Well, now that my mobile provider supports EDGE (whee!), I’ve been wondering whether I could put that to use for more than just my Treo. And, since my Treo 650 has Bluetooth, I went searching to see if I could use that to feed Internet access to other devices (like my PowerBook). Apparently, that's possible — Captn Swing figured out the steps to set up Bluetooth on a Treo and have OS X treat it as a Bluetooth modem.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the prerequisites are steep, but they’re not a shoo-in for everyone. Among other things, the author only tested the sequence on OSX Tiger (10.4) and it needs an unlocked Treo 650. Fortunately, I have both of those :). Basically, it’s a matter of installing scripts (on the Mac) for a generic GPRS modem), pairing the Treo with the Mac, and then configuring the network on the Mac. Of course, there’re a few sub-steps to each of those, but the article includes plenty of screenshots as well.
I have WiFi set up at my apartment, so I wouldn’t often need to use this, but this could be particularly useful for places like airports or coffee shops. Sure, there’s often WiFi there, but not the free kind ;). And, with my unlimited data plan, it doesn’t cost me anything extra to siphon some TCP/IP from my phone to my laptop.
All the same, if my speed tests from yesterday are any guide, I’m in for about 12 KB/sec with that kind of setup. On the bright side, that shouldn’t be straining the Bluetooth connection (which can apparently handle 721 kbit/sec or 90 KB/sec), but I’m not exactly going to be steaming XviD over that kind of connection either ;).
Why does the phone need to be unlocked? I’ve seen numerous articles about using GSM/GPRS phones as Bluetooth/ USB modems and it’s never mentioned them needing to be unlocked.
Your guess is as good as mine, Adrian — that’s just what the article lists :-/. This is just conjecture, but it could be that some carriers have crippled the Bluetooth on their (locked) phones in order to discourage customers from sharing Internet access with external devices.
I set this up with my SonyEricsson P800 and my PowerBook. I use it frequently when traveling. There truly is something marvelous about sitting on a bus–I mean the kind of shuttle bus that takes one hour to bring you from the hotel to the airport–in the middle of urban traffic and be checking email. I even did an online airport checkin and seat selection once FROM THE BUS to the airport. That was cool. All this, and the phone never even has to come out of your pocket. You’re right it DOES take some fiddling to get it set up. But when it works, it’s one of those moments when you figure this technology is not all that bad. SOME TIPS: turn off any auto updating stuff, such as a stock ticker or webpages with rotating ads. Don’t browse to graphic intensive sites. Google searches and email are ok. YOu can really go through a lot of bits fast, and most phone plans charge obscene rates for bandwidth. It does not take long to burn a $100 bill.
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