Is it possible to use cell phone as modem to connect laptop to the internet?

[Jean]

Greetings:

I am wondering if there is an interface device that allow user to use the cell phone as a modem and connect the laptop (Dell Inspiron 8000, 700MHz, 512MB, Combo 10/100 Dial up modem, 32MB Nvidia 2GO) to the internet. If so, what do I need?

Advance thanks for your time and help.

 

[jhu]

yes, although you'll need a special interface to connect to your phone (depending on your phone of course). i remember seeing this in one of the in-flight magazines.

 

[RaiderJ]

I know I saw something like this.... I believe it was a PCMCIA card that connected to a certain type of phone. The card was close to $100.

Maybe they make more universal cards? Seems like a lot of money to spend for a proprietary adapter.

 

[MDE]

I've seen a Sprint PCMCIA adapter card, and there may be a T-Mobile adapter as well.

 

[orion7144]

If you have a sprint phone all you need is the USB cable and you can use your vision (you set it up as a dial up adapter and dial #*** ( I will not post the number but it can easily be found)). It is against the TOS agreement but they say if you are just checking email and general browsing they will not say anything. Also a company called Futuredial has software for most phones that can be used to make the phone a modem.

 

[Sideswipe001]

I know that t-mobile sells an adapter. My girlfriend has used it before on vacations. I'd google it with your phone model; you'll probably come up with something.

 

[ai42]

Bluetooth! Many phones have bluetooth, and if you get a bluetooth interface for your laptop you can surf the net (without modem, b/c your phone is a modem) through your phone.

 

[Slick5150]

Yes, it's very possible, though it depends on who your wireless carrier is, and what kind of phone you have.

I hooked my LG VX6000 phone up to my laptop with a cheap $20 USB cable I bought on eBay. You then just have to install the drivers for the phone that set it up as another modem as far as the laptop is concerned, and you're all set.

With Verizon (for now anyways) you can use their 1x express network for "free" (it only uses minutes off of your plan, so it's free during unlimited nights and weekends anyways). I think the speed limit on it is about 150k, though mine seems to connect on average around 90k, which is still better than dialup. They also have an advertisded free service you can dial into with it, but it's only a 14.4k connection I believe, so quite slow.

Other carriers work differently, so while I'm sure they have phones and plans that could do this, you're likely going to have to pay for a data plan with them (which can cost upwards of $75 for unlimited access I believe)

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: PinwiZ
Yes, it's very possible, though it depends on who your wireless carrier is, and what kind of phone you have.

I hooked my LG VX6000 phone up to my laptop with a cheap $20 USB cable I bought on eBay. You then just have to install the drivers for the phone that set it up as another modem as far as the laptop is concerned, and you're all set.

With Verizon (for now anyways) you can use their 1x express network for "free" (it only uses minutes off of your plan, so it's free during unlimited nights and weekends anyways). I think the speed limit on it is about 150k, though mine seems to connect on average around 90k, which is still better than dialup. They also have an advertisded free service you can dial into with it, but it's only a 14.4k connection I believe, so quite slow.

Other carriers work differently, so while I'm sure they have phones and plans that could do this, you're likely going to have to pay for a data plan with them (which can cost upwards of $75 for unlimited access I believe)

i bought the serial cable for my VX3100 but they never gave me any software and i didn't bother to follow it up. any ideas as to where i can get drivers for this? could i use hyperterminal?