[plug] Bigpond Wireless - Linux

[Leon Brooks]

On Wednesday 13 May 2009 20:09:27 Peter wrote:
> He uses a Bigpond Wireless 3G modem (BP3-EXT) and I am
> not having much luck getting it to work.

I am using Virgin (carrier is actually Optus) through
wvdial, works perfectly including odd places like Logue
Brook -- & on a road coach en route through Northam,
Brookton, Narrogin, Katanning (limit is laptop battery
as the coach has only 24V lighter sockets, I only have
a 12V ligher adaptor).

/etc/wvdial.conf looks like this:

[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Modem Type = USB Modem
Baud = 460800
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Carrier Check = no
Dial Command = ATDT
Phone = *99#
Username = ppp
Password = ppp
Auto Reconnect = yes

> So far, I have tried the built in (Automatic) dialer
> that comes with Mint 6 and Mint 7 RC1.  I have also
> tried it on a Ubuntu 9.04 machine and most recenlty
> on a fresh install of Debian 5 (this almost works!).

This is using Mandriva 2009.0 but I know of a Ubuntu user
of Virgin, also flawless. For BigPong, at least the number
(*99#) will probably be different. BigPong AKA Telstra
AKA Telecom have always delighted in complicating things.

> The interface works and it finds the modem ok... but
> it just won't connect.

lsusb here shows:

ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem

dmesg shows:

usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1001
usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
usb 2-1: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
usb 2-1: Manufacturer: [line of identical odd chars]
usb 2-1: SerialNumber: [ditto]
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
usb-storage: device found at 3
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usbserial: USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
option 2-1:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 2-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
option 2-1:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 2-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
option 2-1:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 2-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
usbcore: registered new interface driver option
option: USB Driver for GSM modems: v0.7.2
scsi 7:0:0:0: CD-ROM   HUAWEI  Mass Storage   2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sr1: scsi-1 drive
sr 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
sr 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
scsi 7:0:0:1: Direct-Access  HUAWEI  SD Storage  2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 7:0:0:1: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 7:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

There does not appear to be any actual storage (/dev/sdb1
does not exist, fdisk /dev/sdb shows nothing).

Cheers; Leon