Here's how you can get your Mac on the Internet through your
CDMA cell phone (Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, etc). If you have a GSM
cell phone (e.g. T-Mobile, Cingular, AT&T), see instead How To Use Your GSM Cell
Phone as a Bluetooth Modem in Mac OS X.
I discovered that Verizon Wireless
has this nifty service called Mobile Office, which allows you to use your
cell phone as a 14.4 kbps wireless modem for your computer—at no extra charge!
Note that this is not the same thing as their optional Mobile Web
service, which is for WAP-enabled cell phones and costs extra per month. Of
course, your cell phone needs to be a data-capable digital one, but even the
discounted low-end phone I got when I signed up (the Motorola V. Series 120c) is
one.
"The Mobile Office service is available in all Verizon Wireless digital
markets." "There's no additional access fee for Mobile Office service because
it's an included feature of your Verizon Wireless digital service. Mobile
Office calls are taken from your packaged minutes just like your voice calls."
Now, both Verizon and Motorola sell "data kits" which contain all the cables,
manuals, and software you might need. Unfortunately, 1) they cost $70-80, and 2)
they don't support Mac OS X. So what do you do?
- Buy a USB Data Cable (not the whole USB Data Kit) for your phone.
- Mac OS X probably supports your phone out-of-the-box, so you can most
likely skip this step. [Note: I've been told this is not necessarily true with
the new
t720
and perhaps others.]
If you're using a non-supported phone or you are still using Mac OS X v10.1
(seriously?), you can try patching your existing USB modem driver to recognize
the phone. When I first got the cable, I ripped open the package and plugged
it into my iBook, but darn it, the phone didn't show up in Network Pref. Being
the geek that I am, I came up with the
following solution:Download and install the
AppleUSBCDCDriver Patch
package, intended for Mac OS X versions 10.1.3, 10.1.4, and 10.1.5 only.
[The package replaces the older manual
hacking instructions, preserved for the technically curious.] - Plug your phone into your computer.
- Open System Preferences and select Network. If you did everything above
correctly, you should see
Congratulations!
- Now, you need to install a modem script.
- Download the modem script for your phone. Verizon's
Macintosh User Guide PDF includes links to the various drivers they
provide. You can probably get away with the generic
Verizon_Wireless_STD_Driver (mirror).
The Files section
of the maccellphone group contains additional modem scripts.
- Put it in /Library/Modem Scripts. You don't need to
restart. - In Network pref, select "Motorola Phone" from the list of network ports.
- Click the Modem tab and select your modem script (the one you just
installed) from the "Modem" pop-up menu. [Jose Vela notes that you may need
to turn off "Wait For Dial Tone" on some configurations.]
- Download the modem script for your phone. Verizon's
- Configure for your ISP.
- In Network pref, make sure "Motorola Phone" is selected.
- Click the PPP tab.
- If you use Verizon Wireless, you can use their built-in ISP called Quick
2 Net:
- Type qnc as the Account Name.
- Type qnc as the Password.
- Type #777 as the Telephone Number.
Otherwise, fill in the fields with the account info of your ISP
(EarthLink Network, corporate dial-up pool, etc).
[Michael Kincaid writes that "mail.airbridge.net should work for
non-authenticated SMTP." Ralph Strauch says that smtp.airtouch.net "is no
longer valid. That server is now down."][Randal L Schwartz writes in about configuring for the
Express
Network.]
That's it!
Well, maybe. If you can get Mac OS X to dial your cell phone, and the phone
says "Connected" but won't establish a PPP connection, you might need a firmware
update for your phone. Initially, my cell phone would dial and connect almost
immediately, but then it would hang up, and Mac OS X would say "No carrier
detected. Please check phone line connection and try again." I called *611, and
Verizon checked my phone and said that I just need to take it to a Verizon
dealer for a free software update. On a V120c, you can check the firmware
version by selecting Menu -> Settings -> Phone Status -> Other Information ->
S/W Version. Version "2000.08.B2" didn't work, but version "2100.03.28.05" works
beautifully. Thanks, Verizon!
Compatibility
Many popular cell phone models, including most
Motorola V. Series and Timeport phones may work, and with ISPs such as
EarthLink Network as well Please check the
maccellphone group
for specific information.
- The Files
section contains drivers, modem scripts, and other information. - The
Database section contains a table of hardware compatibility information.
FAQ
- Q. Can you help me? I have <phones, service provider, etc>
A. Please use the
maccellphone site.
- Q. I followed your directions but couldn't get my computer to detect my
phone (as shown in Step 4).
A. Quit System Preferences and relaunch it. Try restarting your computer. Use
Apple System Profiler to see if your computer actually detects your phone as
being plugged in. If not, it is a problem with your cable or you are using an
incompatible phone.
- Q. My computer detects my phone, but I am having problems establishing a
reliable connection.
A. Try a different modem script (available in
Files). Look
through Verizon's
Mobile Office web site. If all else fails, contact Verizon tech support,
as Mobile Office is a supported feature of your existing service plan. I found
Verizon's tech support to be surprisingly knowledgeable and helpful.
You may need a firmware update, and they can tell you all about that.
- Q. What about Mac OS 9 support?
A. This web site focuses on Mac OS X. I've been told that Rob McKeever has a
freeware Motorola USB driver. I
believe Verizon and/or Motorola provide a solution for Mac OS 9 with their USB
Data Kit (I could be wrong). Of course, my best suggestion is to upgrade to
Mac OS X.
- Q. What about data synchronization (contacts, etc) for Mac OS X?
A. I don't know of any solutions for non-GSM phones. Alexander Traud's
GSM Remote works only for GSM
mobile phones. Apple has introduced
iSync, which supports Sony-Ericsson GSM phones only at this time. Check
also the maccellphone
group.
- Q. What about faxing?
A. James Bucanek wrote in with some
advice.
Check also the
maccellphone group.
- Q. How did you figure out how to patch the driver? I want to do the same
for my phone.
A. Here is all the
technical information I can provide. If you figure out some useful
information, please post it in the
maccellphone group.
- Q. I have a Windows PC laptop. Can you help?
A. Switch.
Links
- 8/12/02: Jason Geiger posted instructions on getting it to
work under LinuxPPC.
Motorola still doesn't get it.
If you have a question, please re-read the above, then visit the
maccellphone tech support
forum. If you have a comment, you can write to , but I can't respond to
individual technical questions. Thanks for understanding.
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