Using a notebook (laptop) PC and a cellular phone to connect (dialup) to the internet

Life Technology
1

I saw a few days ago an ad on television about a kind of PCMCIA card that basically works like a cellular phone.
It was on public television (not the telemarketer channels)… was it on CTS (?)

If I am not mistaken, it would cost NT$ 999 a month to use…

It seems a little too cheap for a cellular connection.

I remember that I saw in Kuanghwa Market some kind of PCMCIA card that does work like a cellular phone: it has been around a few years and it is nothing new…

Yet, the ad seemed to be about a monthly service offered - the yue (month) character was displayed near the price.

Since my Chinese is not very good, I could not understand the tv ad very well… hehehe… can you help me about it? :laughing:

Regarding connecting a laptop to the internet using a cellular phone, I wonder if it is possible in an economical way.

WiFi spots are still too few in Taipei (and there are serious security problems with the current WiFi architecture anyway, so I do not find it an option for the time being - regardless of the brouhaha that it is currently enjoying now).

A cellular could do the job like a cheap telephone line. At least for simple things like reading e-mails, news, forumosa (eheheh :stuck_out_tongue: ), etc.

According to my experimentation, I managed to connect my laptop speakers to the microphone of the cellular phone.
Basically it’s a wire from the laptop sound-out female connector to the cellular mic-in female connector.
By dialing through the speaker and then using a simple terminal client, I managed to get on the internet (dialup to hinet).
Kinda like the old times with ancient modems… :sunglasses:

Unfortunately the speed was very low at 9600bps… AND THE PRICE WAS HELLUVA HIGH FOR EVEN JUST A FEW MINUTES!!!
I blazed through hundreds of NT$ in just a few minutes!!!

And the PCMCIA card ad?
I searched the Hinet, Seednet, Sonet, etc. websites… but there seems to be no “dialup cellular” service offered.

So I am wondering what was the ad that I saw on television.

Can anyone help me?

Free Bytes to the Masses!

2

Since I am not in Taiwan, I don’t know what ad you are talking about. There are some pcmcia card that uses GSM technology to connect to the internet. It runs on the GPRS. I use T-Mobile in the US and they offer a service like that. T-mobile actutally offers a regular service and a vpn service. They have some of those cards listed on their website.
There is a second way of using GPRS with a laptop. I know that GPRS allows the cellular phone users to surf the web using their phone. But some phones are modems also so you can connect the phone to your laptop and surf via the GPRS. The speed is slower than the GPRS Internet connection. Some cariers do not allow this to happen since they want to get users to pay for the GPRS internet connection.

Mark

3

[quote]According to my experimentation, I managed to connect my laptop speakers to the microphone of the cellular phone.
Basically it’s a wire from the laptop sound-out female connector to the cellular mic-in female connector.
By dialing through the speaker and then using a simple terminal client, I managed to get on the internet (dialup to hinet).
Kinda like the old times with ancient modems… [/quote]
That’s odd because most (newer) phones can connect via an adapter cable to the RS232 port of your PC and function as a modem without the need for “flying wires”.

Can’t help you with the add either but as markshih there are several ways of connecting to the net using a cell phone:

  • Using the phone with an adapter cable (and driver for your OS) as described above
  • Using the phone with an adapter cable (and driver for your OS) as described above but with GPRS function
  • Using a GSM/GPRS PCMCIA card

Cost for the service will depend on the operator of the network you are using, GPRS is available in Taiwan.

4

I use my PowerBook G4 17" to connect to the Internet via my cell phone. No wires necessary. The PowerBook has built-in Bluetooth. So does my cell phone. Therefore, the PowerBook connectes to the phone wirelessly through Bluetooth and treats the phone as the modem. The phone also has GPRS capability which allows it to send and receive Internet data over a GSM network. I use the old Ericsson T39. However, Sony Ericsson (and also Nokia) have several phones you can get that have both Bluetooth and GPRS. Of couse, you’d have to make sure you have some kind of Bluetooth adapor for you notebook … but actually, you could just use a wired USB connection to your phone if need be. In that case, no Bluetooth necessary. Just get a GPRS capable phone and the separately sold cable.

My GPRS account is with HiNet. Their Internet and brochure information is all in Chinese. You can go down to any office and tack this service on to your existing cell phone plan. There are several plans you can choose from depending on your expected usage of bandwidth in a month. The configuration of each phone is also slightly different. Therefore, I had to make a phone call to Chung Hua’s HiNet service line and have them look the instructions for my phone up in their database. That might be a challenge for some since they usually speak in Chinese AND they’ll want you to switch your phone’s language to Chinese so they can walk you through it over the phone. Taking my phone into one of the offices to have them play with it was a two-hour waste of time (as Taiwanese always think they know everything (wo zhi dao le, wo zhi dao le) … so instead of tell me they didn’t know and please call tech support, all the counter girls, supervisor and all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men came out of the woodwork to fiddle with my phone forever until they scewed it up and told me that my phone was broken … a typical day in Taiwan). But now the whole thing works after I called tech support.

Speeds are not incredibly fast. It is enough for me to do e-mail and instant messaging anywhere I need to. Browsing can be done, but is more for emergencies. I am connecting at 2400 bps, which is what my computer is telling me. But that can’t be right! I’m downloading e-mail way too fast for that speed. I think something in my configuration is not yet optimized. I should be able to connect at much high speeds than 9600, perhpas over 28.8. I’ll have to look into it when I have time, but for now it does the e-mail thing quite nicely.

5

I got a nokia pcmcia “cardphone” in 1999 when the phone company was very slow restoring my service after the earthquake. But sure enough within a week of spending the NT$13000 plus (they must have come down a lot since then) for the cardphone, they got my landline hooked up again. So, I have only used it sporadically over the years when travelling in the south with no other hookup available. The speed is 9600 bps; you can connect from anywhere that your cellphone will function, and the base monthly charge from Far Eastone is only about $150 extra per month for the “data capability”. (Hint: try it first without signing up for the surcharge and tell me what happens; I wouldn’t be surprised if it transmits data just fine). I don’t know if the timed useage charge is high or not since I don’t use it much and never check my bill anyway. For me it’s just a seldom-used last resort, but for someone with a more mobile lifestyle, it could be very handy. The software also allows you to compose and read long text messages at the keyboard and edit your phone numbers, etc., without wearing your thumb out.
pjm

6

workmen.com.tw/index.html

There is this Wi Wi card that fits the PCMIA (sp) slot. Need to activate a PHS cellphone account. I think cheaper than GPRS but only to a limited area of Taipei to north of ShinCHU.

Maybe 4800 NT for the card?

Pay per minute.

7

I found GPRS on my PDA and logged onto the internet. I forgot (did not think about) logging off and it ran for a couple of hours.

My SO has been trying to find out how much I spent. They just told her the price is worked on download.

Maybe it is cheap. Anybody know what GPRS costs? I was out in Guanyin in the middle of nowhere on farm land standing with a dog licking parts because it could. Very suprised to have GPRS there. I seem to have GPRS everywhere.

8

The rates are dependent on your operator but it’s usually priced on the amount of data transferred, not time.
I use Taiwan GSM and their GPRS service is expensive. Last year I stayed in Taipei during CNY and surfed the net like an hour or two a day and it cost me around NTD8000. :astonished:

9

Yup, standard practice is to charge you for time with CSD (That’s the proper name for what most people call WAP), and actual data download for GPRS. It actually works out better for the network this way (more profitable).

You shouldn’t need to worry about leaving a GPRS connection going, as long as it’s not continuing to download stuff. As Rascal says, using GPRS can be expensive though. Check the download rates out with your network.

10

Oh, I meant to say that if you are going to connect your laptop through your phone, using GPRS, it’s a good idea to go into your internet options (on your computer) and turn off images.

In Firefox, this would be Tools > Options > Content, then UNCHECK “Load images”.
In Internet Explorer, it’s Tools > Internet Options > Advanced, then UNCHECK “Show Pictures” (inside “Multimedia”) [You could also turn off download video/audio, etc if you want].

This will save you a lot of money.

11

CSD means Circuit Switched Data, but that is not the name for WAP, it’s just a bearer service for data including modem connections, fax services, WAP, websurfing etc.; in the early days it was even possible to use WAP over SMS. Today however GPRS is commonly used as bearer service for WAP and most other data applications of course (like websurfing, email etc.).

When using CSD it occupies one channel per data connection through the entire network even no data is transferred (say, you are reading a webpage but not loading a new one), thus it’s not efficient. GPRS is packetized and allows several users to share the capacity of data services offered.

12

Sounds like I need to lock the bloody thing out of logging on (flight mode), but will check. My connection is with Chunghwa.

Impressive thing is I’ve been on WiFi and GPRS connection without doing anything or changing anything. It has just found it and been prepared to log on if you click internet.

Also, images are not showing. Just a small useable portion of the usual screen in the PDA that is begging for young eyes or glasses if you want to see it properly. 2.7" screen.

13

CSD means Circuit Switched Data, but that is not the name for WAP, it’s just a bearer service for data including modem connections, fax services, WAP, websurfing etc.; in the early days it was even possible to use WAP over SMS. Today however GPRS is commonly used as bearer service for WAP and most other data applications of course (like websurfing, email etc.).

When using CSD it occupies one channel per data connection through the entire network even no data is transferred (say, you are reading a webpage but not loading a new one), thus it’s not efficient. GPRS is packetized and allows several users to share the capacity of data services offered.[/quote]

Sorry, I didn’t clarify my point very well, plus I was obviously daydreaming when I wrote that. What I meant was that CSD was like the “old” version of GPRS. And by that I mean that it is the “other” alternative for many people. The reason I mentioned that it is the real name for what many people call WAP is because after working for years in the industry, I am fed up of people saying “I am using WAP, not GPRS”. Of course these are guys that connect to internet from the phone itself, so it is irrelevant to this conversation. Like I said, I was daydreaming (about getting out of the office, most probably).