Tim Flight

Lots of people want the convenience of a PDA/smartphone but don’t care to use any of the “data” features like syncing email, browsing the web, etc. I am one of them. I have a Treo 650 which I use extensively. Having one device as my phone, PDA, calendar, addressbook, and even GPS navigation cuts down on the number of gadgets I need to keep in my pocket.

The data plans most wireless carriers offer are just too expensive for my taste. To make matters worse, some applications like to connect to those data services on their own. I’ve heard horror stories of people getting wireless bills over one thousand dollars because their Treo 650 decided to connect to the data network and stayed connected for a long time.

And to even further add insult to injury, many carriers require smartphone owners have a data plan. As a result many people wanted a way to disable data access on their Treo 650 so that they couldn’t accidentally connect to the data network. Here is how I was able to do this on my Verizon Treo 650 and delete National Access.

First things first…. This will very likely void any warranty on your phone. Additionally, you are on your own with this. I will in no way be responsible if you render your phone inoperable. Your warranty will probably be void by doing this. Also past, current, and future firmware upgrades on the phone may revert this functionality or cause harm to your phone. Full backups that are known to be valid backups are a good thing. I have only tried this with a Verizon Treo 650, firmware version 1.04.

To perform this, you will need to make a change to the NetworkDB.pdb file on your Treo 650. To edit this file you will need to install FileZ from Nosleep Software. Install the FileZ application on your Treo. You have already made a backup of all files on your Treo, haven’t you?

Open FileZ and click on the item that says ‘View and Edit Files’. You should see a list which says ‘Internal’ and also lists any SD cards you might have installed. Click on the triangle to open the list of files stored internally on your Treo 650. Scroll down the list until you see an item called ‘NetworkDB’. Tap on the Name ‘NetworkDB’ to select it. You should see a checkbox beside the name. Now go to the ‘FileZ’ menu (which will change to say ‘Item’ when you click on it) and select ‘Edit’.

Depending on how many Network connection types you have specified, there may be more than one record listed in the record list. The records should be numbered, starting with zero. Record number zero is probably the record you are looking for. Click once on the ‘0′ if it isn’t already selected and click the ‘Edit’ button near the lower right.

This will bring up a Hex Editor. Down the right side of the screen you should see the words “National Access” among a bunch of other gibberish. If you see this then you are in the correct record. If not click ‘Close’ and look though other records until you find National Access.

Once you have found the correct record number, click ‘Close’ in the Hex Editor to return to the Record List. Select the record number you identified as the National Access record, then click the ‘Delete’ button near the bottom center of the screen. A Dialog will ask if you are sure you want to permanently delete the record. Click Delete.

Now you can close the record list, close the file list from your internal memory, and then click the Home button on your phone to return to the Treo 650’s application list. Open the ‘Prefs’ application and click on ‘Network’ in the Communication section. The ‘Service’ menu should no longer contain ‘National Access’. Any other connection profiles you created should still exist. If you didn’t have any other connection profiles a new “untitled” connection will be created. Since it doesn’t have any connection details it cannot be used to connect to the data network.

You may also delete the ‘FileZ’ application previously installed if you wish. That is it, National Access gone. Although don’t forget updates may bring it back and these instructions might not work.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Computer Technology. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.