How to use a cell phone as a wireless modem?

[Bloodnut]

This is a pretty smart crew around here so I thought I'd let ya'll give this a go.

I'm moving to the country - can't wait, but... no DSL and spotty/weak cell reception. I have a two-part question, actually. First, does anyone have any experience/knowledge as to how well external cell phone antennae actually work? Second, assuming I can gin up enough cell signal via said external antenna, is there a way I can access the internet on my computer using my cell phone (or a way to increase gain on my wireless card)?

For some reason I think the internet via cell phone is doable, and I'm going to search around the net, but if somebody can point me to a "turnkey" sort of solution, I'd be grateful. Thanks.

 

[Black Rose]

I'm pretty sure it is doable, but unless you have an excellent data plan for your cell phone, you're going to be paying out the wazoo to do that.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Yes you can use a phone as a modem, it is called tethering.

Some companies like T Mobile will let you do it for free if you do not have a 3G phone but most companies charge. You might want to do some research on PDA Net software if you are planning on getting a smart phone. Make sure you do your research if you do this.

 

[kansasfarmer]

I have used my cell as a modem in the past and still do occasionally when traveling. I have a signal booster repeater that helped the weak signal at my house, I don't use it any more because there is a new tower close to my house now. The best solution in the middle of nowhere is wild blue my service is through my electric cooperative but dish network is now offering wild blue 2 way satellite service.

 

[Bloodnut]

kanasfarmer - yeah, wild blue is what I'm trying to avoid. I take it that the cell booster worked for you? And that wild blue is better? Thanks.

 

[gadget_lover]

The cellular 'repeaters' do work well. Make sure you get one that matches the cellular carrier.

Using a cell as a modem is often as simple as connecting a USB cable and running the software from the cell phone company. As mentioned, using it 30 minutes a night (even if you have unlimited nights/weekends) can cost you $100s per month without a data plan.

Most cell phones will appear to your PC as a simple modem. You can use it to dial an internet provider like earthlink or you can dial a special number that connects to your cell phone carrier's internet gateway.

Sites like CPF are very graphics intensive. It's not unusual to have a page load at somewhere between 100K to 5 megabytes. For data plans that bill by the kilobyte that gets expensive quickly. This page, with 5 posts, was 89 kilobytes.

Daniel

 

[Benson]

Howardforums.com is the place for information on your carrier's data plans, any loopholes or workarounds, etc.. T-mobile's really one of the better options, but it depends a lot on what exactly you need. One thing: cellular service is always high-latency, although if the best other option is satellite, cell may not be at any disadvantage.

EDIT: but of course, since you're out in the boonies, probably no T-mobile coverage anyway -- I know it's almost non-existent at my folks' place. Maybe Sprint...

 

[LEDninja]

A guy in Canada did it until he got his cell phone bill. (IIRC many thousands of dollars). Problem a modem converts your data to voice. The signal was going out through the voice channel, not the data channel. A 1 hour surf of CPF = 60 minutes of airtime. Do that twice a day and its 3600 minutes a month!

You need to talk to your cell provider (not the retail stores!!!) what dedicated data options are available. And what hardware you need that can use just the data option. You need to pay for only the data transmitted, not the dead airtime in between.

 

[kansasfarmer]

I have alltell it cost $25 a month extra for unlimited data. the service was half the speed of wild blue, I am not affiliated with them just a customer. the repeater worked good had three people using treo650s back in the day on the repeater but the cell internet was intermittent the sat is more consistent. Is there wireless in range that is the best in my area but I am 2 miles out of range. I dropped my data plan with alltell If the hotel I saty at wants $10.00 a day for internet when I travel I just use my cell burn up my extra any time minutes. It seemed to me that when I used my cell fulltime at home that they booted me off just every so offeten to make shure I was not on bit torrent. wild blue is limeted to 7500mb a month rolling average download a month. Good luck in the country my parents who are retired and barley know how to send email have fasssst cable and unlimeted data for less a month,but they live in town. If you are interested I think my repeater is 800mhz I don't need it any more I could sell it

 

[jrmcferren]

It is also important to remember that here in the United States most "Unlimited" data plans have a 5 Gigabyte Limit per month. If you exceed this limit your cellular carrier will either bill you an outragous amount and/or disconnect your service.

 

[gallagho]

If you have a smartphone with WiFi an application called JoikuSpot works well at turning your phone into a wireless hotspot...