Pearl in to modem

[murph0264]

Does any know how to make you pearl in to a modem to surf the internet off of a computer? Thank you for your help

Murph

[Stickyfingaz]

You have to contact your service provider to have them include the function on your phone. It will cost you a few extra chips though. Around $15-20/mo.

[||girlybb||]

I have also heard of a program called shark modem that works like PDAnet does for windows mobile devices. Haven't tried it yet though.

[stevetaz]

Hi and welcome to EB:

You are correct. Shark Modem by MobiShark seems to be similar to PDANet, but for BB devices.

Since I haven't ever used it or heard of it, I just trolled around looking for information and user reviews and here is what I found:
- Looks a bit pricey at $49.97. However, a full trial is available free and if you are interested you should make use before purchasing. Free trial is good for 10mb before you have to purchase. Still cheaper than $30-$40 a month for a tethering plan, eh????
-You must have Desktop Manager running in the background and there are two parts to the program, the handheld installation and a desktop installation.
- Oddly enough, I am not seeing much of anything for user reviews, experiences, etc. What I did find all seemed to be dated 2006-2007. Perhaps this is because most older BB devices did not include any modem ability?
- Compatible phones include many older models (requires OS 3.7 and above. Not sure about 4.5) and all recent models exept the Curve 8330. Perhaps they haven't updated the website yet? They did include a joke about being compatible with the 9000 model though.
- Most of what little I saw seemed to be lukewarm endorsements and that certainly could be because of the network speeds available back when the postings were done.
- Several posts indicated the software does hide the modem usage as BB device data usage so you don't get tagged for tethering and receive a huge bill for unauthorized network use. If you are going to try this you might want to use the free trial and see if your carrier notices in the first bill after.
- Looks like the tethering can be done via cable to the laptop and Bluetooth (BT requires OS 4.1 and up).
- Windows desktop only.

I am not planning to try this as I have unlimited tethering included with the corporate Sprint plan we are on. If anyone does give it a run, please post your experiences for all to see.

Thanks ||girlybb|| Let us know if you do check it out and and please visit and post often.....

SteveTaz

Originally Posted by ||girlybb||

I have also heard of a program called shark modem that works like PDAnet does for windows mobile devices. Haven't tried it yet though.

[||girlybb||]

I've downloaded the trial but haven't had much luck getting it set up & running. From what I gather, there are several steps to take before it works.

I have an e-mail in to the helpdesk to request a remote connection for setup, so I'll update once I hear back from them.

[stevetaz]

Do let us know how you make out. Could be very helpful for others...

Thanks for taking the time!

SteveTaz

[||girlybb||]

So far I haven't had much luck getting this up and running. My first attempt at installing it myself worked okay, but I had to go into my internet options and manually change my proxy settings. Once I got home and got on my wi-fi there I had to go in and change them back. I'm not really willing to do that on a daily basis, so I tried Mobi Shark's "set me up remotely" button. I wanted to see if there was a way to have it change automatically. The problem with that was they haven't been available to get it done. I tried setting up an appointment, and even though I had a date and time set, they didn't show.

I'm giving up on this product. After all, if they can't even keep an appointment to get me setup what kind of support will they provide when I'm in the middle of an issue and have a real need to get online using their product???

[stevetaz]

Sorry to hear it hasn't worked out. Changing manually would be okay if they could let you set a profile for each situation and then just change from profile to profile without changing the internal settings.

When you said you had an appointment, did that mean a remote appointment on-line or were they supposed to come and meet you to do the set-up?

There is no excuse for making an appointment and not showing and your experience tells me that proggie is destined to fail.

Thanks for posting though....

SteveTaz

[||girlybb||]

I had an appointment with them for the online remote setup. The only response I've gotten from them was 2 hours later saying they were available at that time and I should login. Nothing since then and it's been since last week.

[||girlybb||]

I spent 3 hours online with tech support today trying to get the program working on my computer. They did get it working, for awhile at least. I'll probably stick with VZ Access for these reasons:

1) SharkModem isn't very fast. I couldn't get speedtest.net working on it (prob related to reason #2)
2) you have to change your proxy settings when using the software. They are supposed to automatically change back when you have another method of connecting to the net, but I didn't see it happening. I have to manually change the settings in windows live mail each time I switch back and forth.
3) They didn't know if it would work with aol's software. I personally don't use it, but I know someone that wants to tether and they use it
4) 3 hours is lo-oong time to spend online to get any software working. Too damn long if you ask me.

So can you use SharkModem to tether and avoid the addl fee from your carrier? YES, you can. Just ask yourself how much you're willing to put into it to get it to work.