The 50-80k is just a guess on my part - the speed tests from dslreports.com don't work when you use the phone/gprs connection. go figure. My $0.02 is the connection is *ok* when you *have* to make a connection - but it isn't a regular connection by any stretch of the imagination. I suppose the biggest problem that I have with it is that the phone (or T-Mobile) will drop you after a relatively brief period of inactivity (60 seconds?) - for example, I find that I cannot read a long email and pen a short reply without the internet connection being dropped. It's not that big a deal because it is easy to reconnect and T-Mobile offers unlimited internet access -- but it would be *very* nice if I had an app in the background that was pinging some random server every 15 seconds to keep the connection open.
Anyway, having said all of that, here are the step by step instructions to get the T610, the Powerbook, T-Mobile, and bluetooth to all work together:
Sure, easy enough.
You need to do a few things - first, do you have any connectivity to t-zones at all? can you check the news or download email, or whatever? if so, you are set with WAP connectivity. If not, follow step 1 below.
Step 1
1. Press joystick.
2. Select Connectivity
3. Select Data Comm.
4. Select Data Accounts.
5. Select New Account.
6. Name it T-Mobile GPRS.
7. Select APN.
8. Enter "wap.voicestream.com"
9. Everything else in this connection is left blank - including user id, password, ip address, etc.. The important part is the APN.
10. Hit the "go back" button - the key right above the #1 - until you're back at the main screen.
11. Press the joystick.
12. Select t-zones.
13. You should now be able to browse t-zones and the like. Select IM & Email and enter your email information and you'll be good to go.
Step 2
If you've already got WAP connectivity, you can skip step 1 above - if not, do that first. Next you've got to set up a GPRS connection that points to another server for internet use. Steps are close to the above - with one or two key differences:
1. Press joystick.
2. Select Connectivity
3. Select Data Comm.
4. Select Data Accounts.
5. Select New Account.
6. Name it T-Mobile BT.
7. Select APN.
8. Enter "internet2.voicestream.com" (I believe there are "internet1, internet2, and internet3 servers" - I'm using internet2 and it works fine.
9. The IP address should be 216.155.165.050.
10. Everything else in this connection is left blank - including user id, password, etc.. The important part is the APN & IP address. An interesting note - unlike a computer, where each must have a unique IP, all of the phones hitting this server must have this IP address - I got my IP from the guy at T-Mobile, but have seen references to the same IP many times on
www.howardforums.com, so we won't run into an issue having the same IP.
11. Hit the "go back" button - the key right above the #1 - until you're back at the main screen.
Now you just need to simply configure the Macintosh Internet Connection to sync with the T610. I assume you've already got basic connectivity between the phone and the Mac? if not, press the "more" button from the main screen and select "turn on bluetooth" - then use the "Bluetooth Setup Assistant" in the /applications/utilities folder on your mac. Associate the phone and the mac and you're almost there.
You need to determine the CID of your "T-Mobile BT" connection -- it's probably "3", but to check, from the main menu, press the joystick and navigate to Connectivity/DataComm./DataAccounts/T-Mobile BT/ and you should see something that says "CID=x", "x" being your CID - remember that number.
Now go to the Macintosh Internet Connect (/applications/Internet Connect) and select "USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter" as the configuration, the telephone number is something you have to add -- it is "*99***3#" - without the quotes, of course. That's star star nine nine star star star THREE pound -- the THREE, of course, is the CID. If your CID is 2 or 4 or whatever, substitute that number instead.
When you want to make a connection, ensure that all other connectivity to your mac is turned off (airport, ethernet, etc.) - so you know this works - and then open internet connect and simply hit the "connect button" - there is no name or password required in the dialog box (or on the phone).
If it all works correctly, you'll see some activity on the phone and the dialog box on the mac will say "contacting ppp server" - and then you'll be up. One thing I have noticed is that the connection will not stay active if you're not doing anything - reading a long email, browsing a webpage, etc. I don't know what the timeout period is, or if you can adjust it, but if you're looking for connectivity when all else fails, this is a neat option. I can easily read and write on the macnn forums - i think it feels like a 50-80k connection. GPRS under 3G has the potential to go to 2 megs - so wouldn't that be awesome!
Good luck with it - happy to chat again if we need to.
Regards,
danbrew
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