When we last left our Superheros they told you how to use your Bluetooth-capable phone, in this case a Sony Ericsson T68i, to get on the Internet wirelessly via GPRS. I recommend that you read that article (“GPRS, WAP Over Voicestream’s iStream Service Using Bluetooth“) first. This article is a revision to that article due to Voicestream’s acquisition by (and name change to) T-Mobile and due to some menu changes in the Bluetooth implementation in Mac OS 10.2.4.
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When we last left our Superheros they told you how to use your Bluetooth-capable phone, in this case a Sony Ericsson T68i, to get on the Internet wirelessly via GPRS. I recommend that you read that article (“GPRS, WAP Over Voicestream’s iStream Service Using Bluetooth“) first. This article is a revision to that article due to Voicestream’s acquisition by (and name change to) T-Mobile and due to some menu changes in the Bluetooth implementation in Mac OS 10.2.4.
What you will need:
- Bluetooth-capable phone (i.e. T68i)
- Bluetooth-capable Mac (i.e. new PB 12″ or 17″, or PB with USB to BT adapter from D-Link, IOGEAR, MacWireless, Belkin Components or Hawking Technology
- A subscription to GPRS data service like T-Mobile Internet (a.k.a. iStream) which costs US$20 per month for 10MB of downloads.
- Mac OS 10.2.4 (40.6 MB)
The first thing you need to do is to install the USB Bluetooth adapter and pair your phone to your Mac. (If you have already paired them you can skip ahead to the next step.)
Make your phone discoverable (Menu : Connect : Bluetooth: Discoverable). Note that the T68i only remains discoverable for 3 minutes.
Discover your phone from your Mac by selecting “Setup Bluetooth Device…” from the Bluetooth menu in the menu bar. This can also be done by selecting the Bluetooth icon in System Preferences. (If you have already paired your Mac and your phone, simply select “Browse Device…” from the Bluetooth menu.
Download these T68i modem scripts and drop them in Hard Drive : Library : Modem Scripts.
Restart.
In the System Preferences : Network, create a new location called “Bluetooth GPRS” then Select: “USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter.”
System Preferences : TCP/IP : PPP
PPP:
- Provider: T-Mobile
- Account name: istream
- Password: (one click of the space bar)
- Phone number: internet2.voicestream.com
PPP Options:
- Uncheck “Send PPP Echo Packets”
- Check “Use TCP Header Compression”
- (everything else default)
Bluetooth Modem:
- Modem: Ericsson GPRS CID1
- Check “Enable error correction”
- Check “Show BT status in menu bar”
- Check “Show modem stats in menu bar”
Click Apply Changes.
Open Internet Connect:
- Configuration: USB Bluetooth Modem Adapter
- (everything else should populate from System Preference : Network)
- Password: (one click of the space bar)
- Click Connect
Voila! Your are online via Bluetooth and GPRS!
Note: When you first launch your Web browser you may get re-directed to the T-Mobile Internet Accelerator Service (http://getmorespeed.t-mobile.com), When I selected the default accelerator options I couldn’t load any Web pages. Every page tried to download to my HDD or complained of a MIME error for “application/gzip compressed.” The fix was to turn off the T-Mobile Internet Accelerator Service. I would be curious to hear from users that have successfully enabled the Accelerator Service.
If you are getting errors, make sure that the Bluetooth on your phone is turned on, that it was paired correctly with your Mac and that you have the 10MB account from T-Mobile. The 1MB US$5 per month GPRS package does not work.
Please post your results in the feedback below.
