Posts Tagged by Wireless

Network access with Exetel HSPA and Antenna

Update November 2012

On Ubuntu Precise (12.04.1) mobile broadband now “just works”. Plug in the device, right click on Network Manager, follow the configuration wizard for “New Mobile Connection”, choose your provider (eg Exetel) and the correct APN will be filled in (exetel1).

Original Article 2009

I got a Huawei HSPA E1762 USB stick a few months ago for 3G network access, together with Exetel’s $5/month Zero Gig plan (uses the Optus network). Great for when I’m out and about and can’t find a wireless signal to jump onto, or I’m at some client who doesn’t allow laptops onto their network. I’ve been using it regularly and still haven’t gone over about 100M usage, so it’s worked out to be very cheap.

Using Network Manager on Ubuntu Jaunty it mostly “just works” – all I needed to do was set the APN to ‘exetel1′. I’ve also bought an antenna for it from The Antenna Shop – gives me better coverage in shadows in the CBD and out in the country. There’s also other bigger antennas available, as well as car antennas.

antenna

antenna

All-in-all a good buy – thanks Dean for the tip.

Addendum

As per Matt’s comment below, Huawei modems currently have problems on Ubuntu Karmic – Problem with Huawei E1762 Mobile Broadband in Karmic, Bug #413989, Bug # 446146.

Also, if you’re ever prompted to enter an “SP CODE” (ie Mac & Windows), enter “BROADBAND”

Blueman – Bluetooth for Ubuntu

The Reverand Simon Rumble wrote a nice post on Mobile broadband over Bluetooth with Ubuntu 8.10 using Blueman. I’ve always wanted to get Bluetooth working on Ubuntu, but it was never at the top of my ‘todo’ list and I’ve always had other things to do (thank PHB). But Blueman makes it so easy – thanks Simon.

This article was also mentioned.

wicd – replacement for Network Mananger

wicd – “an open source wired and wireless network manager” – a possible replacement for Ubuntu’s annoying Network Manager (Mangler?).

Mentioned by Martin B on SLUG – thanks.

Ssh SOCKS proxying, DNS proxying, Tunnelling

Mary Gardiner answered one of Voytek Eymont’s questions on the SLUG list by referring to the ssh socks proxying post on Ubuntu Blog. I was already familiar with ssh socks proxying, but that page has a good set of comments and links. A summary of that post, plus some other notes:

  • setup via $ssh -D 9999 username@ip-address-of-ssh-server, configure web browser socks 5 host (not http proxy) to localhost:9999 (On Firefox: Preferences, Advanced, Network, Settings, Manual, SOCKS Host. FoxyProxy really helps with this – you can setup wildcards to send certain URLs via certain proxies eg for when connecting via a VPN to work)
  • http proxying can be setup at the command line (for use by wget, apt, etc) with the http_proxy environment variable. For example export http_proxy=’http://user:password@1.2.3.4:3128/’; cmd1; cmd2; export http_proxy=”
  • configure apt to use a proxy via /etc/apt/apt.conf by using Acquire::http::Proxy “http://username:password@proxyserver:port/”; See Using apt-get behind a proxy.
  • there’s also corkscrew (preferred), connect.c, and proxychains to secure other traffic or setup tunnels automagically in ~/.ssh/config. For example:
% sudo aptitude install corkscrew

% cat ~/.ssh/config
Host foo.bar.com
    User me
    Port 443
    ProxyCommand corkscrew 1.2.3.4 8080 %h %p ~/.ssh/proxyauth

% cat ~/.ssh/proxyauth
username:password

Jan/2011:

export http_proxy='http://219.93.2.113:3128/'

Huawei E220 on Ubuntu Gutsy for Vodafone Australia

  • if running a recent kernel, just plugin and check option module is being loaded
  • $ lsmod | grep option
  • also look in /var/log/messages
  • $ less /var/log/messages
    option 5-2:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
    usb 5-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
    option 5-2:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
    usb 5-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
  • use this /etc/wvdial.conf
  • [Dialer hsdpa]
    Phone = *99***1#
    Username = vodafone
    Password = vodafone
    Stupid Mode = 1
    Dial Command = ATDT
    Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
    Baud = 460800
    Init2 = ATZ
    Init3 = ATE0V1&D2&C1S0=0+IFC=2,2
    ISDN = 0
    Modem Type = Analog Modem
    Init5 =AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","vfinternet.au";
  • connect using this command (check you’re in the
  • wvdial hsdpa
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