# Bluetooth phone + laptop = internet connection?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bluetooth-phone-laptop-internet-connection/281840>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 27, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bluetooth-phone-laptop-internet-connection/281840 "2004-12-27T23:15:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bluetooth-phone-laptop-internet-connection/281840/1 "2004-12-27T23:15:06Z")

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I was messing around with my iBook and my bluetooth phone, and I noticed that there’s an option to use the bluetooth phone to connect to the internet. It asked me for a phone number, user name, and password.

Is this just as simple as having a dialup account somewhere that I can call into? What kind of bandwidth will I get? Will my normal minutes work, or will Cingular charge me some ridiculous “data rate” for the connection?

And, in a tangentially related topic, is there anywhere I can get a dialup account that will not charge a monthly fee, but will just charge me per byte when I use it?

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**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bluetooth-phone-laptop-internet-connection/281840/2 "2004-12-28T01:48:12Z")

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It depends on your service provider and, to some extent, the phone you have. Visit the [Mac cell phone mailing list home page](http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maccellphone/). If you search messages for your provider, you will find more information than you probably want to know.