I spent ages trying to piece together the puzzle of connecting my pc to the internet over GPRS. I eventually found several articles that together showed me the way. This is for all the people still trying to get it working.

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The USB version is essentially the same as the bluetooth version, minus the

bluetooth pairing procedure. (which i'm hoping you can do alone)

My advice is to do it via usb first, get it working like that, then apply

that to bluetooth

They both invlove a 3 stage process.

1) Manually installing your phone's modem driver
2) Configuring this "new modem" to use the correct APN settings for your
network -below are o2 and orange-
3) Correctly creating the dial-up connection

1) Installing the phone's modem driver
-This is in the form of a simple .INF file that came on your SPV's
installation CDROM. Its not obvious at first but it is on the root of the CD
called something like USBMDM.INF or USBMDM-5.INF. (mine's attached C500)
-To get this to work you must do the following
a) plug in the phone
Stop activesync by going to taskmanger, processes and terminating
the wcescomm.exe process
c) wait till the ActiveSync icon has left the system tray
**** the following step (d) is the step you skip if doing a bluetooth connection****
d) On your phone go to start,(more, more), accessories, modem link,
USB connection, menu activate.
e) As soon as you do this your machine will say "found new device etc
etc". When it asks you for the driver click cancel to manually install.
f) in device manager now find the "unknown" new device (this your
phone), hit properties, driver tab, update driver. point it to the USBMDM.INF file (its around a 50Kb file). Accept the warning and you're done.

2) Using correct APN settings

This part applies to both Bluetooth and USB connections:
In device manager right click the usb modem (Or the Bluetooth one) that
should now appear in your device list under "modems". Hit properties,
advanced, then enter the following line

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","mobile.o2.co.uk"
or
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","orangeinternet"

(exactly like this - it is case-sensitive!). Ok.

3) Now follow these last instructions carefully

==== for correct settings of non o2/orange networks see this link and scroll down====
******http://www.filesaveas.com/gprs.html******

O2 GPRS Settings:
=================

APN address: mobile.o2.co.uk
Username: mobileweb
Password: password
Session type: Continuous / permanent
Authentication: Normal
Security: Off

Orange GPRS settings:
=====================

Homepage: http://orange.multimedia/
APN address: orangeinternet
Username: [leave blank]
Password: [leave blank]
Authentication: Normal


=============Instructions continued===========

-at your pc go to start, connect to, show all connections.
-create new connection, next
-connect to the internet
-set up manually
-dial-up modem
-tick the USB OR Bluetooth modem you wish to use
-give the connection a name
-phone number is *99# (this uses your phones default number) or if dialing in directly via RAS insert that number instead eg +442076654434
-username = as settings above (network specific)
-password = as above (network specific)

(my o2 connection works with anything, so long as they're not blank 8) )


-Thats it. Now dial it

let me know if it works for you
Charlie

Great advice, BUT any idea how to get this working for a non GPRS connection?

I'm trying to set up a connection between my PC and my workplace, which uses a RAS server. However, all I get is Error 678 the Remote Computer did not respond. This happens whether I use USB or Bluetooth.

Any ideas?

do you mean via a standard home dial-up modem? and dialing directly in?

or via a vpn over adsl/dial-up?

forgive me for asking but, is your user account enabled for remote access in active Directory? (the dial-in tab)

I would also be sure to disable any external firewall if you have one and Check the authentication method your server is using and any other relevant settings (eg encryption). Also check you have no time restrictions for when your user account can log on.

this probbly hasn't helped..sorry

I can't install the modem for bluetooth connection. The computer doesn't look for a new bluetooth device. Isn't the driver only for an USB connection?

I use a Dell Inspiron laptop with WinXP Prof SP1 and Socket bluetooth CF card with DigiAnswer driver.

Can anyone tell me what the implications are of using when abroad?
I am using an Orange SPV C550 and am travelling to France where I usually get Orange France - but ocassionally other networks.

The number I am using is *99# is indicated in this thread.

Many Thanks

Thanks so much for this, Charlie. It worked perfectly, first time. I was really surprised. I have only one small problem and it's that I can't access the net through my Zonealarm firewall using my orange connected in this way. I have no idea why. If I turn off the firewall everything is fine, but it's risky. Any ideas?

Cheers.