Gabriel

How-to: Use your shiny new Treo 700p as a USB Modem for your laptop and get super-fast Sprint EVDO speeds

If, like me, you found your new Treo 700p to be AWESOME, except for the $39.99 or $49.99 ADDITIONAL monthly charge to actually USE the Bluetooth DUN feature (that wasn’t mentioned ANYWHERE in the marketing that I saw) so that you can hook up your laptop to it and surf the internet using your phone as a connection, (which I only found out about by calling support and asking why using DUN wasn’t working) then you will probably be VERY interested in this handy $24.95 application from Mobile Stream:


Treo USB Modem software screenshot

USB Modem allows you to use Treo 600, Treo 650 and Treo 700p smartphones as a USB modem for connecting a desktop or notebook computer to Internet. To surf the Internet from your PC you will need only a USB cable and a Treo with GPRS/EDGE service or CDMA 1x/EvDO data plan.

Features

* Support for Treo 600, Treo 650 and Treo 700p smartphones
* Support for Windows XP, Windows 2000, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems
* Support for USB and Bluetooth connectivity
* Support for background mode so it is possible to make outgoing voice calls or perform other activity on the Treo without disabling the modem mode
* Support for Fax modem operation
* Small memory footprint (30 KB)

I couldn’t get the Bluetooth connectivity option to work. The USB connection option seems to do the trick however. I’m now able to use my phone now exactly as I wanted to without paying the extra EVDO connection fees (hopefully).

Also, I found a bug where if you have Menu Meters installed and the Bluetooth indicator in the menubar as well Menu Meters keeps on restarting while you are connected. If you turn off display of the Bluetooth icon then everything is fine.

Hopefully this won’t get shut down, since it basically enables exactly what you want — internet access on your laptop (in my case a Mac OS X G4 Powerbook) using EVDO speeds.

Internet Connection panel showing Treo 700p USB Modem setting

Directions:

  1. First, download the trial of the USB Modem software to make sure this will all work for you.
  2. Follow the User Guide instructions to configure your laptop, and install the USB Modem .prc onto your Treo 700p.
  3. Go to Prefs, click on Networking. Make sure that you are currently disconnected. Otherwise the USB modem won’t work.
  4. Click on the USB Modem application
  5. Click the Enable Modem Mode button. Leave the Connectivity method set to USB, and the Background mode set to checked.
  6. Under OS X, open Internet Connect application, and select the Treo 700 USB Modem option. You should see #777 in the Telphone Number, leave everything else blank.
  7. Click Connect.
  8. You should see it saying Contacting PPP Server… then Authenticating, then Connected.
  9. Use the internet on your laptop to check your email, ssh, surf the web, instant messenger, whatever
  10. When you’re done using the internet, click Disconnect in Internet Connect, then click the Disable Modem Mode in USB Modem. If you don’t do this, the next time you try to sync using the USB cable you will get an error message stating that the connection is already in use.
  11. Enjoy super-fast EVDO speeds on your laptop wherever you go…!!!

I did find that occasionally you will need to turn the phone off and then back on again to reset the internal networking features after you’ve used it as a modem.

I purchased the software since it seems like exactly what I need, and I’d encourage you to do the same. Also, I haven’t gotten my first bill with the new phone yet, so I’m not 100% certain that there won’t still be a charge for using the phone as a modem. But you may as well give it a shot.

I’ll update this post if I see anything on my next bill — I don’t expect to be using the phone as a modem all the time since I’m usually in the vicinity of a WiFi connection.

Update 1: I haven’t seen any additional charges on my bill, so this looks like a pretty great solution.

Update 2: Warning: please see comment #23 below for a problem that David had with this where it “fried” his hard drive. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but please use caution when following these instructions. I haven’t had any problems with it at all, but you may want to backup your hard drive before you proceed.

Update 3: – Jan 28, 2008 – Note: it appears that Sprint / Nextel has changed their terms and conditions to specifically exclude using workarounds like this. Here is the exact text of their current T&C as it applies (emphasis added):

Vision/Power Vision: Services are not available with all Sprint phones. Usage is calculated on a per kilobyte basis and is rounded up to the next whole kilobyte. Rounding occurs at the end of each session or each clock hour and, at which time we deduct accumulated usage from your plan, or assess overage or casual usage charges. You are responsible for all data activity from and to your phone, regardless of who initiates the activity. Estimates of data usage will vary from actual use. Your invoice will not separately identify the number of kilobytes attributable to your use of specific sites, sessions or services used. Premium content (games, ringers, etc.) priced separately. Services are not available for use in connection with server devices or host computer applications, other systems that drive continuous heavy traffic or data sessions, or as substitutes for private lines or frame relay connections. Except with phone-as-modem plans, you may not use a phone (including a Bluetooth phone) on a plan with unlimited Vision/Power Vision as a modem in connection with a computer, PDA, or similar device. We reserve the right to deny or terminate service without notice for any misuse. Availability of downloadable or streaming content is subject to change.


You can read my response below, but basically I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot here. I haven’t heard anything from them about this, and probably they’ll only use that T&C to address specific problem usage (for them) where they have a customer using too much of their “unlimited” data plan. I don’t think it’s a real great strategy to tell some of your most fanatical customers and fans that they are basically screwed. Because heres the thing: we have options, some great ones. It’s probably time to look at shopping for a different carrier if you care about regular computer usage without having to pay their extortionate fees for using your computer with this phone as a modem.

Link to share this: https://gabrielserafini.com/blog/2006/06/02/how-to-use-your-shiny-new-treo-700p-as-a-usb-modem-for-your-laptop-and-get-super-fast-sprint-evdo-speeds/

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Gabriel

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206 responses to “How-to: Use your shiny new Treo 700p as a USB Modem for your laptop and get super-fast Sprint EVDO speeds”

Newer Comments »

  1. I followed these instructions, but the Treo 700 USB setting never came up in network settings as shown above. Any suggestions? I’m on Sprint.

    Reply

  2. I think it showed up for me after I turned on the USB Modem software on the phone, then plugged it in via USB. If you open up your Console, you should see it say something like, found USB Treo Modem or something like that. Then it should show up as an additional connection option in Internet Connect.

    Reply

  3. Is it necessary to contact Sprint to get this to work? I’ve installed everything, but the ppp connection always fails (yes, I’ve disconnected from the network first).

    Thanks for the post. I’d appreciate any help.

    Reply

  5. No need to contact anyone. Just install it, hook the Treo to the computer, launch the software, enable the modem and the thing appears only then on either the Mac OS X networkng list or “pops” Windows XP and installs as a USB Modem. Oh, put the computer driver in it’s required location first.

    Watched a 100K feed in a medium to poor coverage area for nearly 2 hours w/o any problem at all. Darn near like being at home.

    Kicks butt!

    Reply

  6. After I upgraded to the latest version of the USB Modem software, the stability problems that I was seeing have totally gone. It works like a champ now. It is so sweet having reasonably high-speed internet wherever you can get a cell signal.

    Reply

  9. I am thinking of getting the 700p and sprint service. On doing a search on google, I came across your blog. I have a few questions…

    Have you gotten your sprint pcs bill? Have they charged you anything extra for this use of the USB connection? What type of service plan do you have for the EVDO?

    Thanks in advance for your response.

    Reply

  10. Nand,

    When you buy the Treo 700p, there is a minimum level of service to support the EVDO features / data on the phone.

    I haven’t seen any additional charges (as there hopefully shouldn’t be, since the plan allows for unlimited data use for on-phone applications, and the USB Modem software is an on-phone application).

    I recommend the setup, since it is extremely handy having relatively high-speed internet wherever you are. Sometimes it’s only just a little bit faster than dial-up, sometimes a lot faster. I think it may depend in part on the number of people using the EVDO network locally.

    Reply

  11. Gabe,
    Thanks for the reply. I looked into the plans that Sprint is offering for EVDO, and there is an unlimited data plan called power vision and with the pics and video package, it is an additional $20 for the primary line. This is what I am planning on getting. Their data plan using the modem costs $39.99 or an extra $20 more a month!
    So, the USBModem package is a slam dunk as far as I go.

    Reply

  13. whow, works like a charm, thank you so much, I stumbled by this webiste by chance. Can I now downgrade my 39$ unlimited package to the 15$ basic unlimited package? I dont care about Picture mail, I can send them by regular email which works great on the new Treo700p. I’m impressed.

    Reply

  14. Pat,

    I would think you can probably change your account level by signing in to the online account area and clicking the change account link… or just call up Sprint customer service and tell them you want to take off the extra package.

    Reply

  16. I’m unable to get my Sprint Treo 700P working with my Windows XP laptop using bluetooth. I have the powervision/$20 month unlimited package.

    The laptap and the cell phone are paired and I can tell they see each other. I just can’t get the dial up to connect… it just hangs on the dialing and nothing seems to be happening on the cell phone.

    Can you help or direct me to resouce? Thanks!

    Reply

  17. Came across your site and downloaded the software from mobile stream. I printed the user guide first. It was pretty much a smooth install. I simply followed the directions in the manual.

    Reply

  20. I got connected with no problem and this is what I was looking for but after a two min. I get inernet connection was terminated because the other sideis n ot responding. Please try again. I followed exact instruction. I have spirint with treo700p send ppp packet is enable. Can anyone help? I would love to buy this but i need it to work.

    thanks

    james

    Reply

  21. $39.99 or $49.99 ADDITIONAL charge- well, thats for the data plan itself- thats not the “additional” part of using the palm with a laptop, which is $10-15 or something. did you expect to use the EVDO data network for free as part of a voice plan?? btw, i am not working in the wireless industry at all.

    i wrote this else where, but it comes down to this:

    here’s what i figure- its not so much extra for the “feature” of tethering itself. they fixed that $49 price thinking how many kb you would actually receive to a Palm device. so, its “unlimited Palm usage” in a way. Laptops receive much more kb of data doing their browsing with IE, Mozilla, etc. also, all those background programs we have on laptops like antivirus, commercial software that autochecks for updates, windows update, etc- you get the picture- all of that is much more volume of data transfer in.

    notice the VZW data plan for a laptop card is $59 for vzw customers and $79 if not. so, they figure if the palm is hooked to a laptop, you will be receiving (via file, browsing, etc) much more kb of data, hence the bump-up in price.

    so as the plan sits at $49, they are basically discounting you (Sprint even more- almost half VZW $49 price for handheld unlimited data plan) for being on a device that typically uses much less kb transfer than a laptop. they could just charge all of us vzw customers $59 right at the bat.

    do i agree, no. but its their plan and we signed up for it. its all about data transfer metering and typical usage even if heavy, but on a handheld device. dont know if the fine print states anywhere that the surcharge is for the “feature” of tethering, but i bet it has somewhere about what device the $49 is “unlimited” for. meaning- if they see your usage in the average of what connection cards are using and well above the average of what handheld unlimited users are doing, you could get nailed.

    i for one want the thether feature just for the feature- i wont be on it 8 hours a day doing all my work, so the USB Modem program is a little fix for me- i wont be receiving the kind of data a road warrior is using.

    Reply

  22. got bluetooth to work for laptop.

    have xp laptop with treo 700p bluetooth DUNS.

    1) dropped the $20 month for vision and traded in for $39 EVDO phone as modem. both phone and laptop work fine.

    2) downloaded palm desktop 4.1.4 version that comes with treo 700p. didn’t have it loaded on laptop before.

    3) downloaded sprint connection manager. and installed after palm desktop install.

    4) set up DUNS with no username or password. just dialing #777 over bluetooth.

    Worked great!!!!!

    Reply

  24. David,

    That seriously sucks!

    Did you figure out how the software did that?

    As far as I know, the USB Modem software only runs on the Treo, with a modem driver on the Macbook, and then it operates exactly as if you had hooked up a regular USB modem and were doing dialup.

    Did the problem happen during installation? What were the conditions that surrounded frying your Macbook?

    I have continued to only have good experiences with my Treo 700p + G4 Powerbook combination (actually using it right now to post this…)

    If you can share the circumstances surrounding your problem maybe other people can avoid the same thing happening.

    Reply

  25. Works like a charm for me on 700p, running Windows XP on the laptop. Bonus is that the 700p also charges via the USB cable, so I don’t have to cart around a triple-cube tap extension cord and supply for my phone/laptop combination, like I needed to with my i500. The EVDO speed is impressive, especially when accessing the Sprint site (of course).

    Interface is more clunky than the way it would work if the dialup configuration was enabled by Sprint, like it should be. It’s annoying to have to pay extra for the ‘Power’ service, but then charging on top of that for dialup was more than I could stomach. We have three phones on this plan, sharing 2000 minutes, with one ‘Power’ phone and two vision phones, so I figure I’ve paid enough in monthly fees, thank you very much.

    Thanks for pointing out the mobile-stream software. For whatever reason, it doesn’t show up in Google searches. Instead, your instructive posting was tops in the relevance rankings.

    Reply

  26. Hi Gabriel,

    Just came across your article on how to use Mobile Stream and am interested in trying it. However, the two pictures do not show up in my browser. They may not be totally necessary and I will try to get things working, but thought you’d like to know.

    Here is the link to your article that I used:

    https://www.gabrielserafini.com/archives/2006/06/02/how-to-use-your-shiny-new-treo-700p-as-a-usb-modem-for-your-laptop-and-get-super-fast-sprint-evdo-speeds

    Reply

  28. They just released version 1.5 of their software, and it adds in Bluetooth connectivity and automatic turning off of the regular network connection so you don’t have to do that part manually anymore… 🙂

    From the README:

    [What is new in v1.50]
    – Added bluetooth support on Treo 700p;
    – Added experimental low latency mode;
    – Fixed Treo 600 receive problem with Mac OS X;
    – Fixed an occasional loss of the bluetooth DUN service;
    – Fixed a temporary lockup with bluetooth connection;
    – Make the modem device node appear with the persistent name in Mac OS X;
    – Auto disable the on-device network data connection;

    You can use the same link you got in your purchase email to download the latest retail version.

    Reply

  30. cp,

    I’ve found that usually calls come in just fine (like normal), but the Internet connection will either slow down or stop altogether while you’re on the call. Once you’re done with the call, it continues on just fine. I’ve never had any problems with receiving or making calls while online using the phone as a modem.

    Reply

  31. hi! Just wondering if anyone has seen any additional connection charges while using this software yet? I’m getting a treo 700p this week, and am just getting the basic Vision Pack. This setup sounds perfect since I’d still like to use my laptop on the road.

    Thanks, Alvin

    Reply

  33. Alvin,

    I believe my data plan allows for unlimited on-device minutes, which is how the minutes used by USB Modem get counted (as far as I can tell.) I haven’t seen any additional charges beyond the regular Vision plan charges due to use of the phone as a modem.

    Gabriel

    Reply

  34. hi Gabriel,

    Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have read the rest of the postings. 🙂

    But thanks for the reply anyway. I’m going to hopefully get my Treo 700p today. I can’t wait to try the software out.

    Alvin

    Reply

  35. I have a treo 700p and i would like to purchase a USB cable modem to connect my 700p to my MAC laptop. Can someone tell me what is the cable to buy. i havent found a cable modem. I found a sync cable and a charge cable. i even found a sync and charge cable. will any of these work as a modem.

    Reply

  37. Gabriel, thanks for finding this invaluable little tool. I have the 700p and installation of the latest version of USB Modem went like a breeze. Well worth 24.95. I’m connected at 921kb.

    Reply

  38. Gabriel, I googled and read scores of articles on using your evdo enabled phone as a mobile modem and your info was the most helpful. Question: I thought I read on one of the sites that the 700p has PAM (phone as modem)detection software installed on it from the phone company. I use Verizon Wireless. Did I read this correctly?

    Reply

  39. Frank,

    I’m not sure about what Verizon Wireless does for that (I am a Sprint PCS customer). I do know that as far as Sprint’s billing system is concerned (as far as I can tell), the use of USB Modem looks like on-phone data minutes and NOT as phone as modem minutes (since it’s not using the built-in software that enables that function).

    Maybe try downloading the demo version and see if it works for your situation.

    Reply

  40. I have the unlimited usage plan for $44.95 a month but I wasn’t sure if they can distinguish what is direct usage from the Treo and what is PC-through-phone usage. I’ll give it a try through the demo version but I hope they don’t hit me with a huge add-on charge at the end of the month.

    Reply

  41. I just received a temp fix for for the BLuetooth connection on MACs. If you’re having problems send Mobile Stream an email and they’ll send you the fix. It’s nice not having a cable connected when I’m using the software. To bad it’s not as fast, and you have to start the program.

    But you can’t all everything, right?

    Alvin

    Reply

  45. Joe,

    I would suggest getting in touch with the USB Modem company support folks and see if they’ve got any tips for you. My setup is running OS X 10.4 and the steps I’ve outlined worked for me… I don’t know what to suggest other than that.

    Gabriel

    Reply
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