[ale] NewbieQs on 'tethered' net connections1

Tue Apr 21 09:54:26 EDT 2009

Sean, All -

Thanks for the replies. I'm responding to this note because it touched more of my issues directly.

My carrier is T-Mobile, but it's a bottom-end prepaid account that doesn't knowingly support net or web access with two exceptions:

1. I have an e-mail address for SMS and can reply to those messages or forward them to regular phone numbers.
2. I can access their "T-Zones" which are basically a web flea-market for the carrier to sell me stuff.

I asked T-Mobile about adding the $4.99/mo access and was told it was not available on my account; on the other hand I can keep the prepaid account alive for only a few $$/mo and it serves my needs for mobile phone service.

I have a dial-in computer account for contingency use (mostly text mail reading) and that's the access I need from my laptop. I could live with 9600 Bd, but not love it!

The phone is a Nokia 6030(B?). It's unlocked. (T-mobile will do that if they think you'll stay around - or at least they did when my accounts met their benchmarks.) In principle the phone even has an embedded web browser.

It does support GSM, but connection to the computer is a problem: Nokia doesn't sell a data cable and the 3rd-party one I bought (USB-serial) seems about half functional under 'gnokii'. There is an external data connection for service use (not the pads under the battery that I've seen in photos of some models). I don't know if the problems are electrical in the adapter; or logical in the phone's functionality, the adapter, or gnokii's expectations: I can read the phone's profile, but then fall into a series of timeouts; I can extract the phone's contacts but when I reload them I have to do quite a bit of rework to find the uploaded numbers again.

Phone model reports as 'RM-225'; I can't get a solid reading on whether AT commands are supported.

I expect the smart answer is, "Get a real phone and a real account," but the partial responses keep leading me on with the possibility this might actually work.

"Science stumbles forward."

More suggestions welcome.

 - Mills

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org on behalf of Sean C. McCord
Sent: Mon 4/20/2009 9:30 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] NewbieQs on 'tethered' net connections

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 05:43:49PM -0400, Mills John M-NPHW64 wrote:
>ALErs -
>
>1. Is there a HOWTO on this that can suggest specs and models of low-end phones for net access from my Linux laptop? 

As far as I know, ALL GSM phones (those of AT&T and T-Mobile, in the
USA), can serve as a modem.  I have used it in all my phones since my
first one with Powertel who knows how many years ago.  That said, you
have a few things to look for:

a)  The phone has to have some method to _get_ to your laptop:  Wifi,
serial, USB, etc.
b)  If your phone is "locked" (that is, it was bought from the
carrier), it may be restricted in some way, so all bets are off.

>2. If my phone account doesn't provide a direct net connection of some kind, is it practical to telephone my ISP's dial-in modems and run that way?

You don't necessarily need a "direct" net connection.  For years, I
used T-Mobile's proxies access for $4.99/mo.  The only reason I
changed is because I got a Google Phone and wanted full, unrestricted
access for VPN, SSH, Email, etc., without having to funnel everything
through a hacked up port 80.

>Some notes make it look just like setting up PPP through a modem and others seem more like a network link. I have a couple of half-*ssed ideas about what's going on, but nothing solid.

For GSM (I have no clue about CDMA, i.e., Sprint, MetroPCS, Nextel,
Verizon, etc.), the phone acts like a modem.  You interface to with
with a slightly special AT command set, so to the computer, it looks
just like a modem.  You even dial up and "connect" just like expected;
and yes, it is a PPP connection.

If you are using a special app some of the fancier Wifi-enabled
phones, it is going to act more like a wireless access point.  You
won't be PPP'ing, most likely.  It will just look like a normal TCP/IP
link over wireless.

--
Sean C. McCord
CyCore Systems
scmlist at cycoresys.com
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