I really love that in a pinch, I can usually use my Bluetooth phone as a modem for decently fast Internet access. I used to be able to do this with a Motorola USB cable, but it was often more trouble than it was worth: going wireless was a huge advantage.
Along these lines, there were a number of PCMCIA cards that you could use as high-speed wireless modems (provided you had a usually pretty expensive cellular plan that covered them), but we haven’t seen much of these for the ExpressCard slots that have replaced PCMCIA on the MacBook Pros.
If you’ve been holding out before upgrading to the MBP because of this, maybe this’ll pique your interest: Novatel’s been hard at work on an ExpressCard that’ll allow fast internet via HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).
The Merlin XU870 ExpressCard is a tri-band HSDPA/UMTS and quad-band EDGE/GPRS product that allows for worldwide roaming between HSDPA networks in North America and Europe. The Merlin XU870 ExpressCard will initially be configured for 3.6 Mbps data speeds and when mobile operators start providing 7.2 Mbps service, a software utility will be used to upgrade the card and boost its speed to 7.2 Mbps.
In the US, HSDPA means Cingular, who’s deployed a network in several cities around the country. Verizon and Sprint, meanwhile, use the competing 1xEV-DO service (which my cellphone supports). You can expect to see the Merlin XU870 sometime this fall.
[via Engadget]
Dan, which cell phone and provider do you have to use a modem via Bluetooth? Is it EVDO, and do you pay $45/month for this feature? I have been looking to do this same thing via Bluetooth with a new phone. Any small piece of advice would be appreciated (or if you can link me to some other page). Thanks!
Scott, I use Verizon. I'm not sure if I'm actually getting EVDO speeds, but my phone does display EV, so I'm guessing so. I don't pay extra for the data plan, but I did have to use a little trick to enable dial-up networking on my E815. The best site to check out for this sort of thing is definitely Howard Forums.