Sep
After a month or so of frustration, anger and determination, I’ve finally hacked my Sprint/Samsung Instinct to work as a modem. Inside my San Francisco apartment, using the USB cable that comes with the phone, I have connected my Macbook to Sprint’s 3G wireless network and clocked speeds at 1100 kb/s down and about 300 kb/s up. This is with about 4-bars of service … I’m going to try it tomorrow in the park where I should get a full signal.
UPDATE SEPT 3 from Dolores Park, San Francisco – I’m in the park now, will a full 6 bars of service running on all battery. Download speed blew me away at 1529 kb/s according to Speedtest.net. That’s faster than some wired DSL speeds!
The Instinct is Sprint’s first real answer to the iPhone, and the first consumer phone to be capable of Sprint’s fastest “Rev A” 3G wireless data network. The Instinct is also capable of “Phone as a Modem (PAM)” service, according to some of Samsung’s literature. I had resisted getting the iPhone, for various reasons, and Sprint finally had a good deal on the Instinct with a pretty decent feature set. I paid about $80 after rebates for the phone, and my monthly costs are about 40% less than what I’d pay if I switched to AT&T.
The phone is fast, responsive, and overall very good. The interface isn’t nearly as slick or polished as the iPhone, but the Instinct mostly gets the job done … and so far I’m pleased to see some software updates getting pushed down. The Phone as Modem thing, though, was a huge disappointment …
Even though the Instinct is capable of PAM, Sprint, has so far decided to not support it. The Instinct requires Sprint’s “Simply Everything” plan, which includes unlimited 3G internet, but the fine print says that phone as modem is not included. Even worse … Sprint sells users a $15 per month plan add-on for PAM capability for use with some of the other devices like the Blackberry and Mogul … but they don’t offer it for the Instinct or any of it’s required plans.
I confirmed these facts today when I called Sprint Customer Support, and asked them about PAM support for my Instinct. Basically, even though the phone is perfectly capable, Sprint has decided to block Instinct owners from using PAM. I am perfectly willing to pay … I think $15 per month is reasonable for the convenience of occasional PAM use … but Sprint won’t let me. Time to start hacking …
Keep reading for the How-To
I learned these facts and more from the great forums at instinct-samsung.com. There is lots of good info there, but the site is horrendous to search and navigate. Here, I’m trying to aggregate the relevant knowledge into a useful guide.
Get the Codes
You’re going to need your “MSL code” from Sprint. This is a 6-digit number that is specific to your phone, and needed to get into the debug menu of the phone. You can simply call Sprint Customer Service or Tech Support and ask them for this … tell them that you need it to reactivate your phone or do a factory reset. I called Sprint, said “technical support” to the voice prompt, and the rep didn’t hesitate to give me the number. I didn’t tell her that I was gonna hack my phone … just be tactful and it should work. If not, call again, you’ll almost definitely get somebody else.
Tap, tap, tap
Once you’ve got the MSL code, you’re ready to tweak the settings of your phone a little bit …
DISCLAIMER: I have no idea what most of this stuff really does, if it’s even legal or within the bounds of Sprint’s TOS. It worked for me, and so far I have not been arrested, charged more, or struck by lightning, but I cannot guarantee anything. Do this at your own risk.
Ok, ready …
- Click the Phone button, then go to the Dialer
- Dial ##USB# (##872#) ... you should see a dialoge that says “Default USB to: MDM”. If it says something else instead, then type the code again until the Default USB mode is set to MDM. Now hit the back arrow to get back to the dialer.
- Now type ##DEBUGMENU# (using the letters on the dialpad) to enter the secret phone settings menu. It will prompt you for your MSL code, the one you got from the friendly Sprint rep, enter it and click done.
- Scroll down to “Toggle NAI” and change this to “Off Modem”
- Exit the debug menu, you’re almost done
Connect to your Mac
Windows or Linux users … you’re on your own here, but the process should be pretty similar.
- Plug the USB cable into the phone
- Plug the other end into your Macbook
- Go to the Network Preference Pane in the OS X System Preferences
- In a minute or so, you should see a new device pop up called “Samsung CDMA Technologies”, yay!
- Click on this device on the left side of the Preference Pane
- For the Telephone Number, type #777
- Use your Sprint.com username and password, and click Apply
- Click the Advanced button … and on the next screen change the Vendor to Sprint and Model to PCS Vision. Leave the rest of the settings alone
- Click Apply again, the Connect button should activate
- Disconnect your Airport, hold your breath, click Connect … and if all goes well, you should very soon be surfing on Sprint 3G
A Message to Sprint
Sprint, if you’re reading this, I understand that you may be upset that I am publishing this information. Clearly, you do not want your customers to be able to make full use of this quite competent device … for reasons that I don’t understand. The iPhone can’t do this … in many ways the Instinct is better than the iPhone, and Sprint is certainly superior to AT&T, but for some reason you choose to cripple your own potential. I would have been happy to pay a reasonable fee (<$15) for this service … I’m sure many others would, too. We know that the capability is there, why can’t you support it? This is a competitive edge to Sprint, and a great feature for the connected consumer … please let more people make full use of their technology.
