Use your Pocket PC Phone Edition as a modem for your other Pocket PC's! - a full tutorial

Anyone new to Pocket PC Phone Edition devices but well-versed in configuring Internet connections using "traditional" mobile phones will be first be frightened by his or her knowledge not working with Pocket PC Phone Edition (PPC PE for short) and will think at first she/he can't use his/her overly expensive PDA as a modem for other PDA's.

What's the point, you may ask, in trying to use your PPC PE as a modem for another Pocket PC. The reason is simple: current PPC PE models all have serious compromises. Even the currently best one, the HTC Universal (Qtek9000, MDA Pro, O2 Exec etc), is, in many respects (weight, CPU speed, lack of buttons on the front, lack of status screen on the back, lack of jog dial etc) clearly worse than standalone, non-converged Pocket PC's like the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 and the forthcoming N560, the Dell Axim x51v or the iPAQ hx4700.

Incidentally, exactly this is why I've bought the (relatively) small HTC Wizard and a Dell Axim x51v (that is, two Pocket PC's, one of them being a Phone Edition device) instead of just the HTC Universal. The latter is a great product – but nowhere as good/powerful/usable as the combo of the two former devices. I use the HTC Wizard as a messenger but don't do any serious Web browsing on it; it's to the x51v that I delegate everything requiring a decent, VGA screen and a fast CPU.

When I first got a PPC PE device, I certainly had problems with configuring it as a Bluetooth modem. My previous knowledge (please see this tutorial) of standard mobile phones just didn't work because

1. You can't define data accounts in PPC PE devices, unlike in (most) mobile phones
2. What is more, you can't pass the APN name to the phone either (that's the other way of dialing out with a 'standard' mobile phone – if you don't want / can't edit directly the data accounts.)

I've heard many stories about PPC PE users Googling around and being literally frightened by some of the tutorials/discussions they run into – for example this one. The built-in Modem Link application is no exception: many try to make it work only to find out it doesn't work – not even via IrDA (and it offers no BT capabilities, as can be seen in this screenshot). It's for them that I've created this tutorial.

How does this all work – from a bird's point of view

You only need to create an implicit, local GPRS connection on your PPC PE and then, after creating a Bluetooth partnership with your other Pocket PC's utilizing the Dial-Up Networking (DUN for short) service on the PPC PE device, you will be able to dial in from your other PDA('s) too, using the dial-in pseudo number *99#.

Note that you must create an implicit GPRS connection on the PPC PE device; otherwise, no other devices will be able to use the PPC PE PDA for dialing into GPRS.

For advanced users: This is the stumbling block - on "traditional" mobile phones, you don't need to do this. In a lot of mobile phone models (for example, on Sony-Ericsson ones) you can just pass the APN in the init string and don't need to set up anything on the mobile phone to be able to access the net via GPRS. This is a fundamental difference between PPC PE / Smartphone and "traditional" mobile phones.

A detailed tutorial

Doing this is very simple. Click the "G" (GPRS) icon, , on the Today screen and choose Settings (the link is highlighted in the following figure, as with all the links / menu items in this tutorial that must be clicked/chosen):

Click the Connections icon:

Click the "Add a new modem connection" in the My ISP group:

In the upper text field, enter an arbitrary name for your connection (for example, 'gprs'). In the drop-down list, choose Cellular Line (GPRS):

Click Next. On the following screen, enter the APN name of your GPRS operator. Ask your operator for the correct one; in many cases, it will be something very simple like 'net' or 'internet'. With my GPRS operator, it's 'net'; this is why I've entered 'net' in the 'Access point name:' textfield:

Click Next. On the new dialog, in most cases, a simple Finish will suffice. It's with very few GPRS operators that you must also enter a username/password pair. If you do need to enter them, do this in here. Note that you, in most cases, don't need to go into the Advanced menu either (don'tpay attention if some other tutorials/FAQ's/people say the opposite).

Now, you're set: you can give a try to the local connection on your PPC PE. Fire up Pocket Internet Explorer (also known as Internet Explorer Mobile starting with WM5) on your PPC PE device and click a remote link. The PDA will connect to the GPRS service and the already-known "G" icon will change to the "connected through GPRS" icon, , showing a GPRS (EDGE) connection is made using the built-in mobile radio:

Now, you need to start Bluetooth on your PPC PE PDA and make it discoverable so that your other PDA's can discover it. In order to do this, go to Bluetooth Settings and enable both checkboxes in the Mode tab:

Now, it's time to set up a connection on your other, "client" (meaning that they will be 'clients' of the PPC PE device actively connecting to the Net) Pocket PC's. I show this using both the Microsoft (WM5 Dell Axim x50/x51 series, almost all HTC PDA's, some Mitac Mios) and the Widcom (almost all the other Pocket PC's with built-in BT) bluetooth stack. Please note that the screenshot size (VGA vs QVGA) will too show which Pocket PC is the client and which is the PE as I've taken the screenshots on a QVGA device, while both clients were VGA ones. Therefore, if you're unsure which PDA I'm talking about, just have a look at the screen size. If it's big, then, it's a client; if it's small, then, it's the PPC PE device.

Configuring "client" PDA's with Microsoft bluetooth stack

Click the Bluetooth icon and go to the Devices tab:

Click New Partnership. You'll see your PPC PE device (in the screenshot, it's named "WernerHTCWizard") in the list (it's highlighted here; don't pay attention to the other two devices. One of them is my t610 phone and the other is my BT-enabled desktop computer):

Click Next. On the next screen, you will need to enter a passkey for pairing the two devices. Even the simplest one will do – other devices won't be able to use this later so it can even be a very simple '1':

Click Next. Now, the PPC PE device will notify you about its being connected by the client PPC:

Just answer Yes; then, in the next PIN dialog, just enter the same PIN code as on the "client" PPC; for example, '1':

In the next dialog,

just click Finish.

Now, the "client" Pocket PC will show a dialog with the available services of the client - in this case, only the DUN service. Enable this service by checking in its checkbox:

Now, just click Finish and exit the Bluetooth manager by clicking OK in the upper right corner.

Now follows setting up the connection on the client PPC.

Click the Connectivity icon (the arrows) on your client PDA, click Settings and then, the Connections icon (as you've already did with the PPC PE device). Similarly, choose "Add a new modem connection" in the My ISP group:

Enter a connection name (it can be anything; for example, 'g') and choose Bluetooth from the "Select a modem:" drop-down list:

In the next page, choose the PPC PE device you've just paired with and discovered from the list (it's "WernerHTCWizard" in this tutorial):

Click Next. In the following screen, enter *99# in the input text field:

Click Next and, then, Finish.

Now, you can give your new connection a try. Now that you're returned to the first screen inside Connections , click "Manage existing connections" in the My ISP group:

Tap-and-hold the connection you've just created (it's called 'g') and choose Connect from the context menu:

Enable the "Save password" checkbox on the forthcoming dialog so that you won't be presented the same dialog at every connection attempt:

Now, a connectivity bubble will come up on the client (the PPC PE device won't show anything), showing that the client Pocket PC indeed connects to the PPE device:

Note that you won't see the G icon change in the PPC PE device and its PDA part can be suspended during itt being used as a GPRS modem by other devices.

Setting up the connection on Widcomm Pocket PC clients

The idea behind setting up the connection on this BT stack is the same; it's just the way of doing this that it is slighly different.

Click the Bluetooth icon on the Today screen and choose Bluetooth Manager from the menu:

Go to Tools/Paired devices:

Here, click Add, and, then, the refresh icon, , to the right of "Device":

The client PPC will start looking for discoverable BT devices in the neighbourhood; soon, it'll find the PPC PE PDA too:

Click its icon and, on the next screen, enter a passkey; let it be, say, '1':

Then, press Enter on the virtual keyboard; the pairing process starts. This is what is shown on the client:

Now, the PPC PE will notify you about its being connected by the client PPC, as was the case with the MS stack. Answer Yes to the notification and enter the PIN code – all this on the PPC PE. After you've done this, the PPC PE PDA will "connect back" to the client PPC; the latter will show this dialog:

Here, just press Accept.

The PPC PE PDA will now display a screen with the available services of the client PPC:

Here, you don't need to do anything (that is, you don't need to check in any of the checkboxes) except clicking Finish.

Now, on the client PPC, you're shown this screen showing the PPC PE device has been paired with the Widcomm-based client PPC:

Just click OK and in the main screen of the Bluetooth Manager,

choose New (lower left corner):

Here, make sure the uppermost "Explore a Bluetooth device" is highlighted:

Click Next; on the following screen,

click the icon of the PPC PE device. Its BT service list will then be automatically downloaded:

Highlight the (only) "Dial-up Networking" and click Next:

Now, just click Finish.

On the main screen of the client PPC's Bluetooth Manager, you'll see the newly-paired PPC PE device. Tap and hold it:

and choose "Connect" from the context menu. In the next dialog, double-click (the only, if you haven't defined Connections before) "New Connection...":

Fill in the fields as follows: the connection name can be anything (for example 'g') and the number must be *99#:

Click OK and the client PPC will show you a password dialog; here, you may want to enable "Save password" to avoid being presented the same dialog in the future:

Then, the client Pocket PC will connect to the Net via the PPC PE device.

Recommended reading

Your Smartphone as a Bluetooth Modem for Your Laptop – this excellent Smartphone Thoughts tutorial describes how you can use your MS Smartphone with your desktop Windows devices through BT. Much as it's about MS Smartphones and not MS Pocket PC PE devices, the desktop part will still be useful if you want to use your PPC PE device as a modem with your desktop Windows and don't want to do this via the built-in Modem Link app (via USB or Infrared).

xda [at] ftp [dot] xda-developers [dot] com/Uploads/HTC_Wizard/Misc/Guidelines_for_using_i-mate_K-JAM_as_a_Bluetooth_Modem.pdf" rel="nofollow">Guidelines for using i-mate K-JAM as a Bluetooth Modem: i-mate's official tutorial. It's for desktop PC's and, as with the Smartphone Thoughts tutorial, for the Win XP SP2 MS stack only.

Please note that neither of the above tutorials describe how you can set up the implicit GPRS connection on the PPC PE device itself. That is, if you plan to set up your PPC PE device as a modem for your desktop Windows, you will still want to follow the first part of the current tutorial.

Some forum links discussing this tutorial:

PPCT
FirstLoox

ADDITION (March 23, 2006): PDAGold has just published an excellent article on using Pocket PC PE devices as modems for notebooks. Please note, however, that, as has also been pointed out in my above tutorial, you do NOT need to enter the APN on the notebook as has also been pointed out here.

UPDATE (11/12/2006): a new report on WM5 AKU3 has just been posted. Do check it out if you have a WM5 AKU3 device!

UPDATE (12/30/2006): a nice, new, USB-based tutorial can be found here