One Step Closer on the LG8100

So, after much Googling (yay, still my lifesaver), I have figured out how to get the Telus LG8100 to play nice with the data cable and BitPim. First, let me say that it's a rip-off that Telus charges you $30 for the friggin' cable and doesn't even provide you with any drivers for the blasted thing! Yes, it does say on the box to go to http://www.telusmobility.ca/LG8100cable/ before setting up the cable, but all that does is take you to a download page for their stupid app that lets your phone act as a wireless modem WITH the cable. Totally lame, especially for a phone with Bluetooth.

Anyway, I digress. If you want to get the phone to work with BitPim and the Telus data cable, you need to do the following:

1. Download the latest version of BitPim from here.
   
2. Download the LG data cable driver software from here. Click on the LGUsbModemDriver link to start the download process.
   
3. Ensure that your phone is configured to send/receive data via the USB cable by going to Menu -> Settings (9) -> Others (4) -> Data Setup (5) -> PC Connection (2) -> USB (1) and hit the OK button.
   
4. Run the driver software from wherever you saved it on your computer.


5. Connect the phone to the USB cable, and the USB cable to your computer. Windows Plug-and-Play will detect the new device and prompt you with a dialog box to search for the driver. Select the first radio button on that dialog. You'll be prompted a couple more times for this.


6. Start BitPim and go to Edit -> Detect Phone. It should pick up your phone on COM8. If it doesn't, go to Edit -> Settings, and ensure that the correct phone and COM port are selected. The phone that should be selected is LG-LG8100. This is NOT the same LG-VX8100 (that's the Verizon phone).

And, voilà! You can begin exploring from there, checking out the various mobile phone forums to see what interesting hacks people discovered for this phone. Remember that some of the hacks for the Verizon version of the phone won't work for the Telus phone.