to the back-up modem pool offered by my DSL ISP. Sure, it only goes at 9600Kbps, but that's a totally free connection anywhere in the US. It's good enough for email.

T-Mobile's network is smart enough to tell that it's a data call, not a voice call, but it's billed within my minutes (as minutes) and not as data service (as bytes). With unlimited weekend and evening minutes, there's literally no cost whatsoever.

I don't know about the poor sods who are still on CDMA/TDMA, but those of us with GSM can still choose not to pay for GPRS service if we choose.

Now here's a question... Or an insight; whatever... I have been using my GPRS data connection for a while, through my cell, to make data connections. While being slower then wifi of any sort (except for these damn congested hotel networks), it is a great tool for say, traveling on a train, and making my connection. Cingular does not make this a vey easy thing to do, but thanks to a lot of patience, and research, i found a few web sites that really helped me out with getting this connection made. With Cingular/AT&T, the data package for full on GPRS all the time is 20 dollars a month, and it's always on as long as your in the GPRS network. The speed seems to be higher then regular dial up, and keeps me connected.

Link:
http://www.taniwha.org.uk/gprs.html Great link to scripts to make this possible in many ways with many phones.

Now the future as I see it is using something similiar to Skype, or VOIP technology to enable this as a way that i can be making calls through my computer, and paying for a GPRS connection that is always on. While it's nice to be able to just ring through on the cell, I think 20 dollars a month for a VOIP connection anywhere I can recieve GPRS would be FINE and Dandy! Feel free to add to this if anyone has done any other legwork into this idea.
Now, I figure this might be rate as offtopic, in fact, I fear it, but I see this as being related to some of the other things people have said so far on this topic. Now, I have looked at this product, (thank you anonymous coward for the easy link to the cached site
(here) http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:ZWgMwpNIwucJ: www.cellsocket.com/+cellsocket&hl=en

Now this is interesting.. This was mentioned in an earlier article, on Nov 22, 03.
Are we behind in the times?
http://boogle.cc/index.php?blogid=1&archive=2003-1 1 Gotta search for the word cellsocket, can't seem to find an anchor to sink my digital teeth into.

I guess this seems like a neat product, but I want more. And I also question why this wasn't released as ?news? on slashdot till now? Hmmmmm
Well, let me know if anyone has any ideas on the other stuff I went rambling off on. Always on VOIP everywhere would rock my world harder then any hardline home phone thingamajig... Let's make the most of our collective brains, and start up the saucestorm of knowledge.. let it flow free :)

I have been happily connecting to GPRS service from Vodafone in the UK using the scripts from Ross Barkman ever since I got my (Apple/D-Link) Bluetooth adaptor. My only hint is to make jolly sure that the GRPS settings on the phone are correctly set up before you start trying to connect from the computer. An easy way to sort this out if you have an Ericsson is to go to Sony/Ericsson's WAP Configurator and they will send the right settings to your phone via SMS.

One neat thing I've found is that, despite the claims otherwise, you can get Bluetooth and 802.11 to work on the same machine at the same time. You need to have the phone pretty close (a meter or so) to the computer and the 802.11 service is somewhat degraded but the WLAN still works over 20 meters or so. This means that you can share out your GPRS conncetion to other people if you have an airport card in your machine; just go to System Preferences->Sharing, select the Internet tab and tick the box to share with AirPort equiped computers. Handy when two of you want to check your email on the train but you only have one GPRS phone :-)

Under PPP Leave everything blank except the phone number and type "Proxy"

Wrong.

When using Ross Barkman's modem scripts, the phone number must be the Access Point Name (APN) provided by your GPRS operator. You can find a list of them here.

I was in the same boat about a week ago. It took me about 10min of searching and I found the following info...

First, get the modem scripts Here. The one I used was the first one in the list...the GPRS one for the t68i.

Next get the D-Link Bluetooth USB do-dad.

Make a new "Location" and call it Bluetooth.

Choose "Bluetooth Modem" as your connection.

Under PPP Leave everything blank except the phone number and type "Proxy"

Next, pair the phone with the laptop, and choose "Connect".

The phone should say "Connecting" and you'll get a 10.x.x.x IP address.

You are in bidnes...

Check out Ross Barkman's site. He has modem scripts for Ericsson and Nokia GPRS phones - and much more. I have Nokia 6310 and D-Link's Bluetooth USB adapter and I can tell you that setting up an Internet connection with them was very easy. At least the Nokia scripts had step-by-step instructions included.

The scripts are released as "pintware". If you like them, by the man a pint of beer.