You need to activate your modem with the
cellular carrier by choosing Options | Activation from the menu bar. The activation
takes about a minute, after which you can click the Connect button to go online.
Figure 7-10
Confirming the phone
number of your cellular
device allows it to be
activated as a data
device.
Figure 7-11
The completion of the
setup wizard presents
you with a clean
interface from which
you can connect to or
disconnect from your
cellular data connection.
50 Project 7
Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint try to make this process as painless and effective as
possible (and generally succeed at doing so). Just like cable and DSL service, with
cellular Internet connectivity established, you have a lot of options to take advantage
of. As we move along through more projects, you will see how this works with a PC
Card cellular modem adapter, and how certain phones and adapters fit into expanding
your network just as cable and DSL modems do, as covered in previous projects.
Step 3: Share Your Cellular Connection
Windows XP allows you to share modem, Bluetooth, and wireless data connections to
your Ethernet port. This feature is called Internet Connection Sharing (ICS.) A drawback
of ICS, like the earlier file and printer sharing projects, is that the computer with
the connection to the Internet must be turned on for this to work. Sharing through
another computer also results in a slower connection??”because the data has to travel
through one computer to get to the Internet connection??”but sometimes a slower
connection is better than none at all or dial-up.
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