HOW-TO: Use your CDMA cellphone as a USB modem
by Engadget posted a great how-to on getting your laptop or PC connected to the 'net over your cell-phone with a USB cable. Instructions for Sprint and Verizon.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000930027824/
They cover finding a cable, getting a driver, and setting up the modem and connection in WinXP and Mac OS X.
I remember Dean used to do this a while back. I'd love to try it out.
Let me know if you're doing anything cool like this!
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3 Comments
yeah, here's the deal with this -
Verizon - need the $4.99/month Mobile Web option. Takes off your monthly minutes. (peak or offpeak)
Sprint - need $15/month Unlimited Vision, plus Handset As Modem option - $40/month for 20MB, $60/month for 40 MB, $80/month for 300 MB (if my memory serves).
These options all suck. The only good thing is - if you have bluetooth - you can eliminate all these cables. Who needs em. Not me.
Good part of this - you can get up to 230kbps ... that's decent, eh?
Oh yeah, and there are instructions on how to do this with Nextel somewhere. I used to do that from Starbucks. Pretty slow but cool.
yeah, I did this a long time ago. I used to browse the internet on my company laptop on the way to work on the train (and log in to the company VPN) not fast, but it worked.
then I lost the cable.
that's a good article though.
Note: I had unlimited Sprint PCS Vision plan so it didn't cost me a dime extra. Not sure if that's still the case, you might get charged per kb downloaded or something. Also, you can't get phone calls while doing this (at least on Sprint)