I found myself in the Apple store with much to think about. The Macbook has no expresscard slot and the Pro versions; who knows when the expresscard will be available? As I pondered these things, trying to provoke a Macbook Pro to heat up by running a very high res HD version Batman Returns demo over and over, a nerdy Apple guy drew near. I commented about the expresscards and he checked and said Verizon had them! He was sure of this. Being the Doubting Thomas that I am I left off my assault of the 15" Macbook Pro, which was extremely warm underneath, but only the left handrest was mildly warm after 20 minutes of the demo, I went to the Verizon Kiosk, also in the same mall. "Sure! We have them!" was the reply, as I asked if he was sure of what I ment by EXPRESSCARD. He pulled the card up on his computer; the Kyocera KPC650...oh brother. Anyway I went to plan "B"; off to the Sprint kiosk. I inquired about the Samsung A-900, if it was able to connect Broadband via USB and the Sprint guy said yes. I wasn't even thinking about Bluetooth, which it could also do. I should mention I have a Verizon KPC650 card which is eating me alive with a $80/month fee, but after a year the contract is now expired. So with a 200 minute a month Sprint voice plan of $29 and a plan to connect using phone as a modem for $40/month I get to both talk on a voice plan and connect via USB and Bluetooth for about $86 per month, including tax, as opposed to an $80/month with only the verizon card.
The problem after I signed all the papers with the understanding I had 14 days to undo everything with the only penalty being the voice minutes I used, is...will it work on my 17" Powerbook as will as my Sony T250 PC laptop. The guy said no it would not, and when I called to add the phone-as-a-modem part to my contract they said no, but I know Apple...there is a chance. So I get home and yeah, I downloaded the PC software onto the Sony and it worked fine via USB. So I get my Powerbook out and try to figure what to put in the System Prefs settings.
Service Provider (optional) I put Sprint
Account name I put my Sprint account name xxxxxx##@sprintpcs.com
Password: I was stumped, so I just put the part of my account name without @sprintpcs.com
Telephone Number: #777
Then I connected and it worked flat out. Needless to say I was not a little overjoyed. Next I used practically the same settings after setting the phone up for bluetooth and setting it on discoverable. That worked to, but I suspect the connection is not as reliable as USB; it disconnected once. Understand as of this posting all of this has transpired within the last 3 hours from comming from the mall. So I would advise anyone considering this route to wait and see about my evaluation in the next few days.
Conclusion: The Sprint Reps said it could'nt be done, but I have connected a Samsung A-900 (almost as thin as a Motorola Razor) to my Powerbook via both USB and bluetooth. In fact I am posting this while connected via Bluetooth. If this has already been done then...never mind!
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