Mobile Phone/UMTS

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

[edit] Introduction

If you're in a remote area which still has digital service, you may want to use a cell provider's GPRS/UMTS network for Internet access on your computer. This document will explain the steps to accomplish this on a Bluetooth compatible phone. This does NOT work unless you have a digital signal as GPRS/UMTS cannot function on an analog network.

If you don't know how to configure a kernel or setup ppp, don't worry. There are plenty of tutorials in this wiki for that. The only thing you really need from here is the config files for /etc/chatscripts/ and /etc/ppp/peers.

This tutorial was written using:
GNU/Linux System
Kernel 2.6.9
i686 Pentium III (Coppermine) GenuineIntel
Kernel supported bluetooth dongle
Nokia 6680

[edit] Requirements

• Bluetooth Dongle
• Bluez subsystem (kernel)
• Bluez utils
• minicom is nice for debugging (not kernel)
• Cellphone capable of being an Internet Gateway over Bluetooth
• PPP enabled in the kernel
• pppd (the program)

[edit] Configuration files

/dev/bluetooth/rfcomm/1 # My rfcomm thing to the phone.  
connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/three-connect'  
disconnect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/three-disconnect'  

defaultroute # Setup gateway stuff when connected.  
noipdefault  # Don't think it matters, it will negotiate an IP anyways. It just defaults to ask the server for IP with this set. Some links won't work if you don't set it!

#115200       # Connection speed. Maybe this should be something else.  
230400


nopcomp      # No compression -> t-mobile is twice as fast if you do NOT use compression. I really have no clue why.
#noipv6       # No IPv6 -> usually not needed

What you might want to change:

• /dev/bluetooth/rfcomm/1 This is the path to my rfcomm device (you create those with rfcomm) (or /dev/rfcomm1, depending on your kernel version!)
• 115200 I don't really know what speed this is. I get around 15kb/s anyway.

Now, the important part is nopcomp and noipv6. Afaik this is different for different phones, so you could test to omit those. Errors without any explanation is what you get for messing with them.

TIMEOUT         10  
ECHO            ON  
ABORT           '\nBUSY\r'  
ABORT           '\nERROR\r'  
ABORT           '\nNO ANSWER\r'  
ABORT           '\nNO CARRIER\r'  
ABORT           '\nNO DIALTONE\r'  
ABORT           '\nRINGING\r\n\r\nRINGING\r'  
''              \rAT  
TIMEOUT         15  
OK              ATE1  
OK              'AT+cgdcont=1,"IP","data.tre.se"'  
OK              ATD*99#
CONNECT

What you might want to change:

• "data.tre.se" is APN. I got it by calling support and just asking.
• *99# is for Nokia phones, *99***3# for Sony Ericcson. Dunno about others, search the web!

When debugging you need to issue AT and ATE1 before AT+CGDCONT will work. A small gotcha. AT+CGDCONT works for both GPRS and UMTS! (Note: it could be expensive as hell. I got a flat rate and no cap, so I'm good)

ABORT           "BUSY"  
ABORT           "ERROR"          
ABORT           "NO DIALTONE"  
SAY             "\nSending break to the modem\n"  
""              "\K"  
""              "\K"            
""              "\K"            
""              "+++ATH"  
""              "+++ATH"        
""              "+++ATH"        
SAY             "\nPDP context detached\n"  

Nothing to change, nothing to do with this one.

Ok. Done.

# pon three  

And you should be connected! (if you've got your bluetooth stuff together, I will not explain that. Just a simple rfcomm thing, there is plenty of tutorials for that.

[edit] My startscripts

This isn't the Gentoo way of doing things. I couldn't care less though, this works good enough for me.

#!/bin/sh
route del default
hcitool cc 00:12:62:A6:60:3B  
hcitool auth 00:12:62:A6:60:3B  
rfcomm bind 1 00:12:62:A6:60:3B 3  
pon three  

What you might want to change:

• The first line removes the default gateway. This is not neccesary at all.
• From hcitool scan you will get *your* bluetooth adress. Use that instead of mine, 00:12:62:A6:60:3B
• The rfcomm line binds channel 3 on my phone to /dev/rfcomm1. Changing 3 to the correct port for your phone is a good idea. Use 2 for Sony Ericsson K610. Use "sdptool browse 00:12:62:A6:60:3B" to search for the correct value:

Service Name: Dial-up Networking
Service RecHandle: 0x10002
Service Class ID List:
  "Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
  "Generic Networking" (0x1201)
Protocol Descriptor List:
  "L2CAP" (0x0100)
  "RFCOMM" (0x0003)
    Channel: 2
Profile Descriptor List:
  "Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
    Version: 0x0100

poff three  
rfcomm release 1  
hcitool cc 00:12:62:A6:60:3B  
hcitool auth 00:12:62:A6:60:3B  
rfcomm bind 1 00:12:62:A6:60:3B 3  
pon three  

Remember that

# tail -f /var/log/messages  

is your friend for debugging. I always have such a windows visible though.

[edit] Other cool stuff

Check out the bluetooth plugin for Freevo (freevo.sf.net -> Downloads -> Bluetooth). It let's you use your cellphone as a remote for Freevo. You need a phone with Symbian OS (almost all phones use that) that support event reporting (AT+CMER(4,2,0,0) Reported to work with Sony Ericsson T65, T610, Motorola E398 and a bunch of Siemens phones. Does not work with the first gen N-Gage from Nokia. PlutoHome also has a cool feature if you have a Series 60 Nokia phone.

If you have trouble finding the APN, this site holds a comprehensive list of APN's.

[edit] PAP-secrets

Many Telecom companies seem to use PAP authentication. Some require a username and password (usually the same for every user). Others require that these are blank. The best way to find out is to check the settings in your cellphone. PPPD has support for PAP authentication. All you have to do is to fill out the file: /etc/ppp/pap-secrets. In PAP-secrets you enter one line. The line is space delimited and should have four entries. First you enter the username, then the pap-authentication server, the password and an IP-address. If you use a *, it will see that as blank.

So if you should send no username, password etc. just fill out four *s:

 
# Secrets for authentication using PAP
# client        server  secret                  IP addresses
* * * *
  

If you have to send a username and password, but get the IP adress etc. fill out:

 
# Secrets for authentication using PAP
# client        server  secret                  IP addresses
myusername * mypassword *
  

[edit] Links

• This guide is listed at the TuxMobil Linux and mobile phones survey.

[edit] Credits

My name is Erik Pettersson, known as ikea on irc.freenode.org. Mail: petterson.erik@gmail.com I hope this helped you.