I have an XV6700 from Verizon. Over my laptop, using an application called USBModem, I can get internet but it uses the phone line (DUN) instead of the normal internet connection my phone can get. Can someone explain to me the difference - what's DUN and why doesn't it just use the internet connection my phone can get?

Mike

DUN stands for Dial Up Networking which is another name for the modem connection protocol used to connect a dialup device (your mobile phone IS a dial-up device) to the internet, either via USB or BlueTooth. When USB Modem connects your phone to the internet, it dials a number (for example #777) it uses the modem protocol PPP (what 777 stands for on a phone) which the old analog modems on phone lines used, to establish the connection. Your phone also has a modem program on it, probably called WModem or Modem Link or something like that that does the same thing USBModem does only through the carrier's tethering service, which they charge extra for.

In contrast to this is the RNDIS, or Networking Protocol, which programs like InternetSharing (ICS), pdaNet, and so forth, use to establish a connection using the protocol EtherNet uses to establish a true network node. But eithr way, they are both using your phone's data service to connect you to the Net.

I don't see any inherent advantage of one over the other, since internet speeds are so slow compared to both either Ethernet or USB so it's a matter of how the programmer or carrier decides to implement the tethring support, DUN (PPP) or ICS (RNDIS).

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