Impression as Modem

Like I said, it was my primary internet connection for three years. I used it for everything, including streaming videos, torrents, podcasts, and more. I don't know that it's impossible to get "caught," whatever that means. But in my experience of actually having done it for years, I never did. I don't know about this supposed contract that says you can't tether - when I signed up for my account, there was no such clause, because they advertised tethering on the website. Maybe that has changed (though my contract hasn't, since I refuse to "upgrade" it - contracts only get worse as time goes on, stick with whatever you have now, and do not sign on to any new plan, no matter what). It's only been in the last few years when they came up with the scam of "laptop connect cards," a completely useless device, that they have made tethering less common. It's typical American company idiocy: gouge people for more money while providing less or worse service. There's no reason to buy a separate card when your phone can already do it. And there's no reason why a person should have to pay for 3 separate internet connections (home, phone, laptop connect card). I'd be willing to pay for an appropriate fee for all 3. But I'm not going to pay a price for all 3 services when I can only use one at a time, and would only rarely use a laptop connect card at all.

I have basically the same plan, but with the additional Media Max bundle (19.99/month, I think). I got the Impression because it's technically not a "smart phone," which is a completely meaningless term. They just label certain phones, usually ones with some sort of OS beyond Java, as "smart phones" and then tell you that you have to have an expensive "smart phone" plan. BS. The only thing that's more BS is the additional fees for an iPhone plan. Charging you more, EVERY MONTH, racking up tons of money. And then they want you to buy s***ty aps that all have a monthly fee. I know, I'm going to spend $5 of my hard earned money for a weather ap. Are you s***ing me? Paying a monthly fee for something that you can get at any moment by turning on the TV, flipping open a newspaper, looking at your desktop ap, your iGoogle home page, or googling it for any city in the world, at any time?

What a crock.

media phones are sort of below the smartphones and iphones.  the latter two requiring $30 a month for data unlimited. which is too much for me.  This is the MAIN reason I bought the impression.  it can perform as much or better in some areas than an iphone too.  and you pay 15$/month for unlimited data.  So what doyou get with that 19.99/month plan you're forced to get?

Sorry it's been a while posting. Seems like an *Eternity* since I posted last.... sorry, bad pun.

I read most of the replies on the thread and after some thought maybe I should clear up some confusion.
(This is kink of jumbled as I just typed as I though of it)

1. I always install the latest PC Studio for the Impression, mostly because I'm lazy and it's easier to download than to find on one of my externals. This always comes with the latest CDMA and Bluetooth modem drivers, and it comes from the trusted? Samsung website.

You can connect the the interwebs via New PC Studio. Just don't go monkeying with any of the settings.

2. The only information need normally for an Impression or Eternity (correct me if I'm wrong on the latter) is the *99#, as the APN, login, and passwords are all on the MediaNet profile found on your phone.

3. I also know that Windows sometimes forgets how to handle the modem drivers, and every Windows user knows that drivers must be purged and reinstalled sometimes, that is just the nature of the beast. Drivers sometimes become unresponsive, but Windows won't complain properly about it.
(A tip on troubleshooting: check Windows event logs. They are a wealth of information, including the occasional report that a driver has failed. I have been a Windows Admin for many years, and even I forget the logs sometimes.)

*Please let me know if someone needs to have the defaults posted of the MediaNet profile on your Impression. You may also find them by searching the forums.*

4. I have tethered my phones on AT&T's network since AT&T Wireless before it merged with Cingular (who was later *surprise!!!* bought by AT&"no, were not breaking anti-trust laws"T). The method has been mostly cut and dry, but has been extremely simple for the Impression.

5. Ok, for the various errors I see here. I will post Microsoft's List of Dial-up error codes:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923944 Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824864 XP

Not much specific information to use there, but it may clue you in to how to investigate. The higher the code, the more specific the problem. The lower, the more likely that you have a driver problem.

6. Another thing to watch out for is to make sure the USB Connection preference on the phone is set to PC Studio. It may not make sense, but that setting allows the modem connections, the others do not.

7. Sometimes the Impression has to be rebooted before it will connect. Such are these things.

8. If for some reason the selection of Samsung modems in the dial-up connection properties disappears, then you may have to delete and then reinstall the drivers. That would be because Windows has lost the registry settings to enable those modems.

9. Please do not download other software, other than what is provided by Samsung or posted by a forum leader, in attempts to make the modem work, unless you are clear on what it does to your system. Minimal is key for Windows. I believe there is a set of excellent drivers found on this thread by vKitty:

http://www.samsung-impression.org/index.php?topic=942.0

Read up on the drivers before you install them.

10. Please do not post information about how to do something unless you test it out successfully first. It is common courtesy and prevents people from being led astray and possibly bricking their phone. If you can't test it, but must post, put a warning up that explains that you have not tested it and that it may possibly brick your phone due to unknown settings. Thank you for understanding.

//I have Windows 2000, 2003 Ent., XP, Vista, and 7 running at home either on a box or virtualized.... believe me when I say the same basic principals works for all versions. The older OS's hate the drivers sometimes tho. I know it's easy when I can tether my phone on a virtualized OS without a problem! (The USB pass-through settings for VirtualBox were a pain tho.)//

Ok, I know that was messy but the forum space was free and I hate thinking linearly.

Thanks for reading my guide, it was my pleasure bringing knowledge to the people.

If it doesn't work for you, start over. The process is so simple that adding extra stuff into the mix makes it impossible sometimes. Drivers are the biggest pain, and after that, incorrect/additional settings. I recommend deleting the drivers, removing any modems that do not pertain, and deleting any extra dial-up connections that relates to the process before trying to connect again.

And for those who have emailed me about the tips, thank you. Please let me know in the email that you read it on this forum!

There are many more things I can expand on, so if you need to PM me or reply here. I will keep a better watch on this thread now.

Good luck, and may the network be with you.....

Good luck trying to download 5GB from just the phone. At least it can use an SD Card to dump any goodies you download. I haven't even hit over 700MB on tether yet, so I'm gonna try not to press my luck.

1) Why would you call some idiot tech support hack and expect to get an accurate answer, and 2) why would you tip them off to the availability of service, or your own use of it?

Leave well enough alone, and suffice it to say that there is yet to be any proof of this so-called limit and additional charged fees.

does it cost money to use the impression as the modem even if you already have the unlimited data plan for the phone?

Hey guys! I recently tried using my Impression as my modem cause my internet was way too slow. I found out how to tether with the USB. Can anyone specify or give instructions on how to tether with Bluetooth? (I have Windows XP) And when i tether with my phone, the internet seems a little faster. Also, I've been using Google Chrome as my default browser for a long time. It just stopped working around last week and i'm stuck using Firefox. The internet connection wasn't found on Chrome and the internet worked on IE and Firefox. How do I fix this problem with Google Chrome? Thanks in advance. -pb