Today was a good day for me and my project. We are working on a device that suppose to go online using any GPRS modem and allow us to communicate with our web server. This device is not only going to monitor any process from the system connected to it, but also allows operators to modify the running processes on the fly. This sounds so easy, but believe me, making this device just to go online made us sweat really hard :). I have been working since last 2 weeks just to make this device connect to internet using my Samsung SGH-C100 built-in modem. At first the cable was faulty and the pin configuration was not correct. After all it was made by China :). So I have to buy another cable and has to modify it to bypass the RS-232 circuit. Actually the cable is powered by DTR (Data Terminal Ready) pin from PC and allows transmission of data from TX line of the cable. But all original Samsung data cables are powered by Cell Phone Battery, which is unfortunately no where to be found in our beloved techno city. Therefore, I have to bypass this circuit so my device can freely communicate with the modem.

So finally tonight, just a few moments before, the device came online and allowed me to surf web sites, check my emails and open TCP sockets for Client-Server communication. Finally the hard work paid off. We are now going to move to the next phase and going to program our Microchip PIC16F877A so that it can communicate with our device and can share data.

I am using Warid GPRS service, but its way much expensive. They are charging Rs 3.80 for just initiating a GPRS connection and for a max download of 200KB. They will charge Rs. 3.80 for every 200 KB download. And their customer service is pathetic, with people having completely no idea about GPRS. What the hell are they doing. I am going to switch to Mobilink Indigo from next month. Atleast their GPRS tariff is much better then others. Rs. 500 for a month unlimited access, its is good or what :)

I will gonna post some pics and updates of our device soon... so stay tuned!