Ubuntu Wiki

Connecting to the Internet with a dialup (analog) modem

{This page supplies essential information if you are using the older Warty (4.10) release, where the Administration => Networking gui setup tools don't work well for dialup and pppconfig works well. However, under Hoary (5.04) my experience is that the gui tools now work, so you should try them first. (System => Administration => Networking). Use the Gnome Modem Monitor and Network Monitor panel applets if you want to stop, start and monitor modem connections without opening the Networking gui every time. Some people have had a problem with the modem dialing during bootup. This may be related to setting the modem as default route to the internet on the Options tab of Interface properties. Neil Woolford.}

My first (unsuccessful) attempt at getting online was through Computer > System Configuration > Networking. After doing some research, I found this alternate way of getting online. It has worked out well, because it's even easier to connect and disconnect than it would have been through the Networking dialog.

Note: Scroll down to "Winmodems" section if you do not see your 'Modem' in System>Administration>Networking.

Collecting Information

You will need:

• Your ISP's phone number
• Your username and password on the ISP
• The name of the modem device (/dev/...)

If your modem connects to the serial port and you know the COM port, the device name is /dev/ttySx, where x is one less than the COM port number. For example, if your modem is on COM2, the device is /dev/ttyS1, or if your modem is on COM1, the device is /dev/ttyS0.

If you have an internal modem then /dev/modem is worth a try.

Setting up ppp

1) Open a terminal (Applications > System Tools > Terminal).

2) Type:

sudo pppconfig

3) You will be on the main menu. Choose 'Create Create a connection'.

4) Leave the name as 'provider', hit 'Ok'.

5) Select 'Dynamic Use dynamic DNS', hit 'Ok'.

6) Select 'PAP Peer Authentication Protocol', hit 'Ok'.

7) Enter your user name for the ISP, hit 'Ok'.

8) Enter your password for the ISP, hit 'Ok'.

9) Leave the speed at 115200 as recommended, hit 'Ok'.

10) Choose Tone or Pulse dialing, hit 'Ok'.

11) Enter the phone number to your ISP (do not use any dashes), hit 'Ok'.

12) You can try to have your modem detected automatically, but it did not work for me, even on my easily detectable external modem.

13) If the modem wasn't detected, it will ask you for the port your modem is on. Enter the device name for your modem, hit 'Ok'.

14) A summary screen will appear and give you the opportunity to make changes if needed. We're almost done with this program. The next steps allow your normal user account to connect and disconnect without needing sudo (so you don't have to type a password to connect). Choose 'Advanced Advanced Options'.

15) Choose 'Add-User Add a ppp user'.

16) Remove any stray characters from the input box by pressing Backspace (as needed), then type in your Ubuntu user account username, hit 'Ok'.

17) Choose 'Previous Return to previous menu' on the Advanced Settings screen.

18) Choose 'Finished Write files and return to main menu.'.

19) Choose 'Quit Exit this utility'.

20) Exit the terminal window, type:

exit

Restart your computer (for the group setting to take effect). Alternately, you can test out your connection right away by typing:

sudo pon

To disconnect, type:

sudo poff

After the reboot, simply typing 'pon' or 'poff' should be adequate.

Changing speaker volume

To quiet or silence the connection noises (dialing, negotiation, etc), follow these steps:

1) Open a terminal (Applications > System Tools > Terminal).

2) Type:

sudo gedit /etc/chatscripts/provider

3) Locate the line marked 'OK-AT-OK'.

4) Change 'ATDT' to 'ATxxDT', where 'xx' is one of the following:

• M0 Silence the speaker
• L1 Low volume
• L2 Medium volume
• L3 High volume

For example: ATM0DT

Leave the rest of the line unchanged.

5) Save the file and exit.

Troubleshooting

In case of connection problems, be sure to have the correct driver loaded for the modem chipset. With winmodems, the "lspci" command doesn't always report enough information. A script (see http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/) allows you to precisely identify the chipset.

Winmodems

If you have a winmodem, you will need to read-read-read. Read every piece of documentation you see while you are trying to configure your modem. Some seemingly-insignificant piece of info might help you solve your problem...

If you do not see your modem under System>Administration>Networking, you might find this section 'interesting'. You seem to have a winmodem. This is a piece of hardware that looks like a modem but lacks the hardware pieces to be a modem by itself. it uses computer's cpu & memory resources to work correctly, and it is hard to make it work with linux. I wish ubuntu had winmodem support out of the box, but it doesn't. Developers not very interested in this either. We dont even have scanModem tool (see below) installed by default.

To find out what kind of modem you are using, in another machine, go to http://www.linmodems.org ,read the page, and download the scanModem tool. (It will only recognize PCI and USB modems, not ISA modems) Copy it to your desktop in your linux machine somehow, then

cd ~/Desktop
gunzip scanModem.gz 
chmod +x scanModem 
./scanModem

Gunzip will 'unzip' the file, chmod will make it an executable (an exe file in windows terms), and ./scanModem will run it. scanModem will scan your modem and tell you what it is and how to configure it. It will NOT configure it for you... After running, you will se a number of new folders on your desktop. This will give you a 'Modem' folder. Read read1st.txt and modemdata.txt in there, praying that it will recognize your modem... scanModem will NOT configure your modem. It will only give you information how to configure it. If you do not understand what modemdata.txt is saying at all, mail it (following the instructions in there) to the mailing list of linmodems.org.

Dialing with your winmodem

I prefer wvdial, because it tells you whether your modem is configured or not. To start, start the deamon (whatever it turns out to be during your configuration-quest) for your winmodem. Do

sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

If it says 'no modem found' or something similar, sorry... Your modem is not configured properly. If the modem is found:

sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf

After opening the wvdial.conf file, input your ISP information where needed (look inside the file for fields) and add other options that might be needed for your wimodem... You will know what these options are if you asked for help from linmodems.org mailing list. Once you are ready:

sudo wvdial

will dial and connect. Upon connection, it will spit out some information about your connection (local IP, remote IP, DNS address, etc.). Do not close the terminal where wvdial is running. Leave it alone until you want the connection to be terminated, and hit CTRL+C on that terminal once you want to end the connection.

More Links About Winmodems

Please read these as well: http://linmodems.org/ http://132.68.73.235/linmodems/index.html (also linked from linmodems) http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=6361 (an old howto in ubuntu's forum) https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WinModemConexantHSF https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WinModemLucent

Good Luck...

Using Modem Lights panel-application

While it's good to be able to get online, it'd be nice to have a single way to either connect or disconnect.

The easiest way is by using Modem Lights. Right click on the top panel, select 'Add to panel', and choose 'Modem Lights'. If your modem device is other than ttyS0, you'll have to configure the app. Right-click Modem Lights, choose Preferences -> Advanced, and change the lock file to point to your modem device.

For example, if you have an internal modem on /dev/modem, the Device would be ppp0 and the Lock File /var/lock/LCK..modem

Besides allowing you to connect and disconnect with a single click, Modem Lights also gives you information on how long you've been connected, and a graphical view of your modem's activity.

From PaulO'Malley Sun Feb 27 11:20:40 +0000 2005 From: Paul O'Malley Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 11:20:40 +0000 Subject: Hoary Array 5 serial modem problem solved Message-ID: <20050227112040+0000@https://www.ubuntulinux.org>

There was no /dev/modem present breaking wvdial. In the case where the serial modem (a zoom) was not auto detected the following fix was used: sudo ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem People with simular problems may have to change the number 0 for a 1 or a 2 or a 3. 0 or 1 should cover over 99% of cases. You can also manually edit /etc/wvdial.conf if the other information above does not work for you. wvdial can be run from the command line.

From RaduCristianFotescu Fri Mar 25 09:39:39 +0000 2005 From: Radu Cristian Fotescu Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 09:39:39 +0000 Subject: Serial modem should be ON at boot time Message-ID: <20050325093939+0000@https://www.ubuntulinux.org>

I also experienced the problem of a non-detected and not working external hardware serial modem (which made pppconfig, wvdial[conf] and gnome-ppp unuseable) even after issuing a 'sudo ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem'. Of course, it previously worked in Slackware and Mepis! Eventually I got it working by making sure the modem was ON and connected to the RS-232 at the time when the kernel was booting! I guess it's smth with the boot scripts...

-- CategoryDocumentation CategoryCleanup