How to Turn Your LG EnV 2 Cell Phone Into a Portable Dial Up Modem for Your Laptop (or Desktop)

Intro: How to Turn Your LG EnV 2 Cell Phone Into a Portable Dial Up Modem for Your Laptop (or Desktop)

We've all at somepoint had that need to use the Internet where it just hasn't been possible, such as in the car, or on vacation, where they charge a costly amount of money per hour to use their wifi. finally, I have come up with a simple way to get online no matter where you are.

There are two options to connect to the internet.

you can use your phones data service line by calling #777. please note that this will require a costly plan (for verizon an additional 60$ to your existing bill), but is the fastest plan available, giving near high speed internet

if you pay a monthly subscription for AOL, you can use their access numbers to connect to the internet. this is the cheaper and better value if you already pay the $30 a month for AOL or whatever it is. This option is miserably slow, with speeds around what i believe is 14 kbits, a slow dial up connection. with this connection, you will be able to use things like AIM and Email, but websites like facebook and youtube can take up to 5 minutes to fully load if you are lucky, and most of the time just time out (other words it gives up).

So with this being said, i will explain how to connect to verizon's service first, followed by connecting with AOL dialer, a program that comes with AOL 9.1.

STEP 1: Some Things You'll Need

you will need

An LG En V 2 (I'm sure you can replace this with any other phone as long as it can be used as a modem, check with your provider to see if your phone can be used as a modem)

A Compatible USB Data Cable (LG EnV 2 uses a USB to Micro USB cable, which is availible online at websites like Newegg. This cable interface is newer, so it may be hard to find in stores.

A Laptop, Preferably with vista, or you will have to hunt the drivers down on the Internet. i believe Verizon has a driver and USB cable combo for a reasonable price

The driver (as mentioned above) vista will find it for you automatically

STEP 2: Connect the Phone

Connect the Phone to the computer.

on the EnV2, you have two interface modes: Music or Data

Choose Data

STEP 3: Go to Network and Sharing Center and Do the Following

Go to the start menu, and choose network. in the network window, on the teal looking toolbar, click network and sharing center.

When the network and sharing center comes up, you will see several options on the left. choose set up a connection or network.

a wizard will come up with several choices. choose connect to the internet.

If you are already connected to the internet, you will want to choose set up new connection anyway.

choose create a new connection if it asks if you want to use any existing connections. you will now have 3 options: wireless, PPPoE, or Dial Up. choose Dial Up.

now in most conditions, your laptop already is equipped with a dial up modem, so you will want to choose the one that looks like your phone name, with the EnV 2, you will want to select LGE USB MODEM.

now you will have 3 boxes to fill in, a phone number, you username, and a password.

In the phone number box type in #777 including the pound sign.

in the username box, type in your cell phone's number, followed by @vzw.com

and in the password box, type in: vzw

name your connection, select wheter you want to save the password, and whether you want other people to use the connection.

when your ready to go, click connect at the bottom of the box. if you are successful, it will tell you you are connected. if you arent, then go back and make sure you typed certain things right.

STEP 4: Open You Web Browser for a Suprise

so you look to the bottom right, you are amazed to see that the internet icon is in fact present. So in excitement you open your web browser, and then all excitement changes to fury when you discover that you need to pay $59.99 a month in addition to your existing bill. you have two options: you can click the subscribe button in the browser, or you can use your AOL account to get a slower but working internet connection. i recommend subscribing if you dont pay for AOL.

STEP 5: Install AOL If You Don't Already Have It

please note that you need to pay for AOL to use the desktop service with dial up, so if you arent already an AOL customer, just go for the $60 a month, its at least 10 times faster.

go to aol.com and install aol 9.1 or 10 depending on what you prefer.

with AOL 9.1 theres a tool called AOL dialer. AOL dialer is a dial up connection tool that connects you to the internet without having to use the full version of AOL. great if you are using an external web browser such as firefox or internet explorer, or AIM, MS Outlook, or anything else that gets u online.

STEP 6: Set Up Your Preferences

AOL software should help you through the process, and automatically detect which modem is connected, which hopefully you are not tethered to a land line phone jack when you go online. open AOL dialer from the AOL folder or the system tray. first step here is to look for access numbers. type in your area code, and choose the numbers that are in cities closest to you. if you are outside of your area, you will still be able to use the numbers that would normally be local, although i believe this is much slower. for now i will show you how to connect your phone to the same area code as your cell's origin.

choose 2 or 3 access numbers from the list and set the appropriate settings for call waiting and voice mail. put in your AOL screen name and password, and click sign on. if all goes right, it takes approximately 3 minutes for the AOL server to connect you. once you are connected, start off simple by starting something like AIM.

i am not a big AOL expert, so basically, if it doesn't work, just keep messing with the settings to see what works.
you should be able to use the standard version of AOL with your phone also.

STEP 7: Click Sign On

once you click sign on, you phone will awake from its idle process and show DATACALL on the screen along with the number, the call duration, and 2 meters that show data transfer.

aol will do its usual dial up thing that you should be familiar with if you have been paying for it over the years. if it doesnt connect, try again; sometimes it times out. it usually takes me 3 minutes to connect.

unfortunately this is all i can explain, but it should work, and AOL software is usually good with figuring out anything that i missed, and if you have questions, i am willing to answer.

Comments

[thejrb]

Yeah the usb cable and the internet service. Your basically using your phones internet and displaying it on a laptop screen. I also know how to get free internet on the env2 guess I'll do an instructable on it.

[boiddude]

How do I go about using it to get the free internet. I had a palm treo and had to use an application on it for it to work. I would greatly be appreciative if you can help.

[NT86]

its free on the phone but when u hook it to a computer they make u subscribe to make it show up on the computer

[thejrb]

My phone shows up just fine on my computer with nothing but the phones drivers.

[kreationism]

does this cost anything? sorry, i didnt have the time to read the entire 'ible...well put together from what i have read though.

[NT86]

depends on if you pay monthly for AOL or Verizon's data service line.. either way its gonna cost u money unless u know of any free data lines. if you dont have an AOL subscription i would go with verizon's plan

[cyrozap]

 myfreewirelessisp.com is what I use. It works fine. It's slow, but it's better than nothing.

[cyrozap]

Bluetooth modem on VZW LG ENV2 does not work, I will try to find a solution.

[cyrozap]

 Bluetooth modem actually works, my mistake.

[cyrozap]

I bet you can do this using an ENV2 (I have one) as a bluetooth modem. It would probably work the same way.

[NT86]

never tried it, since i dont have bluetooth in my laptop, but give it a try, although the USB keeps your battery full in case you need to make a call later

[cyrozap]

I've also tried sending AT commands over bluetooth to the cell phone modem using hyperterminal. It didn't work. I did get a response when i tried to dial using the computer, though.

[cyrozap]

According to the text that appears on my phone, "Dial-up networking service is not supported." Stupid Verizon and their locking out of phones.

[cyrozap]

 Hey, cool! I found the option on the phone to enable the data modem! Just Google it.

[Rimwulf]

try this:
http://www.myfreewirelessisp.com/ provided by SoCal.net both free NetZero provides 10 hrs free a month or unlimited with accelerator for about $5. try going here and look up others:
http://www.free-internet.name
it has lists from all over the world.

[Foaly7]

Does it have to be an EnV 2?

[jmsmny]

I have two needs: First I need to use my phone to connect directly from my laptop to another modem. Just like my modem does with a land line. Second I have earthlink as a dial-up Internet provider, can I use my phone to connect to the Internet through earthlink?

[NT86]

yep earthlink should work if they have dial up (which i belive is true) i dont understand ur first question though what u mean by another modem

[jmsmny]

If I can dial into the earthlink modem, I should be able to dial into any modem correct? I currently dial directly into a bank of modems from my laptop using my land line. Once logged on to the network I have access to the computer and software that I support. There is no internet access available yet.

[tfaulk26]

On step 2, I was prompted for a driver. Unfortunately, I have misplaced the CD that came in the package from my provider, Verizon (I presume, CD had the driver). I could not find a driver on the internet. If someone knows - please point it out to me.