Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

Hey there fellas. I was wondering if any of you gurus could toss me a little of the hard earned knowledge base each of you have formed...Well i'll get to it I guess ;)

I am deployed to Bagram in Afghanistan currently and have my HTC Diamond Touch. I was hoping to use it in some way to call home, but cannot connect to the wifi networks around here, despite the fact that I have a 100k connection *which i pay 100 bucks a month for :/ *. The reason for this is that the service I pay for is attached to the Mac Address of my laptop, not to mention the gentlemen at the wifi station tell me they don't support wifi on phones anyway. I wont get into too much detail unless one of you require me to do so, however, as I do not want to waste too much of your valuable time.

So I guess the question I have is, Would there be any way about which any of you are aware that I could use my cell phone on base? I was thinking that MagicJack may be a possibility but, once again, I am not sure if my Diamond would work with it...
Skype would have been an option if I could utilize the wifi connection on my phone.
I could purchase a sim card from the afghans but there are two problems with that:
1. It seems that Sprint's version of the Touch Diamond has the sim card covered up under the back jacket portion of the phone to keep people from swapping them...
2. Even if I could get an Afghani versiono of a sim card in place, it is ridiculously expensive *about 30-40cents per minute* to call home...

If it is possible, and honestly is the best possibility, I would be willing to follow any guidance to accomplish and exchange of sim cards, but that would be my last course of action unless it is the cheapest.

I was also thinking about whether it would be a possibility to purchase a router and attach it to my laptop during the day to have it send out a wireless signal *i would have to read up on it if it is even a possibility, but that may not be a bad idea..*

Do any of you have any guidance on this? Much thanks in advance...Deployment s.u.c.k.s for keeping in touch...

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

Cant you just plug your phone into your laptop and let activesync connect the phone to the computers data connection, and then use skype? Or use skype on the computer itself?

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

are you saying use active sync so, while my phone is unplugged from my pc, I can use my laptop as a hub my phone can hit in order to use skype?

If that is what you are saying then i am not sure...but it may be a possibility i'll have to look into.
If you are asking if i cant just hook up my phone to my comp via the cord and talk that way...i am pretty sure I COULD, but the reason I am wanting to use my mobile phone is so I can carry it with me in the general vicinity of my room (say within 30-40 yds max) and still be able to send or receive phone calls or texts over skype, or really ANY other service...
Seeing as I can't just hook my phone up to the wifi around here...it doesnt seem there is much opportunity if i cant set up a wireless hub for my use of the phone without having it attached...
Unfortunately, My laptop is not bluetooth capable either...but I would almost be willing to purchase one for this reason because in the end I still have a laptop for the 700 bucks i would otherwise spend on the crappy cell phone service they have on base...

Does that answer your q?

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

do you have the skype app for your phone?

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

I sure do...the only problem is that I cannot find a way to access the network from my phone...unless there is some way about which I am ignorant to hook it up to my internet through my computer...

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

can you use internet on your phone?andTHANK YOU TO YOU AND ALL THE REST KEEPING US SAFE....

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

Hmm. If you had two wifi cards on your laptop, one for receiving the wifi signal and another to broadcast it to the phone using a PC based prgram similar to WMWifirouter for WM6 then I suppose it could work. But I'm willing to bet there isn't a bestbuy in your area ;)

If you have a mic on your laptop why not just use that with Skype, or am I not understanding your question properly?

BTW, thank you for your service sir.

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

Sure you can, although it depends on the ROM you have, check your start menu for Internet Sharing application, it is just plug and play: run the app, connect to USB and enjoy your internet from your phone.

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

the main issue I am having is that I would prefer to not have it hooked up to my laptop via a physical connection. I want to be able to be mobile around my place of work and still use my phone.

I suppose another option would be to find a service that would allow me to hook my current phone up to a satellite of some sort...
If i could do that and use my phone for a data connection that would give me both internet AND phone capability (maybe via another satellite connection) I would be willing to pay upwards of 200 bucks per month for it (the internet I pay 100 bucks per month for is a crappy 100k max anyway).

I guess my primary issue is finding options that will work for me on this. I know the diamond touch is a highly capable phone...its just finding out what options I have for around 200 bucks a month to get both internet and phone through it. Anyone have any ideas? I dont want everyone to think the ONLY option I would use would be to hook up to wifi or internet in some way. I am just trying to find some way of having something close to the functionality I had back home.

On another note, you are welcome for what I am doing everyone...but I am hardly the guy who is in the most danger out here... so I thank them everyday by doing what I do.

You're thanks is appreciated as much as all the help each of you has given in the past.

Oh...one final note...I met a fellow over here who had a usb connector (looked like one of those sprint or verizon usb data sticks) that connected to a satellite here...so I suppose if my phone could work like that and I could pay a company to allow me access to their satellite...that might be best.

But, there again, I am not sure what my options are..

Re: Deployed in Afghan w/ Diamond Touch
 

Let me clarify ;)
1.) I need to have either a way to hook my phone up to my internet here...to allow for mobile phone use, or
2.) I need to figure out a way to use my phone to connect to a satellite that will allow me to either have a the ability to use my phone over here...or that will allow me to use my phone for both phone and data/phone as modem.

For the first, I would continue using my internet service here for my laptop; for the latter, I would pay upwards of 200 (probably a bit more) per month.

Does anyone know of any options that would be possible? Key Note: I do not want to have to use my phone (for actual phone calls), while having it connected to my laptop physically via usb, or any other, cable. Obviously, for the data connection issue, this would be completely acceptable...Unfortunately, this may be too much to ask--is it?