Connecting via a simulated dial-up connection

Some mobile phones connect to the Internet via a dial-up connection. To simulate this, you can connect the Symbian OS emulator to the Internet with a dial-up connection. However, many workplace environments do not provide dial-up facilities; Internet access is typically provided by an Ethernet network instead.

To solve this problem, you can simulate a dial-up connection using one or two PCs. You need either a PC with two spare COM ports, or two PCs with one spare COM port each. In both cases, you create simulate a dial-up server with Windows 2000 or Windows NT's Remote Access Service (RAS). You also need a null-modem cable to connect the two COM ports together.

If you have a PC with two spare COM port and either Windows 2000 or Windows NT then simulate a dial-up connection as follows:

1. Connect your PC to the Internet.

2. Configure your PC's Remote Access Service (RAS) so that other computers can dial into one of your COM ports. The remote computer can now share your computer's Internet connection. This is described in Setting up the Remote Access Service on Windows NT and Setting up the Remote Access Service on Windows 2000.

3. Configure the Symbian OS emulator to dial out of a COM port. This COM port cannot be the one used for the RAS service. This is described in Setting up the Comms Database for RAS.

4. Finally, connect the two COM ports with a null-modem cable.

As a result, the emulator dials out of one COM port, through the cable and into the other COM port. The RAS provides Internet access for the emulator as shown in the diagram below:

As shown in the diagram, there may be a firewall between the PC and the Internet. This means that the emulator may be limited in what it can access on the Internet.

If you don't have a PC with two spare COM ports then use two PCs, each with a spare COM port. One computer is the provider PC. It is connected to the Internet. It must run either Windows 2000 or Windows NT. The other computer is the emulator PC; it runs the Symbian OS emulator.

Notebook computers normally have one COM port. You can run the emulator on your notebook (the emulator PC) and use another as the provider PC.

1. Connect the provider PC to the Internet.

2. Configure the provider PC's Remote Access Service (RAS) so that computers can dial into its COM port and share its Internet connection. This is described in Setting up the Remote Access Service on Windows NT and Setting up the Remote Access Service on Windows 2000.

3. On the emulator PC, configure the Symbian OS emulator to dial out of a COM port. This is described in Setting up the Comms Database for RAS.

4. Finally, connect the two COM ports with a null-modem cable.

The result is that Symbian OS emulator dials out of the emulator PC's COM port and into the provider PC's COM port, as shown in the diagram below:

As shown in the diagram, there may be a firewall between the PC and the Internet. This means that the emulator may be limited in what it can access on the Internet.

Once configured, RAS can be used in the same manner as any other network media: Start the emulator then start the application that requires network connectivity, such as an Internet browser. You may be prompted to select an Internet Access Point (IAP): select the one you created.

The Troubleshooting guide may help if you cannot connect the emulator to the network. To test your connection, see How to test comms settings.