If you'd like to use or test the FONA 3G you can do so right over the USB port, which is not just for charging, but is also a full interface to everything the module can do!

First up, you will still need a small Lithium Polymer battery to keep the power supply stable. You'll also likely want an antenna and SIM card. A microUSB cable is required. We've tested this on a Windows 7 computer, other operating systems may vary!

Insert the SIM card, connect the antenna(s) and plug in the micro USB cable from your computer to the FONA 3G

Then press the small KEY button next to the battery & cell antenna for 5 seconds. Then the computer will recognize a multi-type USB connection. Install the drivers

There are 4 devices created

•  A Modem device
• A USB diagnostics COM port
• A NMEA COM port (this is the raw GPS NMEA output)
• A USB AT port (this is how you can send commands to the module!)

You can connect to the AT com port at any baud rate and send AT commands like normal. This makes it super easy to test out commands

If you turn on the gps with the at+cgps=1 command in the AT serial port you can then connect to the NMEA COM port and see GPS NMEA data

We haven't tried out the Modem yet and the Diagostics USB port doesnt seem to respond (probably you need a special software package)