go720 and cincinnatibell

[mjb3367]

i have my bluetooth paired with the 720 for handsfree phone calls, but can not get it configured for tomtom traffic. anybody else out there have cincy bell wireless and have any luck

 

[Robm]

Join the club...alot of us have the same problem. I have a blackberry with this issue. Until TT starts qualifying more phones, I am afraid this will be an ongoing problem.

rob

 

[canderson]

i have my bluetooth paired with the 720 for handsfree phone calls, but can not get it configured for tomtom traffic. anybody else out there have cincy bell wireless and have any luck

Find a notebook or PC that has Bluetooth capability.

Cause your phone (you don't give us a clue as to what it is) to be discoverable.

Using the Bluetooth application on your notebook / PC, discover your phone.

Using the Bluetooth application on your notebook / PC, inquire as to what services (or profiles) your phone is prepared to support.

If you see DUN or Dial-Up Networking, at least you've got a shot at making this work. If not, forget it. Your phone won't be able to make the interconnect to the internet that will be requested by your GO 720.

If you do see DUN available, you now need to bother the folks at Cin Bell. They will need to tell you what username and password (if any) you should use for dial up networking via your phone, and what dial string (substitute for a real phone number) you need to make the connection. Further, ask them whether you should let the phone just automatically obtain the appropriate IP address for a connection, or whether these numbers should be filled in manually.

Select traffic, and when it asks about your provider, use "Other" and then manually fill in the bits you obtained from Cin Bell, above. Should work.

The above is a method that can and should be followed by anyone trying to hook up to TT traffic over an "unsupported" phone. My Nextel iDen i870 even works, thanks to someone who talked Nextel out of the right config info to supply to the GO 720.

 

[tinye]

FWIW...I had asked CBW support about this. I was specific about my inquiry being not "tethering to a computer"; but I'm not sure if they make the differentiation.

I'm thinking that he hangup might be the "limited source to the Internet" vs. the possibility that TomTom needs unrestricted Internet access.

Here is the CBW reply, in case there is a clue in it that might help:

"You are able to add Unlimited data to your voice rate plan, however this
package is not able to be used for tethering (using your cellular phone
as a computer modem). With our unlimited data package, you are able to
access the Internet from your wireless phone and download data, however
this avenue is a limited source to the Internet.

When using your phone as a secondary source (a modem) to access the
Internet, by connecting cables offers a full access to the Internet.
This will allow you to download large amounts of data such as entire
movies and will result in being billed for the excessive data usage. It
will be necessary to have a tether data package. To view the tethering
packages available simply access our website using
www.cincinnatibell.com/residential/wireless/."

 

[canderson]

"You are able to add Unlimited data to your voice rate plan, however this
package is not able to be used for tethering (using your cellular phone
as a computer modem). With our unlimited data package, you are able to
access the Internet from your wireless phone and download data, however
this avenue is a limited source to the Internet.

When using your phone as a secondary source (a modem) to access the
Internet, by connecting cables offers a full access to the Internet.
This will allow you to download large amounts of data such as entire
movies and will result in being billed for the excessive data usage. It
will be necessary to have a tether data package. To view the tethering
packages available simply access our website using
www.cincinnatibell.com/residential/wireless/."

Paragraph 1 indicates that when using your phone as a "computer modem" (and that's what we're really doing here), the "Unlimited" package appears to have access to limited sites on the net.

Paragraph 2 refers to a different package called a "tether data package" that would allow you full access to the net, and that's what you'd need.

With that in mind, I think I see what Cin Bell is doing to you.

They assume that the amount of data you'll be able to move using #1 will be somewhat limited, and so they set a price for "unlimited" use that assures them you won't be doing massive data traffic that way and assure themselves a tidy profit for the average user. Kinda gives a new meaning to the word "unlimited", doesn't it? Looks like they normally get $15 a month for that service.

Plan #2, isn't easy to find on their site...

The link they gave you redirects, so I had to move on to a different part of their site to actually get the scoop on their wireless plans. I found their "Blackberry tethering plan" priced at $20 a month if you have voice service included, $30 if you do not. Based solely on that reply from them, and the use of the word "tether" on their web page (which is actually here http://www.cincinnatibell.com/consumer/wireless/rate_plans ) I think that this is the plan that will get you the functionality you need.

BEFORE you sign up with them, assure that they are prepared to give you any necessary PPP or CHAP dial-up networking strings so that you can program these into your GO 720. Those bits are what the GO 720 will use to instruct your phone to make the connection to Cin Bell's network.