Data Roaming With Wind

[Gargoyle]

Since I want to use the same phone in the US and Italy (so I don't have to carry two phones and two chargers every time I travel), it looks like I'll have to stick with GPRS and not 3G/GSM.

Quick estimates based on the 155.it site, if my math is correct, with regular wind cards it looks like ?1,00 to ?3,00 per megabyte of download. With Mega No Limit, if I understand correctly, it's ?10,00/mg with the Wind portal, and ?30,00/meg for the rest of the internet, with the first 3,000 euro free per month (meaning 100 mg free for ?20,00/month, and with Mega300, for ?8,00/month you get 10 mg of traffic. However, it looks like the Mega cards are for UTMS and not GPRS. Am I interpreting this correctly?

[Effendi]

Ehm, a little chaos!

Wind has 3 different billing rates for data: <span style='color:#3366FF'>wap</span>, <span style='color:#FFAA00'>i-mode</span> and <span style='color:#FF0000'>web</span>, with the following rates:

in ITALY:
<span style='color:#3366FF'>wap</span>: ? 0.03/KB (? 0.01/KB inside Wind's portal) [apn: wap.wind] -> ? 30/MB
<span style='color:#FFAA00'>i-mode</span>: ? 0.01/KB [apn: imode.wind] -> ? 10/MB
<span style='color:#FF0000'>web</span>: ? 0.003/KB [apn: internet.wind] -> ? 3/MB

outside ITALY:
<span style='color:#3366FF'>wap</span>: ? 0.05/KB [apn: wap.wind] -> ? 50/MB
<span style='color:#FFAA00'>i-mode</span>: ? 0.05/KB [apn: imode.wind] -> ? 50/MB
<span style='color:#FF0000'>web</span>: ? 0.015/KB [apn: internet.wind] -> ? 15/MB

So how much it is with the 3 data offers is listed in the thread sticky in this section, and anyway: 1GB, 100MB and 10MB in Italy, 200MB, 20MB and 2MB outside Italy, using the web apn.

Usually you don't need both wap and i-mode, just configure the phone for web connections (i.e. just put internet.wind as APN).

[Gargoyle]

I picked up an unlocked Motorola V400 quad band (850, 900, 1800, 1900) and a usb cable on ebay, but it didn't come with the Motorola Phone Tools CD. Do I need the software from that CD for the laptop to recognize it? Or can I just use the old fashioned modem settings from Control Panel/Phone and Modem Options. (WinXP with all current patches and service packs). I see where I can put in the init strings if needed, but I don't see a place to put the internet.wind APN.

Thanks,

[Jibku]

The internet.wind APN has to be set up on the phone. Then, put *99# as dial-up access number on your laptop.

*99# is the basic command for a mobile phone to connect via GPRS/EDGE. You can usually set up several APN on a phone. If you want to use your default APN, just have your laptop dial *99# and it should work.

Some mobiles need you to specify which APN has to be used ; then your laptop should dial *99***1# for the first APN, *99***2# for the second one, etc. This must also be done if your network operator uses different APN for wap and web : the default APN for your phone is usually the wap APN, so the dialing string from your laptop must specify that it needs the web APN.

On some phones like SonyEricsson, you can find the number of each APN ; it's called CID. If you don't find the number, just try all APN (change the last number in the dial-up string) untill it works...

[Effendi]

I you have a Nokia phone you have to add this string to your modem properties on Windows: +CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet.wind"
With other brands it's not necessary, but it you put it you're sure to use the right APN.

[Gargoyle]

I'm missing something.

I'm in Italy, and still trying to get this to work. I sent the sms to Wind to activate; I got a reply immediately saying that they had received my request and wwould send me an sms to confirm once they activate the promotion. About 12 or 14 hours later I received the confirmation.

I set up the init string: +cgdcont=1,"IP","internet.wind"
There is no where on my system to enter an APN

When I dial: *99***1# I immediately get the following message within one or two seconds of trying to dial:

Registering your computer on the network
the PPP link control protocol was terminated

It disconnects instantly.

I'm trying two methods; one is from the WinXP modem and network setup control panels; the other is from my third party cell phone software, DataPilot. I've followed the instructions from 155.it in configuring my computer.

Do I need to enter a password/username? If so, are those the same ones I use for 155.it or are they different? Is there a different number which I can tell the phone to dial?

Right now I'm using a Motorola V180 with a USB cable. The computer recognizes it on Com 4.
(I am waiting for a replacement for my V400). With the built in menu in the Motorola phone, is there anywhere I should enter any info?

[Effendi]

No need for a user name, just the number (*99***1#, try also just *99#), really strange...

[Jibku]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle

With the built in menu in the Motorola phone, is there anywhere I should enter any info?

Yes : you have to set up Wind Web APN in your phone. Which means create a new data account with the APN "internet.wind". (No need for any other information : just leave everything else blank.)

When you dial "*99***1#" from your computer, it doesn't mean "connect to Wind" ; it means "connect to data account number 1". But if there is no correct data account, or if the correct data account is not number 1, it won't work.

I don't know if Motorola displays the number (usually called "CID#" on some phones) of the data account. If it does, you may have to replace "1" in "*99***1#" by the number of the Wind Web account you've just created. If it doesn't, you may have to try "*99***2#", "*99***3#" etc. until it works.