I got to talking to my old boss yesterday, who's about 65 and not too tech savy, and he asked me if it was possible to set up his Topcon Hiper to work with his Droid Phone and tie into the Florida DOT. Currently, he's using Raven Airlink Modems to tie into the DOT system.
What I know is he has a Driod with BlueTooth and a Data plan, an "unlocked" Hiper setup (no range limits, etc.), and a Ranger500 ( I think) with TDS/Blue Tooth. I don't think he has WiFi on the Ranger or the Phone.
I set up the Hiper/TDS/Airlink system when I worked there, so I'm somewhat familiar with tapping into the DOT network, but I've never set up a GPS rover to work through a cell phone.
Any advice. Will this even work, or does he need to add "teathering" or some such thing to his cell plan? Next time I'm down that way I might drop in and see if I can get it work for him.
Gonna need tethering as the Internet connection needs to be shared, and of course bluetooth to the rover.
On some of the android phones, the carrier disables the native bluetooth tethering functionality. To get around this you can download an app on the phone called PDANet which will activate that function. From there just pair the dc and the phone and set up the dial up connection. If it is Verizon, use #777 for the dial number and no username or password. If AT&T use *99# .
Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is the purpose of dialing #777 (he uses verizon)? Maybe this would be clear to me if I had the equipment on hand right now. With the Airlink Ravens, you select "IP modem" (instead of "dial up"), and the Florida DOT has a list of IP address/port assignments you key in depending on which station you want to use as the base. Sorry, but this is new to me.
When using bluetooth for tethering to internet you create the old style Dial Up Network (DUN) with the cell phone as a modem which dials into a phone number. That phone number for verizon is #777, the username is the area code and phone number of the cell phone followed by @vzw3g.com, and the password is vzw
example
username [email protected]
password vzw
But much of this depends on your data collector and software.
A more modern method is to have data collector (such FC250) that will connect to WiFi, and a smart phone creating a portable hot spot. Much easier to setup.
Feel free to call me, and I can talk you through the setup.
My phone number can be found here www.LeeGreen.com
Thanks Lee and Dan. I think I understand now. The #777 establishes the internet connection, at some point during the set-up I'm probably going to have to put in the address for the Florida DOT Network. I'm sure this will make more sense to me once I have the equipment in front of me and I can see what it's asking for.