Palm USB Modem

Palm Treo USB Modem

There are 2 solutions available that let you use your Palm Treo as a modem through your USB cable. This can be useful when you need an internet connection where one is not available through traditional wifi or ethernet. You do need to have an unlimited data plan on your treo phone. For Sprint PCS this plan costs $10 per month. You have to be sure to call customer service and ask for the "Nextel Data Plan" which is not sold in Sprint stores. The "Nextel Data Plan" does not include Picture Mail and is therefor $5 cheaper then the data plan you will get in Sprint stores. For Verizon the cost is $40 per month.

The first solution is PdaNet. This is easy to setup but only works on Windows. Simply follow the onscreen instructions after you launch the executable installer.

The second solution is called USB Modem. This is not as easy to set-up but works with both Windows and Macintosh OS X. It comes with a PDF installation manual and following these instructions will get you setup and going. For the OS X version the instructions are for Tiger. For Leopard there are a few differences in the section "Configuring a USB Network Port". They are as follows:

Step 4 will be skipped as the "New Port Detected" message is no longer displayed when a new device is plugged in.
For Step 6 you will need to choose the "Advanced..." button to bring up the dialog. In that dialog for the Vender setting choose "Other". For the Model choose either the "CDMA" or the "GSM" option as described in step 6. For the Dial Mode you may want to keep the "Wait for dial tone before dialing" option selected which goes against the recommendation of the install instructions.
Steps 7 and 8 can be skipped since the account information fields are already shown. Just make sure you click "Apply" after filling in or changing these fields before you click "Connect".