I recently had the need to connect to the Internet on my laptop, but really didn't want to load the whole Nokia PC Suite on to it. I don't have an issue with it, in fact, of all the mobile phone companion software I've used, it's the best of the lot (compared to the LG one... shudders). I just didn't need all that functionality.
I vaguely remembered that Windows has a generic Bluetooth Modem driver in-built, so here goes that experiment. This was done on a Windows Vista machine, but the details should be the same on any OS, just have to adapt the steps. And this is for the 3 Network in Australia, although apparently the details are similar if not the same for other networks. It should also work with any phone with Bluetooth that supports the Dial-up Networking profile - that means most phones except all iPhone users - you can go cry, because you don't have it. Ha.
I bonded my phone with my laptop (double-click on the Bluetooth icon in your system tray or Start -> Control Panel --> Bluetooth Devices, then click Add to start bonding), and the whole device driver thing kicked off. When it had done all it could, I got this dialog.
Whatever, and expected, given I hadn't installed the Nokia drivers. But importantly, the Standard Modem over Bluetooth link device was installed.
So time to create a new connection and see how this works. Click on the network icon in the system tray (or Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center), and click the Connect to a network option.
Click Set up a connection or network.
Yes, your Bluetooth modem is considered a dial-up connection. Remember those, the days when you had to leave it on overnight to download a 1MB file? Hopefully, your mobile internet is faster.
If you have multiple modems, select the Bluetooth one.
Enter the dial-up phone number as you see above (*99#). This is the magic number to make this all work.
Leave the user name and password fields empty, and give the connection a name.
Click Connect.
This screen will pop up. Turn up your speakers and hear those dial-up modem sounds you haven't heard for so long!
With any luck, the following screen will appear in a few seconds...
And that's it - you are now connected to the Internet via your mobile over Bluetooth, all without downloading and installing any software, which would be a tad difficult given you don't have Internet access in the first place.
The wonders of technology.
Of course, if you already have the Nokia PC Suite installed, just open the Nokia PC Suite, select the Connect to the Internet icon (globe with two opposing arrows), and it should do it automatically. If it fails, it's probably because it doesn't know which network you're on, so click the spanner icon, and tell it which network you're on, then try again.