Did you know you can use a mobile telephone as a wireless modem? If your phone and computer can connect over IrDA or Bluetooth, you're well on your way.
You can connect your Macintosh to the Internet using a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile telephone as a modem. To do so, you should first make sure that you can:- Connect to the Internet over GPRS using the WAP browser in your telephone
- Connect your Macintosh to your mobile phone over IrDA or Bluetooth.
Once you can do these two things, you can set up your computer to use the telephone as a wireless modem to connect to the Internet.
Important: GPRS data services and Internet access are typically optional offerings. Ask your mobile phone operator about GPRS availability in your area, and what the subscription fees and service charges are.
Using your mobile phone as a wireless modem
Once you have made the appropriate network settings on your Mac, you can use your mobile phone as a wireless modem.
- Ask your mobile phone operator for the network settings necessary to use your GPRS mobile phone as a modem. In some cases, you'll use the same network settings that your phone uses. In others, you may need to get network settings specific for computers. Typically, these settings include:
- GPRS dial-up number
- User ID
- Password
- IP Address
- DNS Address
- other advanced settings such as authentication, data compression, header compression, and quality of service
- From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
- From the View menu, choose Network.
- Choose New Location from the Location pop-up menu.
- Type a name for the new location such as "Wireless Modem".
- Choose "Network Port Configurations" from the Show pop-up menu.
- Make sure the "USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter" is enabled. Deselect the ports or interfaces you aren't using in this location, such as "Built-in Ethernet", and "Internal Modem".
- Click Apply Now.
- Choose "USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter" from the Show pop-up menu.
- Click the TCP/IP tab, if necessary. Choose "Using PPP" from the configure pop-up menu, and enter the DNS numbers and search domains as provided by your mobile phone operator.
- Click the PPP tab, and enter the account name, password, and telephone number as provided by your mobile phone operator.
- Click PPP Options. A sheet appears. Click "Use TCP header compression" to disable this option, and click OK. Your operator may be able to tell you if you can leave this option turned on or not.
- Click the Bluetooth Modem tab, and choose a mobile phone model that closely resembles yours from the Modem pop-up menu. In some cases, your mobile phone operator may provide a specific modem script for you to use.
- Click Apply Now.
- From the View menu, choose Bluetooth.
- Click the Settings tab, and select "Show Bluetooth status in the menu bar" to enable that option, if necessary.
- Make your mobile phone "discoverable" to other Bluetooth devices, or turn on Bluetooth communication. See the documentation that came with your phone for instructions.
- Choose "Search for phones" from the Bluetooth menu bar item, and select your phone, which you have already paired.
- Once your phone and Mac are connected, open the Internet Connect application.
- Click connect. Your telephone should connect to your mobile phone operator, and in 10 to 20 seconds, you should be able to use the Internet.