System Admin: EDGE/GPRS via Bluetooth in Linux Simplified

This is an update to one of my earlier posts. I was trying to find a more portable way with wvdial and came up with this.

Start with the same command,

$hcitool scan

We get some info

<code>Scanning ...<br /> 00:1D:FD:36:9E:DB 3110c Emerald<br /></code><br />

Here "00:1D:FD:36:9E:DB" is the blue-tooth address of my phone.

Time to put this address into good use. We're going to bind this blue-tooth address with a specific device identifier.

$sudo rfcomm bind 0 00:1D:FD:36:9E:DB 1

Let me put some light into this command, the second argument in this command (in this case 0) is the device identifier, the third is the blue-tooth address (distinct for each device) and the fourth is the channel number which is typically 1.

After executing this command this mobile phone is directly accessible through /dev/rfcomm0

As said earlier, we are going to use wvdial this time. But we need to do another trick.

$sudo ln -s /dev/rfcomm0 /dev/ttyS4

Now we just run

$sudo wvdialconf

You should see some output in the terminal

Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S1 S2 S3
WvModem<*1>: Cannot get information for serial port.
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- Nokia
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 230400: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Speed 460800: AT -- OK
ttyS4<*1>: Max speed is 460800; that should be safe.
ttyS4<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK

Found a modem on /dev/ttyS4.
Modem configuration written to /etc/wvdial.conf.
ttyS4: Speed 460800; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

Open up /etc/wvdial.conf with your favourite text editor and add this line

Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","gpinternet"

Set phone number to *99***1# and Username and Password to anything you like.

At last run

$sudo wvdial

If you did everything right, you would see samilar output to this

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
--> 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","gpinternet"
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","gpinternet"
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT*99***1#
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99***1#
CONNECT
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}"}&} }*} } g}%~
--> Carrier detected. Waiting for prompt.
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}"}&} }*} } g}%~
--> PPP negotiation detected.
--> Starting pppd at Mon Oct 6 12:22:38 2008
--> Pid of pppd: 17504
--> Using interface ppp0
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> local IP address 10.130.11.226
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> remote IP address 10.6.6.6
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> primary DNS address 202.56.4.120
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]
--> secondary DNS address 202.56.4.121
--> pppd: ا[06][08][08]�[06][08][08]�[06][08]


Fire up your browser and enjoy the net.

[Update: Some have reported that the DNS don't get updated automatically, in that case you might need to update /etc/resolv.conf file manually.]