Hey jsw, will you give me your info on this? I am getting nowhere...

[SolidGun]

I think I have sent you a PM, but not certain at this point. You have not replied, so I assumed I forgot to send it out.
After reading your message about cellphone and you connection via bluetooth, I have been wanting to switch my carrier and use a cellphone to do the same. But after reading endless info and limitations, I just wanted to know which cellular carrier you use and what plan and what phone you use to connect.
I am so confused about this, and since I know you can do this, I thought I would just do what you do.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Not sure how much it helps dude, but I'm going to switch soon too. I'm waiting for Moto's Razr V3... it should be out fairly soon, September I've heard! It has Bluetooth, aluminum construction, 14mm thick, etc...

Hopefully it will be more Mac-friendly than its predecessors. Though, I can't imagine Moto working with Apple on the iTunes music store and not getting iSync to work.

I plan on switching to whoever has service for this phone. Very fed up with Verizon. Great network, ****ty for almost everything else.

 

[stevehaslip]

if a PM didn't work you could try emailing him? Or of course he might reply here. Just a thought

 

[jsw]

Hey, sorry!

I don't think I got a PM from you - I get so few that I would be amazed that I missed one, although I suppose it's possible. If so, I apologize for not replying - I'm usually pretty good about it.

I might have gotten a email - but sometimes they get qualified as "Junk" (recently - yesterday - altered filters to hopefully divert all Mac Forums mail to a mailbox) and, if I get a ton of Junk on a given day, it could get lost.

Anyway, This thread gives a lot of useful information - most of it not from me.

I have a Nokia 3650, with T-Mobile as a service provider and the tzones pro package as my means for gaining access to GPRS and thus to the internet.

Note that I get decent connectivity - high of 27kbps, but far more typically ~20kbps. Some times I get to stay connected for over 30 minutes. Other times, I get bumped every few minutes, and, at times, I can't connect at all. Usually, though, I can connect and usually stay on for an average of 5 minutes at a time. Note that this is sort of a "backdoor" - though not illegal or against policy - use of tzones, and so it isn't supported, which is why the service is so unreliable. The tzones pro package is primarily for sending MMS messages, lots of SMS messages, etc., and isn't architected to allow long GPRS connections. However, it's only $10/month and provides utility which is, to me, well worth it.

If you plan to use GPRS-based connections extensively, you might want to consider a different phone, service provider, or service package. What I have works for me, but it might not work for you!

 

[SolidGun]

dferara: I will keep an eye out for this phone (aluminum sounds cool and matching), but I guess usage may depend on the carrier.

stevehaslip: I know jsw replies to forums, and I didn't want to trouble him with another e-mail. I know you meant to help and of course that is much appreciated.

jsw: T-mobile has been the carrier that I wanted, because they have phones that support such.... I see that you do not get stable connection because it isn't truly supported by T-mobile.
I guess I am looking for those services that used regular minutes and were able to connect to a dial-up ISP via your cellphone as a modem.
Thank you for your input on this matter jsw.

 

[jsw]

jsw: T-mobile has been the carrier that I wanted, because they have phones that support such.... I see that you do not get stable connection because it isn't truly supported by T-mobile.
I guess I am looking for those services that used regular minutes and were able to connect to a dial-up ISP via your cellphone as a modem.
Thank you for your input on this matter jsw.

Well, while the connection isn't stable, it doesn't use minutes and it is generally available. Dial-up usage of the phone as a modem has been reported to get lower speeds - while I'm on via GPRS, speeds average 20kbps. Something to consider. You could also default to dial-up when the GPRS connection was too fuzzy, but, when it's working, it's faster. And it's usually working.

I expect to see more services tailored to cell phone modem usage in the near future.