On Apr 16, 2009, at 2:08 PM, Fred Crowson wrote:
Plug it in and if /var/log/messages has a line like: Apr 16 21:57:45 x41 /bsd: ucom0 at umodem0 You might be in luck.
You may want to check that your provider permits tethering as a modem. Some do, quite a few don't.
If they do, make sure you don't have a surcharge for the data passed through the phone this way.
Several major providers in the US (Sprint and Verizon, off the top of my head) are pushing data plans with USB, ExpressCard, and Cardbus based Cellular Broadband Modems as an additional line, and disabling tethering through the phone. I know Sprint will re-enable the tethering if you ask nicely, but in my experience most phones do not present themselves as a ucomm modem.
The cell broadband modems are built by the same collection of companies - Sierra Wireless and Novatel - and present themselves as standard USB modems which just dial up to the data channel on the cell tower.
These accounts seem to have usage caps around 5Gb per month no matter who the provider is. They run at high modem speeds to real "broadband DSL speeds." Reliability in my experience isn't bad, depending on the network you're on and how fast you're traveling. For example, my ssh sessions don't drop while I'm on a train doing 80mph, and a coworker regularly uses RDP while a passenger in a car.
Coverage varies by provider.
