Motorola W385 or V750 Tethering on Page Plus

[davealex]

I would like to tether a Motorola W385 (or V750, or V710), and use it for a PC modem, to use the PC on the internet. I've read for hours on Howard's Forums threads, (most are old posts....several years old) saying that it's possible to tether on Page Plus Cellular (PPC) in a QNC data mode at 14 kbps and use it without PPC charge. Can anyone help answer any of these questions:

Q1. Is QNC tethering on PPC (still?) possible; and if so can it be done without charge?

Q2. If so, do I have to first set up on PPC with a Data plan, and then use OTA programming? If that's correct, after purchasing and installing the Unlimited Talk and Text Plan ($44.95 a month), or the Talk and Text 1200 Plan ($29.95) for one month, can I just keep the account active via purchasing the 100 minutes plan ($10) each 120 days, and still have the free QNC tethering?

Q3. If all this is possible, is #777 the PPC number to use, and is QNC the username and QNC the password? I've been trying this; it acts like it's contacting an ISP, and then I get the error message (on the PC monitor) that my username and/or password are incorrect....... but I realize that's probably just a standard error message for numerous types of errors.

Q4. The BIG question, if tethering is possible, is ...... how? I'm presently on PPC with a 100 minute standard plan card with a Motorola W385. The W385 is unlocked. I have flashed it with a DST monster (not on Verizon), and then activated it on PPC with a standard plan ($10) and used OTA programming to get it working on PPC. I'm wondering if I need to flash it to a Verizon monster, to accomplish tethering? Beyond that, is a seem edit necessary?

I hope this it the best place for this new thread. Perhaps I should ask one question at a time, but I think if there's a CDMA guru out there who knows these answers, then it would be the same guru to answer them all.

Apologies for the long post, but I've been all over the internet trying to figure this out, and I'm stumbling. Thank you very much for any response to these questions.

[fetcher]

I would like to tether a Motorola W385 (or V750, or V710), and use it for a PC modem, to use the PC on the internet. I've read for hours on Howard's Forums threads, (most are old posts....several years old) saying that it's possible to tether on Page Plus Cellular (PPC) in a QNC data mode at 14 kbps and use it without PPC charge. Can anyone help answer any of these questions:

Q1. Is QNC tethering on PPC (still?) possible; and if so can it be done without charge?

Q2. If so, do I have to first set up on PPC with a Data plan, and then use OTA programming? If that's correct, after purchasing and installing the Unlimited Talk and Text Plan ($44.95 a month), or the Talk and Text 1200 Plan ($29.95) for one month, can I just keep the account active via purchasing the 100 minutes plan ($10) each 120 days, and still have the free QNC tethering?

Q3. If all this is possible, is #777 the PPC number to use, and is QNC the username and QNC the password? I've been trying this; it acts like it's contacting an ISP, and then I get the error message (on the PC monitor) that my username and/or password are incorrect....... but I realize that's probably just a standard error message for numerous types of errors.

Q4. The BIG question, if tethering is possible, is ...... how? I'm presently on PPC with a 100 minute standard plan card with a Motorola W385. The W385 is unlocked. I have flashed it with a DST monster (not on Verizon), and then activated it on PPC with a standard plan ($10) and used OTA programming to get it working on PPC. I'm wondering if I need to flash it to a Verizon monster, to accomplish tethering? Beyond that, is a seem edit necessary?

I hope this it the best place for this new thread. Perhaps I should ask one question at a time, but I think if there's a CDMA guru out there who knows these answers, then it would be the same guru to answer them all.

Apologies for the long post, but I've been all over the internet trying to figure this out, and I'm stumbling. Thank you very much for any response to these questions.

Q1: Yes. still possible, still no charge as of 7/26 -- but there are reportedly some parts of the country where QNC no longer works, or never did (mostly in the West), and it may eventually be phased out nationwide. I try not to use it too heavily myself...

Q2: You don't need a T&T plan. Standard pay-as-you go is fine. Data service may need to be enabled on your account, if it isn't already (all new subscribers supposedly have it turned on automatically, but there can be glitches... in any case, there's no charge for turning it on, assuming QNC even requires that, which it may not). I signed up just last week, topped up with a $25 card and didn't have to do anything special for enabling data.

Q3: That's the correct number, but your phone has to be switched into QNC mode before dialing by sending AT$qcqnc=1 and AT$qcmdr=2. Username & password don't matter... the remote endpoint doesn't even request PAP or CHAP authentication. Running Linux here, I just leave them blank, but if you have to fill in something qnc/qnc should work.

If you don't send those commands (-or- explicitly cancel them with AT$qcqnc=0 and AT$qcmdr=3), the phone connects in 1xRTT mode to a different gateway, at $1.20/MB; for that you dial the same #777 number, but must authenticate as username [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (substitute your 10-digit MDN, *not* the MIN, before the @), password "vzw". You might want to configure this too, just as a rarely-used backup, since QNC can experience random outages, and doesn't work at all on certain towers. Interestingly, at least in my area 1xRTT and QNC give out assigned IP addresses from completely different ranges.

Another way to tell is that a tethered QNC call won't show any sign of activity on either LCD screen-- both will give the appearance that your phone's sitting idle, even though it's tied up on the data call, and any incoming voice calls during the session will roll immediately to voicemail. A 1xRTT connection, by contrast will show that icon with two arrows pointing left and right next to a handset symbol (like when using the minibrowser), and if the flip is open it will say "Packet Data" on the top line. If any of these show up, you're not configured right for QNC. 1x connections, unlike QNC can also be interrupted by a voice call.

Q4. I have the same phone as you, a W385, and I'm afraid you'll have to flash to Verizon firmware. I tried DST in the beginning, and it seems the QNC support has been stripped out of that build. If you find any other carrier-specific firmware that will work, I'd love to hear about it (not a fan of the Verizon UI at all).

Beyond that, I don't think any SEEM edits are required... they're necessary to get the minibrowser working on the phone itself (I wasn't able to make that use QNC), and for un-crippling certain features like synchronizing ringtones via USB/BT.