Using A Cell Phone/smartphone As A Modem?

[DrPreston]

I was wondering if there were any plans to write software that would allow someone to plug their phone into their pandora and use it as a modem.
That would be freakin' awesome, especially with more and more 3G enabled phones around!

 

[cbox]

I believe Linux has that capability built in, it's been posted many times in the past.

 

[gruso]

Bluetooth tethering (to use your phone as a modem) should be possible out of the box. It's expected that standalone 3G USB dongles will be supported too... maybe not right away, but at some point.

 

[emil10001]

I have already posted instructions that should get this working:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showt...mp;#entry635709

 

[keaft]

excuse my noobness...

this would basically make it so that you can have wireless when your near your phone out in the middle of nowhere were there is no wifi around, giving you access to the internet?

I'd imagine that you wouldn't get that great of bandwidth.

 

[gruso]

Basically, yeah. If you have a 3G phone with Bluetooth, Pandora can connect to it via Bluetooth (called tethering) and use the phone as a modem, giving you internet access wherever you have 3G coverage.

3G speeds can be pretty good, depending on your location & provider of course.

 

[Eternalodyssey]

I often tether my blackberry to my laptop through the Verizon network and I can tell you that although it is not lightning fast, I am not left wanting too much more. It works, which is the most important thing. I have tethered to both Windows XP machines and under Ubuntu 9.04 and above. There are of course no guarantees but I think it is safe to say that we will be able to use 3g phones to connect to the internet. Just make sure you have a plan in place. Just because you can get your phone to connect doesn't mean Verizon or anyone else won't charge you for it! The Verizon plan I have is $30 a month which is really not bad for me considering the amount of data I use while on the go. I hate having to rely on finding a wifi hot spot when I am on the go.

 

[WoD]

This is one of those times that I am left cursing my iPhone.

Guess I'll have to do the old ad-hoc WiFi + proxy dance. Fortunately that should be pretty straightforward with the Pandora. I hope...

 

[Tor]

I use my Nokia internet tablet with BluetTooth tethering to internet through my cellphone. Works fine. It's 3G max. on this particular phone, but the networking works perfectly fine - although there are quite some ups and downs w.r.t. the actual bandwidth, due to whatever load the cell phone operator experiences at any moment.
In general it's really quite transparent if I network through wi-fi or phone. Just ordered 6 movie tickets through my N800+phone, confirmation and reference came back through gmail (browser interface). That kind of stuff works the same whether it's wi-fi or BT+3G.
And this is all through, as has been mentioned already, quite standard Linux tools.

 

[Shadow of Chaos]

3G with T-mobile seems pretty good, for the first 10 days that its free anyway.

Shame its so expensive, it will probably not be used for gaming & downloading stuff as it would cost alot. Not to mention the small monthly gb limit is pretty rubbish.

 

[Chip]

Shame its so expensive, it will probably not be used for gaming & downloading stuff as it would cost alot. Not to mention the small monthly gb limit is pretty rubbish.
Are you kidding? I saved $50 a month switching from Verizon to T-mobile. At $20 a month, t-mobile has the cheapest unlimited data plan going.

 

[gadgetoid]

Note his location. Here in the UK data plans, whatever the provider, are prohibitively expensive. If I could get a USB dongle with unlimited data for $20 a month I would dance a merry jig. Even in these dark times, that would make it a little over £13.

Here it's £15 for a 3gb "fair use" amount, which perhaps I would never reach, or a whopping £30 for an un-crippled 10gb. That's $45.

And T-Mobile are, as far as I know, the best we have here at the moment.

I wish I got 3g access free with my Virgin Media broadband, that would be nice.

 

[darkblu]

I'd imagine that you wouldn't get that great of bandwidth.

packet-switched gsm connection layers go like this:
GPRS (2G gsm) goes up to 46Kb/s
EGDE (2.5G gsm) goes up to ~300Kb/s
HSDPA (3G gsm) goes up to 7.2Mb/s

the original CSD gsm (circuit-switched data) was 9.6Kb/s fixed.

 

[keaft]

hmm... i know! lets get a router with a big antennae and call it the wifi padorouter! that would be cool.

 

[Jope-san]

Here it's £15 for a 3gb "fair use" amount, which perhaps I would never reach, or a whopping £30 for an un-crippled 10gb. That's $45.
nt.

Glad I live in Finland :>
Here it costs 10€ for unlimited data (although max speed is ~300kb/s, 512kb/s would be 15€ and 1mb/s would be 20€)

 

[Bosbeetle]

I have a sony ericsson c902 hopefully I will be able to connect it to the pandora (will need the help from 'teh internetz' though)

 

[adamorjames]

I think I would have to pay extra for tethering. I use AT&T. Anyone else have to pay extra? I would like to have internet access wherever I go...

 

[WizardStan]

I think I would have to pay extra for tethering. I use AT&T. Anyone else have to pay extra? I would like to have internet access wherever I go...

You only have to pay extra if they know about it. h34r:

 

[emil10001]

I think I would have to pay extra for tethering. I use AT&T. Anyone else have to pay extra? I would like to have internet access wherever I go...

You only have to pay extra if they know about it. h34r:


And when they find out about it and send you a bill for a few hundred dollars... Seriously, if you're going to tether, you might as well pay for the service, or at least be diligent enough to know what to expect from your provider in this situation. I've read of enough people getting caught and seeing bills in the $500 range to shy away from trying something like that. (See HowardForums)

That said, I'm on the T-Mobile G1 and don't pay extra for tethering, but that's because it is not offered with this phone, and the tethering service on the phone is not officially supported. T-mobile has also stated that they will not prevent users from using tethering with this phone. If it were, I would gladly pay an extra $15-$20/mo for a supported service that was fast and reliable.

I am considering picking up a wimax connection, because as nice as tetherbot is, it's just not that fast or reliable.

 

[adamorjames]

$60 plan... why... I guess I'll be looking for wifi spots... sad turn of events.