Getting the mobile phone to work with the PC
After configuring the basic connectivity elements, but before the laptop could find my Infra Red device, I took note of another Microsoft knowledge base article (Q194964) which suggested that the IR monitor program, that finds devices and lets you use them, does not always find things unless the following actions are taken in this order:
The system should now detect the phone, and will probably identify it by make and model as part of the IR connection function. Detecting the phone is not enough, though, you must also have a relevant modem driver available, which you should now install.
Hint! Remember to enable Infra red on your mobile phone. Some phones switch Infra red off after a while, to conserve battery life.
Another hint! Sometimes the Infra red monitor needs to be disabled again, then re-enabled!
Speed limit! The MA600 manufacturer recommends limiting the port speed to 38400 bps in the IR monitor program, and that is good advice for avoiding data corruption. I found it essential for using my Motorola phone.
Installing a mobile phone modem
If you are using Windows 95 make sure you are using the version 2 drivers.
Make sure the phone's Ir system is enabled, and point it at the Infra red system on the computer.
I've installed IrDA on three machines, and noticed that the phone driver can be installed in either of two methods:
After my recent experience, I think the second method might be more flexible. Here's why.
Plug and play
By default, the Ir Monitor software is set to 'install plug and play', and hopefully then the program will detect any phone in range of the Ir system, and ask for a driver. That's when you point it at the relevant files that came with your phone.
I got in a muddle with my Ericsson GSM phone at this point. I had followed Ericsson's suggestion, and installed the driver from the CD (by clicking on the *.inf file, I do not now recommend that) before I'd got the IR system working properly. I could not get the original install to work, so I did it again with letting the system follow its Plug and Play routine. I have ended up with the Ericsson phone installed twice, and listed twice, but because I've had so much trouble getting the system to work at all, I've not tried to delete either of them. In my case, both entries do now seem to work.
Letting the IR monitor program detect the phone, and use its Plug and Play routine results in the phone modem being installed correctly, but seemingly always connected through COM4 (or whichever Com port the IR system is revealing for use). That does work, but if the machine configuration changes later (as happened to me), the connection on COM4 was no longer available, and I had to uninstall and re-install the phone modem. If the Plug and Play system had connected the phone modem through the 'virtual infra red com port' then I would not have had so much difficulty. Instead of plug and play, I recommend the alternative set up method, below.
Instead of using Plug and Play, the phone modem can be installed directly by using the 'add new modem' facility in 'Settings, Control Panel, Modems'. Follow these steps:
Hint! If you do not have your phone's driver, you might be able to use the 'Standard 19200 modem' instead. At the 'Add new modem' stage, again tell the machine that you will select from a list, and select the generic standard 19200 modem from near the top of the list. I have used the generic Standard 19200 modem driver with both an Ericsson IR phone, and a Motorola IR phone.
WindowsME! There have been reports that under WindowsME, the phone manufacturers' drivers do not work properly. In that case:
Your phone should work.
Testing the Infra Red connection to a GSM phone
Test whether the Infra Red installation works by loading Hyperterminal.
In Hyperterminal, using the ‘File, Properties’ menu, it is possible to select a connection at 19200, with the phone modem you just installed.
Now at the main, blank screen, and type AT Z<enter>. Within 2 secs you should receive 'OK'. Try it a second time. If that does not work, then either the Hyperteminal is not set up to connect, or the installation has failed. To isolate the problem, try using another modem in Hyperterminal, remembering how you get it to work, then do the same things. If you get Hyperterminal to work with the GSM phone, the installation is complete.
If Hyperterminal does not work with the GSM phone that you have installed, it would be best to go back and check all the settings listed earlier in this note.
Using the mobile phone connection
Once you can communicate with the mobile phone modem, you *may* need to create a special set-up string in the dial up connection to use it. That's because there are several different types of data call, ranging from all digital end to end, to digital over mobile and analogue into the ISP. A revealing command is to ask the phone what bearer service it is set to, eg ISDN or analogue conversion. The command to read that status, without altering the status, is AT +CBST? The response might look like 0,0,1 (meaning analogue conversion) or perhaps 71,0,1 (meaning ISDN / V110).
Vodafone recommend all digital calls, and suggest a +CBST setting of AT+CBST=71,0,1 implying ISDN (71), asynchronous (0), non-transparent (1).
The Ericsson documentation that I've seen suggests AT +CBST=0,0,1 (autobaud (0), asynch (0), non-transparent (1)). If the connection you want to make supports ISDN on the number you want to dial, then the Vodafone setting is the best. If you are not sure, use Ericsson's suggestion. Enter the appropriate string in the optional set up string in the Dial Up connection. Then use the Dial Up connection in the normal manner.
Use a data enabled service! If your service is not data enabled, then although you will be able to set up all the software, every call attempt will fail, usually giving rise to a message such as:
or perhaps some other message, depending on the handling of the network error condition in the phone, and in the PC software. It varies a lot between networks, between phones, and between the different applications you are running
Using the faster data services
The basic data services operate at 9.6kbps over GSM. There are developments in standards, and in networks, to offer HSCSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, etc. Matthew Haigh's page describes what data services are available today, and he explains on that page what special 'AT' commands are used to request the various faster data services.
Not all networks offer all the enhanced services. In fact, at the time of writing, few networks offer any of the faster data services. In the UK, Orange offers HSCSD, and connections at 28.8kbps are possible. Again in the UK, BT Cellnet are trialling GPRS, and are expected to launch a service sometime.