[Walter Dnes]

I just had one of those ideas that hit me so hard I got out out bed at 2:30 AM to post this. A question from a smartphone ignoramus. Warning; this may be stupid. The idea looks so obvious that I'm sure I'm missing something important somewhere, but here goes...

• I currently use 295.ca as my emergency internet backup (dialup), if DSL goes down.
• Assume I get a smartphone with 1000 or 2000 minutes per month AND NO DATA PLAN
• dialup modem goes over the VOICE signal (beep, chirp, squawk, etc), so it would count as VOICE USAGE, NOT DATA USAGE

Yeah, I know it's only dialup speed, but it would be essentially free web browsing/etc via cellular. The questions I have are...

1. Can I call my dialup ISP on a cellular phone and connect to the net via them, using only voice service, rather than horrendously expensive data service?
2. What am I missing?
3. What are the greedy [email protected]#$ at the cellular carriers doing to block such a scheme? Cynical? Moi?

 

[JamesK]

^^^^
You cannot send modem tones over a digital cell phone. The compression used will kill the signal. Many digital phones can act as an analog modem, but in fact send the data to the cell network, where it's converted to analog modem signals before being passed onto the landline phone network. Doing this also requires a data plan, so you're out of luck. Your idea was done back in the analog cell phone days.

 

[Walter Dnes]

It did sound too good to be true, but I was still hoping. Oh well, thanks for the answer, even if it wasn't the one I wanted to hear.

 

[17671]

its called Circuit Switched Data or CSD, it would work before, but the wireless providers do not have the necessary digital to analog trunking to support this no more.