Celluar Modem...(not router)

Maybe this is the wrong place to post this but here goes.

Does anyone know of software that will act as a virtual modem on my laptop or another way without using software?

What I have is a PLC connected to a modem and I am able to dial into it via landline, but I have long since removed any landline in my home. I would like to dial into the PLC from my laptop thru the "interweb" but PC needs to think that it has a modem that is attached so I can point the PLC software to the modem.

I am not looking to browse the internet, I am looking to dial into a PLC through the internet.

For example, if you type in "Use cell phone as a modem" into google, all you get is how to connect to the web through your cell phone, I dont care about browsing the web with my cell.

I am running XP Pro and have a Verizon BB Storm. Just in case anyone was wondering. Is anyone else out there trying or doing the same thing I am?

Any pointers would be gratefully appreciated!

Here ya go

http://www.eltima.com/products/virtual-modem-pro/

http://www.virtual-modem.com/

I'm scratching my head a little here.

So the PLC has a serial connection to a modem, which is connected to a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) analog phone line.

In the old days, you would have a serial modem at your home, also connected to a POTS line, and you would make a connection between your serial ports using the modem to modulate and demodulate data over the phone lines.

Aside: I miss the Nineties. So much possibility.

Anyhow, what you need now is a way to have software emulate both a serial modem and a POTS line.

In addition, you need to have something that will use your cell phone as an intermediate link.

So it's PLC Software -> Virtual Serial Port -> USB or Bluetooth -> BlackBerry Storm -> WAP or 3G or some miracle of modernity -> Internet -> POTS Switch -> Modem -> PLC.

Maybe I should have said at the beginning.... I have no idea how to do this !

One approach I can think of is to use a phone line to Internet adapter, like the ones Linksys or Vonage or MagicJack offers. You can plug real phones into those, and some modems will probably work over them. Evidence found in the Internet suggest, though, that modem+VOIP compression = trouble.

But that's with an Internet connection in the house, and using a physical Modem, while your question omits a physical modem and uses a cell phone for the connection to the Internet.

Mr Roach, You are dead on!

Mr Kid, sorry I forgot to mention, I have found those, and the price tag is up there. I was looking for a less expensive solution but I may be driven down that road.

Maybe I'm missing something...and it may be in that you don't want to "browse the internet"

I have systems that when I go over the internet to their static IP address, it connects to their dialup modem. Is this not what you are trying to do?

TW,

Working from the PLC to the Laptop the connection would go something like this:

PLC <Serial connection> Modem <POTS Line> Phone Co Switch <(as KR put it,)"some miracle of modernity"> Internet <cable modem> Laptop <virtual modem> PLC Software

or this example:

PLC <Serial connection> Modem <POTS Line> Phone Co Switch <celluar connection> Blackberry (As Modem, windows will need to see this as the modem, and have the ability to dial from it) <USB> Laptop PLC Software

Hope I got that correct.

PLC kid, I DL-ed the Eltima, It needs the software installed on both sides. One acting as a server and the other a client. That would not be possible. thanks for the reply though

This device came up in another thread:

http://plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=58939

If you have an analog modem in your PC it might work with that bluetooth tethering device.

This remains a "might"... cell phones are really optimized for voice.