Volume Number: 21 (2005)
Issue Number: 4
Column Tag: Tips & Tidbits

The Motorola RAZR is cool, but I want to use Bluetooth!

by Neil Ticktin

By the time you read this article, Tiger will likely have shipped. Reportedly, Apple will be enhancing the connections via iSync, Bluetooth, and more to a variety of phones.

But, what if you have that slick new Motorola phone (like the RAZR), and you are using Panther or Tiger? You can sync the phones via a cable in the mean time, but what about connecting to the net?

I took the challenge. I wanted to get my PowerBook running 10.3.8 to go over Bluetooth to my Motorola RAZR phone and dial up to the net. Not fast, but it worked. I believe this will work on any newer Motorola phone (e.g., 551 as an example) as they have similar interfaces. When I upgraded to Tiger, I used the same procedure.

As you may know, Cingular had an early exclusive on the RAZR, so if you have this phone, you probably have Cingular.

If you call Cingular, you will find them to be of little (or more likely no) help. In searching around the net, I found several bits of information, and the below is the best instructions I've been able to cobble together ... and have actually gotten to work myself.

You will need some sort of data package with Cingular, but you don't need to spend the $80/month that they tell you at the first level support. It's not competitive with other services, and not reasonable to ask. I've got a MediaNet package for $20 that's unlimited that I'm using. (I've been told that they no longer offer the unlimited version, but that might be regional restrictions.)

• First, you have to download the latest modem scripts. There are several places, but you can download updated modem scripts http://www.taniwha.org.uk (You want "Motorola GPRS Scripts")
  
  
• Put the new scripts in the following folder: [your hard disk]/Library/Modem Scripts

Now you have to configure your Network settings.

• Go to your System Preferences/Network
  
  
• Go to your "Network Port Configurations" and create a new Bluetooth port
  

• First Tab TCP/IP:
     Using PPP
     DNS Servers: 66.209.10.201, 66.209.10.202
       (these are the Cingular DNS machines)
  

• Next tab PPP:
     Service Provider: CINGULAR
     Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
     Password: CINGULAR1
     Telephone Number: WAP.CINGULAR
  

Note: If you do this in mixed or lower case, it won't work. Make sure it's all caps ... strange as that may seem.

Then click on the PPP Options button and uncheck both "Send PPP echopackets" and "Use TCP header compression", click OK

• Bluetooth Modem tab: Modem: Choose Motorola GPRS CID2 (If you dropped in the new modem scripts into the correct folder, you should have this in your drop down menu.
  
  
• Open up your Internet Connect application (Found in your Applications Folder) and select Bluetooth and click connect.

That's it. Happy connecting!

Neil Ticktin is the Publisher of MacTech Magazine.