I don’t do a lot with the Internet connection on my development laptop, usually. I just check websites for compatibility with browsers. But I don’t want MS Windows (necessary for checking MSIE) on my network, so until now I’ve used a dial-up connection.
What changed? Tonight I decided to try again to see if I can use my Blackberry as a modem to get onto the wireless network. I tried once before, a while back, on my Curve, but it never worked. I tried again on the Bold because I got instructions from AT&T to tell me how to do it.
However, in case the page goes away, here’s what I did:
- Install the Blackberry Desktop Manager. Make sure it’s running.
- Right-click the Device Manager in the system tray and click Properties.
- Configure the COM port. Set a speed (presumably the max speed) and disable USB-to-Serial (which is needed to dial to a remote modem, rather than to the AT&T network).
- Open the Modem configuration in the Control Panel. Configure the Standard Modem corresponding to the Blackberry (Modem Diagnostics will show it to be a Blackberry if the Blackberry is plugged in and the Desktop Manager is running). Set its Extra Initialization Commands to
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","wap.cingular"which is a setting specific to AT&T and this phone, apparently. - Open the Connect to a Network window. Click Set Up a connection. Create a Dial-up Connecton.
- Dial
**99***1#with no username, no password.
To use it, ensure Desktop Manager is running, the Blackberry is plugged in, and just dial up. Works for me. I just have to avoid making big downloads on it, and I’m no longer out $9.95/mo for dial-up. Hey, it adds up.