Accessories First Impressions of the Laptop Dock

[champ10]

Its very light. It doesnt open as much as I would like, but thats not the biggest deal. Its pretty easy to type, though hitting enter didnt always work. Using wifi, it moved along pretty well, but it definitely is buggy. A few times the cursor would freeze. The only way I could unfreeze it would be to shut the screen and open it. 10-15 sec later it would work. The buttons on the trackpad arent the easiest to click either.

When I turned off wifi, the laptop automatically searches for my data plan. I dont have the extra teather plan so I cant use the firefox browswer. Thats what i figured, but the ATT rep in the store said I would be able to use the browser, just that I couldnt get the bundle price. I figured he was wrong but hoped he was correct. Its pretty clear a lot of these guys dont know what they are talking about.

Inserting the phone into the dock is a little worrisome at first because I had to wiggle it around and find exactly the right way to insert it. I was afraid I was going to break it, but that could just involve some getting used to.

Using the phone on speaker worked well and I like being able to type using the keyboard to control the phone. I'm gonna play around with some more and get a better feel of it.

 

[electronaut]

When I turned off wifi, the laptop automatically searches for my data plan. I dont have the extra teather plan so I cant use the firefox browswer. Thats what i figured, but the ATT rep in the store said I would be able to use the browser, just that I couldnt get the bundle price. I figured he was wrong but hoped he was correct. Its pretty clear a lot of these guys dont know what they are talking about.

Can you confirm whether you mean that the firefox browser won't work at all, no matter whether you are on wifi or the data plan, or whether it works under wifi even though you don't have the right data plan with tethering?

Thanks!

 

[champ10]

Can you confirm whether you mean that the firefox browser won't work at all, no matter whether you are on wifi or the data plan, or whether it works under wifi even though you don't have the right data plan with tethering?

Thanks!

It works on wifi, and only on wifi.

 

[gzrecoil]

Champ, did you try to enable wireless tethering by changing the settings? Does doing that allow the laptop to work w/o the 4GB plan w/ tethering?

 

[barry99705]

Champ, did you try to enable wireless tethering by changing the settings? Does doing that allow the laptop to work w/o the 4GB plan w/ tethering?

Tethering to what?

 

[atlbuc]

2316513[/URL]]Champ, did you try to enable wireless tethering by changing the settings? Does doing that allow the laptop to work w/o the 4GB plan w/ tethering?

No this does not work, I tried it earlier.

 

[electronaut]

It works on wifi, and only on wifi.

Thanks--that's great news to me. I'm willing to get the dock as long as I can use it on wifi. Awesome.

 

[John_Jones]

Thanks--that's great news to me. I'm willing to get the dock as long as I can use it on wifi. Awesome.

Yes you can use your WIFI, and no you dont need a tethering plan

The only time you need a tethering plan if you use the phone as the modem......

 

[Seifer48]

You can use your cellphones data plan with the laptop dock, even if you dont pay for the tethering plan. I'm using it right now with my iphone 4's data plan. Even using the micro sim from it in the atrix lol. All you need to do is change the APN settings to the default AT&T one. They're locked by default, download APN Manager from the market and create a new APN with the settings:


Name: AT&T
APN: wap.cingular
Proxy: leave blank
Port: 80
Username:WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
Password:CINGULAR1
Server: leave blank
MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com
MMS Proxy: wireless.cingular.com
MMS Port: 80
MMS Protocol: WAP 2.0
MCC:310
MNC:410
Authentication Type: leave blank
APN Type: default,internet+mms


Settings-Wireless and Networks-Mobile Networks-Access Point Names; where the APN settings are located in the system. I recommended APN Manager because it allows you to remove the default, locked, APN settings.

Edit: Also, you can use the mobile hotspot feature without purchasing it as well. To do this you first need to change your APN, then enable the mobile hotspot feature, as its verifying you need to turn on your Wi-Fi immediately, it will fail after a few seconds. Reboot and go through this process again, it should work the next time. All subsequent uses of the mobile hotspot feature will not require this method. Its a one time thing to enable it.