GPRS+IR

PLUG'ers

I have been successfully synchronizing Ximian Evolution with my Palm
IIIx and my cell phone for well over a year now via infrared. It works
perfectly.

I recently bought a GPRS-capable phone and I would like to use it as a
modem for my Linux laptop. The new phone also supports infrared and I
have verified that I can synch it with Evolution. I use MultiSync for
this task (fantastic product!). Ideally, I want to place the phone next
to the laptop and make an outgoing call to an ISP via infrared.

I am clueless about GPRS. Can anyone point me in the right direction to
do this? Actually, I think I am tripping over something even more
basic. IRDA modems?!?!

I cannot initialize the modem (on /dev/ircomm0) via minicom or wvdial.
The modem simply does not respond. With infrared activated on the
phone, shouldn't it respond to normal AT commands?


Phone: Sony Ericsson T610 + Tmobile
Laptop: IBM Thinkpad + built-in IR + Custom Linux kernel (2.4.20)


Thanks in advance,
--D.Null