Broadening the Band!

Broadening the Band!

Saturday, May 29, 2010/5:02:45 PM

.There are these interests in unlocking the mobile broadband stick modems among the mobile owners of this piece of tech and the reason behind this is basically convenience, saving money and "portability". Just think of it, why would you carry around three usb modems for three different network carriers when you can just bring one of it!

In today's netaholic or webaholic day and age, people can't seem to get enough internet that they are even buying into this mobile internet sticks, or gadgets, and not only one, not two, but more. You got a laptop, a web capable mobile phone, this usb broadband stick and now the iPad. I for one feels depraved when 2 days pass-by without my regular diet of bits and bytes off the net, hehe.

So then, when I got my Neo-Vivid v1193 netbook, I purchased a Smartbro mobile broadband stick together with it. Just last June of 2009, that brand cost 1,995 pesos (Philippines), yup, it was that expensive back then but since I really "needed" it I bit the dust. But damn it! Smartbro doesn’t have a signal in my area, it is a 3G device and should be whirling my browser to the web and beyond but shuckz, I don’t have even a slow GPRS connection and since it is locked to only the Smart network I can’t put in another SIM card from other carriers which means it is totally useless to me. I thought of selling or swapping it but I decided to find some way to use it.

Then one solution came to me by surprise in Manila while I was surfing with my home pc connected to the net through my Nokia N70 phone. Of course, when you run out of load and only have 1 peso in your credits, you can still browse the Smart home page. Then the scriptkiddie in me opened up a Command prompt window and sent a ping request to www.google.com and voila! I found out that I can still connect to any web site on the net by sending out ping probes. So I studied how to take advantage of this “free Smart network service” with success a few days later.

While browsing the Smart home page is free I am wondering why it is still online (at least by pinging those sites) when I only had 1 Peso left. After loading up on more credits and searching the web for a few days, I found a way to get a free and unlimited connection. I found this cool app called PingTunnel* that allows anyone to set up a ping server and use that server as a proxy for web browsing. This set up works using both a mobile phone and/or a usb broadband stick …it’s really cool!

Somehow, although this personalized free network of mine is good enough for me, still there are dead spots in planet Earth where Smartbro (and other networks for that matter) doesn’t work. in this situation the only thing you can do is to buy another usb stick offered by other networks having a service in that specific area. In the Philippines there are three of these, making this a costly alternative. A better option is unlocking one of the mobile USB broadband sticks one have!

By having an unlocked or openline version of these sticks, nobody is constrained to one SIM card or network only. Anyone can easily remove the sim card from the dongle and replace it with another network’s sim and off you go up, up, and connect!

But how does unlocking work? Well, perhaps the best answer I can give you right now is “I don’t know” because frankly I do not know the inner workings of this hack.

But let me tell about this funny thing though…

I am having a hard time trying to find a piece of software off the net that would unlock my Smartbro USB modem which is a MF627. So what I did was have my MF627 modem unlocked by cellphone technicians. The good thing though is that in my search for the magic sauce I met this technician in Litex, Quezon City who is proud enough to brag about his skill in cracking the firmware of the dongle. I am not convinced though so I went to do some social engineering (remember I am a wannabe hacker…hehe). Now just after a few minutes I actually got him into showing me not only the software he is using in order to hack the usb stick but also the source code for the software itself...incredible.

Worst Ride!

 I was annoyed at Dalin’s terminal back in the city of Cauayan last May because of this incident.

It was around 8:00 o’ clock of the rainy evening of May 2, 2010 when I and a friend of mine, Simeon Viray, bound for Manila headed up to a bus parked on Dalin Liner’s terminal in Cauayan City, Isabela.

I took the first available seat and which was seat #3 of the first row of bus number 2629404 when all of a sudden the bus conductor told me to get off and change my ride after he found out I don’t have a reservation for the seat. The thing is, I already went to their ticket booth earlier to ask for a reservation but the receptionist told me that I shouldn’t bother for one because handicapped people are privileged with a seat on the bus and that’s on the first row (the seats behind the driver and the seats right after the door).

So I refused to let go of the seat and just held on to it for a few minutes while wondering why am I being kicked off mine. But the conductor incessantly bogged me down by announcing above everyone’s ears that I should transfer and get me another bus for the seat that I am on is reserved. “Yeah”, I told him, “this seat is reserved for people with disability” (though I don’t consider myself disabled). This went on for about 20 minutes or so but finally I gave up but not after firing back “all I know is that there is a law saying this row of seats are for people like me (with physical disabilities) and since your (their) ticket personnel said I shouldn’t bother for a reservation therefore I have the right to be sitting here.”

So I said bye to my friend Simeon then got off and change my bus (still a Dalin bus) and believe it or not, Déjà vu! The exact same thing happened on the second bus! I told the conductor (of the second bus) I just alighted from the first bus because it was only for those passengers with tickets for reserved seats, now I thought this is a regular aircon bus taking passengers off the road without reservations. “Yes” the conductor replied “but the seat you’re on is reserved for us! That’s where the driver and the conductor rest after their shift (the driver takes a rest while the conductor becomes the driver).” Now I am really pissed off!

I looked around and the other seats are filled already. I can’t take the other seats further behind because, well, who knows how hard it is for people with one leg to move around the bus, and it is even worse when the vehicle is moving. So I just went silent, took the stairs down getting off the bus and after seeing one of the conductors I smiled at him and asked “will there be other busses going to Manila at this hour?” He nodded but has that wondering look in his face.

I crossed the street and waited to catch another ride. My friend Simeon (he was on the first bus) texted me asking whether I got a ride already, I replied no. Actually there are three bus companies I like when I’m traveling between Manila and Cauayan City, they are: Dalin, the most affordable at only 350 to 400 Pesos; Victory, I guess this is the most comfortable but also the most expensive at 471 Pesos; and of course there is Florida, I like this one because it is as affordable as Dalin but as comfortable as Victory (and they’re also the fastest). But on this particular night, Florida is hard to catch.

By 10:28 o’ clock into the night, a Victory Liner bus stopped in front of me. I got on it; I looked around to see it is half-filled then I saw the conductor sitting behind the driver’s seat stood up and said “bosing, dito ka na umupo sa pwesto ko (boss take my seat)” which I did. After I was seated I looked on the opposite seats (the ones right after the door), an older woman occupied it but then the conductor blurted, “on the next stop you will switch places with her. That seat she’s on is especially reserved for people like you!”

Then my friend Simeon texted me asking how I’m doing, I replied “man, from now on I will be married to Victory Liner!” and Florida will be my little flower girl. You know, Florida busses are white busses painted with pink flowers! Perfect for a flower girl.

As my way of boycotting that Dalin bus company, I promise to never get a ride on them anymore!!! In this one night of very troublesome experience with them I can say they are inconsiderate to people and insensitive of their passengers’ need. They don’t recognize the weaknesses and as I see it, they don’t even care about the comfort of their passengers. Perhaps they are thinking that moving people with their vehicles is just a matter of getting them from point A to point B, irregardless of the conditions of passengers.

I admire those companies (and the people who composed them) who give a high regard for the people and prioritizes values than profits, they are the kinds who give honor to their services. Having said that, I would like to thank Florida and Victory Liner. Keep it moving! Literally 

My left leg was amputated above the knee after I was hit by a truck back in July 4, 1994. That truck was a property of the then Vice Governor of Tagum City.