Wireless internet using my BlackBerry

I have to use a BlackBerry Perl for work and have generally enjoyed it – I can easily review emails without dialing into work, I can browse the net anywhere I want, and the phone quality is fairly stable. I started wondering though, can I connect it to my computer?

A little googling and I found a page (http://www.blackberryforums.com/blackberry-guides/2019-user-howto-use-blackberry-modem-laptop.html) that discussed just that. Below are the steps I performed to get this to work with Cingular/ATT

1. Installed BlackBerry Desktop software, supposedly this is necessary
2. Connected my phone via USB cable – not a problem since I normally charge teh phone this way
3. Verify the phone is recognized as a modem
4. In Device Manager, browse to Modems and select Standard Modem
5. Click Diagnostics Query Modem and ensure the results detail a BlackBerry IP Modem
6. On the Advanced tab of the modem, enter +cgdcont=1,”IP”,”wap.cingular”
7. NOTE: The name was changed from the original article to match what was listed in the TCP properties of my phone
8. Create a new connection using this modem and a phone number of *99#
9. Initiate the connection and leave the username and password blank