internet through cell phone? (on laptop)

[thomsbrain]

I was curious how one would go about getting an internet connection through their cell phone. Would you need a dial-up account with a normal ISP or would it all be through the cell provider? Does anyone do this currently? I've seen this in movies, but can it be done in "real life?" Any info appreciated.

 

[XMan]

I do it with my Nextel. It's a whopping 19.2kbps.

Not sure how much it costs; work pays the bill.

 

[thomsbrain]

is that one of the older digital phones or a next-generation one?

 

[XMan]

It's an 850sr. It's not new, but I don't think it's very old, either. Some of the 3G Sprint PCS phones are supposed to be 56k I think.

 

[akseli]

You can do this with any Nokia cell phone (I'm sure other companies support this too) There are many ways of going about getting yourself an ISP, I suppose you can use your normal one but I've personally always worked with special dialer software which works when I travell, there are certain numbers in each country which I dial in order to access internet.

 

[vegetation]

With tmobile you have free gprs internet connected to your phone. Only caveat if you can only access port 80 for web and the email ports. HTTPs port wont work unless you paid $19 a month extra for an enhanced plan.

 

[SSibalNom]

you can use a regular ISP provider, with my pocket PC i would connect via infrared on my nokia to SBC's free dial up that comes w/ DSL, that way night and weekend browsing was free, and I didn't have to pay for their data plan, which is 56k anyway. the easiest way is have a bluetooth phone and do the same thing, then you arent paying an ISP's extra fees, your phone is just calling the server's #

edit: this will also work with pretty old phones, the phone doesnt need to be up to date if its a nokia, just needs a working infrared port, i did it both on the 8290 i had, and 3650 i have now

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: SSibalNom
you can use a regular ISP provider, with my pocket PC i would connect via infrared on my nokia to SBC's free dial up that comes w/ DSL, that way night and weekend browsing was free, and I didn't have to pay for their data plan, which is 56k anyway. the easiest way is have a bluetooth phone and do the same thing, then you arent paying an ISP's extra fees, your phone is just calling the server's #

edit: this will also work with pretty old phones, the phone doesnt need to be up to date if its a nokia, just needs a working infrared port, i did it both on the 8290 i had, and 3650 i have now

so you were only charged for the voice airtime when you did this?

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: vegetation
With tmobile you have free gprs internet connected to your phone. Only caveat if you can only access port 80 for web and the email ports. HTTPs port wont work unless you paid $19 a month extra for an enhanced plan.

i have gprs but i have no idea if it's free or how much i have included in my plan. i have AT&T GSM, the $40 national plan.

 

[blodhi74]

this and this will help ....have a sprint phone and gives me 50kbps to 70 kbps .... U have to have sprints web services, which are $15.00 a month for unlimited access .... it dails into sprints network by #777 as the # .... works ok for my laptop for casual surfing and e-mailing