VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Communications (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=20)
-- RS232 to cellphone connection (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=5570)

quote:

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Originally posted by Coyote67
Which Markspace cable should I get?

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StarTAC cables available!!!!

Please see my message in Buy/Sell/Exchange forum for details

I did it!

I was able to make my own cable. Thanks to the people in this thread. All the information was great.

A little background. I can't believe I did it. I haven't picked up a soldering iron since Jr. High (25 years ago) and I'm an assistant principal at an elementary school, so I don't get to many opporunities to use a soldering iron. But I did it. There is nothing in the Auto power cord or the USB Hotsync cable that you can ruin. All you need is a soldering iron, Auto power cord (Belkin F8V712. It was used by someone in the thread.), USB Hotsync cable and time. Everyone in the thread was talking about how professional their cables looked. I am proud to say mine does not look professional. And by the way what is a "strain relief". I am proud to have used masking tape to protect the conections. I found duck tape to be a useful tool. I guess you could say my looks professional because I used BLACK duck tape.

Thanks alot everyone in the thread.

Recommendation - Make your own cable ($50 including soldering iron). It is worth the time and effort.

Mike Barney

Re: I did it!

Glad to hear about your success. It's good that someone has started selling these cables, but there's a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself.

quote:

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Originally posted by readable
And by the way what is a "strain relief"

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I shouldn't had talked about my success with building a cable myself. When I'm in avantgo and I'm clicking on link it goes to look for the site to load then my phone turns off. Could their be a short in my cable? When pull and shake my cable, the phone doesn't turn off. What could it be? I'm limited on the tech knowledge. Help

Mike

Well, got the Mark/Space cable today and I'm sort of online...

I'm using a Startac 7868W, the Motorola data cable, and a Mark/Space DCH-M9.

With the cable plugged in to the Prism and phone, before dialing, my phone beeps periodically. Once I dial in that stops.

I had no trouble getting my mail with MultiMail. However, when web browsing with Blazer, I can get the first page or two fine. But if I click on another page while one is loading, the phone and Visor seem to lose Sync -- I still see some activity on the phone side, but the Visor eventually times out saying it didn't get a response. Tried it multiple times. At other times it would load 2K or so of a page and then the browser would stop getting data. (The little circle progress meter kept moving, but no new data came in.)

This was on both a QNC connection and dialing up my ISP.

Could this be due to the lack of flow control? Anyone seen similar problems?

Web browsing with cell phone

I've had problems like that with web browsing - but it was on a palm pro with attached modem. Actually, the problem was in the web browser itself. What web browser are you using?

RE: Phone turning off

quote:

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Originally posted by readable
...When I'm in avantgo and I'm clicking on link it goes to look for the site to load then my phone turns off. Could their be a short in my cable? When pull and shake my cable, the phone doesn't turn off. What could it be? ...

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Re: Web browsing with cell phone

quote:

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Originally posted by btabatow
I've had problems like that with web browsing - but it was on a palm pro with attached modem. Actually, the problem was in the web browser itself. What web browser are you using?

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Okay, I got my cable from NYSEBull at http://www.cables4pdas.com today. Very nice cable -- looks totally professional, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't have the time, skill, or patience to build their own.

Plugged it into the Visor and the cell phone, and I didn't get any of that odd beeping before I logged on. Good sign.

So I log on, hit a number of sites, interrupting Blazer at times to click a link, and no problems at all. Great cable!

So, there must be some line connected with the Motorola serial cable and Mark/Space solution that the Visor doesn't like. Probably an easy fix; I'll get in touch with Mark/Space and see if we can troubleshoot this.

help

i've read the threads and have configured my visor dlx per the instructions... i have sprint with wireless web i can't get visor to "talk" to phone but the connectivity kit works with my desktop..any suggestions....thanks for you help in advance...

Thanks for the help A3r. I cleaned all the contacts, took both connecters apart and removed any unnecessary contacts. Each connection looks clean. I believe nothing to is touching. I tried it again with the phone and the Visor sitting quietly on the desk. I can get my email, surf using PQA's, surf using Blazer and Eudora Web. I tried doing the same things with Avantgo and the web browsers. Avantgo shuts my phone off (The Visor continues to look for the site.) The other browsers have no problems. The thing I haven't tried is getting to a place where I can get a strong signal. That will be next. I don't have a multi-meter Is there anything I can do to test connections without a multi-meter?

I'm still looking for any other ideas what the problem might be???? (My phone turns off when I'm tried to fetch a site using Avantgo.)

Help??
Mike

Samsung issue

Can anyone tell me how to over ride the serial cable is use issue? I am using a Samsung 6100 and I keep getting Serial port in use error message.

quote:

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Originally posted by readable
I don't have a multi-meter Is there anything I can do to test connections without a multi-meter?
...
Mike

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Help! - Almost there

Help!
I've got a Startac 7860W (on the Verizon plan in NYC)and a Prism and an Earthlink account. I've read all the threads, made the cable as stated, setup the modem and network parameters in the prism, but I'm not working, here's what's going on.

Using Blazer or AvantGo, when I try to retrieve a web page the Prism connects to the Startac, the phone dials the number, I hear the modem pick up and send its connection tones. After about a minute the connection is dropped by Earthlink (I believe).

A couple of notes:
1. When the phone dials, it switches from digital mode to analog mode. I have a strong digital signal here in the heart of NYC.
2. I don't subscribe to Verizon's Web Access - I read in this thread that it wasn't necessary.

Any ideas?

Thanks again A3r. Your suggestions were great. I finally resoldered the wires and everything is looking good. I can now surf the web with Avantgo and it doesn't turn off my phone.


Post about Verizon in NYC:
Check with Verizon to see if you need to sign up for wireless service. Also post your network and modem settings. Some people have left out one element which caused nothing to work. You might want to look at my posting in the Wireless thread. I posted a link to PDF file that describes how to connect with a palm to a cell phone.

Good luck

Mike

Re: Samsung issue

quote:

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Originally posted by tperson01
Can anyone tell me how to over ride the serial cable is use issue? I am using a Samsung 6100 and I keep getting Serial port in use error message.

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I hope someone can help me with this....

I keep getting an "authentification failure" message when I use a Cables4PDAs cable to connect my VDX to my Motorola Startac 7868w. (I use Verizon with wireless web on my account.) But the strange thing is, I was able to connect once...but never again successfully even though I use the same username and password. I also tried some other ISP accounts that I have access to, and the same thing keeps happening.

I tried all the suggestions in this thread. I'm not using a free account, so the "password recovery" thing doesn't apply here (see page 7). I don't think I need a prefix like "MSN/" (see page 8), because it worked once without it (and I experimented with one or two prefixes, too). I've tried two different dial-up accounts with RCN, and one with Verizon. I've triple-checked all the settings, and experimented with just about every variation to them.

The same thing keeps happening: first I get a "dialing message," about 20 seconds later I get a "signing on" message, and about ten seconds after that (when the password is submitted) I get an "authentication failure (0x1233)" message. It happens whether I enter my password in Network Preferences or write it manually when prompted.

I've also been unable to connect to Verizon through their Wireless Web setup, but for a different reason. Then I just get a "Dialing Verizon Wireless" message, and nothing else ever happens. No handshaking. Verizon tech support says they don't support Visors.

It's almost as though when I first connected, it changed some setting in the phone or Visor that won't allow it to connect again. Weird!

Here's my whole saga: I first posted to this thread last May, when it first began. I ordered a cable from MarkSpace, but they lost my first order so I didn't get one from the first batch. I waited for VisorPhone, but it was delayed so I bought a Minstrel S from YadaYada. It's terrific when it works, but the coverage is very disappointing. So I bought one of the Cables4PDAs cables (terrific service!), and this is happening. (Coincidentally, Markspace finally got their next batch in this week, but I cancelled my order.) And VisorPhone still isn't available in the East. Ain't wireless fun?

quote:

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Originally posted by readable
Post about Verizon in NYC:
Check with Verizon to see if you need to sign up for wireless service. Also post your network and modem settings. Some people have left out one element which caused nothing to work. You might want to look at my posting in the Wireless thread. I posted a link to PDF file that describes how to connect with a palm to a cell phone.

Good luck

Mike

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Rey,

I have virtually the same settings as you, using Mindspring (which now uses Earthlink dial-up numbers) and it's working fine. However, I *do* have data service on my 7868W.

I'd suggest signing up for the Mobile Web service and seeing if that helps. It could be that it's not needed for some carriers, but is for Verizon.

__________________
Denny Atkin / [email protected]
Editor-in-Chief, Handheld Computing Magazine / www.hhcmag.com