A Tussle With Bluetooth

I've had a Palm Lifedrive for a couple of years and used it extensively both at home and travelling.

One of the thinks I liked most about the Lifedrive was it's ability to use a variety of connections (WiFi or 3G via Bluetooth). This was great for e-mail and other dedicated Palm applications but the browser was rather limited and Opera Mini seemed to upset the Palm (slowly "clogging it up" until a reset was needed).

I quite fancied an i-pod touch but that doesn't have Bluetooth and an i-phone cost rather more than I wanted to spend.

So...

I bought a Nokia N810.

Getting WiFi to work at home took moments but Bluetooth to mobile phones took a little longer. If you have arrived here by a search engine I guess you are struggling too.

I have two mobile phones, a Nokia Navigator 6110 on Vodafone PAYG and a Sony Ericsson k530 on Three PAYG.

As Three have the best data deals, getting it to work on Three was my eventual target but I also wanted it to work with the Vodafone as well.

Vodafone do PAYG data for 50p a day for up to 25MB (and you can go a bit above this without paying more), Three have some free data with each top up, then want 50p a day, £2.50 a week or £5 a month for more than I could (in practice) use. Coverage with Three is less good than Vodafone so I wanted them both to work.

Pairing was easy. The N810 initiated pairing and they were both paired up by entry of the appropriate code quickly.

The N810 had a Vodafone setting (which may well be right for a contract phone) but I needed to change it to:-

Connection type: Packet data:

Access point name: pp.vodafone.co.uk
Dial up number : *99***1#
User name : web
Password : web

and then the Nokia 6110 Navigator on Vodafone PAYG worked.

The Sony Ericsson on Three was more difficult. This is a Packet Data connection as well. I entered the following:-

Access point name: three.co.uk
Username : guest
Password: guest

and it just wouldn't work.

In desperation I created another set of access point settings in the k530, the first two sets are locked by Three in my Three locked k530 (via settings > Connectivity > Internet profiles > New profile ) with the "connect using" "three.co.uk".

Then

Access point name: three.co.uk
Dial up number : *99***2#
Username : guest
Password: guest

Worked.

Thinking about it, there are three profiles listed in the k530

3mms Locked
3browse Locked

and my new one, which I called N810.

the 2 in *99***2# I believe selects the 2nd slot (profie ?), which may be 3browse.

Now it's working I'm not fiddling further but if you are Googling in desperation try the *99***2# first before creating your own profile.

Moodio

The only application which I've found to get streaming radio on my Sony Ericsson K530 phone is Moodio ( www.moodio.fm ).

 

You create an account (typically using a computer) the navigate to m.moofio.fm with your phone. Sign in on the phone and you see the list of streaming radio stations you set on the PC. Click on the link and it should play on your phone.

 

I couldn't get it to work on my Palm Lifedrive for some reason, but it works on a Nokia 6110 Navigator phone (S60 firmware) as well as the Sony Ericsson.

The Start Of The Battle

I've created this blog mostly to keep notes of things I've found out relating to technology in a convenient place.

If you have come here, it's probably because you are trying to solve the same challenges that I am.

I hope you found some help !