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How to Setup Laptop to Use 3G Internet from My Cingular 8525?

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Posted by: rlehs

Okay, I've searched for several hours so I don't act like a true newbie and ask a dumb question that's been asked a hundred times, but I can't find anything definite on this, so here goes.

I have a new Cingular 8525 and have Cingular's PDA Connect Unlimited data plan. I am in a 3G area. I have an out of the box phone with Windows Mobile 5 with no ROM updates or hacks on it.

I would like to take my laptop in the car and hook my phone to it and have my laptop use the 3G connection that my phone is providing. I know you can setup a modem connection, and I've done that, but it only connects at 115k, which is the fastest setting the modem driver and bluetooth dongle have listed. I would like to be surfing on my laptop at the 3G speeds.

I know there are implications where Cingular may or may not charge me, because I am supposed to possibly have something called the Laptop Connect plan, but lets assume that's not an issue.

Also, whichever way is easiest, I can either use my USB cord to tether my phone and laptop together or use my Bluetooth on my laptop and connect that way.

Anyone have the steps on how to make this work?

Thanks


Posted by: monkey28rb

start-settings-connections-usb to pc-click enable advanced network functionality


Posted by: RF9

I know you'll get better speeds with USB than bluetooth in general. But I'm not sure if there are settings you need to tweak to open up the speed of the bluetooth port. It sounds like the COM port speed is defaulting to 115kbps and not allowing you to go faster.
Also make sure you installed the USB driver from the CD, which it sounds like you did.

Also. If you don't mind paying for a 3rd party software. I've used PDANet for years. It very much simplifies tethering http://www.junefabrics.com/
PDNet basically takes care of these settings for you.

Have you taken a look at the manual? (http://www.america.htc.com/support/8525/default.html)


Posted by: TradeViceroy

I've posted the "how to" article below for you on how to setup dial-up networking using your 8525. Ignore the part at the top about the Belkin USB bluetooth.

The following is straight from Cingular:

Quote:
Solution Details
Setup of Cingular 8525 to Laptop Windows XP using Belkin USB Bluetooth Adaptor for data

Prerequisite

Cingular 8525 PDA purchased through Cingular.

Belkin USB Bluetooth Adapter with accompanying software application. Ensure the most recent software is properly installed from the accompanying CD or by visiting the Bluetooth section of web.belkin.com/support/downloads.asp. Click on Download under the appropriate Bluetooth USB Bluetooth Adaptor. Click on the Driver for Windows XP, to download, unzip, and install the correct software.

User should be logged in as Administrator or have administrator privileges to modify system files.



Setting up the PDA

1. On the PDA, tap on Start, and then tap on Settings.
2. Tap on the Connections tab.
3. Tap on the Bluetooth icon.
4. Tap to check Turn on Bluetooth.
5. Tap to check Make this device discoverable to other devices.



Setting up the connection

1. On the PC, double click on the My Bluetooth Places icon from the desktop.
2. Click on View devices in range, or Search for devices in range.
3. Right click on the icon representing the PDA, and click on Pair Device.
4. Type in a numerical pin code (example 1234) in the Bluetooth PIN Code field, and then click on OK.
5. On the PDA, tap on Yes to add the PC to the device list.
6. Type the same numerical Passkey (Bluetooth PIN Code) as entered on the PC, and tap on Next.
7. Once the connection is complete, tap to check Dialup Networking. (***Note: It may take several moments for the connection to complete.)
8. Tap on Finish.
9. On the PC, return to My Bluetooth Places.
10. Right click on the icon representing the PDA and click on Discover Available Services.
11. Double click on the Dial-up networking icon.
12. When the connection window opens, click on Cancel, and close all applications.
13. Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel and double click on Phone and Modem Options.
14. Click on the Modems tab.
15. Click once on the Bluetooth Modem and click on Properties.
16. Click on the Advanced tab.
17. Type AT+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”isp.cingular” into the Extra initialization commands field.
18. Click on OK.



Making the connection

1. On the PC, return to My Bluetooth Places.
2. Click on View devices in range.
3. Right click on the icon representing the PDA and click on Discover Available Services.
4. Double click on the Dial-up networking icon.
5. Type ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM in the User name field.
6. Type CINGULAR1 in the Password field.
7. In the Dial field, type *99#.
8. Click on Dial.

You will now be connected to the Cingular data service.



Posted by: monkey28rb

Wirelessly posted (HTC-8500/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12))

im pretty sure if you do that there gonna charge you for the data connect plan since you have a pda connect plan.. just use the usb cable and follow what I wrote and it should work fine for free...


Posted by: RF9

Quote:
Originally Posted by monkey28rb
Wirelessly posted (HTC-8500/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12))

im pretty sure if you do that there gonna charge you for the data connect plan since you have a pda connect plan.. just use the usb cable and follow what I wrote and it should work fine for free...
They wont. If you have PDA connect unlimited, the tethering data will be covered under that.
PDA connect and laptop connect are actually the same thing anyway (both just "data connect") with different names/prices.


Posted by: rlehs

Thanks all. From your posts I got everything to work. Dumb mistake actually, I thought that hooking up through Bluetooth or USB would be different, but it's not. I read a lot of posts saying they can't get the wireless modem to work via USB. Now since I've been the lab rat, let me make this post useful for others and say if you use the USB connection option, you MUST REMEMBER to go into your computer and also into your phone and deactivate ActiveSync or it will not work. (Unless you buy a separate program like PDANet, as suggested by RF9 from above). Also, someone like myself coming from the computer tech world, ALL the documentation talks about setting up this wireless modem connection. Well, I assumed that a wireless modem connection was something relating more to modems and modem speeds and there should be another connection type that would allow me to hookup via high speed or broadband. Now after all of this, I understand that the phrase wireless modem is just a generic phrase for a feature that allows you to use your phone to access the internet from your computer.

Other things I've learned. Relating to speed, when I hooked up with Bluetooth, the max speed I could get was 115K. And that was because in the modem that was created when I used bluetooth, that was the maximum speed setting allowed. But when I hooked up with USB I was able to get 921k (almost 1MB) of speed, or at least when I connected, that's what the dialup networking icon on my laptop showed I was connected at. So I would highly recommend using USB over Bluetooth for the speed difference... UNLESS, the only reason I was limited to 115k is because of my bluetooth dongle/adapter. So can anyone enlighten me.... when others have used bluetooth, what's the max speed it allows you to connect at? Not sure if that's a set limit, or if it's defined by the bluetooth adapter you buy?

When I was testing all this, I wasn't in a 3G area, but I don't know what the max speed 3G will allow me to connect at anyway. Can anyone fill me in on this? And also, from what I can tell, in the actual dialup connection that I created on my laptop, it shows the HTC modem (the modem that was created by me installing a modem driver that was on my Cingular 8525 cd) in my device manager. But when I go into the dialup connection I created and hit Configure for my HTC modem, the highest speed it shows I can select is 921600. Now if 3G is faster than that, how do I make my modem connection go faster, since 921600 is the highest setting it shows?

Another question. On my phone under start-settings-connections-usb to pc-click enable advanced network functionality, what does this actually do? I have turned it on and and turned it off and regardless of the setting, I can still use Activesync and I can still use my wireless modem without any problem, so what does this actually do?

Another question. I have read numerous posts that explain how to setup the wireless modem connection. Some of them have you use a user name of ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM and others have you use a user name of WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM. I have tried both, and both of them work just the same. Can anyone tell me the real difference between the two? I have the Cingular PDA Connect unlimited plan... is this Cingulars way of trying to keep their plans separate? Is there a better one I should use to stay under the radar if I'm using my phone as a wireless modem for my laptop on the PDA Connect Unlimited Plan?

Final question, when I do not have my dialup connection turned on, and I also have my Activesync disabled on my phone and my computer. If I plug my phone into my computer with the USB cord, if I go into the device manager on my computer, under Network adapters, it shows a Windows Mobile Based Device. If I go into my network connections on my laptop, under LAN I see a local area connection for this device. And if I click it, it shows a 169.254.2.2 IP address, which I know means that it's not connected. (If I turn my Activesync back on, this is no longer listed in network adapters). What is this Windows Mobile Based Device network adapter good for? Why is it there? and in what ways can it be used? Internet Sharing for other computers? File sharing on my network? other things?

Also some additional information. When connected to the internet on my laptop using my wireless modem connection, my phone will still receive incoming calls. It just automatically temporarily suspends the internet connection. As soon as you hangup, it takes several seconds to re-establish a connection and I'm back on the internet again.

Sorry for the long post, but haven't been able to find one single all inclusive place that puts this all together. So when I'm done I going to make that happen, so someone else can benefit from my hours of messing around and learning.

Thanks in advance to all who will help answer any of these questions and to those that already have.


Posted by: RF9

Quote:
Originally Posted by rlehs
Another question. I have read numerous posts that explain how to setup the wireless modem connection. Some of them have you use a user name of ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM and others have you use a user name of WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM. I have tried both, and both of them work just the same. Can anyone tell me the real difference between the two? I have the Cingular PDA Connect unlimited plan... is this Cingulars way of trying to keep their plans separate? Is there a better one I should use to stay under the radar if I'm using my phone as a wireless modem for my laptop on the PDA Connect Unlimited Plan?

wap.cingular/WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM/CINGULAR1 = Private IP address (NAPT)
isp.cingular/ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM/CINGULAR1 = Public IP address (Not NAT)

NAPT (network address and port tanslation) for those who don't know is a method for many computers to all share 1 internet public IP address. Example, your linksys, belkin, 2wire, etc. home router uses the 1 public IP address given to you by your ISP and assigns (potentially unlimited) private IP addresses to your home computers in the form of 192.168.0.x (example.) Same thing at a work. Your company has you behind NAT router(s)

Bypassing NAPT and using the direct public IP address is like plugging your home DSL or cable modem directly in to your computer and using the public IP address assigned by your ISP. The one caveat is that this is also behind a firewall restricted unsolicited incoming internet traffic.

That's the only difference. isp.cingular's purpose is to be an alternate in the event that a customer's VPN doesn't work on wap.cingular. For example PPTP VPN will not work over Cingular's wap.cingular access point because the NATP router doesn't handle packets necessary. Most IPSec VPN clients work fine.

wap.cingualar is the default for all phones and pdas
isp.cingular is the default for laptop cards and tethering software. Mainly beacause it's expected most laptop users are using it to VPN in to their corporate connection and this would reduce the support calls. However you can tether or use laptop cards on wap.cingular if you don't need a public IP address.

Speed, etc. should all be the same between the two.

A little more information buried here in this page I put up:
http://www.gadgetech.info/wireless/cingular/data/




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