Motorola V300 GPRS Modem Configuration on Windows XP SP2 Revisited.

I recently changed laptops once again, and once again I was confronted with the problem of connecting my Motorola V300 cell phone to my Windows-based laptop via USB, so I could use the phone as a GPRS modem. I have come to depend on this configuration while traveling to locations where there is no suitable LAN I can hop on or there isn't a wireless hotspot available. Some of you may recall that I have been through this before.

This time, I was determined to be more methodical about connecting the modem, installing Mobile Phone Tools with the right drivers, as well as documenting everything, but most of all I wanted to be able to do this quickly, should the need ever arise again. Now there is no point in calling the support line of your cell phone provider for the Windows configuration of the GPRS modem, even though these settings are provider dependant. Trust me. I learned the hard way. My provider has a voice recognition based support line and when you call it sends you in a never ending downward spiral, making one feel an awful lot like Commader Riker. Put it this way, as usual, the help desk was no help. During each of three calls that ended in stalemate, my technical support representatives sent me to Ericsson mobile phone representative ... and of course the technicians there could not have been less interested in my inquiry, as soon as they heard keywords like Windows and Motorola. Why Ericsson? Your guess is as good as mine.

However, in the interests of trying to help those of you who want to do the same thing at some point, and also to record the process for myself, here is what you need to do to connect your cell phone to your laptop and use it as a GPRS modem, assuming you have the required phone<->USB connecting cable and drivers for your phone.

You will need a couple of pieces of information from your cell phone service provider (these settings are typically the same ones as the Blackberry users require to access the internet from their handheld, so if the support agent does not know what you are talking about, which is highly likely, ask for the GPRS Blackberry settings). They will give you a WAP user name, password and phone number, which is typically something like “*99#”. These values will be entered into the Windows Dialing Properties dialog when you set up a new connection, in exactly the same way as you would set up an Internet dial-up connection. In addition to the user name and password, ask your provider for the Access Point Name (or APN), which in my case is 'internet.com'. What they can't or won't tell you is where, in Windows XP, you enter this information, since the APN is not part of the dialing rules.

Once your phone is connected with the cable to the laptop with the correct driver installed, and the phone turned on, Windows should recognize the new hardware as a modem. Right click on the modem in Network Connections, in the device Properties dialog. Click on the advanced tab. There you should see a text field labeled "Advanced initialization ...". This is where you enter the APN name, but you need to guess at the format of the initialization string for your provider -- in my case this is +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet.com". A quick internet search will likely turn up this configuration string for your setup -- here are several I collected (although your mileage will vary):

• TMOBILE USA Users: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet2.voicestream.com","",0,0
  
• AT&T: +cgdcont=1,"IP","proxy"


• Rogers: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet.com"


• Cingular Users: +cgdcont=1,"IP","ISP.CINGULAR"


• UK Vodafone Users: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet"

Good luck!!