What is GSM Modem?

A GSM modem can be an external modem device, such as the Wavecom FASTRACK Modem. Insert a GSM SIM card into this modem, and connect the modem to an available serial port on your computer.

A GSM modem can be a PC Card installed in a notebook computer, such as the Nokia Card Phone.

A GSM modem could also be a standard GSM mobile phone with the appropriate cable and software driver to connect to a serial port on your computer. Phones such as the Nokia 7110 with a DLR-3 cable, or various Ericsson phones, are often used for this purpose.

A dedicated GSM modem (external or PC Card) is usually preferable to a GSM mobile phone. This is because of some compatibility issues that can exist with mobile phones.

Similarly some mobile phones will not allow you to correctly receive SMS text messages longer than 160 bytes (known as “concatenated SMS” or “long SMS”). This is because these long messages are actually sent as separate SMS messages, and the phone attempts to reassemble the message before forwarding via the modem interface. (We’ve observed this latter problem utilizing the Ericsson R380, while it does not appear to be a problem with many other Ericsson models.)

When you install your GSM modem be sure to install the appropriate Windows modem driver from the device manufacturer.