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Using a 56K modem with the Dell Axim
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The most exciting and heavily touted method of distributed computing is wireless. Wireless comes in a wide variety of flavors: the 802.11x family of WiFi, the Bluetooth personal area network, the alphabet soup of digital cellphone networking modes including GSM/GPRS, CMDA, 1xRTT, and many more. The promise of high speed, universal access allowing real time streaming of audio and video would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. But, the potential of wireless is still developing. Access is still limited and often unreliable, speed is highly variable, and compatibility is anything but assured.
Fortunately, there is a less glamorous but tried and true means of accessing the network: the lowly 56K modem. While the desktop has developed beyond the ability of the 56K pipe to keep pace, the more limited display and memory of the Pocket PC is almost perfectly suited to the phone line modem bandwidth. And the technology is mature and almost universally accessible. Email, web-surfing, voice-over-IP, VPN, and almost anything short of full screen realtime video is possible over a 56K line.
So, what are the steps necessary to make it happen.
First, you will need a 56K Compact flash modem. There are a number of different makes and models available. For this example, we will be using the Ambicom EZJack. The EZJack has a flat profile with a pop-up connector and is V90 compatible. No drivers are required as the modem is recognized by the Pocket PC OS.
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Click images to see larger version.
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Remove the space holder that comes in the Axim's compact flash slot and insert the modem into compact flash slot. Inserting the modem will turn on the pda and makes the CF Modem available in the appropriate connection setting drop-down list.
The next step is to configure the connection settings. The Axim comes with a companion CD which includes a Microsoft application called the Connection Wizard. It can be used to help set up various network connection configurations, however, the application runs on the desktop, requires an active sync connection, and hides much of the changes to the pda from the user. Since you cannot always be assured you will have access to your desktop when you need to add or make changes to your connections, we will not be using the Connection Wizard for this example.
From the Today screen, tap the Start label to get the application drop down list. Press the Settings item. This will bring up the Settings window. Press the Connections tab on the bottom menu bar. Tap the Connections icon shown in the top left of the screen to bring up the Connection Manager.
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