Mobile Phone Q - Is This Possible?

[egomeister]

Where I currently live I don't internet access, so I'm wondering if it is possible to use a mobile like a modem to gain dial up access this way (either as the modem itself, or the phoneline which the computers internal modem would dial through)

The current mobile is an Orange SPV C500 but i'll be upgrading soon if that makes a difference.

[TonyHetherington]

Yup it's very possible. You probably have modem software with your phone on CD. The problem though is that it is likely to be VERY slow.

[pdV6]

and expensive

[mel]

Easy bluetooth card in computer then dial up networking, I do it on my laptop when abroad as the 3G card appears not to be able to "roam", dial up speed is shite though and I only use it for secure dial up not general net access as the speed is grim. Failing that just get a 3G card added onto your account and use that mine costs £20 a month and has a 65Mb download limit included.

[Einion Yrth]

I do this with my PDA when out and about, it works fine, but is very, very slow.

[Mr E]

And glitchy.

So, slow, expensive and glitchy.

What you really need is HSDPA. Which is just expensive. Very expensive.

Oh, and not available yet on the mainland.

[GregE240]

Hang on.

Hasn't Orange got HS-CSD?

Thats about 56K modem speeds, isn't it?

[egomeister]

I figured it wouldn't be an ideal solution if it was possible! I'll have a look what software came with the phone. I take it the connection would be so slow beacuse the phone cannot function like a 56k modem? If there was some way you could get the PC's internal modem to use the mobile purely as a phone line is there any reason why 56k wouldn't be attainable then? (It's only electronic bleeps afterall!!)

I was just hoping to be able to use my free minutes to connect rather than using GPRS and paying for the data downloaded!

[Plotloss]

Mr E said:

And glitchy. So, slow, expensive and glitchy. What you really need is HSDPA. Which is just expensive. Very expensive. Oh, and not available yet on the mainland.

Or OFDM

But then I suppose thats not available anywhere, yet...

:rubshandsinanticipation:

[Mr E]

egomeister said:

If there was some way you could get the PC's internal modem to use the mobile purely as a phone line is there any reason why 56k wouldn't be attainable then? (It's only electronic bleeps afterall!!)

Yes. Bandwidth. The voice link is hugely compressed to save radio spectrum (which is expensive). 3G uses AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) to further increase efficency.

Plotloss said:

Or OFDM But then I suppose thats not available anywhere, yet... :rubshandsinanticipation:

WiMax and future WiFi (n?) specifications?

[MilnerR]

I use UMTS on my O2 Exec and although its not cheap but its fast enough to surf and check email. Shame you can only really get it in cities. GPRS isn't too bad (40k). Normal GMS dailup is pitiful. Don't bother!

[sadako]

I surf from the office with my laptop plugged into my phone, very slow over the 460kbps 3g connection

Chodafone offer a card for free contract for £50 a month unlimited data over 3g, This might be the way forward. I just use my normal phone with extra data packaged into my contract.

[Flat in Fifth]

When absolutely stuck I use Bluetooth card in laptop, paired with Mobile, GPRS connection, £1 per Megabyte upload or download, speed is ~115k.

So not cheap and fairly slow, but definitely quicker than dial up. Also def quicker than in some hotels (Las Vegas is a prime example)where they deliberately screw with the dial up speeds to make you pay for their premium setup.

On the costs one colleague (drunken muppet) found when one night he got totally trashed, fell asleep, and left his PC running Notes and replicating goodness knows what, or at least that is his story and he is stickingto it. Ended up up/downloading 900Mb !!!

[simonrockman]

900Mb in one night is going some. I'm amazed he got that bandwidth. That's 100Mb an hour or 40kbps, which is sensible but unlikely over such a long period.

[egomeister]

Seems there are a few ways to do it then, might have to have a bit of a play!

Thanks for the suggestions

[Jay GTI]

Many ways, you can use your phone over your IR link, or via bluetooth to work on GSM/2G, but at 9.6kbps youy won't want to for any serious surfing...

Or there's the 3G data card, offered by the mobile telecomms company I work for and if you're in a good coverage area, it's pretty good for general surfing (use mine regularly), comparable to good dial-up, slower broadband.

HSDPA is next, this is going to make surfing via your phone or data card very good indeed. As said, it's not ready yet in the UK and for commercial sensitivity reasons, I can't say much more (I am involved in HSDPA rollout), but having already used the test/demo equipment, I'm very, very impressed.

[Mr E]

Jay GTI said:

HSDPA is next, this is going to make surfing via your phone or data card very good indeed. As said, it's not ready yet in the UK and for commercial sensitivity reasons, I can't say much more (I am involved in HSDPA rollout), but having already used the test/demo equipment, I'm very, very impressed.

It's ready and running in the IOM. It's been ready for the past year or so......

(and I can't say much more, as I work in R&D for a large manufacturer).

I will say that 7Mb per second to your laptop over a commercial 3G network is very very impressive. It's just a shame that the UE you need is the size of a generator and needs a trolley to get about...

[munky]

egomeister said:

If there was some way you could get the PC's internal modem to use the mobile purely as a phone line is there any reason why 56k wouldn't be attainable then? (It's only electronic bleeps afterall!!) I was just hoping to be able to use my free minutes to connect rather than using GPRS and paying for the data downloaded!

Another reason that won't work is because you're unlikely to find a cable that connects your PC modem to your phone. I guess you could find an '80s 'wargames' style acoustic modem and try to rig it to the mobile, but it will be so old you'll be lucky if its even 2.4k. Only way to do it really is using the mobile's build in modem via IR/cable/bluetooth and over GSM/GPRS/3G. I occasionally use GPRS and get big bills when I do. However different tariffs give you different amounts of 'free' data allowance included in your line rental

[Jay GTI]

Mr E said:

Jay GTI said: HSDPA is next, this is going to make surfing via your phone or data card very good indeed. As said, it's not ready yet in the UK and for commercial sensitivity reasons, I can't say much more (I am involved in HSDPA rollout), but having already used the test/demo equipment, I'm very, very impressed. It's ready and running in the IOM. It's been ready for the past year or so...... (and I can't say much more, as I work in R&D for a large manufacturer). I will say that 7Mb per second to your laptop over a commercial 3G network is very very impressive. It's just a shame that the UE you need is the size of a generator and needs a trolley to get about...

Yep, but I'm talking about the UK mainland launch though, which isn't ready yet.

As for the 7.2Mbps UE, yeah we have one of them too, it's parked outside, takes diesel... .

The UE's that we're launching with are much nicer though .

[Mr E]

Jay GTI said:

The UE's that we're launching with are much nicer though .

Can you tell me what HSDPA class they are, or are we verging on the "sensitive information" areas.