Hi,
I finally took the plunge and went for GPRS, and thought I'd share my
linux configuration experiences in case anyone else has to go through the
same pain as I did!
* Why would you want to do this?
- Faster connection whilst on the road (up to 5x the speed of a dialup
connection over a GSM mobile connection)
- The geek factor
* Why wouldn't you want to do this?
- On most networks a GPRS connection is more expensive per mb than a
dialup connection (call charges work out less than per mb charges!)
- Super high latency link: don't expect to be IRCing from it, but fine for
email downloading etc.
* What do you need?
- A computer running linux (Debian in this example)
- A mobile phone with GPRS support
- A mobile phone service provider, with GPRS enabled on your account
I'm on O2, using a Sony Ericsson T68i over infrared to my Debian laptop.
These details should be more or less the same regardless of distribution,
network or phone: the only things you need to check are the "APN" (access
point name, eg "mobile.o2.co.uk"), username and password, and dial string.
* How?
Configuring a successful computer-phone connection is beyond the scope of
this. Get that working first! Once you have a working connection to your
phone (eg you can set up a normal dialup connection using it), you need to
configure a new ppp connection with the following two files:
- /etc/ppp/peers/o2gprs
- /etc/chatscripts/gprs-connect-chat
File /etc/ppp/peers/o2gprs:
--- begin o2gprs ---
# o2 GPRS settings
debug
hide-password
noauth
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -f /etc/chatscripts/gprs-connect-chat"
# The next line is the port you talk to your phone on, and may need editing
/dev/ircomm0
115200
noipdefault
ipcp-accept-local
ipcp-accept-remote
local
novj
novjccomp
noccp
default-asyncmap
nomagic
# The next line is your telco's username: it may need editing depending on your provider
user "web"
defaultroute
persist
disconnect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/gprs-disconnect-chat"
remotename o2gprs
ipparam o2gprs
--- end o2gprs ---
File /etc/chatscripts/gprs-connect-chat:
--- begin gprs-connect-chat ---
ABORT BUSY ABORT 'NO CARRIER' ABORT VOICE ABORT 'NO DIALTONE' ABORT 'NO DIAL TONE' ABORT 'NO ANSWER' ABORT DELAYED
'' ATZ
OK-AT-OK 'AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","MOBILE.O2.CO.UK"'
OK-AT-OK 'AT+CGQREQ=1,0,0,0,0,0'
OK-AT-OK 'AT+CGQMIN=1,0,0,0,0,0'
OK-AT-OK 'AT+CGATT=1'
# The next line is your dial string: it may need editing depending on your phone
OK-AT-OK 'ATD*99#'
TIMEOUT 42
CONNECT \d\c
# prelogin
# ispname
# isppassword
# postlogin
--- end gprs-connect-chat ---
Finally, edit /etc/ppp/options and comment-out lcp-echo-interval and
lcp-echo-failure.
Test the connection using pppd call o2gprs and watch /var/log/syslog for
details. (eg use tail -f /var/log/syslog)
* Other useful details
You'll need to tweak your MTA to send outgoing mail via smtp.o2.co.uk (or
similar for other providers, check with them for details).
* Closing remarks
I'd welcome any feedback from others trying to do this ... I'll eventually
put this on a page somewhere (eg the ALUG site). And yes, this email is
coming to you via GPRS (hopefully!).
Andrew.
--
All views are my own .... who else would want them?