Computer Help Requested - Bluetooth, Cell Phone, and modem

Self ^ | 11/17/08 | 50sDad

[50sDad]

I probably won’t have enough posted to make this work, but here goes…I have a laptop I got from a now absent friend, and am playing with it to try out some things. It is a off-the rack Inspiron 5000e running XP, and was used for Email and netsurfing off a network line, although it has a modem card.

I have AT&T wireless phone service through a blue-tooth enabled cell phone. I recently bought a Bluetooth dongle to try and connect the two.

The AT&T magic software that lets me move files to the phone, create ringtones, etc, WILL let me dial up the internet over a USB cable..at their data service, on my dime. It seems to me that I should be able to use the Bluetooth thing to treat just the phone line of the cell as phone service, and dial up my regular ISB for free (nights and weekends, that is!) However, while I am correctly configured as far as I can tell, doing a dial up through it connects the port, dials the phone, and in an instant tells me that the other computer will not connect. This is an almost immediate thing…on my land line, if there is occasional trouble, it goes through audible dialing, does the SOUND MODULATES thing, and if it cannot handshake then tells me the bad news.

[50sDad]

If I hand dial the cell, I get a modem-seek noise, but it takes a minute to do, so it is not a bad phone number. I am getting four bars for signal strength (and of course on their software, every time I hook right up, and the cell phone’s Data Usage screen logs it.)

Is this engineering on the part of the phone people to ensure they get paid? Has anyone done what I am trying to do successfully?

[justlurking]

You are trying to modulate digital data into audio. Your phone then converts it back into digital data, using rules designed to handle voice. The process is reversed at the other end.

Cell systems are designed to use minimal bandwidth to transmit VOICE audio. It's not designed for the audio tones used by telephone modems.

And on top of all that, I'm not sure that your Bluetooth connection isn't trying to make a digital connection after all. And AT&T has explicitly disabled that, unless you pay for what they call "tethering".

[Desron13]

"AT&T has explicitly disabled that, unless you pay for what they call "tethering"."

That is correct. You will also need to download the free AT&T Communication Manager software from the link below.

http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/solutions/wireless-laptop/software.jsp

[JoJo Gunn]

ping

[50sDad]

This is why I love FR...people who REALLY know what is going on. Thanks!

[prismsinc]

I used to “tether” all the time until I got my iPhone. It’s simple. You need to add an elaborate text string to your outgoing dialer settngs, then wap@Cingular.com something or other, *99#, cingular1 for a password.

[ShadowAce]

[50sDad]

I used to “tether” all the time until I got my iPhone. It’s simple. You need to add an elaborate text string to your outgoing dialer settngs, then wap@Cingular.com something or other, *99#, cingular1 for a password.

Ah, ha! I had some kind of funky thing like that from the previous owner's setup! Hot on the trail now...thanks all!