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| Use Your Cell Phone As A Modem |
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Business Travel 911 December 2006 • Vol.4 Issue 12 Page(s) 72-73 in print issue |
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Use Your Cell Phone As A Modem Know Your Options When You Lose Your Hotspot Or LAN Connection |
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Use Your Cell Phone As A Modem Know Your Options When You Lose Your Hotspot Or LAN Connection What You Need If you want to be one of those people who can access the Internet anytime, then you’re in luck. We looked at various plans, phones, and available programs that will let you make a connection from just about anywhere.  The service plan. All four of the major carriers offer data service plans that include full Internet access. As you would expect, these plans require additional fees over and above your regular monthly service charges. They also require a term of service, either a one- or two-year commitment on your part.
A service plan-capable phone. Despite all the hype you hear about email and Internet on your family phone, those services, such as Verizon Wireless’ V CAST and Sprint’s PCS plans, are limited-access offerings. They are great for keeping up with news, weather, and sports, and for sending pictures and email to your friends, but without full Internet capability. There are only a handful of phones from each carrier that support Verizon’s BroadbandAccess, Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Power Vision Network, Cingular’s DataConnect, and T-Mobile’s device-specific data plans. Some phones require you to buy the data cable as an additional-cost accessory. For a Verizon Wireless phone, look for one that includes or supports Veri-zon’s Mobile Office Kit. This kit has the cables and software needed to set up your connection. One note of caution: Cingular’s Data Connect plan provides broadband speeds only with the company’s Laptop Connect air card, according to a Cin-gular salesperson. Using a tethered device, including a BlackBerry or smartphone, as a modem limits you to simple dial-up speeds. We don’t recommend that for any purpose. For this article we used an LG VX8100 flip phone from Verizon and a Palm Treo 700p from Sprint. Both are excellent phones, and, of course, the Treo has full PDA capabilities. The software. After you lock down your plan (and your provider has you locked in) and you have your phone, you need the software that’s specific to your provider’s service. If you bought a complete phone kit with the software included, load the disc that comes with the kit. If there is more than one disc, be sure to load each one in the proper order. If you use Verizon’s kit, for example, load the disc with the USB drivers for the phone and install those before loading the VZAccess Manager software. If you buy the phone without the kit and sign up for the data plan later, or if you sign up online, you’ll download the software from your carrier’s (or its partner’s) Web site. For our tests we downloaded the connection software for both phones: VZAccess Manager from SmithMicro for Verizon Wireless and Sprint’s PCS Connection Manager. IN THIS AGE OF NEAR-UBIQUITOUS wireless Internet access, it’s becoming harder and harder to imagine a scenario in which you and your laptop are unable to connect to the Web. Such dreadful places do exist, however, and you can’t recognize them until you’re in one, settled in and gaping at a blank Wireless Network Connection dialog box. You can prepare for such a crisis by carrying a data-capable cell phone. When the hotspot turns cold and others are forced to pull out their Sudoku books, you can pull out your phone, connect it to your laptop, and surf on. by David Finck Step-By-Step Setup Setting up your phone as a modem for your laptop is simple. We walk you through the steps for the programs we downloaded for our test phones. Sign up with a carrier. After deciding what service, plan, and phone you want to use, sign up with a carrier and be prepared to live with your choice for as many as two years. You can go to a local store or commit online at your preferred carrier’s Web site. Get your phone. After signing up for the plan, choose your phone. If you’re at the store and your handset is in stock, the salesperson should be able to set you up on the spot. Be sure to get a data cable with the phone. Verizon offers its Mobile Office Kit, which includes the phone, cable, and software you need for a seamless setup experience. Sign up online and you can download the required software, but you’ll have to get your phone shipped to you. Install any required software. Each phone we tested required a software installation for full Internet access. A T-Mobile representative told us the company gears its plans toward specific phones that are preloaded with the necessary software, so this step may be unnecessary for some users. Download the applications you need and install the software. Begin your installation with the phone and USB cable disconnected from your laptop and connect the phone only when directed. We were prompted to connect the Verizon phone during the install, but the Sprint Treo installation required the phone and USB cable to be disconnected from the laptop during the entire installation. Connecting the Treo can cause permanent problems that will demand a full reinstall to correct. Open the application. The installation process for each of our phones put an icon on our Desktop. Double-click the Sprint PCS Connection Manager icon and the silver bar interface springs up on-screen, prompting you to connect your phone. Plug your USB cable into the phone and the laptop, and turn on the phone. There is a short handshake process as the software first recognizes the phone, checks that Mobile Broadband is part of the service plan for that number, and finally makes the connection. When that process is complete, the odd message “Sprint PCS Vision: Disconnected” appears. That means the software is ready. Click the Go button and, after a brief wait, the message changes to “Sprint PCS Vision: Connected.” Next, open your browser. You now have full access to the Internet, just as if you’d plugged your laptop into a wall jack. Verizon’s VZAccess Manager has a few more features than Sprint’s PCS Connec-tion Manager. VZAccess Manager shows all available networks, lists all activity in a session log that tracks sessions and time online, and lets you send text messages (with a text-enabled phone, and at regular prices). It also offers an apps button where you can add one-click access to any MS Office application on your hard drive, has Web and E-mail buttons that launch your default apps for those functions, and a Help button. A status bar across the bottom of the display shows time spent and your connection. Easy & Fast As long as you’re familiar with downloading and installing software, and you connect your phone at the proper time, the setup of your phone-as-modem should be fast and simple. We were pleasantly surprised at the speed of our connection on the Sprint Power Vision network, which uses Sprint’s EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) network. We traveled all over the Internet, and pages consistently loaded at speeds not much slower than our home DSL service. The LG VX8100, a standard flip phone, performed well, too, and Web pages loaded quickly from Verizon’s EVDO network. 
When Internet access is critical to your business, the cost of a broadband data plan is well worth the investment. When your office network goes down, when the hotspot cools, when you find yourself without an available LAN (local-area network) or Wi-Fi connection, your data-capable phone and broadband access service plan will pay dividends very quickly. After connecting your phone, there is a short wait while your laptop recognizes the phone and you see the Disconnected message. Click the Go button and the message changes to Connected. Open your browser for Internet access. To disconnect, click the Stop button. Service charges are based on connection time, not browsing time, so don’t forget to disconnect. |
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