Verizon/PagePlus QNC Data Access

Some of the posts on other threads touched on this, but they prompted me to
resurrect a light hack that I had engaged in long ago, to see if it worked.

I have an old Moto RAZR that has a little less than $4-worth of "standard
plan" value remaining on it. It's now little-used; a back-up phone that I
will drop (when the value is used or expires in mid-July) in favor of the
Pixi+ that became my main cell phone a year ago.

A while back, when traveling in Seattle, pre-smartphone, pre-"ubitiquous
WiFi" (*smile*), I cobbled together the following that provided dial-up
quality Internet access for my laptop from a remote location:

- My RAZR, maybe on PagePlus, or maybe even on Verizon at the time -- I no
longer recall.

- The correct USB cable. One that will actually charge a RAZR from the USB
port of a laptop. Many make the phone complain that it is connected to an
"unauthorized charger." Such will not work.

- The correct USB drivers for the laptop. Whatever it is that I installed
on this laptop has given me two instances of Moto USB-related ports: a
Motorola USB Modem with a driver date of 6/18/07 and a driver version of
4.1.0.0 (motmodem.sys), and a Motorola USB Diagnostic Port with a driver
date of 6/18/07 and a driver version of 4.1.0.0 (motport.sys).

- a version of Motorola Phone Tools (MPT) that I acquired who-knows-when
from who-knows-where.

I tested all of this again today. Short version: I plugged the cable into
the RAZR (which was on) and into the laptop. A USB modem recognition
sequence took place on the laptop. I fired up MPT. It launched and after a
veeeeeeeery looooooooooong while (literally, 10 minutes!), after
lots of phone beeping ("initializing ... please wait" complained the replica
RAZR shown on the laptop) all of the MPT icons on the right-side pull out
drawer became active. One of the icons was "internet connection." The
default is one for verizon. I did "add a new connection" for this test.

I had turned off my wifi radio, and laptop had no ethernet connection, so
the RAZR tethered QNC access was the only game in town. The RAZR displays a
timer, an off-hook icon, and the fact that it has called "#777" (which is
the number that is in fact called to enable this datastream). On the laptop
(WinXP) I see the old-fashioned modem icon in the taskbar. It claims I am
connected at 230.4 Kbps, but I understand that is only the speed of the USB
tether between the phone and the laptop. I'm told that the QNC datalink to
the RAZR is only a lame 14.4K.

But: it is free. So, theoretically, you could take advantage of one of
those deals whereby some dealer activates your old phone on PagePlus with a
new number and adds $2 worth of calling value, and then use this low-speed
data connection on your remote summer cabin for 120 days worth of checking
email(if the $.050 monthly fees don't deplete your balance).

And it works. I just uploaded this post using the connection.

Another trick: a long while back, for this very purpose, I downloaded an
emulator that could in turn run Opera Mini on the laptop, and I've been
browsing a bit using it.

Statistics from this session of emailing and browsing:

Connection Service provider Date/Time
RAZR Verizon 6/4/2012 4:01:51 PM


Duration Bytes sent Bytes received Total
18:19 185772 414395 600167

I did this earlier today, and saw no data usage reflected on my PP account.
I'll check again tomorrow. I don't expect to see any usage -- this QNC data
is not counted.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Verizon/PagePlus QNC Data Access
    ... I have an old Moto RAZR that has a little less than $4-worth of "standard ... quality Internet access for my laptop from a remote location: ... One that will actually charge a RAZR from the USB ... I did "add a new connection" for this test. ...
    (alt.cellular.verizon)
  • Re: Problem with external hard drive - no longer see it in My Computer
    ... >> downloads and storage in case my laptop decides to have a fit. ... My laptop had only USB 1.1, but the setup worked fine up until ... Or is it the enclosure that is the issue? ... Check the connection to make sure it's properly connected. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: ActiveSync 4.1 USB Internet Passthru Fails
    ... Just to test I uninstalled Checkpoint VPN and I still have the ... When browsing via AS USB, ... additional network connection while you are connected to the internet. ... internet connection/network (desktop and laptop are on same wired ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync)
  • Re: USB comms problem
    ... so perhaps a loose connection in the wireless adaptor. ... still doesn't recognise my weather station. ... on my wife's laptop and it works fine. ... properties of each "USB Root Hub" entry. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Data from damaged machine
    ... Well I got the enclosure, popped-in the HD, connected it to the other laptop ... saying there's a fault with a USB device. ... although a USB connection is far more convenient and works well for ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)