I’ve been using Palm devices for years now, this being my fourth device (Palm Pilot, Samsung i330, Treo 650, 755p) and feel quite at home on the interface. So for the time being I’m quite happy with my Treo.

Using DUN (dial-up-networking) to access the internet through your Treo has been around for quite some time for Palm with much thanks to folks like Shadowmite, so I’m not discussing any all to new. What I would like to show though is the easiest and most reliable method for getting your macbook online by “tethering” to your Treo. There are ways to do this using Bluetooth, like I said, you will have mixed results. Connecting through USB really is the best bet.

What you’ll need:

Download USBmodem (has 30 day trial) and double-click on the included “USBModem.prc” file which will open your default sync app. Make sure to install the prc to the device and not an SD card. Sync your device. Copy the included mac drivers to the /Library/Modem Scripts folder on your mac.

For the next part you might have to contact your service provider (sprint, verizon) to get your username/password, but in my experience you don’t need this info if you already can connect to the internet on your phone. If you can browse the internet using Blazer, that means your username/password are already stored on your phone.

Make sure your phone is hooked up to your computer through the usb sync cable. Go to the USBmodem app on your Palm, set the connectivity method to USB, check the box next to “background mode” (yes you can even answer phone calls while tethering to your computer) and tap on “enable modem mode”.

On the Mac go to System Preferences and click on Network. Look for the new port with the words “USB Modem” in it’s name. In Leopard you should see something like the pic below.

Enter in #777 in the Phone number field. Select and click on “advanced”. Make sure your Modem and PPP tabs look like the below pics.


and click OK.

Check the box that says “Show modem status in menu bar” and then click apply.

Go to the menu bar and select the connection you just created. Done

Now you can go sit up at your favorite coffee shop (or anywhere for that matter) and enjoy your own internet while tethered to your Palm phone–something the oh so cool iphone fanboys can’t say as of yet.

For further details on how to set this up and/or for GSM palm users please refer to the guide that came with the usbmodem download or again you could also check out this guide which also provides some details for using older versions of OSX, a detailed history, Treo 650 usage, and setting this up using Bluetooth.

If you are experiencing problems with staying connected to the internet on your Sprint Treo 755p try upgrading your firmware being very careful to follow Palm’s instructions. Another option is to hit ##EVDO# (##3836#) on the phone dial pad of your Treo which will allow you to disable the phone’s EVDO connection and only use the slower 1xRTT connection.