Question

tether treo to laptop for internet access???

Asked by: wendy326

I hear that it is possible to tether a treo (with a data plan) to a laptop so that you can use the treo as a modem for internet access. I'm with Cingular, and the rumor is that it's OK with them but not with the other providers. However, I have no idea how to do it or where to start. I thought I would need a cable, but I guess bluetooth might be an alternative. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

And if I'm taking a big risk of messing up my PDA, please let me know that too...stability's important because I just don't have the time to mess with chronic bugs.

Thanks so much.

Wendy

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2005-06-03 at 12:57:32ID21446348
Tags

cingular

,

tether

,

treo

Topic

Handhelds and PDAs

Participating Experts
3
Points
250
Comments
11

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Downgrading Treo 650 firmware
    I upgraded the firmware on my Treo 650 and it seems to have been running pooorly and unpredictably ever since. THe reason I did the upgrade was to see whether it would solve the problems I was having making bluetooth pairs with my Prius and my laptop. As i turns out I did n...
  2. Bluetooth to surf the net with treo 650
    I have a server with buetooth in my job to sync all the sales people treo 650. They also use the treo to input customer data and PO (purchase orders) on the fly. Most of the time the sales people arein the office and we are spending too much on internet usage on the treos. ...
  3. laptop bluetooth
    i have a dell d810 and a compac presario 3000. I also have a treo 700. I would like to get the bluetooth owkring on teh laptops to conect to my pda, but when I go into conntral panel I do not see any bluetooth icons. what do i need to do?
  4. treo 650
    I am using sbs exchange server sp2. I can sync my treo 650 with the exchange server and get email, it tries to sync the calendar but nothing comes through I get mail fine I get contatcs fine no calendar This is driving me nuts. I have reset the treo several times and started...
  5. Cingular treo 750
    Cingular treo 750 with windows mobile 5.0trying to sync to SBS 2003 exchange server Exchange SP2 loaded Godaddy turbo certificate installed to server and handheld. When I sync I get an error message "Invalid certificate on server". I checked with Godaddy and thier...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: whtrbt7Posted on 2005-06-03 at 13:19:41ID: 14142921

Which Treo do you have?  You need a Treo 650 in order to do this by bluetooth otherwise you will need a Treo data cable.  It's stable but it may be a little slow.  You get around 40kbps which is slightly slower than dial-up connection.

 

by: wendy326Posted on 2005-06-03 at 13:28:57ID: 14142968

I've got a treo 650, and I've got a laptop with bluetooth built in. I've just been looking at an app called PDANet that looks like it might work.

I've also been browsing Cingular's plan data - I don't want to get a surprise on my bill - and this is what it says:

Data Service sessions may only be conducted for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) e-mail; and (iii) corporate intranet access (including access to corporate e-mail, customer relationship management, sales force automation, and field service automation applications). The Services cannot be used with server devices or host computer applications. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, telemetry applications, automated data feeds, continuous jpeg file transfers, Web camera posts or broadcasts, other machine-to-machine applications, and voice over IP. These Services are not intended to provide full-time connections, and the Service may be discontinued after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage.

Sounds like this would be ok as long as I don't overuse it. Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Wendy

 

by: whtrbt7Posted on 2005-06-03 at 14:04:53ID: 14143234

With Cingular, you will be using EDGE which will be faster than what I originally stated.  You should get speeds around 128kbps or so.  You should get one of the laptop Connect data plans in order to make this happen though.  They have the 5MB, 10MB, 20MB, 50MB, and unlimited plans at $19.99, $29.99, $39.99, $49.99, $79.99 respectively.  You will also be able to use your Treo 650 under the same plans.

On your laptop either have a data cable or a bluetooth adapter connected.  If you are using bluetooth, you need to setup a DUNP (Dial-Up Networking Profile) bluetooth connection from your laptop to your Treo 650.  This will allow your Treo 650 to be a modem for your laptop.  

 

by: wendy326Posted on 2005-06-03 at 14:08:26ID: 14143268

Well, I already have a plan with Cingular that's unlimited data on the treo, for $40/month. Do I need a second unlimited data plan on top of that? And Cingular has disabled the dial-up networking via bluetooth, so I guess I'm looking for a workaround there.

Thanks,
Wendy

 

by: whtrbt7Posted on 2005-06-04 at 00:06:21ID: 14144847

There is no workaround unless you get one of the Laptop Connect plans listed above.  This would enable you to use your Treo 650 as an EDGE modem.  You can connect Bluetooth DUNP for the Treo 650 if you have the Laptop Connect plan.

 

by: whtrbt7Posted on 2005-06-06 at 21:59:42ID: 14159213

Almost forgot to tell you why you can't access on a laptop without the Laptop Connect plan.  The Laptop Connect plan opens up most of the ports blocked on normal smartphone APNs.  This allows for the carrier to make more money off of you be locking off ports for access.  This means that many things on a laptop wouldn't work which includes instant messaging programs, VPNs, etc...

 

by: didyoufindityetPosted on 2005-06-09 at 10:54:40ID: 14182102

In relation to your question about having a surprise on your bill, it is generally if they see you having excessive amounts of traffic while using your PDA device ie. streaming audio, large files(50+meg files at a time), or the such that has continous streams of data traffic then that's when they'll catch you and surprise you on your bill.  I don't have a treo 650(looking on getting one though) but I do have an unlimited data plan and voice services on one and haven't had any problems with billing issues.  I also haven't had any port issues being blocked, everything works with instant messaging (aol yahoo) and the vpn software I use works(VNC).

 

by: Mikal613Posted on 2005-06-10 at 06:31:16ID: 14188232

the treo 650 does have bluetooth and you can make a Gateway with your laptop pending it has a dongle.

 

by: wendy326Posted on 2005-07-20 at 08:35:20ID: 14485755

Thanks for all the help. I ended up with an inexpensive little app called PDANet on my Cingular Treo, and it seems to be working well. It connects wirelessly using Bluetooth and generally operates at about 192Kbps, so it's pretty fast. It actually seems to work better than my PC card that's supposed to do the same thing, so I'm going to cancel that. And so far no surprise bills.

I will split points...

Wendy

 

by: wendy326Posted on 2005-07-20 at 08:37:17ID: 14485780

By the way, the connection I'm using is the unlimited data plan for my Treo, at $40/month. I do not seem to need a laptop connect plan.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...