Petro Canada unlimited internet package successfully tethered to Windows

[david8900]

Hi all,

I really appreciate all of the help that I have received from crackberry.com so I wanted to provide my experience with Petro Canada mobility (somewhat related to Rogers right...I hope you don't lock my thread because it's not exactly Rogers based...), and using their unlimited Internet package.

First, Petro Canada mobility is selling their unlimited Internet package right now for $27.95/month which includes 2500 SMS, and 100 air time minutes. Not bad considering it's prepaid and no contract.

I bought the SIM card from Petro Canada and installed it in my unlocked former Rogers BB 8900.

Once the BB started, go into Options, Advanced Options, TCP/IP and set the following values as taken from the Petro Canada web site:mobility.petro-canada.ca/en/questions/138.aspx#sim_card

APN: goam.com
Username: wapuser1
Password: wap

Reboot the device.

Once it has restarted, go into Options, Advanced Options, Host Routing Table, and select Register Now.

At this point, the Service Book (Options, Advanced Options) table was populated with a bunch of values which I will list here:
Wi-Fi TCP/IP Browser [BrowserConfig]
WiFi TCP/IP Transport [WPTCP]
Rogers MMS [WAP]
Rogers Do More [BrowserConfig]
WAP BrowserConfig [BrowserConfig]
WAP2 Transport [WPTCP]
Wap Push Config [WAPPushConfig]
MMS Client 1.2 [MMS]

Some of them have gateway values, and others don't. I haven't listed the gateway values because you can't edit or add them as they're delivered by Petro Canada.

Open the BB Browser and, open Options, Browser Configuration and set the Browser to Rogers Mall as the HotSpot Browser didn't work for me.

At this point the Browser should have Internet access.

Now, I have Opera Mini installed, but initially it wasn't able to access the Internet until I went into Settings, Advanced and selected Network Test. The test took a few minutes to complete, but it did finish successful. After that Opera could open any site, such as GMail.

I have the GMail app installed on this phone, but at this time I can't get GMail to work. It appears to be able to log in to my account, but it can't load my email and time out with a message stating a problem with the data connection.

On to the tether. The following is for Windows Vista.

Install the Blackberry Desktop Manager to get the BB modem drivers.
Verify that the modem driver is installed by going into Device Manager (Control Panel, System) expand Ports (COM & LPT) and check for "RIM Virtual Serial Port v2 (COMn).
Start Desktop Manager, connect the phone, open Control Panel, Phone and Modem Options.
Click the Modems tab, and double click the entry "Standard Modem" which matches the RIM COM port listed in Device Manager.
Click the Advanced tab and add this init string: +cgdcont=1,"IP","goam.com"
Close all opened windows.

Open Network and Sharing Center from the Control Panel.
Click Set up a connection or network.
From the list, choose Set up a dial-up connection.
Choose the Blackberry modem which will be called Standard Modem and enter these values after clicking Next.
Phone number:: *99#
User Name: wapuser1
Password: wap
Done.

At this point, Windows will attempt to connect, and if all is correct, then the connection should be successful. I tried to ping a remote server but didn't get a response. Then I remembered that the Petro Canada web site suggests the use of a proxy server. The address is 10.128.1.69:80. I entered those values in Chrome but couldn't get a page to load. Then I entered those values in Friefox and for the win, was able to load any web page. BTW, after connecting you should be able to ping and get a response from the proxy server IP address.

[david8900]

Here's the speed that I get from a few different sites.

tracert.org/bandwidth_meter
54.90kbps - which means you can download at 6.86 KB/sec. from our servers.

ispgeeks.com/wild/modules.php?name=Bandwidth_Meter_DSL
59.3 kbps - Which means you can download at 7.41 KB/sec. from our servers

speedtest.net
0.04Mb/s up and down

[david8900]

It's not terribly fast, but it works for me while I'm on the road and need to get access to a remote machine via RDP/VNC. Plus, I haven't been able to find a cheaper prepaid plan with unlimited Internet. Sure there are the new carrier startups like Wind and Mobilicity but they use AWS cell networks and those aren't compatible with my ancient 8900 GSM. Plus, the Petro Can coverage is basically the same as Rogers.

[david8900]

I didn't realize that my 8900 is a 2G phone. So, I updated to a Bold 3G and using the same Petro Canada network I know get a bandwidth rating of 807.5kbps or 100.94KB/sec. That's better!

[cheers1981]

What about BBM and BIS, can you connect, or is this just solely for the purpose of tethering data?

[Blackberry bold girl]

I've tried everything but my blackberry won't let me change from hotspot to rogersmall?

Any suggestions

[FengShuiExpert]

Hi David
Thanks to your very detailled post I was finally able to get browsing through Petro Canada network (with Wifi off) but you're right it only works with Opera. So this is a silly question but I am therefore assuming that all the apps, gps etc. won't work on the network only (without WIFI) as there is no way to "force" the aps to go through the connection established by Opera, am I right?

[david8900]

@FengShuiExpert - actually, on my BB device I was able to use both the BB browser, and Opera for web browsing. If your device can only access the web through Opera than I think you know the answer to your question. From what I understand of the Petro Canada data package, it's purely web based. I'll need to test it again to see if it can provide other IP services once tethered such as VPN (PPTP TCP port 1728, IPSEC, etc). I'm going to guess that the answer is no. So, thank goodness for SSL VPNs!

@Blackberry Bold girl - I was using BB OS5 which is old. I suspect that you have BB OS6 and the BB browser no longer supports the need to change between RogersMall, or Hotspot. Technically, if you have the a Petro Canada data package then your browser should be able to connect to the 'net.

@cheers1981 - Petro Canada doesn't offer BIS so there's no BBM or any other native BB application.