Mobile Phone to Laptop Connection

Many cruising sailors use the Internet in some shape or form, often from cafés or libraries. Wireless networks are developing rapidly, but, at anchor, on a buoy or in a strange harbour the only practicable way to access the Internet from the boat may be to use a Smartphone or a PC and cell phone.

Network coverage is almost total around Europe within about 5 or 10 miles of the coast and up to 30 miles or so with an external aerial. On Anhinga, we have had virtually unbroken coverage around the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, Atlantic Spain and Portugal although, I believe, it is less good around parts of western Scotland.

To the phone companies, the Internet used to mean, primarily, WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) which gets the Internet displayed on a mobile phone. Through systems such as Blackberry and Smartphones, Internet pages can be displayed and emails sent or received.

This is fine for some purposes; increasing screen sizes have made their use feasible even for those with poor eyesight. Their main advantage over a laptop is that they are more robust. Except in fairly benign conditions, the laptop has to be packed away in a dry, padded place when at sea.

Much depends on your type of sailing and the information that you wish to access and process. I need the software that a laptop can host and the larger keyboards. Those with a fair amount of “office work” are likely to find the PDA or Smartphone too limiting although this may well be an age related matter.

Accessing the web used to mean GSM "data call" like a dial up connection on a landline. This piggy backs the data onto an ordinary mobile voice call, and results in maximum speeds of 9.6 kb/sec . You paid voice call rates all the time the connection was "open", regardless of whether you were doing anything or not.

Then came GPRS (General Packet Radio System) which breaks the data up into "packets" and squeezes them in between other peoples voice calls. This results in a much faster speed (115kb/sec and faster with some phones with in-built software such as “EDGE”).

GPRS has the benefit that you only pay for the volume of data sent and received. It is widely used for WAP and for sending Photos. It has a lower priority than voice calls, and occasionally may get "squeezed out"

The spread of 3G has meant, effectively, that GPRS is now almost universal around European waters. GPRS can be regarded as "2.5G"and, if your phone is GPRS compatible, it will receive data over 3G. Intentions to extend GPRS have been superseded by 3G.

An easy and quickest way (in theory) of getting up and running is to buy one of the "data cards" that the phone companies sell. These simply plug into a PCMIA slot in your laptop, and away you go. However, there have been complaints about the reliability of these things, and they do not help you keep charges down if you go abroad. A more reliable alternative is the dongle that plugs into a USB port.

I have never seen the advantages of either. If you use a mobile phone as a modem to your laptop, you have pretty well all you need, why pay more? A further disadvantage with data cards and dongles is that they are at laptop level, usually on the chart table and reception may be poor. Bluetooth with a mobile phone can improve reception. All you have to do is get them to talk to one another.

Now, read on ...

If you are going abroad, get it working before you leave the UK. Any problems will get sorted much more easily from the comfort of your armchair with access to English speaking help lines. Once set up, it should work abroad with no or few problems.

There are four stages to go through to get up and running. When this page was first written you needed a modicum of luck, to get them all right the first time. The world has moved on both with mobile phones and computer software.

The steps are

1. Connecting the phone to the PC.
2. Getting the right settings on the phone.
3. Configuring the PC to connect to the Internet
4. Changing Email account settings.

After that, a little cost cutting work is needed.

One way of doing this is by Cable, which needs a phone with a cable socket to a serial port or USB lead. I found that serial port connections were subject to problems with dirty or worn contacts. Newer phones with USB connections are more robust.

Infrared (or IrDA) allows the PC and phone to talk to communicate if they are placed within sight of each other. On a boat, this does not work reliably.

A reliable connection is via Bluetooth; this uses a short range wireless technology, originally intended for cordless headsets. Not all laptops come with Bluetooth and so you may need to buy a "dongle" (about £12 from Maplins) which plugs into the PCs USB port.

Windows XP and Vista include Bluetooth software so that the CD supplied is usually superfluous. Whichever technology you choose, you will end up with the phone looking like a "modem" to the laptop, as though you plugged it into a telephone land line.

A useful feature of Bluetooth is the radio connection which enables the phone to be put higher up, perhaps on the cabin roof or, even, in a bucket a few metres up if the mobile phone signal at chart table height is really poor!

To use the Internet, the phone needs a "profile", which tells it which service to use. This may well be dealt with using the phone software; if not, then speak to the phone company's "data" helpline. This might require a text message that sets up the phone. With modern phones, the menus on the phone should be self explanatory. On my Nokia 6300, I went to Settings, Connectivity and selected Bluetooth. That was all that I had to do.

To set up the initial connection to the laptop, is easy if the phone comes with software such as the Nokia "PC Suite" or "OVI Suite". Otherwise using Bluetooth, right click on the Bluetooth icon in the bottom tray, RHS. Then use the set-up Wizard. Select "I know the service....", then "Dial-up Networking". That should bring up a panel with your phone name (eg Nokia 6300), double click on this to connect to your phone.

On the first occasion, you will be asked for a 4 digit password. Type in 0000 (or whatever you wish) and hit Enter. Your phone will bleep and ask "Pair with (your computer name)". Hit OK on the phone which will ask for the password. Enter your chosen password and hit the OK button. You are now connected and can dial either your GPRS or GSM number. Thereafter, using the PC Suite, the phone and laptop will connect automatically. If not using the PC Suits, it may be necessary to right click on the Bluetooth icon and select Quick Connect, Dial-up Networking and the name of your phone. After the first occasion a password should not be required. But, if asked for a password, simply repeat the performance.

Even with the PC Suite connection wizard, it will be necessary, occasionally, to go through the set up procedure again.

Because your phone will look like a modem, much of the setting up will be familiar or, at least, Windows driven.

Unless you are a young computer whiz-kid, this will involve speaking to your mobile phone company. With Windows XP, they will probably ask you to go to Control Panel and open Phones and Modems. Then select Modems, Bluetooth, Advanced. They should then give a string for "Extra initialisation commands". It will be some gibberish like - "at+cgdcont=1,"IP","orangeinternet"

Then go to Control Panel and open Network Connections. A New Connection Wizard will guide you through configuring the PC. Select "Connect to the Internet", then "Setup a connection manually" and "Connect using a Dial up modem". You must select the right modem but this is usually fairly obvious e.g. "Bluetooth Modem". Give the connection a name such as "Orange Mobile". Set the phone number as *99#. Then give a username and password. To do this, Vodafone tell you to enter

Username : web (Orange will tell you "user" ). Password :web (Orange will say "pass" but anything will do).

The next section deals with setting up or modifying your email account.

Of the two types of Email, POP/SMTP mail is the more cost effective as it uses servers to download emails to your PC for "offline" viewing and composition. Web based email services, such as Hotmail or Yahoo. only need an Internet browser, and so are almost always guaranteed to work in any Internet cafe. However, the surrounding graphics add considerably to the cost of downloading emails. They are a definite NO on a mobile phone.

(To avoid having more than one email address and/or to avoid using a different email address when away, a useful web based facility is Mail2Web, a free service using your normal home email address and password.) POP/SMTP using Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird etc are much more suitable for mobile use. As Outlook Express (OE) is the most used, the following refers to it and it alone.

To get Outlook Express to work correctly with GPRS you will need to make a couple of changes to its setup from that used at home. You can use your normal home ISP's incoming mail server BUT you cannot use your home ISP's outgoing server.

To set up a new outgoing mail (SMTP) server - go to Tools, Accounts, Mail, Properties, Servers. Leave the My incoming Mail as it is. normally. In the Outgoing mail SMTP put that of your phone provider. You will have to ask the phone company for this address, it is not widely published. (Vodafone's is send.vodafone.net, with Orange it is smtp orange.net).

One of the beauties of GPRS is that you do not need a UK ISP; the phone company provides the Internet connection.

It may be useful to use a different Identity for GPRS use and keep it separate from your normal land line connection. In Outlook Express go to File, Identities, Add a new identity and give it a name eg Bluetooth Clara.. When using the GPRS connection, go to File, Switch Identities. Address books and mail folders can be imported from one Identity to another. For ease of access, keep all your addresses in "Shared Contacts".

NOTE For those using MailASail, there is no need to change the SMTP.

With computers, anything! A big problem is that when the system does not work, it often comes up with this panel. If you click "More Info" all you get is an obscure error messages which might as well be written in Swahili.

With care and a modicum of luck, particularly with modern phones, it will work at the first go. Otherwise, perseverance, and help from the phone company, will always get you working. Experiences with company help lines varies but I (FS) have always found Orange staff to be well informed and understanding of an old buffer and his problems.

The mobile phone charging system is a jungle through which the EU is now trying to hack a path. In particular, roaming charges have been a rip off but the rules are currently changing and roaming call costs are being reduced.

GPRS data charges in 2010 varied greatly if roaming; Orange charged £12 for 10 mb (inc VAT)

Some PAYG accounts do not allow data calls. This forces the user to a contract and which one will depend on your overall usage.

Those wonderful and much hyped N minutes of free calls are useless when away from your home country. Again, this situation is easing and PAYG is becoming more feasible for data calls.

The expanding availability of WiFi hotspots, the introduction of 3G services with dongles to give direct and continuous broadband access are changing the landscape. Costs are coming down and the user must be alert and keep asking around. One problem is that some staff at the companies and, even more so, those in mobile phone shops are rarely up to speed.

See my page on cost cutting.

The whole area of mobile data is undergoing a revolution and the landscape is changing rapidly. The good news is that wireless networks ("WiFi") are becoming more common and useable as Windows XP or Vista, have reliable, easy to use software built in.

Connecting up is using "Connect To" on the desktop, asking for "Wireless", letting Windows search and selecting one. Windows does the rest. The downside is that coverage from an access point is limited in range.

Availability is increasing; in 2009, a friend found 12 marinas out of 14 between St Malo and Belle Isle had WiFi. Out of 28 marinas in Spain, the Balearics and Portugal, I found half had WiFi. Mostly it was free. The lowest charged service was €3 for 5 hours. The most expensive - and worst - was at Gibraltar at 4.5 an hour or £27 for 10 hours. For limited use, it may be cheaper to use a mobile phone to get onlins.

Bandwidth capability is very variable. In some places, notably Gibraltar and, to a lesser extent, Lagos I spent some frustrating times just trying to get a connection. At Gibraltar, that was a costly exercise.

There are various devices available from computer shops and online that can increase range of reception. The Internet has pages of designs of aerials, some home made, that can be used to increase range of reception. There is a device at http://www.5milewifi.com/ that has had excellent reports. The name is self-explanatory. It is not cheap.

Rarely, there might be an unsecured privately owned WiFi connection that can be used, but be careful; there have been reports of prosecution for using a private unsecured link although the only instances that I am aware of is in the UK.

However, most sellers of WiFi routers now ship them with security as a default so that freeloading is getting harder. Unsecured links might be from bars and restaurants that offer up free WiFi. Buy a beer and get a code - or sometimes there is no code. Take the code back to the boat and, connection permitting. you are in.

With all of the competition out there - buying couple of days of WiFi is getting cheaper. Most of us have no problem with paying a reasonable fee when we don't want to take the computer ashore.

Using WiFi you will find that Outlook Express will work fine for incoming mail but, as with using GPRS, you may need a different SMTP for sending mail. One way is to go to www.yahoo.co.uk and set up a free account there. Specify your normal home based email address to receive email, but set up a new one for outgoing mail. Then, in Outlook Express go to the Tools - Accounts menu and -

1. Set up an account called WiFi or whatever takes your fancy.
2. Under General the outgoing address will be the Yahoo one, the incoming will be as normal.
3. Under Servers the incoming server will be as at home, the outgoing SMTP will be yahoo.co.uk.
4. Under Connections, uncheck the box that says "Always connect to this account using"

You should then be able to send and receive emails just as at home through any WiFi connection. An alternative is to use web based services such as www.mail2web.com

Using MailASail, there is no need to change the SMTP.

Contrary to popular myth, and despite the dire warnings the PC tends to flag up, both the mobile phone, and WiFi (even "unsecured" and "hijacked" WiFi) are secure. It is probably more secure than using an Internet café. As for high security links like Banking, the connection between your PC and the Bank is encrypted, and using your PC ensures you do not leave a "history" around on someone else's PC to be interrogated. All your "favorites" work too.

It is only prudent, however, particularly if using WiFi, to run up-to-date Virus checkers and a firewall, as you do not know where these networks have been, and infection is a definite possibility.

Even working at home, it is always wise to "clear history" after any financial or other sensitive transaction. It is also wise to have any sensitive files encrypted. Un-encrypt when required but remember to delete the un-encrypted version after use and then deletee from the "Revycle bin."