Category: setup

How to get the HTC Inspire 4g AT&T to work with Straight Talk

Paul5 Replies

It really wasn’t hard!

I have been doing a lot of stuff with this HTC Inspire that I got from a family member.  Here are some of my observations about this phone that I wanted to share with you before we get into making it work with Straight Talk.   Afterall I want to be fair to you my readers.

 

The HTC Inspire in whole, isn’t really that bad of a phone.   There will be some caviates of the phone though.  The battery that was in the phone has been charged and discharged so many times that I can’t reliably say that the battery is bad. So with that in mind, I plan on making a trip to Batteries Plus to buy me a new battery.  The Screen on the Inspire gives you so much more than you get on most other smart phones.   The Resolution of the screen is crisp and you can do a lot with the Apps from the Marketplace.

How I did it!

If you’ve been reading my blog the last week or so, you would of noticed that I showed you how to unlock the HTC Inspire 4g AT&T Phone yourself for free.   I did unlock it successfully, because when I got the new sim it had to be set to be used it but didn’t say it couldn’t use that SIM.  If your really unsure of it yourself you might just got buy an unlocked HTC Inspire 4g AT&T Phone .  I really don’t want you to brick you phone but you can also try to get AT&T to unlock it  or you could buy the Unlock Code.   I really don’t know if they will or not but it is always a possiblity.

Getting the Right Sim Card from Straight Talk!

I’ve found in the past that if your are going to use a phone from a carrier unlocked it sometimes the best results can be continueing to use the same carrier in one aspect or another.  So choose the right Sim for the phone you have and you won’t be disappointed.  This will be a short tutorial for the AT&T HTC Inspire that I just got done unlocking.   You will need to unlock your HTC Inspire to do this successfully, but if your are successfull, you will be able to use their service for much less than you normally would.

Make sure you pick the AT&T Compatible Sim!Once you unlocked the cell phone and gotten the AT&T Compatible Straight talk SIM card, you will need to set up some Access Point Names(APNS) for the HTC Inspire 4g Unlocked Cell phone.

On the Inspire itself hit:

MENU > Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names

There you will see two APN’s already set by AT&T.  They are MEdia Net and MMS (Wap.cingular).   Mine were locked but I left them alone on my phone   In order to get both internet and mobile calls on you phone you will need to create two APNS:  (This would be a good time to bookmark my site in case you need to come back to it!)

Only fill in the ones I tell you, Leave all the rest blank or <Not set> and it all CASE Sensitive:

MENU > Add APN

Name : straight talk

APN: ATT.mvno

MMS protocol: WAP 2.0

MCC:  310

MNC:  410

MENU > SAVE

MENU > Add APN

Name: mmsc

APN: ATT.mvno

MMSC:  http://mmsc.cingular.com

MMS Proxy:  80

MMS protocol:  WAP 2.0

MCC:  310

MNC: 410

APN type: mms

MENU > SAVE

So if you have done this right, it is now time to reboot your HTC Inspire 4G unlocked Cell phone.  Hold the power button down for 3 seconds and hit RESTART once you have done this you should be able to use both internet and make calls on the Straight Talk Network with your SIM.  Remember you will need to register the sim with Straight Talk before you can use it but if you haven’t now would be a good time to Activate the SIM and associate that SIM with your Account.

I hope this helps you figure out how to use your new found freedom with yoru android device and thus you should be all set to make calls and surf the web with your HTC Inspire 4G.   If you have any questionns please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.  

Paul Sylvester

 

Digital Convert boxes for Feburary 17, 2008

Paul

It being close to the change over, I’d figure I’d show you some of them and talk about them. To better help people make up there minds on what might be there choice of a Digital Converter Box. This is to help people get the most out of there products.

The Specs for this Converter is:

Zenith DTT901 Digital TV Tuner Converter Box

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  • Digital TV Tuner Coverter Box

  • Analog Pass-Through for Low-Power TV Stations broadcasts

  • On-Screen Program Information with Remote Control

  • Simple Connection to TV with supplied RF Cable

  • Parental Control to Manage TV Programs and advanced Closed Captioning

$59.95 Free Shipping

It could be on sale so check the link for more price options.  I also found this one that is a little more expensive but supposed to be better:
GE 23333 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box

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  • Smart Antenna Interface

  • Simple Setup

  • Analog Pass Through

  • Dolby(R) Digital Sound

  • Receives Over-Air Hdtv Signals

$76.99 Free Shipping

These are just some of the ones that I saw online to encourage people to get ready for the change over. If you’re not you need to act quickly because it will come in the next few months. You will need this if your are using an antenna and have no other way to watch shows over the air. This will only work where there is a signal. If you want to see what digital channels you have in your area please check Antenna Web. There they will tell you if you have any local channels in your area.

Backup your Mozzila Thunderbird profiles

Paul

So you have all this mail you want to back up in case something terrible happens to your hard drive.  So here is ways to backup your email and other programs in Vista.  I think Vista has a new way of keeping program profiles in an hierarchical setup.  So what is the HIDDEN directory it is:

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C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles

Now as you can see your Thunderbird profile is in a hidden directory in the AppData Directory.  You can easily get to the hidden directory by typing %appdata% {enter} in the search bar of Vista.  Now How do you backup and restore.   The program I use to backup is GoodSync.  I send the data to the cloud and when I need it I can restore it back to the directory. Now what about restoring, if you have to do a complete re-install of Thunderbird you can always copy over the back up to the Thunderbird Profiles directory and install Mozilla Thunder bird and it should see it.   If by chance you load up Thunderbird and you have to re add everything you would have to delete everything in that directory and then restore from the back up.

It is also a good idea to backup all the roaming directory from time to time.  This way you have every important program needed in case of a problem with your drive.    These are just a few tips and tricks to keep your data safe from having problems in the long run.

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