Tethering = Free EVDO Access  

[Note:  This assumes you already have a data plan with board band access for the phone]

I was at a local Microsoft Conference recently and noticed there was no WiFi access.  The presenters did not want people being distracted by  surfing the web so they disabled all WiFi hotspots in the building.  Needless to say, I spent the next 8 hours wishing I could figure out some way to connect my Smart Phone SMT-5800 to my laptop for board band access.

After a little research when I got home, I discovered that you can “Tether” your Smart Phone to your note book, but Verizon charges you and additional $30 a month for this service.  After reading various posts on blogs etc, I discovered PDANET.

What is PDANET -  http://www.junefabrics.com/pdanet/

PDANET appears to be a very popular piece of software.  For only $34, PDANet allows you to access the internet via tethering of your SmartPhone for fee.  Verizon has no way of tracking this since it basically uses your cell phone as a modem to connect to the web.

From their website:

"This software allows your laptop (or desktop) to go online wirelessly by connecting it to your Windows Mobile Phone through the Sync cable, Bluetooth or even Wifi. PdaNet goes through the unlimited data plan on your phone and does not require any extra service. Supports almost all Windows Mobile phones including but not limited to the Treo series (including the latest 800w), Motorola Q/Q9 series, Samsung i730/5800/Blackjack II or any HTC brand (6700/6800/Mogul/Touch/8525/Tilt). Simply download and install the software from your computer and it will be online within a few seconds. Check out user reviews for PdaNet for other shareware sites(this is from a few years ago).
PdaNet supports Vista/Windows XP/2000 but does not support Mac over USB (only Bluetooth DUN is available for Mac). Click here if you have a non-Windows Mobile phone."

Here are the steps to installing this software on a windows vista machine with a SmartPhone running Windows Mobile 6.

1.       Download Windows Mobile Device Center:  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/synchronize/device-center.mspx

2.       Download PDANet 2.0 - http://www.junefabrics.com/pdanet/download.php

3.       Install Windows Mobile Device Center and connect your Smart Phone to your PC via a USB cable.  Make sure the PC can see the smart phone.  I would not recommend syncing any contacts etc if you already are syncing them from another machine

4.       Install the PDANet 2.0 Software first on the PC and it will then prompt for install on the SmartPhone.  Note, I could not get the software to install on my memory card.  I had to install it in the internal phone memory.

5.       Make the following registry entry changes on the SmartPhone: HKLM = HKeyLocalMachine..[See a previous post on how to make registry changes on a Smart Phone]

a.       HKLM\Software\OEM\WMODEM
add DWORD "CheckProfile"=0
set DWORD "Multi-NAI"=0
set DWORD "WModemDUN"=0

6.       Set PDAnet on SmartPhone to Verizon Wireless and uncheck option to use a proxy

7.       Right click on the PDAnet icon in the system tray and choose connect.

8.       The network icon might say local connection only, but you can open up a browser and surf and the internet zone is enabled.

9.       If you have trouble, Try setting the Login/Password in the PDAnet settings to Login : your cell phone number, Password = vzw

FAQ:  http://www.junefabrics.com/pdanet/faq.php#charge  or http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/htc-libra-verizon-smt5800/100874-new-smt5800-4.html