On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 04:27:20PM +0000, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

2. The fact that I have _two_ new network interfaces. The existence of the 'usb0' one seems to suggest I don't need pppd at all, but how then to bring it up ?

`dhcpcd usb0` might just be enough. -- Mantas M.

you could try MAC spoofing. :P It would work if your neighbor has blocked your MAC address.

On 09/10/11 at 04:27pm, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

Since my (unknown) neighbour finally got smart enough to lock me out of his wireless access point (still unencrypted, probably filters on MAC address now)-

Or maybe he was just being a good neighbour and got tired of having his bandwidth abused :)

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 04:56:29AM +0800, Ray Rashif wrote:

On 11 September 2011 00:27, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

...

Since my (unknown) neighbour finally got smart enough to lock me out of his wireless access point (still unencrypted, probably filters on MAC address now), I got a Vodafone USB internet key, and even managed to make it work. But I've the impression that my current configuration isn't really optimal.

Isn't that illegal? :P

Don't know. There are many unprotected access points that are explicitly meant to be used by anyone who cares. So if I find one I'll use it. It's a trivial exercise to set up WEP or WPA, so if someone doesn't do that I assume the access point is open to tbe public.

...

1. The 'Don't know what to do!  Starting pppd and hoping   for the best.' line from wvdial looks suspect.

That's normal, I think. However, I don't know the details.

It means the other side didn't produce and prompt or menu.

...

2. The fact that I have _two_  new network interfaces.   The existence of the 'usb0' one seems to suggest I   don't need pppd at all, but how then to bring it up ?

wvdial does all of the device handling for you - no need to explicitly use pppd to do anything here. You either use wvdial (front-end to ppp scripts) or pppd alone. pppd is also the one "bringing up" or registering the ppp device - not you. In short, the following is the connection process:

I don't explicitly use pppd, wvdial does. And it looks as if it shouldn't - just do the dialling and then let something else (e.g. dhcpcd) set up the already existing interface (usb0). But wvdial has no options to make it do that AFAIK.

BTW, are you sure you need usb_modeswitch for this modem? Some modems used to need that like sometime in 2005/2006, but they no longer do.

Yes, originally it shows up as a cdrom device with the Windows software on it. After the modeswitch it becomes a modem. -- FA

On 11 September 2011 05:08, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

I don't explicitly use pppd, wvdial does. And it looks as if it shouldn't - just do the dialling and then let something else (e.g. dhcpcd) set up the already existing interface (usb0). But wvdial has no options to make it do that AFAIK.

wvdial needs to start pppd to connect. Without pppd, wvdial is useless. The ppp0 is the proper device (registered by pppd), and not usb0. I don't know which brings that one up, but I suppose it's the usb_modeswitch thing. A dhcp client is used at the end, after dialling, after connecting. The man page has a good explanation of this process in the first few paragraphs, which might also explain the don't-know message. You can't optimise your connection any further. If it works, it works.

Yes, originally it shows up as a cdrom device with the Windows software on it. After the modeswitch it becomes a modem.

Then you probably have one of the other unfriendly devices. My Huawei E220 (still released and also branded by Vodafone but I unlocked it) is also a cd-rom/modem/usb device but I only had to tinker with the mode switching years ago. -- GPG/PGP ID: 8AADBB10

On 09/10/2011 07:27 PM, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

Hello all,

Since my (unknown) neighbour finally got smart enough to lock me out of his wireless access point (still unencrypted, probably filters on MAC address now), I got a Vodafone USB internet key, and even managed to make it work. But I've the impression that my current configuration isn't really optimal.

The key identifies as 19d2:1013, and usb_modeswitch changes this to 19d2:1015. At that point I also get a new network interface called 'usb0'. So my first idea was that all I had to do was to configure and bring up that interface, but using netcfg to do this results in a 'No connection' error.

Some more googling resulted in the following wvdial config which indeed does the job:

[Dialer vodafone] Init1 = ATZ Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0&C1&D2 +FCLASS=0 Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","web.omnitel.it" Modem Type = USB Modem Phone = *99***1# ISDN = 0 Username = prova Password = prova Modem = /dev/ttyACM0 Baud = 460800

[Dialer pin] Modem = /dev/ttyACM0 Baud = 460800 Init1 = ATZ Init2 = AT +CPIN="****"

The 'pin' target is required once after power up.

The 'vodafone' target results in:

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.61 --> Cannot get information for serial port. --> Initializing modem. --> Sending: ATZ ATZ OK --> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0&C1&D2 +FCLASS=0 ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0&C1&D2 +FCLASS=0 OK --> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","web.omnitel.it" AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","web.omnitel.it" OK --> Modem initialized. --> Sending: ATDT*99***1# --> Waiting for carrier. ATDT*99***1# CONNECT 14400000 --> Carrier detected. Waiting for prompt. --> Don't know what to do! Starting pppd and hoping for the best. --> Starting pppd at Sat Sep 10 17:52:39 2011 --> Pid of pppd: 4140 --> Using interface ppp0 --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> local IP address 109.113.40.0 --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> remote IP address 10.0.0.1 --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> primary DNS address 83.224.70.77 --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08] --> secondary DNS address 83.224.70.54 --> pppd: �[05]�[08]@�[08]�[07]�[08]

plus a new network interface 'ppp0' and a working internet connection - I'm using it to write this post.

But there are some strange things:

1. The 'Don't know what to do! Starting pppd and hoping for the best.' line from wvdial looks suspect.

2. The fact that I have _two_ new network interfaces. The existence of the 'usb0' one seems to suggest I don't need pppd at all, but how then to bring it up ?

Any information / suggestions to improve this will be appreciated. Also, if at all possible I'd like to put all this into a neat netcfg profile.

TIA,

This thread is relevant: http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/2010-June/014388.html -- cantabile "Jayne is a girl's name." -- River

On 11 September 2011 06:12, Fons Adriaensen wrote:

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 12:56:08AM +0300, cantabile wrote:

...

This thread is relevant: http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/2010-June/014388.html

Yes and no.

Early ADSL modems (such as the green Alcatel flat fish shaped one, I still have it) required you to set up a ppp connection on top of the ATM based link they provided. Today's ADSL modems provide a network interface directly and don't need require the user's system to use ppp.

Ahh, now I see what you're getting at. -- GPG/PGP ID: 8AADBB10