O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan (works now with ubuntu)

Discussion in 'Networking' started by mark1234, Jan 24, 2010.

  1. mark1234

    mark1234

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    The good news - got myself and O2 PAYG usb modem (E160) for £10.
    it's Windows & Mac but has a 4 week money back deal so I thought I'd give it ago on my Linux AAO.

    The bad news - I can't get it to work on my Ubuntu 9.10 AAO using the Mac settings (below) in the O2 product manual.
    These seem to match what I've found with googling.
    Profile Name, type O2 Mobile Broadband.
    Access Point Name, type m-bb.o2.co.uk.
    In Telephone Number, type *99#.
    In Account Name, type o2bb.
    In Password, type password.
    Tick the PAP Authentication box.

    It flashes indicating mobile signal, I did manage to get it to connect once or twice but nothing consistent so sorry to be so vague about what's happening.

    The best I managed was to connect (continuous led on dongle) and get the landing page http://mobilebroadbandaccess.o2.co.uk/, but can't even get that now. Dongle LED just flashes indicating signal but not connection.

    When I plug in the USB dongle it appears as O2 USB MODEM at /media/cdrom1 (listed below, looks like windows stuff).
    Do I need to do something to "convert" it into a modem rather than storage in the file system?


    $ ls -la /media/cdrom1
    total 420
    dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 2009-06-10 16:09 .
    drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2010-01-24 13:34 ..
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 114688 2008-06-07 19:46 AutoRun.exe
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 25214 2008-09-14 11:31 AutoRun.ico
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 45 2008-09-14 11:23 AUTORUN.INF
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 155136 2008-06-07 19:46 DataCard_Setup64.exe
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 114688 2008-06-07 19:46 DataCard_Setup.exe
    dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 2009-06-10 12:09 Documents
    dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 2048 2009-06-10 12:09 Mobile Connect
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 7168 2008-02-24 13:16 ResetDevice.exe
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 1020 2009-03-27 10:42 SysConfig.dat
    -r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 116 2009-06-10 03:29 VersionInfo(E160).txt
     
    mark1234, Jan 24, 2010
    #1
  2. mark1234

    mark1234

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    Re: O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan, linux help

    Replying to myself, hopefully it wil be useful for somebody...

    Tried the dongle on my home PC (XP) and it was easy to set up.

    Tried again with Ubuntu AAO - currently got solid blue led on dongle*, so I've got 3G connection but I can't get the O2 landing page or anything else in my browser. I wonder if it's still got settings from the home wireless network.

    * this time I disconnected the AAO from home wireless network before plugging in the dongle as suggested in another thread.

    Ubuntu NetworkManager Applet 0.7.996
     
    mark1234, Jan 24, 2010
    #2
  3. mark1234

    mark1234

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    O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan - progress?

    Progress?
    OK, maybe everybody else realised this quicker than I did - rebooting with no other network available seems to be the key.

    Network Manager settings as above, see page 14 of user guide that comes with the dongle.

    home wireless switched off and wired network unplugged so AAO doesn't pick up an alternative network setting
    (the wireless networks in the neighbourhood that don't belong to me don't matter)
    plug in dongle
    switch on or reboot AAO

    Bought some credit from the O2 landing page, rebooted and surfed OK.

    So far if I use the Network Manager to disconnect then I can't reconnect without rebooting,
    without a reboot the Network Manager just "churns" away busily getting nowhere.

    During a reboot it picks up the dongle quickly although sometimes after a reboot get a "solid blue led" connection.
    After the last reboot I can't surf, it's just "Server not found" in the browser.
    Ping with an IP address responds but ping with domain name doesn't, maybe something DNS?

    Ubuntu 9.10 with NetworkManager Applet 0.7.996
     
    mark1234, Jan 24, 2010
    #3
  4. mark1234

    mark1234

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    Re: O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan, linux help

    On Network Manager need to go to...
    IPv4 Setting Tab
    Automatic (PPP) addresses only <- changing to this option means you can type in IP addresses for DNS Servers
    193.113.200.200,193.113.200.201 <- typed like that into the DNS Servers input box

    Still need to reboot to reconnect if I disconnect from the mobile dongle.
     
    mark1234, Jan 24, 2010
    #4
  5. mark1234

    Japser

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    Re: O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan, linux help

    Have you tried wvdial ?
    I case you want to try, as root do:

    wvdialconf

    --Japser.
     
    Japser, Jan 25, 2010
    #5
  6. mark1234

    mark1234

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    Re: O2 PAYG dongle is £10 on 23/24 Jan, linux help

    I think saw wvdial/ mentioned when I was googling about but I've not got it installed, I'll try it if I get sick of rebooting to re-establish a connection with nm-applet.

    Does that allow you to start/stop mobile broadband connection more easily?

    Thanks
    Mark
     
    mark1234, Jan 25, 2010
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  7. mark1234

    Japser

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    "wvdial" is a bit of an old-fashioned tool to 'talk to' modems.
    The fun is that 'modern' 3G dongles behave exacly like modems used to.
    You say "AT" and it answers with "OK" etc.

    So far I found wvdial the most direct way to communicate with the modem.
    If you run it in a terminal you can see exactly what happens.

    --Japser.
     
    Japser, Jan 26, 2010
    #7
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