Internet through Motorola i335 Boost?

Lee.Wilkerson

Okay, I got the phone hooked up (tethered) and set the network connection (don't know if I completed the task), but Mint 7 still won't go through the phone to Internet.:S Can someone tell me of a document I can D/L which will walk me through step by step?

Is there a "Linux for Dummies" book out there?

Lee

Goineasy9

Do you have an ISP that has dialup access? I ask this because a friend asked me how I connected over the phone lines after he tried, but he didn't have a dialup access account.
If you have such an account then using a program like wvdial works for me. It comes with its own instructions.
In Gnome you can also use system-config-network (I use fedora, I hope mint uses the same app). If Mint recognizes the modem, you should be able to configure it from there, UNLESS, it is a dreaded winModem, then you have to go through some more configuration steps.
If you can do:
lspci and lsusb from the terminal and post the output here, we may be able to help more.

Lee.Wilkerson

This is not a hardware issue, but one of software/Operator Head Spacing. I need to know how to tell Linux to use the USB cell phone connection instead of looking at the Network. Is that where system-config-network comes into play?

Goineasy9

I have a Palm Treo 700p, in order to tether it to the computer I had to add an app called USBModem. When USBModem is activated on my cell phone, I can use a program like wvdial to call into verizon and connect to the internet. The standard phone number that is used (if I remember correctly) is 99*, although you might have to get an access code from your cell phone provider in order to log on.
With the number of Wifi locations growing as they have, I haven't had to use this method to access the internet in a while. I've also changed distros since then, so the information I had stored is gone. I've been meaning to try it again, and I intend to this week sometime. Once I get it running again, I'll let you know the steps I took.
The Treo 700p uses a palm operating system (I never wanted a phone with windows mobile), and, the USBModem app was available for that system. Why don't you try googling "your cell Phone+usb+modem" and see if you come up with anything for your particular phone. You might want to add "debian" to your search since Mint is based on Debian and see if that helps.

p.s. I tried googling and found this in your phones manual: (I googled "motorola+i335+boost+usb+modem")
When used as a modem, your handset is
enabled for Packet Data transfer mode, which is
used for small file transfers such as email.
Note: To use these services, you must install
the iDEN Wireless Data Services software
(available separately). For more information on
setting up your computer and your handset
for packet and circuit data calls, contact your
service provider.

Verizon has a Desktop program that I can use with windows. I hope that iDEN Wireless Data Services software doesn't have that requirement. If it does, try googling as I described above and see if anyone has any other apps that can work. My USBModem app works apart from the Verizon Desktop, so, I can use wvdial with it to bypass the proprietary programs.
BTW, there were many more selections to look at after googling, take a look, maybe one of them has your solution. I'm not familiar with Boost Mobile, so, I can't help you with the services they provide.

I hoped this helped a little.

LOL...back again, check out this Yahoo answers link, same question, better answer (and links).
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090327184108AACJ0e6

Lee.Wilkerson

Thank you, but that link is for windows only. I already use it on windows - that's how I know it will work.

Goineasy9

OK, so that app was similar to my Verizon Desktop software. What about the USBModem app that allows me to use my Palm Treo like a modem with Linux. Did you look in your app store or search for that? It's been a few years since I've searched, but an app like that might be your only hope of connecting Linux to the internet through your phone.

Sorry I can't be more help.

mfillpot

To setup your computer to use your phone internet connection first you must tether to your phone using USB or Bluetooth, then pass the commands to your OS to start a PPP connection using your tethered device.

I would advise searching google for "Motorola i335 linux tether wvdial" or use whatever your phone type is.

Goineasy9

Some folks know how to google better than I. When I googled "Palm Treo 700p linux tether wvdial" I came up with some very interesting results, one of which was a sample wvdial.conf containing info I haven't seen before, thanks mfillpot.

For those interested in attaching to a EVDO network (various providers) with Linux and a EVDO card or a usb enabled phone, this thread has a wealth of information, Discussion started 1/07 and ended 8/08, but there was a range of phones and providers discussed. Thread came from the ubuntu.org archives.

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-343989.html

I searched for "boost" through the thread and came up empty, but isn't boost a new name? Can't think of what it's predecessor was, if you know, maybe you can search the thread using that old company name.

mfillpot

I am glad that I can help. It may be a coincidence, but I was helping a windows convertee today on ubuntu and was able to use the same search results to setup his EVDO card and tethered phone (actually the EVDO card was auto-detected and auto-configured).

Lee.Wilkerson

I think that ubuntuforums link is going to do the trick. Turns out I had wvdial installed in (old) Ubuntu already, so I did the settings and configs according to that link and it seems to be working. I'll know for sure later this evening.
Thank you to all who responded.

Lee

P.S. Boost is owned by Sprint.

Lee.Wilkerson

Well, I got on, but it's slooooow and I get the following:

Contents of boost,bak:
# This optionfile was generated by pppconfig 2.3.18.
#
#
hide-password
noauth
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/Boost"
debug
/dev/ttyACM0
460800
defaultroute
noipdefault
user "{phone number removed by mod}@sprintpcs.com"

ipparam Boost

sudo pppd
~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~

Does all this gibberish mean I have something set wrong in the ppp configuration?

Contents of wvdial.conf:

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATX0
Modem Type = USB Modem
Baud = 460800
New PPPD = yes
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
ISDN = 0
Phone = #777
Password = sprint
Username = {phone number removed by mod}@sprintpcs.com
Stupid Mode = on

Auto Reconnect = on

Carrier Check = no

sudo wvdial
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
--> Cannot get information for serial port.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATX0
ATX0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT#777
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT#777
CONNECT
~[7f]}#@!}!E} }8}!}$}%,}"}&} } } } }%}&}28#}6}'}"}(}":1~
--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Sun Oct 18 14:26:33 2009
--> Pid of pppd: 4613
--> Using interface ppp0
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> local IP address 10.23.6.2
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> remote IP address 10.23.6.1
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> primary DNS address 170.206.225.21
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> secondary DNS address 170.206.225.22
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]

And of course when I logout:

^CCaught signal 2: Attempting to exit gracefully...
--> Terminating on signal 15
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> Connect time 50.4 minutes.
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> pppd: xÔøΩÔøΩ[08][08]ÔøΩÔøΩ[08]
--> Disconnecting at Sun Oct 18 15:17:00 2009

I'd rather it be all clean on the screen! Is that some AT command?
What does that 'debug' instruction in ppp configuration mean?

mfillpot

It is good to see that it worked. The reason for the slow response was your baud rate which is equal to 460.80 Kbps. You may want to contact you carrier and ask what the maximum baud rate for your device is.

The debug is telling it to show the output to track errors, that is the reason for the odd output, but the output is not bad since you can connect.

As for a clean display, depending on your chosen GUI you may want to check on gui based apps that you can use instead of wvdial, those should help to make your screen less cluttered.

Also I removed the username entries from your configuration files, you unintentionally posted your cell phone number to the world.

Goineasy9

I have a question. Do you need to run wvdial with sudo? I always ran it as user and it worked perfectly fine.

I also had a revelation during the posting in this thread. By going to System --> Preferences --> Network Connections and entering the phone #, password and username under Mobile Broadband, all I had to do was enable usb mode on the Treo and I was automagically online. It blew me away.
I don't know if this was because of Fedora 11's Network Manager, or, whether it is a function across all gnome based distros, but, I'm certainly happy that this thread happened. I no longer need to use wvdial.

mfillpot wrote:

I am glad that I can help. It may be a coincidence, but I was helping a windows convertee today on ubuntu and was able to use the same search results to setup his EVDO card and tethered phone (actually the EVDO card was auto-detected and auto-configured).

Yeah, auto detected and auto configured, maybe the gnome network guys have been working overtime. Also, BTW, Vista 64 doesn't have a working driver for the Palm usb device, so it doesn't work in windows, even with the Verizon software. The only way I can tether the computer is in Linux.

I'm wondering if the same Network Connections choice is in the Ubuntu Menu. Might be worth a look. You won't need to reset the baud rate and you won't have to bother with the wvdial.conf file anymore. Just a thought.

I've got to get an Ubuntu install put up as a guest in kvm so I can look at these things myself, another project for another day.

Glad your making progress, I'm glad also, because so did I.

mfillpot

In my limited experience with dial-up type devices my preference is wvdial for the debugging output and options, the gui tools may be prettier but they offer little help if you are having problems and don't offer quite as many configuration options.

And yes the autoconfigure was the ubuntu people working overtime, it also helps that the sprint evdo card all login using user and the username and password. Verizon EVDO cards are another subject.

As a general rule I would say use wvdial to hone your configuration for the device to work, then transfer the settings to a gui utility.

Lee.Wilkerson

"It is good to see that it worked. The reason for the slow response was your baud rate which is equal to 460.80 Kbps. You may want to contact you carrier and ask what the maximum baud rate for your device is."

Yeah, it connects to the phone at that speed, but the reality is about as fast as a 14,400 modem.

"As for a clean display, depending on your chosen GUI you may want to check on gui based apps that you can use instead of wvdial, those should help to make your screen less cluttered."

Which GUI's can do this job?

The clutter to which I referred was:

~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~~ÔøΩ}#ÔøΩ!}!}!} }4}"}&} } } } }%}&ÔøΩRÔøΩÔøΩ}'}"}(}"VÔøΩ~

Do I need to disable echo or something? Or can I somehow redirect the response to the bit-bucket?




"I have a question. Do you need to run wvdial with sudo? I always ran it as user and it worked perfectly fine."

Apparently I do, else I get a message about pppd permissions and Firefox can't get on-line.

Lee

Goineasy9

Lee
The gui I'm using in Fedora is under the Menu choice in Preferences called Network Connections. When I looked up what program that is it said "nm-connection-editor". I don't know if this is the same in Ubuntu. If you search in Add/Remove Programs you should be able to see if it's installed or not.
I'm trying to find time to put Ubuntu up in kvm so I can have a look myself. I'm sorry I haven't got around to it yet.
Mfillpot's advice about wvdial is solid, maybe just setting the baud rate up high might make a difference, wvdial seems to adjust it downward automatically when it's set to high, at least that's my experience with it.
I'm probably one of the few that gets to use dialup these days, sometimes when working, the only connection to the internet is through the phone line in the fax machine. wvdial works great through the fax...lol, and it works better than kppp or gppp or whatever those DM-centric ppp apps are called.
I was amazed though when I tried the Gnome app (Network Connections a.k.a. nm-connection-editor) in the menu, there was no configuration (except for Phone #, password and user name), and it automatically connected me.

BTW: The clutter you spoke of is just normal wvdial feed back, after wvdial connects, I just minimize the terminal I started it in and just use firefox as I would if it was plugged into cable.

Interesting that you can only run wvdial as root, might be a permissions problem, maybe with wvdial.conf itself. I don't have the laptop I use with wvdial handy, next time I'll see what the permissions look like on mine.

Lee.Wilkerson

Yes, apparently all of those things are the same here (I'm now using Linux 7 Mint).

Re: Connect speed
It takes me about 15 or 20 min's. to D/L a 1MB file. Is that normal for a cell phone tether?

Lee.Wilkerson

Why does it say never in the Network Connections box beside my Boost Mobile?

mfillpot

Lee.Wilkerson wrote:

Yes, apparently all of those things are the same here (I'm now using Linux 7 Mint).

Re: Connect speed
It takes me about 15 or 20 min's. to D/L a 1MB file. Is that normal for a cell phone tether?

Your download coudl be slow because of a bad connection in your area or because of the baud rate that you set, have you contacted your provider to ask about the maximum baud rate as I recommended?

Lee.Wilkerson wrote:

Why does it say never in the Network Connections box beside my Boost Mobile?

My guess is that it is referencing the auto-connect option.

Goineasy9

LOL Lee....it's not a bug, it's a feature. Says the same on my laptop when I look at eth0, even though I use eth0 every day. Wow, just checked again, and it actually reads 7 days ago on my Broadband connection, and my wifi also has info listed on some sites I have used and says never on other sites that I know I have also used.
I wouldn't worry about it, this is the first time I saw anything but "never" myself. Something must trigger it to store last used, but what it is I don't know. Eth0 still say I never used it, and I am using it right now.

Never tried a download with broadband, just use it for internet access. I figure if igoogle appears fast, I'm doing ok speedwise.

Does it work faster going through network connections than it did through wvdial? I'm still blow away by my discovery of this app. It makes switching network connections a whole lot easier. Kudo's to the Gnome guys.

Lee.Wilkerson

Does it work faster going through network connections than it did through wvdial?

Yes. Standard network speed is normal.

I figure if igoogle appears fast, I'm doing ok speedwise.

Nothing appears fast.

...have you contacted your provider to ask about the maximum baud rate as I recommended?

Guess I have to bite the bullet and actually call somebody. !blarrrgh! BTW, it is supposedly a 3G network (if that makes a difference).

Goineasy9

3g should be a fast(er) connection, I guess your going to have to call someone. Just tell them your trying to tether your computer with the broadband connection, then ask your questions. Don't mention Linux until your get some answers first. It's amazing how fast some providers like to cut you off when you tell them your trying to connect using Linux.
BTW, I read that Windows 7 has a Network Connections menu choice also, so they might not even get into the OS questions with you.

Tom

Lee.Wilkerson

Did I mention? You guys are the bomb. It works at least slowly. I am enduring the garbage on the screen for now. I have since installed MEPIS on one of my machines and it works there, too. (I am installing wvdial manually from a thumb drive on these systems.) Thank you very much for all your help.

BTW, I found "Linux for Dummies" at the local library and I'm studying it as well. I'm finding lots of neat stuff there. It came with a DVD ROM of Fedora Moonshine (that's old). It trashed my GRUB menu for Ubuntu, so maybe I'll fix it later.

Meanwhile, I can't find my manual for the Boost phone so I still haven't called tech support...

ex TI99 Guru Lee

Goineasy9

BTW, the more I use the tethered laptop, in the different places i work, I'm noticing that the speed of the connection has a relation to the number of bars visible on the cell phone. It makes sense, but I never thought of that when I started. When I use the broadband connection directly on the Palm Treo, I never really noticed to much of a difference, Probably because the apps on the phone are minimized and the amount of data that has to be received is a fraction of the amount of data that it takes to fill up the firefox screen when I have the laptop tethered to it (Verizon Palm Treo 700p uses a browser called Blazer and I've noticed a line at the bottom of the screen that says that google is reformatting the screen for mobile). I know this is a big Duh, but it's the first time I actually put 2 + 2 together. LOL....forever a noob.