Using your phone as a Bluetooth modem

As a follow up to “Configuring your phone for mobile Internet (DST)”, in this post I’ll detail how to use  your phone as a Bluetooth modem freeing you from the mess of wires and also providing a way to utilize tethering without installing bloated phone software like the Nokia PC Suite. Using this method also allows DST users with 3G SIM cards and 3G/3.5G capable phones to enjoy the great speeds of DST’s Go! without having to subscribe the the DST Go! service or buying the Go! SIM card or buying the USB modem.

Requirements:

  • Phone with Bluetooth
  • Computer with Bluetooth
  • SIM card with credit (duh)

Requirements for high speed Internet over 3G/3.5G

  • 3G/3.5G phone in 3G mode (3G only or dual mode is acceptable but not GSM)
  • 3G SIM card
  • 3G phone signal (for Nokia phones it is shown with a little “3G” icon under the regular signal bar)

Note1: if phone/SIM does not meet 3G requirements or no 3G signal is available, the phone will fall back to slower GPRS / Edge connection, but the Internet will still be accessible.

Note2: Not all 3G/3.5G phones are created equally and each have a maximum 3G speed that it can obtain. This can hinder These details can be obtained online from places such as GSMArena.com. E.g. Nokia 6680 max 3G speed of 384 kbps, Nokia E51: max speed of 3.6 Mbps.

My current configuration setup:

  • Windows XP Professional
  • Using “dst.internet” as the access point
  • HP Compaq nx6320 notebook
  • Nokia E51 / Nokia 6680 / Nokia 3110c

The following is the brief outline of the procedure utilizing “My Bluetooth Places” software provided by WIDCOMM preinstalled with the notebook, however the concept stays the same over any computer / Bluetooth software:

  1. Pair phone and computer
  2. Configure phone as a Bluetooth modem
  3. Create network connection dialing *99#
  4. Optional: set extra initialization command to:
       +CGDCONT=,,”dst.internet”
           where “dst.internet” is the access point to connect to

Despite the maximum speed defined in the modem settings is 921600 bps (= 900 kbps) which is less than 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps offered by Go! and typical phones, I have managed to get 1.5 Mbps connections using this Bluetooth method my previous speed tests so I’m not really sure what’s up with that.

Nokia Phones with Nokia PC Suite

Refer to this post. It is for USB connection, but follows the same concept

Detailed Pictorial

  1. Pairing phone and computer
    • Go to “My Bluetooth Places” or the equivalent in “My Computer” or “Control Panel”

      My Bluetooth Places under My Computer screenshot

    • Search for nearby devices (ensure phone’s Bluetooth mode is in discoverable mode, not hidden or off)

      Fina Bluetooth Devices under My Bluetooth Places screenshot

    • Initiate pairing of devices and specify a Bluetooth PIN code

      Right click Phone > Pair Device screenshot

      Bluetooth pin code screenshot

  2. Configure phone as a Bluetooth modem.

    • Double click the phone to search for Bluetooth services offered by the phone

    • Double click “Dial-up networking”

      Dial-up networking under My Bluetooth Places screenshot

      Dial-up networking connecting screenshot

  3. Create network connection dialing *99#

    • Network connection dialog should automatically popup. Username and Password is for authentication to the access point (can be left blank for dst.internet)

      Dial-up networking dialog screenshot 

    • Click “Properties” and ensure correct Bluetooth modem selected

      Connection properties screenshot - selecting right modem

    • To ensure maximum speed over Bluetooth: Select your Bluetooth modem and click “Configure…” > set “Maximum speed” to the maximum value

      Setting modem's max speed screenshot

  4. Optional: set extra initialization command to:
       +CGDCONT=,,”dst.internet”
           where “dst.internet” is the access point to connect to

    • This may have to be done depending on phone. It was required by my Nokia 6680 but my Nokia 3110c was fine without it. If anybody knows why this happens do let me know =)Device manager right click Bluetooth modem screenshot Extra initlization string screenshot

11 Responses to “Using your phone as a Bluetooth modem”


  1. 1 Mohathir March 22, 2009 at 02:17

    ….cool post brother…will give it a try…thnx.

  2. 2 ohio state April 22, 2009 at 11:54

    thanks for the help

  3. 3 toots June 16, 2009 at 13:32

    hello,

    may tagalog version ba ng tutorial na to..?

  4. 4 TheWheat June 21, 2009 at 23:09

    @ohio state I’m glad it helps =)
    @toots I’m sorry but I don’t speak Tagalog so I can’t really translate for you. Perhaps you can follow the pictorial or get somebody who knows English and Tagalog and you are welcome to do a translation of the tutorial =)

    • 5 masteredison June 28, 2009 at 21:22

      hello,

      the direction and step here are not hard to follow but still we cant do it. I dunno whats the problem but we follow the direction up to “3.Create network connection dialing *99#”

      the window appeared and we try to dial the number indicated but still it cannot connect, we use the right phone and bluetooth devices, the phone and the computer already paired but still we cant connect to the net, the phone also have credits..

      hope someone can help about this problem
      thnx…

  5. 6 masteredison June 28, 2009 at 21:20

    hello,

    the direction and step here are not hard to follow but still we cant do it. I dunno whats the problem but we follow the direction up to “3.Create network connection dialing *99#”

    the window appeared and we try to dial the number indicated but still it cannot connect, we use the right phone and bluetooth devices, the phone and the computer already paired but still we cant connect to the net, the phone also have credits..

    hope someone can help about this problem
    thnx…

  6. 7 TheWheat July 1, 2009 at 22:22

    @masteredison what phone are you using? If it’s a Nokia you can try this post to follow directions of how to use Nokia’s PC Suite. You can try using the optional setting of the extra initialization command, some devices need this. If not you need to ensure Bluetooth is enabled. I found out that for my HP notebook, I need to keep the “My Bluetooth places” window open in order to connect via Bluetooth. The phone also needs to support the Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking profile. Last but not least, if you can get the phone’s Bluetooth modem drive you can try install it from “Add New Hardware” in the Control Panel.

    Hope this helps you out.

  7. 8 ferdousulhaque August 17, 2009 at 01:51

    I was worried about configuring my blue tooth to use my NOKIA-3230 as modem.Then after looking for solution i got my way to use it.I want you to use my easy way with image description to connect to blue tooth modem.Search on google “nextech.byethost16 connect edge” you will find your way.


  1. 1 Using your phone as a modem via USB « TheWheat Field Trackback on March 13, 2009 at 01:05
  2. 2 websJapan SEO and marketing services » importing a cell phone to japan and making it work in japanese, with softbank, and as a modem for laptops Trackback on September 4, 2009 at 19:47

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