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Monday, July 14, 2003 |
T-Mobile Internet Macintosh web browsing works!I haven't been able to get web browsing working while using my T-Mobile Internet GPRS connection, but it just occurred to me to enter T-Mobile's web proxy server in my Network settings:
System Preferences > Network > Proxies tab
Check the boxes next to Web Proxy (HTTP) and Secure Web Proxy. In the fields next to these two items, enter getmorespeed.voicestream.net.
It doesn't work with Safari (yet), but works fine with Internet Explorer.
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Saturday, July 12, 2003 |
T-Mobile GPRS Internet access in EuropeI just got back from vacation, visiting my father-in-law in France. We spent some time on the beach in Brittany, and I was able to use T-Mobile GPRS roaming in Europe.
It works perfectly, but there are a few things to watch for. First, data roaming costs $15 per megabyte! Secondly, web browsing is not supported for Mac users unless you use VirtualPC. Just as well, since it'll cost you a fortune. Voice roaming is far more reasonable at $0.99 cents U.S. per minute.
I ended up checking e-mail directly on my Motorola P280 phone. The laptop connection was primarily for emergency use, and worked fine when I tested it. Just be prepared to try a few times - it didn't work at first, but I jiggled the cable, rebooted the computer and phone, then it connected.
I'm still somewhat anxious about the bill |
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 |
BluetoothWay back in November 2001, Red-M released the Blade Bluetooth Springboard Module for Visor. I got one right away, thinking it was going to be really useful.
Unfortunately, there was nothing available at the time for it to pair with. It was the sound of one hand shaking.
When the D-Link Bluetooth Adapter became available, I got one of them immediately, thinking I had found the perfect mate for my Blade. Surely I was only moments away from a wireless hot-sync, at the very least (oh behave!)
My interest in Bluetooth was rekindled when I saw Drag'n'tooth pop up on Versiontracker today. Drag'n'tooth uploads Palm files using Bluetooth.
I was able to successfully pair my Visor/Blade combo with the D-Link adapter plugged into my PowerBook, but that's as far as it got. No hot sync, no Drag'n'tooth - no joy.
Visited the Red-M website to look for an updated driver, but they apparently sell only software and access points now. $500 for a really slow access point??
There certainly is no point in trying to contact Red-M for support, as I've tried this before - no response.
I understand that many people are enjoying their Sony-Ericsson T68i with iSync, but not having a T68 or Palm Tungsten makes the whole Bluetooth experience disappointing.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2003 |
Faking AirPort ExtremeApple's latest wireless offering, AirPort Extreme, uses the not-yet-standard 802.11g protocol, which is much faster than the previous 802.11b version of AirPort. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on any previous AirPort-compatible Mac (bus is too slow).
Naturally, someone has come up with a way around this "limitation" :)
I got a Linksys WAP54G Wireless 54g Access Point for $130, and Linksys WPC54G Wireless 54g PC Card for $70, both from Amazon.com.
The access point works out of the box with any AirPort card using the slower protocol, but the PC card is not recognized by MacOS X. The instructions for hacking your system to recognize the card can be found here.
It worked fine after running the Perl script as directed, but there are a few things worth noting; mainly that there's no GUI to see what you're doing or if it's working. It's similar to what happened when Apple left AirPort support out of the OS X Public Beta - someone came up with a hack that worked, but it was definitely a temporary solution.
My Ti PowerBook hung when I tried to boot with the PC card inserted, but worked fine when I put the card in after booting was complete. It's fine to pull the card out for transport while the machine's sleeping and put it back in before waking up, but you must be very quiet
Another quirk is that you need to use the Internet Connect app to select the access point using your Network Control Panel's AirPort configuration (even though it's not really AirPort), and the setting is forgotten when the machine sleeps - you need to re-select the access point after waking up.
The benefits I experience when using 802.11g are increased speed and range.
The signal was better moving my laptop farther from the access point when using the Linksys system then with the AirPort system, but I suspect this is mostly due to the Linksys card's external antenna. Titanium G4 PowerBooks are famous for lousy AirPort reception.
As for speed, the AirPort system is already faster than a T1 connection, so it's irrelevant for web, e-mail, etc. However, it's significantly faster when accessing files on my Jaguar server. This has always been a gripe of mine, because the OS X finder is already sluggish when compared to OS 9. Add slow file transfer speeds on top of that, and it's not a pretty sight.
Everyone using AirPort with OS X on their laptops in the office was complaining about things being really slow, so 802.11g may be a good solution once the standard has been approved.
By the way, RFMon is an interesting mailing list for anyone looking into wireless (particularly if you like building stuff out of junk like Pringles cans!). It's focused on the DC metro area, but there are similar organizations around the U.S.
Lastly, MacStumbler is a great tool for seeing what kind of waves are going through you head.
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Thursday, January 16, 2003 |
[Update] Internet access via cel phoneI was finally able to get my PowerBook connected to the Internet using my Motorola P280 phone!
The problem was that my T-Mobile account wasn't provisioned for Internet access. I had the $2.99/mo 1MB T-Zones GPRS service, which lets you browse text on the phone's matchbook-sized screen, but you can only access T-Zone's built-in services (no Internet).
To access the Internet, you have to increase your T-Zones GPRS bucket to at least the $5/mo 1MB data plan, the $9.99/mo 5MB plan, or more. I chose to start at the $9.99 level.
I have the Smith Micro QuickLink Mobile cable/software bundle, but couldn't get that to work. To be fair, I haven't try it again since the Motorola cable worked.
(Hang in there - we're almost done!)
Motorola's data kit software is Windows only, so, I downloaded Ross Barkman's Motorola GPRS modem scripts, plugged in the cable that came with Motorola's kit, then set up a location in my Network Control panel as follows:
I then opened the Internet Connect application and clicked "Connect". Ten seconds later, I had an Internet connection.
The first time opening a web browser using this configuration, it automatically connected to T-Mobile's proxy server
Went to http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest, where my download speed was clocked at 123.9k/sec. (twice as fast as the internal modem!!) You can test your connection speed using the "bandwidth test" badge on the right of this page.
This is pretty exciting - I can connect my laptop to the Internet at very usable speeds anywhere that T-Mobile has coverage for a minimal monthly charge on top of my $39.95 nationwide plan.
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Saturday, January 4, 2003 |
Internet access via cel phoneHoly crap - Maine is cold!
The QuickLink software gave a "no cable found" error with my Motorola cable. The QuickLink cable must be proprietary, and I haven't received it yet. This shouldn't be so hard!
Good thing my PowerBook has an old-fashioned built-in modem :) Works like a charm, albeit slow.
Keeping my fingers crossed - all my servers are running just fine, and I haven't done anything with them in over 2 weeks! We'll see how everything is when I return to the office on Monday.
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Wednesday, January 1, 2003 |
Happy New Year!I'm leaving in a few hours for Connecticut to help my mom move near my sister in Maine. I'll be using a dialup connection (grr!) to UUNet, but I'll also try to use my Motorola P280 connected to my Ti PowerBook. I've had all kinds of problems with this before, so I'm going to try Smith Micro's QuickLink Mobile Kit. It's supposed to support T-Mobile's "high-speed" GPRS network - we'll see.
I suppose I could always try to find a Starbucks or some other T-Mobile hot spot and use my AirPort 802.11 card. Or I could bring a router and tap into my sister's DSL. Or I could forget all about Internet connectivity and spend more time with my family :)
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