I need an understanding of 3G.

[Alex Ethridge]

I heard something about 3G but not enough to know what it is, how it is used, etc.

If I had a 3G phone, will it allow me to connect my phone to my laptop and use the wireless phone like a dial-up modem?

I really don't know anything about 3G and all I have found so far are explanations that seem to have been written for/to communications experts.

Where is it used?

How is it used?

How do I get it?

How would I benefit from it?

[Joel]

3G News Room (http://www.3gnewsroom.com/html/about_3g/what_is_3g.shtml) has a great but easy to understand explanation of 3G.

I hope that helps.

[Greek]

To explain it easily, it's a high speed data transfer. Much faster than the one you get with GPRS. Not all phones have this capability. The 680 can't do 3G and the Centro GSM either. The Centro from Sprint and Verizon (CDMA EvDO) are 3G.

You can connect to the laptop and use the phone as a modem, depending on the model you have. As an example, the iPhone 3G, still can't be used as a modem, though there is a software that will be able to do it.

Regards,

[Tam Hanna]

3G = faster GPRS


Thats it basically.

[Alex Ethridge]

In the days of dial-up, I could get any modem and dial any ISP on any telephone service.

In my mind, that is what I am comparing 3G to. I'm not interested in streaming movies and all that stuff right now; I'm just wanting common internet access.

Can I do the same with 3G? In other words, can I get an unlocked 3G-capable phone and then use it to access any 3G service of my choosing?

Are there any unlocked 3G phones?

[ejtbatchelor]

You still need to have a data plan through your carrier (even with an unlocked phone an unlocked phone just means that you can use it with any carrier) or you can pay as you go which can be very expensive.

[Alex Ethridge]

Err . . . well I guessed that was a given.

My question is whether I can use the 3G phone to dial up an AOL account or maybe a Mindspring account, etc?

[Tam Hanna]

Nope. Not effectively.

This would be a CSD type connection. 3G is like GPRS

[danceman]

almost every where i see people forgeting another feature that 3g has that makes it much better than GPRS, it multitasking. With GPRS if your on the net and making a page request and getting a call right after, the caller will get that your phone is busy. 3g fixes this, you can surf and be on a call all at the same time.

[Tam Hanna]

almost every where i see people forgeting another feature that 3g has that makes it much better than GPRS, it multitasking. With GPRS if your on the net and making a page request and getting a call right after, the caller will get that your phone is busy. 3g fixes this, you can surf and be on a call all at the same time.

Not really.

Its a haptic issue, and furthermore very unreliable...sorry, but this is my experience as a Three Austria VIP customer...

Make it call or data - you'll be safer an d happier

[Aces]

Err . . . well I guessed that was a given.

My question is whether I can use the 3G phone to dial up an AOL account or maybe a Mindspring account, etc?
So I think I see what you want to do. see if I have this right. With a regular computer, you can use dial-up with an account with someone like AOL and such. when the modem in the computer negotiates with your dial-up ISP, you can use your browser software to surf the Internet. Now along comes cellular phones, with browsers built into them. and often with unlimited phone minutes. But their data plans can be (IMHO) pretty expensive. So what you want to do is to call the Dial-up ISP then have the phone act like a modem. It could be to use the browser in the phone. Or it could be to then use that as a modem to a computer, using Blue-tooth. Even though the connection would be REALLY slow by today's standards, could it be done?

Is this what you are asking? I'd never thought about this scenario until you asked you original question. I don't know the answer. although I think with the right phone, the Blue-tooth to Computer option might have the best chance of working.