How to connect using a Sanyo SCP-3100 phone (Sprint) as a USB modem
Has anyone been able to use a Sanyo SCP-3100 on the Sprint network as a USB modem on a machine running 10.3.9? If so, how? I am trying with no luck so far. I have activated the service and verified that it works on a Windows XP machine, but cannot get a Mac to recognize it as a network port.
After numerous searches I found the following:
1. This phone uses a direct USB cable, not a serial port on the phone with a USB chipset in the cable which might require a driver specific to the cable.
2. The drivers are 'supposed' to be built into OS X.
3. All I should have to do is connect it and it will automatically be recognized as a network port and available for selection in network preferences.
Well, it doesn't work. The first time I tried connecting it to two different laptops running 10.3.9, not only did it not show up as a network port, it didn't show up at all in System Profiler, not even as an unknown USB device. I plugged it into a tower running 10.4 and it showed up in System Profiler as "Sanyo USB Phone". Unfortunately, it wasn't my machine and I didn't want to interrupt what it was doing so I didn't try Network Preferences to see if it worked as a network port. I did not see the 'new network port has been detected' message that is supposed to pop up if it was working, but I'm not sure whether you have to be in network preferences for that to happen. So I'm not sure if it works in 10.4 or not.
The next time I plugged it into the 10.3.9 machines, it also showed up in System Profiler as "Sanyo USB Phone". Which is strange as they didn't even detect it's existence before. Did connecting it to a 10.4 machine somehow set something in the phone that allowed 10.3.9 to detect it?
Most of the info I found on the net about connecting cell phones as USB modems is years out of date and/or not relevant to this phone. I found some info on what kext the driver was probably in and was even considering swapping in some 10.4 versions an a machine I could afford to break the system on, but the file names didn't even match so I gave up on that. I'll probably call Sprint tech support again, but I think they only have one guy who knows what a Mac is and the answer will probably be it either works or it doesn't.
I'm posting on the outside chance that someone may know of something that I can do other than get a different phone, ugrade the system (not practical at the moment), or wait for Apple to issue a driver update, someday, maybe.
After numerous searches I found the following:
1. This phone uses a direct USB cable, not a serial port on the phone with a USB chipset in the cable which might require a driver specific to the cable.
2. The drivers are 'supposed' to be built into OS X.
3. All I should have to do is connect it and it will automatically be recognized as a network port and available for selection in network preferences.
Well, it doesn't work. The first time I tried connecting it to two different laptops running 10.3.9, not only did it not show up as a network port, it didn't show up at all in System Profiler, not even as an unknown USB device. I plugged it into a tower running 10.4 and it showed up in System Profiler as "Sanyo USB Phone". Unfortunately, it wasn't my machine and I didn't want to interrupt what it was doing so I didn't try Network Preferences to see if it worked as a network port. I did not see the 'new network port has been detected' message that is supposed to pop up if it was working, but I'm not sure whether you have to be in network preferences for that to happen. So I'm not sure if it works in 10.4 or not.
The next time I plugged it into the 10.3.9 machines, it also showed up in System Profiler as "Sanyo USB Phone". Which is strange as they didn't even detect it's existence before. Did connecting it to a 10.4 machine somehow set something in the phone that allowed 10.3.9 to detect it?
Most of the info I found on the net about connecting cell phones as USB modems is years out of date and/or not relevant to this phone. I found some info on what kext the driver was probably in and was even considering swapping in some 10.4 versions an a machine I could afford to break the system on, but the file names didn't even match so I gave up on that. I'll probably call Sprint tech support again, but I think they only have one guy who knows what a Mac is and the answer will probably be it either works or it doesn't.
I'm posting on the outside chance that someone may know of something that I can do other than get a different phone, ugrade the system (not practical at the moment), or wait for Apple to issue a driver update, someday, maybe.
iBook, Choose
