How do I connect my Nokia Communicator to a LandLine-MODEM?
Introduction
Disclaimer
What You Need...
Hardware Connector
Software
Advanced PPP Settings
Setting Up and Configure
Known Problems!
Connecting
LINUX
/ LAN Connectivity
Editor's Note
Links
Introduction
Some people (like me) has to pay
strange phone bills for connecting to internet over GSM; currently, in
Turkey, it's about $2.8 / min! Like all internet addicts, I can not
be connected to internet in minutes - I need hours. Just a local
call would be perfect while I'm at home, or somewhere with land line connectivity.
( 16c / hour).
Problem is, the Nokia Communicator
is not prepared to connect to a landline! It can be done, but
needs a bit of handling. However, the work is well rewarded, since
connecting to landline-IAP via a normal MODEM has many advantages.
Price of phone-calls, mentioned
above, is just one of the advantages. Speed is another. Normal
GSM only supports 9600 BPS, and even that the N9110 can go up to 14400
BPS on speciel prepared networks, it's still a long way up to, say, 33600
BPS! Besides, it is only the N9110 which can use 14400 BPS;
not the N9000(il) family! Finally, by connecting to a landline,
you can also get much more stabile data-connections in areas of very low
coverage
And that's the aim of this guide:
To provide as fairly simple and easy 'How-to guide' for people who wants
to be able to use their Nokia Communicator with a landline MODEM.
Disclaimer
As usual, author neither gives
warranty nor is responsible about anything described here. You use
this guide, and all of its contents at you own risk. Don't use this
guide, or anything found in it, unless you accept that no responsibility
is given for any damage, on any of your equipment, Nokia Communicator,
PC, MODEM, etc..
The YAWS web-site, and all connected
to the YAWS web-site, cannot be held responsible either, and goes under
the same conditions as described above.
Use it at your own risk!
What
You Need...
You need your Nokia Communicator
obviously. And you also need the cable which come together with your
Nokia Communicator. The cable used to connect your Nokia Communicator
to a PC. If you don't have that, ask for PC Connection Cable for
Nokia 9110 or Nokia 9000 from your local store. For the N9110 the
cable is called DLR-2,
and for the N9000(il) it is called DLR-1.
Also, you have to make a special
converter which is described below.
And finally, since the Nokia Communicator
needs to have some vital system-settings changed, you also need some speciel
software to achieve this task.
The
Hardware Connector
The whole idea is to make
your Nokia Communicator use a normal MODEM, and then connect the MODEM
to a normal phone-line. Problems is that there's no normal or official
way to connect a Nokia Communicator to a normal MODEM! So, we need
to make a cable or plug to connect between these two!
This is a type of NULL-MODEM
Cable (DTE<->DTE). One end is special output for the phone,
other end is a standart 9-PIN female.
So, we have to make a cable from
external MODEM to phone. This would be as follows:
MODEM----> | Converter--------------> | Nokia Cable-------------> | Phone |
DCE | DCE <> DCE | DTE <> DTE | DTE |
25-PIN | 25-PIN <> 9-PIN | 9-PIN <> Phone-In | Phone-Out |
Female | Male <> Male | Female <> Phone-In | Phone-Out |
Apparrently, what we need is a Male 9-to-25-PIN DCE-DCE converter. This is different than the 'gender changer' that you'll normally find in a store.
So, the PIN lay-outs are:
9-PIN
(Male) |
25-PIN
(Male) |
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
8
2 3 6 7 20 5 4 |
You can make this at home, or you can order it to any electric-electronical equipment shop by giving these PIN lay-outs.
Plug the 9-PIN to the DLR-1 or DLR-2 phone cable connected to the phone, and plug the other side to MODEM.
The
"Advanced PPP Settings"-Software
Now you need to tell your Nokia
Communicator to use the external MODEM, instead of its built-in MODEM.
You also need to tell the Nokia Communicator to use a higher speed than
the default one of 9600 BPS, which is the standard GSM-speed.
There is one and a great software for this, which is called "Advanced PPP Settings". The program is freeware, and you'll find a link to download it, at the buttom of this guide.
If you have started some Internet
Application before installing this software, reboot your machine (by unloading
the battery).
If you forget, the program will
try to soft-reboot the machine. But, It can not do it, it fails!
So you have to reboot it by hand, twice. (Don't panic if you
see a
message as "Internal system Error - Reboot
your machine").
Now you are ready for the land line.
Setting
Up and Configure
To the right these's a screenshoot
from "Advanced
PPP Settings", which shows the settings you should start up with.
Even if you have a MODEM which supports 28800 BPS or 33600 BPS, it's a
good thing to stant with a little lower speed (in this case 19200 BPS),
and see how it works out. If everything goes well, you can then increase
the speed. If the connection doesn't work, try to lower the BAUD-rate.
So, enter "Advanced
PPP Settings" (can be found under the <System>-application) on you
Nokia Communicator, and make these settings!
HINT: It's a good idea to press the <HELP>-key on the Nokia Communicator while in the "Advanced PPP Settings"-application, and read the help-file included. A lot of useful informations in here.
Known
Problems!
Now you're ready to connect, but
before doing so, there's a few known problems which you might want to beaware
of before trying.
Coverage Problem: To use
this connection, your phone must be turned on, and be in the coverage area.
Because of the internal design, the Nokia Communicator first checks for
the phone interface and coverage status before it dials Maybe, there
is a registry setting for this, which we ma hope to be discovered by
someone else.
Pre-dial Program: It isn't allowed within your Nokia Communicator standart settings to dial 9, or 0, before the telephone number. However, with "Advanced PPP Settings", you can change the number to whatever you like. The last option in the "Advanced PPP Settings" exactly does this.
Hang-Up Problem: I tried but could not find a way to cancel a call, especially when it can not connect properly. So, either you'll wait for to phone to hangup itself, or reboot. But, don't worry, reboot takes 10 seconds :) (Total return to dialing). Not so bad, considering windoze :P.
Connecting
(Finally J
)
Choose a modem that support
at least 38400 BAUD. The modem I tried was an E-tech E288MX MODEM
and it worked fine. I believe, most of the new modems will connect
properly. (Editor: I used
a US Robotic SporsterVoice MODEM at 33600 BAUD, and it worked fine too
:-)
After making the above mentioned
hardware connections and software settings, try to enter the <Internet>-application
on the Nokia Communicator. Enter one of the programs in here, and
try to make a connection to the Internet.
If it doesn't work try lowering the BAUD-speed in "Advanced PPP Settings".
If it still doesn't work it might be the ISP-line which is wrong! I managed to solve this problem by changing the telephone number I use for connecting to my ISP. They had analog line, not ISDN. ISDN line had connection problems at low speeds. Try to obtain a connection number from your ISP, which has analog lines, not ISDN.
If it still ain't working, you might have have to initialize the modem with special AT commands. Consult the manual for your MODEM, or contact your ISP, to find these.
LINUX
/ LAN Connectivity.
It is possible to connect Nokia
Communicator to LAN (thus Internet), if LINUX is used as a Gateway.
But you need to be familiar with LINUX to achieve this.
I'm putting "PPPD
Start and Chat Script" supplied by Jan
Kratochvil. You need to configure your LINUX server to forward
IP packets also.
Detailed information will be added
into this howto.
Editor's
Note: This 'How-to guide' is the work of Yusuf
Kursat Tuncel and published here with his permisson. The content
of the guide is as close to the original guide as possible, but some design-changes
has been made, when putting it on this web-site - to make it complete and
fulfill the design-structure of this web-site. These design-changes
include putting filenames in "-signs, making double spaces after .-signs,
capitalizing some letters, and finally including some pictures. But
the guide itself, is the original and solve work of Yusuf
Kursat Tuncel!
![]() |
Download of "Advanced PPP Settings" |
![]() |
Description of "Advanced PPP Settings" |
![]() |
Homepage of Marcus Gröber - Author of "Advanced PPP Settings" |
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"PPPD Start and Chat Script" supplied by Jan Kratochvil. |