doc/www/modem.html

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  12 <div class='pageHeader'>Using your BlackBerry as a USB Modem</div><img src='nothing.jpg' width='100%' height='5' alt=''><br><div class='linearNav'>
  13 <div class="subHeader">Introduction</div>
  14 <p>The Blackberry has the ability to act like a Hayes compatible modem,
  15 complete with AT commands.</p>
  16
  17 <p>In order to make use of this feature you will need the Barry command line
  18 tools installed on your system.  See the <a href="install.html">Install</a>
  19 page for more details.</p>
  20
  21 <p>You will need three components to connect to the internet:
  22 <ul>
  23         <li> a working Barry install, version 0.13 or later </li>
  24         <li> a working pppd and matching kernel </li>
  25         <li> an options file and chatscript for your Blackberry provider </li>
  26 </ul>
  27 </p>
  28
  29
  30 <div class="subHeader">If You Installed Barry's Binary Packages...</div>
  31 <p>If you installed Barry's binary packages, specifically barry-util,
  32 then default ppp options and chat scripts are installed automatically
  33 for you.  Currently there are scripts available for the following
  34 providers:
  35 <ul>
  36         <li> AT&amp;T Cingular </li>
  37         <li> China Mobile </li>
  38         <li> Fido </li>
  39         <li> KPN Nederland </li>
  40         <li> O2 Ireland </li>
  41         <li> Optus AU </li>
  42         <li> Orange Spain </li>
  43         <li> Rogers </li>
  44         <li> Sprint </li>
  45         <li> Telus </li>
  46         <li> T-Mobile US </li>
  47         <li> Verizon </li>
  48         <li> Vodafone AU </li>
  49         <li> and a minimalist script for debugging </li>
  50 </ul>
  51 </p>
  52
  53 <p>For example, to run the default Rogers connection script, use the
  54 following command as root:</p>
  55 <pre>
  56         pppd call barry-rogers
  57 </pre>
  58
  59 <p>If none of the default scripts work, see the Troubleshooting section
  60 below.</p>
  61
  62
  63 <div class="subHeader">If You Installed Barry From Source...</div>
  64 <p><b>Configuring PPPD</b></p>
  65
  66 <p>Sample configurations are provided in the source tarball, and if you are
  67 using a binary package, they should already be installed for you under
  68 /etc/ppp/peers and (depending on your system) /etc/chatscripts.</p>
  69
  70 <p>Copy the desired options file to /etc/ppp/peers and edit the file,
  71 making sure that the paths are referencing the correct files.
  72 <ul>
  73         <li> <b>pty</b> - must point to the location you installed Barry's
  74                         pppob program. </li>
  75         <li> <b>connect</b> - must use the correct chatscript </li>
  76 </ul>
  77 </p>
  78
  79
  80 <p><b>Establishing a Connection</b></p>
  81
  82 <p>If you named your options file "barry-rogers", then to connect to the
  83 internet, run:</p>
  84 <pre>
  85         pppd call barry-rogers
  86 </pre>
  87
  88 <p>Some systems may provide wrapper scripts for running pppd.  For example,
  89 Debian uses "pon" and "poff".</p>
  90
  91
  92
  93 <div class="subHeader">If Your Device Needs a Password...</div>
  94 <p>If your device requires a password, you can specify this on the <b>pppob</b>
  95 command line.  For example, if you are using the <i>barry-rogers</i>
  96 PPP script, edit your /etc/ppp/peers/barry-rogers file, so that the
  97 <b>pty</b> option says something like this:
  98 </p>
  99 <pre>
 100         pty "/usr/sbin/pppob -P password"
 101 </pre>
 102
 103
 104 <div class="subHeader">Testing Your Connection</div>
 105 <p>PPP will display some messages on stdout as it connects.  On success,
 106 you should see IP address negotiation and the resulting IP address for your
 107 machine.  PPP will then just wait for network activity.</p>
 108
 109 <p>When testing to see if this works, use your web browser.  The usual
 110 method of using <b>ping</b> does not work reliably, and some providers
 111 may have this blocked.</p>
 112
 113 <p>Check your routing table to make sure that the new default gateway
 114 is there.</p>
 115 <pre>
 116         /sbin/route -n
 117 </pre>
 118
 119
 120 <div class="subHeader">Security Concerns</div>
 121 <p>Depending on your provider, you may or may not have a firewall installed
 122 when you connect to the internet through a tethered modem.  Keep an eye on
 123 your open ports, and remember that connecting to the internet this way
 124 may not be the same as the network you are used to.</p>
 125
 126 <p>Also keep in mind that if your system is configured to forward packets
 127 and you have pppd setup to replace your current default route, and you
 128 are still connected to an internal network (say, via ethernet), this could
 129 allow outside connections to be routed to your internal network.  The
 130 default pppd options files installed by Barry do not use the
 131 <b>replacedefaultroute</b> setting for this reason.  Contact your
 132 network administrator for assistance on configuring your mobile
 133 network setups.</p>
 134
 135
 136
 137 <div class="subHeader">Troubleshooting</div>
 138 <p>Some devices don't respond to the PPP commands at first, but after
 139 the battery is removed and reinserted, modem functionality works.  This is
 140 likely due to the protocol not being completely understood, but resetting
 141 the device in this manner is enough of a workaround to get it working.</p>
 142
 143 <p>If you still run into trouble, the first task is to increase debug output
 144 and to log it.  PPPD supports increased logging if you add the following
 145 lines to the options file:</p>
 146 <pre>
 147         debug
 148         nodetach
 149 </pre>
 150
 151 <p>Barry's <b>pppob</b> program also supports verbose protocol logging.
 152 Change your options file and edit the pppob command line.  For example,
 153 if your pppob is installed in /usr/sbin, set the <b>pty</b> option to:</p>
 154
 155 <pre>
 156         pty "/usr/sbin/pppob -l /tmp/pppob.log -v"
 157 </pre>
 158
 159 <p>Be sure to remove these options once you have your connection working,
 160 as the above causes your entire internet traffic to be logged to the
 161 output file.</p>
 162
 163 <p>If your provider is not yet supported by the sample options files,
 164 you will need to do a little digging on your own.  If you are able to
 165 tether your Blackberry using a Windows system, you can duplicate the
 166 login information in your chat script.</p>
 167
 168 <p>You may also find example configurations for your provider on the
 169 various Blackberry forums available online.</p>
 170
 171 <p>If you are still having trouble, please send an email to the
 172 <a href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=153722">mailing list</a>,
 173 including:
 174 <ul>
 175         <li> the version of Barry you are using </li>
 176         <li> the output from pppd </li>
 177         <li> the log output from pppob </li>
 178         <li> the ppp options file and chatscript you used </li>
 179 </ul>
 180 </p>
 181
 182 <p>The logs from pppob can be fairly large, so limit the size to a single
 183 run.</p>
 184
 185
 186 <div class="subHeader">Connecting via Bluetooth</div>
 187 <p>If your device has Bluetooth support, it is also possible to tether
 188 using Linux's own native Bluetooth serial drivers.  There are probably
 189 better tutorials on this already on the net, but here are a few notes
 190 from Michael Brown to help you get started.</p>
 191
 192 <p><b>Bluetooth Config</b></p>
 193
 194 <p>Put the following in your /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf file, replacing
 195 the X's with your Bluetooth BADDR.</p>
 196
 197 <pre>
 198 rfcomm0 {
 199         bind yes;
 200         device XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;
 201         channel 1;
 202         comment "Blackberry Dialup";
 203 }
 204 </pre>
 205
 206 <p><b>PPP Config</b></p>
 207
 208 <p>Use the same peer file that you would use for the USB tethering above,
 209 but remove the pty line that points to /usr/sbin/pppob.  Since you are
 210 using the Bluetooth serial port, you don't need pppob.  Replace that
 211 line with the line of your newly configured rfcomm device.  You may
 212 also need to specify the baud rate.</p>
 213
 214 <pre>
 215 /dev/rfcomm0
 216 115200
 217 </pre>
 218
 219 <p><b>Chatscript Config</b></p>
 220
 221 <p>No change is required.  Use the same chatscript you would use for
 222 USB above.</p>
 223
 224 <p>Run as usual.  For example:</p>
 225
 226 <pre>
 227         pppd call barry-rogers
 228 </pre>
 229
 230
 231 <div class="Copyright">Copyright &copy; 2011 - Net Direct Inc.</div>
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