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Troubleshooting
If the connection method I’ve just described doesn’t work for you, try these troubleshooting techniques:
- Repeat all steps here to make sure that everything is paired properly. You might want to delete the old information to start fresh.
- Make sure that broadband access has been enabled for your account. If you’ve just signed up, sometimes it takes a few hours before access is fully enabled.
- Make sure that you have the correct info from your Internet provider.
- Experiment with account name and password settings. Oddly, my Internet provider told me to use the login information you saw earlier in Figure 7 (well, I changed the phone number), but it works when I omit the account name and password and just leave #777 as the telephone number. Go figure, huh?
Still can’t get it to work? It’s time to talk to technical support. Try your cell phone provider first, and then the manufacturer of your phone. Don’t let the technical support people tell you that your phone won’t work with a Mac—that’s a standard cop-out. The Verizon folks told me that there were a bunch of things I couldn’t do with my phone and my Mac (syncing wirelessly and connecting as discussed here come to mind), and they were wrong.
Normally, I’d tell you to read the documentation that came with your phone. But because the documentation that came with my phone told me to install special software to make this technique work, and clearly no special software is necessary, your phone’s documentation may not provide accurate instructions.
Technical support forums are a good source of info. Google the name of your phone with a phrase like "broadband access." You should get some hits with helpful information.
One thing you shouldn’t do: Contact me. I have just one smartphone with one provider, and that’s the limit of my hands-on experience. You’re far more likely to get help from any of the other sources listed above than you are from me.