Re: [PLUG] Through cell phone to Internet - perpetual mobile contract

[Jason <jason@nocks.com>]

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On Tuesday 02 July 2002 14H:45, Kevin Brosius wrote:
>
> Would you mind giving a summary of what's required to get this working
> on Voicestream?  I've been using Omnipoint/Voicestream myself for quiet
> a while, but was under the impression that you needed to subscribe to
> one of their data services to use the modem side of the phone.  I notice
> that my account record shows 'data' but all the info on the web site
> seems unrelated to web/data dial out use.

Sure. It was not very simple. Hopefully, it's gotten a bit easier since then. 
Also, the data service that I have used may not be exactly the same as the 
new "iStream Wireless data network" that Voicestream offers (especially when 
it comes to billing).

A synopsis of what I went through, specifically with IRDA on an Ericsson I888 
with Omnipoint:
1) If you are using IRDA with a Nokia, make sure the IRDA port on your phone 
has circuitry behind the plastic window. Many Nokia phones have a plastic 
IRDA-looking window, but no IRDA capability. You generally also need a modem 
in the phone. The specs and/or manual for the phone should provide all of 
this info. If a data kit is available specifically for your phone model, you 
should be OK.
2) Check the basic connection to the phone, through your favorite comm 
program. You should be able to enter basic AT commands to check that you can 
talk to the phone.
3) Subscribe to the data service
4) Make sure the data service subscription is on your plan (you would think 
that step 3 would make this step unnecessary, but sadly you'd be wrong).
5) Try the phone's built-in modem. Just dial your ISP, something like 
"ATDT##########".
6) If you get a "data not authorized" error from the network, call back and 
try to explain that they still have not authorized your phone for data 
service on the network. You might have to beg the phone in the right way to 
provide the "network" error message, not the error message from the "phone 
modem". Talk to a tech, if possible.
7) Go back to step 4 and repeat until it works.

In slightly more detail:
I opened the I888 in a terminal window and dialed my ISP's number. I believe 
that I had to work with an Ericsson I888 AT command spec I got from their 
website (or maybe it was for something like a CF/HF888 which is almost 
exactly the same phone - I probably still have it if you are working with an 
equivalent phone).

You may or may not need to dial a 1, etc. In my case, I usually use a "+1" 
prefix for dialing (yes, including the plus sign). The phone# probably needs 
to be in the same format as if you put it in a speed-dial memory location.

Basically, it didn't work for some time. First, they did not even have the 
"data service" on my account. Finally, I had to get the error message that 
the network was providing, not the one returned by the phone. I believe the 
real problematic one was to the extent of "data service not authorized by 
network". There was a totally different error returned by the phone, but I 
can't remember what it was.

I discussed this with one of the techs a number of times, and the last time he 
went "Aha", flipped some configuration parameter for my account on the 
Omnipoint network (and maybe even a global network configuration parameter at 
one point - it's been a while). After that, viola, the magic started to 
happen. I did most of this troubleshooting under WinCE and Win98. Getting 
IRDA working under Linux took some doing, but there are a number of places to 
go to get that info (IR Howto, etc.). Also, I'm using a Sony Vaio with an NSC 
IRDA chipset.

There's probably a few other things that my memory has lost in the many 
refresh cycles that have elapsed, but that's the gist.

>
> I rented one of the Ericson world phones once.  That's a nice phone.
> Used it in Australia for business.  At the time, Omnipoint international
> roaming rates tended to be cheaper than US phone card and hotel calls.

Thanks, I really like the phone (accessories are a bit scarce, though), and 
really liked Omnipoint. I think they were still pretty green when it came to 
data service when I went through this.

Voicestream is OK. Hopefully they are a bit more familiar with setting this 
stuff up at this point. I also really like IRDA, I already carry enough 
cables to choke a small elephant. Thankfully this results in one less. I wish 
more phones came with functioning IRDA ports.

Good luck,
Jason
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