Surfing with a mobile phone

fathomfathom
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
My car is basically my office so I want to be able to surf the web while driving (or at least sitting somewhere parked). I have an old wallstreet G3 PowerBook running 9.2.2 that I want to use for this. Can anyone tell me the best (and cheapest) way to surf the web with this computer and a cell phone?



I was thinking I would need a cellular modem in the form of a PCMCIA card but is there a way to do without this? My computer is way too old for bluetooth or any of the cool new stuff but it does have IrDA and I have added USB. It also has an ordinary internal modem.



Any recommendations on a cellular modem that works with old Macs?



Also I need to use a prepaid cell phone and not a subscription plan. Any recommendations for what would work good with a cellular modem?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    pesipesi Posts: 424member
    heh. all the restrictions you've imposed will make this somewhat tough...



    many providers provide some type of PC Card cellular modem, but you will NEVER get one of these on a pre-paid plan.



    any type of internet usage using a regular cell phone as a modem is gonna EAT your minutes like there's no tomorrow due to horribly slow connection speeds (think 9600bps). not a good option for pre-paid plans.



    what exact use will you be using this for?



    this may do better in digital hub, where all the phone freaks hang out...
  • Reply 2 of 5
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    http://homepage.mac.com/jrc/contrib/mobile_office/



    works great if you already have a verizon plan...



    tool around the yahoo group that is linked to at the top for more info...
  • Reply 3 of 5
    fathomfathom Posts: 7member
    Thanks for the replies.



    Verizon has some good stuff but unfortunately is not available in my area. For some reason we still get their commercials.



    As to what I will be using this for - I know it will be slow but I only need to access a few sites once or twice a month. Two main uses. Accessing a database that I often need to use when I'm on the road and also using it when I want to access something in complete anonymity (hence the desire to use a prepaid phone).



    I'll take your advice and post some questions on the phone phreak boards.



    Is it possible to buy a cellular modem and a prepaid phone and then dial up through a regular ISP such as AOL?
  • Reply 4 of 5
    tompagetompage Posts: 50member
    I have a Powerbook G4 400 with IrDA and I use it occassionally to dial-up using my Siemens S45 phone. The phone has an IrDA receiver and an internal modem. You need the right modem script, but Apple supply a few nokia/motorola cellphone scripts on the computer (although any that came with yours may now be out of date for current phones). However, if you search the internet you may be able to find a script for your phone. You just drop the script into your Modem Scripts folder and it should appear in the list available in your Modem control panel/system prefs.



    I am in the UK, but I don't think that should make any difference. I use my phone to dial up to my normal dial-up ISP using their standard number.



    As someone has already pointed out, the big problem is speed. You are limited to 9.6k, ie a sixth of the speed of a standard 56k modem and a small fraction of broadband speeds. If you are serious about using it a lot, you may want to leek at getting a faster connection as that speed is only really useful for checking email without attachments.



    In the UK we have GPRS (a sort of always-on connection a bit like wireless ADSL) and a few mobile phone companies provide packages based on bandwidth rather than minutes. However, these are sold to business users and are highly priced as a result. 3G is now being rolled out in the UK so that may solve some problems. However, if you are in the US I do not know whether you have the same systems over there.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    If you can, I recommend the PowerBook 12" with Bluetooth. I haven't used it with a cell phone yet but I've transferred files. All from that little icon in the upper right in the menu bar. Very easy. I imagine the same applies to phones, you just pair it and connect, selecting that in the connection menu which I put conveniently next to my BlueTooth menu! To move them around command-drag.
Sign In or Register to comment.