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)

OK-
I've got everything I need to connect my visor using my sprint phone. However, I have AOL at home and a direct T1 connection at work. So I need an ISP to make this work. I've reviewed the threads regarding free ISPs, and it looks very complicated to work through the encrypted password issues. I had been thinking of changing from AOL at home anyway, so if I do, any suggestions? Do all ISP's work about the same using your visor? help!

Motorola Startac 7868W??

Hi,

Read all of the posts and have not found any that indicate success with this phone.

Anyone have the Startac 7868W working?

Thanks,

Rick

Marcy, any ISP should work. I called mine and they helped me set it up, i.e., address fields, separate e-mail address, etc. I have my corporate Lotus Notes e-mail forwarded to my ISP e-mail account (this is by far the "killer app"). I use Eudora for Palm for getting e-mail and I use Proxiweb (still free?) occasionally when I want to surf the web (yahoo/ESPN for things like scores, weather, stocks, etc.). I use Sprint PCS wireless Web and it works well (and it's real cheap compared to all the other methods). I made my own 4 inch cable. One thing I have noticed though is that you need to take your cellphone in on a regular basis to get its software updated to the latest rev. It's free but Sprint doesn't tell you this. Since they are adding towers on a regular basis, your software gets out of date pretty quick and your phone can start dropping calls.

Thanks

Thanks RMAPES!!! You're info has been very helpful! I'm going to give MSN a try. I'll let you know how it turns out!

so close.....

Ok I think I ned the help of all you knowledgeable folks one last time on this thread..... I have been able to connect my phone to the visor using the serial cradle and the data crd that comes with the phone. The phone dials into MSN and the visor gives me the message it is "signing-on". Then I get an error message- "Service authentication error" and it disconnects. I have a message into MSN to ask them, since it seems that they aren't recognizing my ID name and Password or something. I have my modem settings as suggested on this thread:
Modem: Standard
Speed: 14,400 bps
Speaker: Off
Flow Ctl: Off
Country: Other
String: AT&FX4
Touch Tone

My network settings are:
Service: MSN
Username: mpfields17
Password: assigned (filled in with my password)
phone; 1-614-324-0059 (access number I use from home with no problem.)


Connection Type: PPP
Idle Timeout: Power Off
Query DNS: checked
IP Address: Automatic

Anyone have any suggestions??????

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Marcy

Marcy, you may want to try changing the Speed and String settings to those posted at http://discussion.visorcentral.com/...p?threadid=3815.

Those settings worked for me, although I can't quite explain why other settings didn't.

You may also need to add "MSN/" (or something like that) in front of your username, although I'm not sure if MSN requires it the way that Earthlink requires "ELN/".

Hope this helps,

-WaC
Wayne

Re: so close.....

quote:

---

Originally posted by Marcy Fields
Then I get an error message- "Service authentication error" and it disconnects.

---

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

yeah, I have a local ISP. They helped me set up my connection using Eudora for Palm. Didn't need an encrypted password.

I also have a Motorola Startac, and tech support has been scarce. I noticed that someone posted that the Motorola Timeport P8167 would work. The data connectivity kit for the Startac is also compatible with the P8167 says the advertisments.


"The Motorola Data Connectivity Kit with TrueSync� software is a simple cable and software combination that can provide your phone with access to a world of information while on the go. The cable connects your phone to your laptop PC, allowing you to surf the web, send e-mail and send or receive faxes.. . . Compatible with a wide variety of Motorola CDMA Data Capable Phones including:

Talkabout� T8167 phones; Timeport� P8767, P8160, P8167, P8767 phones; V. Series� V8160, V8162 phones; and StarTAC� ST7860, ST7860W, ST7867, ST7867W, ST7868, ST7868W phones
$149.99"

Perhaps, the Mark Space datacord and the connectivity kit will work. I hope.

Does anyone know of an alternate source for a serial cable for a Motorola StarTac other than the Motorola Data Connectivity Kit? The price of $149.99 is a bit hefty. Simply information on the pin-outs might be sufficient for me, if one can find a source for the connectors used on the phone side.

Finally!

OK- I finally got it all figured out. I did need to put "MSN/" before my user ID, then I was able to get an established connection. I openned a Yahoo e-mail account and have eudora mail on my palm to access it. I tried eudora web and it was OK- but i'm going to try proxiweb next. The only thing now is that I have 6 e-mail accounts! (two originally on AOL that I will be dropping, two on MSN, one at work on our LAN, and one on YAHOO! phew....) So thanks to all the folks on this thread for the information and help. This certainly is a cheaper way to go wireless. Anybody got suggesstions on good websites to view wirelessly?

Marcy Fields

How I built a cheap cable to connect a Visor to a Motorola/SprintPCS phone

Thanks all, I found this thread very handy. Here is my 2-cents:

If you want to save money and have some skill with a solder iron and Ohm meter, then here is how you can make a cable to connect the Visor to a Motorola CDMA cell phone.

---------- Start DISCLAIMER ----------

Warning, if you are not handy with rewiring stuff or fear that you may violate your Phone or Visor warranty (you most likely will) then DO NOT DO THIS. I found the information and thought others may find it useful.

A SAFER alternative is a phone cable (as cheap as $50 from ephone.com) and a Visor serial cable ($30 from markspace.com). If you are unsure of these instructions, please take the safer route, in the long run it may be significantly cheaper.

---------- End DISCLAIMER ----------

By cheap I mean less than $35. My service is SprintPCS (w/ wireless web). My phone Motorola Talkabout T8167 (should be the same for the Timeport P8167 and the StarTac ST7867).

The required parts are a plug for the phone and one for the Visor. Here are the pin connections:

Phone TX pin 6 ---> Visor RX pin 1
Phone RX pin 7 <--- Visor TX pin 8
Phone Signal Ground pin 10 --- Visor Ground pin 4

- Pin 1 on the Visor is at the far left (when looking at the visor battery door).
- Pin 1 on the phone is closest to the "End" button.
- All the pins (Visor and Phone) are 0-3v (TTL) not +/-12v RS-232. Neither unit has flow control, but at 14.4Kb max, this should not be an issue.

I used the Visor USB cable, because this was the cheapest way to get a connector ($19.99) without a minimum purchase requirement (atlconnect.com). The connector can be opened to allow for rewiring the connector.

A car charger plug ($14) was the cheapest way to get a phone plug. _WARNING_ not all plugs offer physical pins at all locations on the connector (look for the 14 or 15 metal pins on the end of the plug; many connectors only have the 4 required for charging). The one I found also used screws to hold the connector together so it was easy to un-assemble. You may find an Ohm meter useful for verifying where pin 6 and 7 are (the charger I found used pin 10, GND, for charging, so this was a good point of reference).

If the assembled cord works correctly, then when the phone and visor are connected together, the phone will "beep" once (the visor must be on for the "beep")

Good luck.

I have a Visor, serial cradle, Startac 7868 on Verizon wireless with the data cable. I also use MSN.

I asked Motorola about connecting the cradle and data cable with a gender changer and using the phone as a modem. The rep said the phone could be used as a modem but that it did not have the drivers on the phone but that if one were on the Visor that recognized the phone as a modem it most likely would work.

My questions are:

Is there a program to install on the Visor that will recognize the Startac as a modem? If so are there recommended settings.

What dialer and setup should I use to connect to MSN?

What should I use to surf? (Proxiweb seems to be popular)

(Of course if the six pack were out I would just buy it)

Thanks in advance for any help!

yes you can use MSN. That is what I am using. You do have to put MSN/ before your user ID so that they recognize you as a user when you dial in not using their software.

As far as the other questions- read back through this post, I don't know that anyone has gotten other cell phone services to work. If I remember right- you either have to have a phone with a modem in it or sprint service because they have a modem in their towers. There are also quite a few posts from people using startac phones who cannot get them to connect thier visor.

Now that I have everything set up and working-- here are my thoughts: This set up works for me now. I am not away from the office enough that it makes sense to pay anymore than the $10/month for the sprint wireless web. But- It sure took me alot of time and energy to set everything up! And it is not real easy and quick to get everything out and set up. A springboard would be alot easier to just 'plug-in". My husband has a palm 7x, and I envy his ease of checking and sending mail. And the web clippings are not bad- in fact i don't find much difference in them than the slow web browsing I have.
So there are benefits to the other wireless methods also.

Marcy Fields

compact flash adpt

Hi,

Just a idea for everybody, I have no idea if this would work but maybe somebody with more of a background in this than me can come up with the software needed. Would it be possible to build the FlashAdapter CF Springboard (from dkessler)and then add a cf to serial adaptor? (see link) http://www.socketcom.com/siocfmp.htm
I realize this solution is expensive but I was wondering if anybody thought that it would work?

Any idea's

Linux7

Cool idea. You'll have to verify with dkessler if this will actually work though (it's a software thing). Keep in mind though that the CF based RS232 card you speak of goes for $149 at CompUSA. For just a little bit more, you can get an EFIG that comes with software and works fine.

A much cheaper alternative (if it works) would be a markspace serial cable. Mine's on order still - I'll test it and report on it when I get it.

Compact Flash Adaptor

Hi All,

After doing some reading I now realize that the fash adaptor is not a full compact flash adpt. Oh well, the reason I was leaning towards this option is the vast amount of boards that use the compact flash slot. (I.E. ethernet adpt, digital phone cards, multiple serial adpts, wireless modems, and compact flash storage). See http://www.socketcom.com for more info. As long as we could get some drivers. Later all

Linux7

Your understanding that the FlashAdapter supports only CF storage cards is correct. A Japanese company has (for a long time) been working on a version better suitied to CF+ cards but it was far from an easy DIY project.

IMHO, native Springboard modules provide better solutions (in terms of form factor and price) than CF+ cards. Granted there are a few missing modules such as ethernet adapters and cell phone interfaces and I'm really at a loss to explain why we aren't seeing those yet. In the case of ethernet, how hard would it be to slap something like a 10Mbit lance chip in a module and bang out some drivers for it? And the lack of a true RS-232 adapter is even more puzzling. Yes, EFIG has one, but why does a UART, a line driver, and a flash chip cost $200?! Dump the flash and a cell phone interface module could sell for $25 and still turn a profit.

But in the mean time, a hotsync port to cell phone adapter cable is definitely the way to go.

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler<br>President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Sanyo SCP-3000?

Has anyone gotten this to work with a Sanyo SCP-3000 and Sprint PCS? What cables and settings did you use? I saw that someone had used an SCP-4000, but I'm not sure how similar the two models are.

Thanks!

Re: How I built a cheap cable to connect a Visor to a Motorola/SprintPCS phone

quote:

---

Originally posted by a3r
...here is how you can make a cable to connect the Visor to a Motorola CDMA cell phone.

---

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...