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View Full Version : How to use your 3G Handset as a Modem



Hands0n
18th March 2008, 01:58 PM
The full title of this article should be "How To Use Your GSM Cell Phone as a
Bluetooth Modem on Mac OS X" culled from the web-page of the same title.

I thought it may be useful to share these links here to help those of you who want to use your 3G handset as a modem for your Laptop or PDA. Although instructions here are for Apple Mac computers there is a wealth of information that can be used to configure your Windows XP or Vista systems. Linux users should not left felt out - the link to Ross Barkman's page gives some good assistance too ...

Firstly then ... How To Use Your GSM Cell Phone as a
Bluetooth Modem on Mac OS X (http://homepage.mac.com/jrc/contrib/tzones/) - this page is a general article on configuring a Mac to use your handset as a GPRS modem (over 2G or 3G the technology is the same). Here you will also find links to other articles also.

Next is Ross Barkman's GPRS Info Page (http://www.taniwha.org.uk/) with lots of good information and links for MacOS and Linux users. You will find here very necessary scripts for the Apple Mac computers. The Mac is notorious in the camp for being difficult to set up with mobile phone handsets. Although the OS X presets will suggest that you can use a Nokia handset you will find it almost impossible to configure without RB's scripts. By contrast adding the RB scripts makes the set up of your 3G/HSDPA handset a complete doddle.

For all you Linux-heads out there (you might have a EeePC for instance :D) this is a good guide in how to do it with Ubuntu and should be easily adapted to use with another distribution http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=960879&postcount=1 or from someone who has actually done it with an Asus EeePC (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4242358&postcount=13)

Windows XP users can find out How To Use a Bluetooth Enabled Cell Phone (http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/typesofaccessavailable/ht/bluetoothphone.htm) with a fairly easy step-by-stop guide to setting up - refer to Ross Barkman's page for any detail such as the number to dial (i.e. *99# ).

Hopefully by now you've got the general idea. If you run into any trouble then ask on Talk3G and we'll see what we can do to help you figure it out.

NB: Reading the Linux stuff makes it quite clear why Windows and Mac OS X are so popular. The Linux community has such a long way to go with user-friendly still.