Sony TXN27N smartwi

revatwashu · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

Well after much ado the thing works pretty well on the sprint network.

We got it working the first time after about 2 hours of calling. I already had a sprint data account with a USB modem, and I will love having not having to carry the extra thing around, plus the little sony is really cute.

Then I joined the domain at work and for some reason it messed up the modem. I had to reactivate it, and I did something wrong, or someone I called at sprint who did something wrong. The modem would call and connect, but I would get no internet access we tried uninstalling and reinstalling everything. Apparently the modem wasn't working. They had me ##REM or something like that? by holding the mouse over the going forward logo on the smart wi connection manager and typing that in. It only worked after the modem was disconnected. Anyway it reset the modem and then I had to wait a few minutes as the modem updated 3 seperate times and since then it works... sort of. .. which was actually the reason for my post.
If I suspend the computer (windows vista business) with the sprint connection active then the smartwi utility will not reconnect to the sprint network. It just says it is initializing the modem and never allows me to press connect. I can use the vista network connections button located by the clock to dial the connection and it works great and connects to sprint really fast compared to the smartwi utility. I have to close and restart the smartwi program before it will let me connect again, or I have to restart vista. Is anyone else having a problem similar to this? It has been having this issue since day one.

I also wondered if anyone had tried using the novatel connection manager for the s720,u720 etc. that is on the sprint website. I am guessing in will work because the TXN27N has a ES-720 modem in it. I'll bet that just means an embedded S-720? Does anyone also know if it has functional GPS in it? That would be cool if we could get that working.

Thanks.

Revs

revatwashu · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

Well I have played around with it more and found that the smartwi connection manager doesn't always stop allowing me to connect after I suspend vista with an active connection - only about 3/4 of the time.... Does anyone else have this issue? I tried to write sony an email about it, I asked them some specific questions about the modem and if the sprint connection manager would work, if the embedded ES720 had GPS in it, and if they had tried suspending a vista computer and seeing if it could reconnect. They wrote back that they were sorry I was having issues, but they couldn't troubleshoot computers by email and that I could call the support line.
After having spent hours on the sony support line and being transfered 4 times getting to the advanced support for sprint issues people and then asking them point blank if they had a computer connected to sprint with vista on it that they could test and learning that they didn't... (it turns out vista doesn't list the gateway on a dial-up connection as 0.0.0.0 under ipconfig, and that this has nothing to do with the reason my sprint connection/modem was not working even though they were sure it was part of the problem.) I know that spending hours on the phone and having them reinstall the smartwi software multiple times when I already know it won't solve the problem doesn't sound too appealing.

I tried downloading the sprint connection manager. I installed it, and it runs but it talks with the modem and says it wants to update the modems firmware before it will let me use it - if I say no then everything is greyed out. I don't have the guts to try it out, but I can see the GPS info in the connection manger. Why doesn't someone try this out for me and see if they can't get it to work.

Thanks.
Revs

sjs · EVDO Newbie Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

So Revs, I realize it's almost a year later, but I'm curious... did you ever try completing the the sprint connection manager install? I've seen another thread on this, but I've been leary, (ok... scared!)

I have a TX29N and use Smart Wi to switch wlan/wwan. Smart Wi has had no update since I bought the TX June of '07. I plan to do some int'l travel and would guess I need to do a prl update, but in the Smart Wi world we have no real administrative control.

Thx for any feedback!

sjs · EVDO Newbie Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

Ignore previous post... just read your other thread. Nevermind.