Using a cell phone as a modem for Internet acccess

Using a cell phone as a modem for Internet acccess

When I travel, I would like to use my cell phone as a modem to access the Internet. I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop with Win XP Home, a Verizon LG VX4500 phone, and dial up access when I am away from my home cable internet connection. I purchased the recommended LGVX4500 Data Pac by BitPim with a serial to USB cable and software drivers etc. After installing the cable and drivers, I was able to see my new COM3 port in WinXP "device manager." But I was not able to download info from my cell phone to my computer, nor set up the cell phone as a modem to call my ISP. Is there somewhere to obtain detailed instructions on how to set this up?

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You'll find on-line help for BitPim here; see their troubleshooting serial communications section. You may also find it useful to read about other inexpensive commercial products like DataPilot DataConnect or Smith Micro QuickLink Mobile. I'd also recommend asking for help on HowardForums from other users who might have experience getting BitPim to work on LG cellphones.

You should be able to use your phone like an analog modem; you will not to purchase Verizon's wireless data service just to do that. However, you should expect speed to be pretty slow, and your on-line minutes will count like any other voice call (e.g., count against your cellphone plan minutes).

 

This was first published in September 2004

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