Sweeeeet! Cell phone modem!!!
 

Guys guys guys! Check it out!

I'm posting this wirelessly from my laptop, using my <i>cell phone</i> as a digital modem!

I'm using Sprint's 3G network through an LG 5350 phone to my good ol' Dell Inspiron. Getting something like 50KB/s out of it, too!

Best of all, this is something I've been scratching my head about for WEEKS, and tonight I said to myself By God I'll Figure This Thing Out.

Well, off to the park.... Read you there! :D

Wireless technology is pretty cool. :)

I have that phone. Now if I had a laptop.

How much is it per month, or can you simply dial into a standard modem connection?

I know AT&T will absolutely gouge you on internet bandwith.

I know my new Nokia 6340i has this capability, I just need to get the cable.

Or I wish more places had WiFi access. :)

my friend has a wireless lan card, and sometimes, when he's driving around with his laptop on listening to mp3s thru the car stereo, you'll see him pop on and off on msn

off topic, but still kinda funny

if you have data services with sprint, its totally free to do, i use my A600 for it. even played countersrike in the back of a truck driving down the freeway on it once :)

They do have a data cap, but it only kicks in if you go nuts and they spot you...

Also don't use the sprint connection manager its garbage and doesn't do anything, you can just set it to dial the 777 without it.

Its the only thing good about sprint, AT&T will charge you a small fortune for this yes, I have opera on one of my cell phones but i limit its use coz i mainly use it on at&t, swines!!

You basically connect the cable, the phone appears as a modem and you dial a special number 777

Except it took a BUNCH of doing with this particular phone. Rumor is there's a firmware upgrade that helps, but I'm running the older firmware.

The thing that finally got me home was, I connected the phone to the Internet (what Sprint calls "Vision" service) before trying to dial from the laptop. Bingo!

You have to have the right driver for the USB-to-Serial cable (there are pure USB cables around, evidently) and a driver for the modem, both of which are downloadable. Then turn on the phone, connect to Vision, crack a dialup connection dialing #777, and you're ON!

hmm i have an lg 5350 as well, didnt take much to make it work, drivers should be included with the pcs connection manager., a lot if the phones share the same core driver.

you do probably have to have connected to vision at least once.

i am not aware of any other cables than the serial->phone usb->phone(which is really a virtual serial port )

Shit, that's cool. Didn't think they have that tech yet. Wireless networks are really cool though, expensive, but cool none the less :)

oh wow. i really want to try and see if i can do this.
i'll post my specs later, if anyone can help me figure it out.

I have a Sony Ericsson T68i. It does a shitload of stuff. Very fun phone, loaded with features, but mediocre reception. That's about it's only disadvantage. A little review can be found here -> http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Ericsso...l?tag=topprods

I'll bet I'm the only person surfing TFP from the back seat of a moving car right now! :D :D :D :D

Nope you certainly are not the only one...I use my phone on my laptop all the time, too...:-)

I just got a Samsung A600....VERY nice...

and have the data cables with the Sprint Vision plan, also...:-)

When you play counterstrike at 80mph then we can talk ;)

I just traded up my A600 to an A620 its a very sweet little phone, i was really digging the A600 too, 620 is a lot faster.

We've had this technology in Europe since the mid-90's...man you yanks are slow when it comes to these things.

I spoke to a friend of mine here in TX and he says it has to do with the FCC, that their regulations slow down the technological advancement here. Dunno 'bout that, but something drags along. I heard they're only just now starting to provide Internet access via power lines here.

My brother has wireless anywhere high speed service from Verizon here in AZ. He can basically go anywhere and download at 512kbps. I think he said that it is $99 a month but the card is over $500?

T-Mobile has a pretty good deal on unlimited wireless data. I think you can get a standalone plan for $30/mo and add it on to a current plan for $20/mo. I don't think it's as fast as the Sprint or Verizon 3G networks, but it's a lot cheaper if you plan on being online for a long time every month.

And from what I remember when I was on Sprint, the service area totally stinks. I got decent signal when I was outdoors or near a window, but once I got too far indoors my Sprint phones always crapped out. Could've just been me though, I've heard that some cities have good coverage. YMMV!

The problem is. the number of people, and the number of devices, especially oldera analog

A lot of people still use crappy old analog phones, so until theyve all gone we suffer.

4G is coming, which is a lot better, much higher transfer speeds.

The states is often behind on technology like this, the people are real luddites and/or slow to take on new technology, a deeply paranoid consumer base ;)

So far sprints been working the best for me for calls, AT&T non GSM networks works well too, their GSM sucks beyond belief.

T-Mobile is ok, but they are rinky dink.

Sp,e information on the Sprint PCS Vision plans:

DO NOT USE IT AS A BROADBAND ALTERNITIVE

if they see that you're hogging bandwidth (ie: streaming, filesharing so on...) they WILL drop you from the vision service

the sanyo 4900 works with both windows AND linux as a modem, windows drops the connection but doesnt tell you about every 5 minutes...unless you do something to keep the connection active

and be warned: they can charge you the 2 cents a KILOBYTE, even if you have the unlimited vision, so dont talk about it to the sprint people.

i was told all of this information by one of the PCS wireless web technitions, so dont think i pulled it out of my ass.

juast spreading the word, but i do love being able to go online with my cell and small ass laptop, i suggest RedHat 9...loads the drivers automaticly(most of the time)

oh, and on windows it says oits connected at 115kb/s, that's bullshit it connects at a little faster than 56k and variesdepending on what your using it for

and if you add a phone to your plan on sprint watch your bill..they tried to charge me $440.45 because they fucked up when they added the phone

I had the same thing happen to me, but they were pretty cool about reversing the charges....

Hey, Charlie....What carrier are you with?? I am with Sprint PCS and they just recently got the A600 in.

I got a question for you guys...do you know if there is a data cable made for the A600 that will utilize the power on the USB port to actually charge my phone while it is online?? I thought I heard something like that, but I can't seem to find any information about it, or where I can get it.

PM me if anyone has any information. PLEEZ....That would just make my life SOOO much easier, as I am on the road ALOT!!

neoinoakleys: I''m with Sprint PCS too, had my a600 for about 3 or 4 months ;)


theres a really nifty charging cable called the zipLinq, itll charge your A600 ( same connector as N400,A500,A600,A620 ), so long as they battery is not totally dead, it'll need the booster, it'll probably recharge it very slow but only with the phone off, again thats only when the battery is so dead the phone won't stay on, otherwise its perfect. (due to current limiations of USB)

i got mine at frys

http://www.ziplinq.com/