Configuring BSNL EVDO CAPITEL 3G USB Modem on Ubuntu Lucid 10.04

This blog is about how to connect to internet using BSNL EVDO CAPITEL 3G USB Modem in Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04

Last week my neighbour who had bought BSNL EVDO modem wanted my help in configuring internet in Ubuntu. I spent half of my sunday in googling and configuring. I use this blog as an opportunity to share my experience with anyone who wishes to do the same with Ubuntu. Here I try to jot down what I learned along with screenshots

Ubuntu does not support CAPITEL 3G USB modem by default.  The reason is the modem is detected as a USB storage device by ubuntu. To treat this modem as a serial device required lots of hacking and required further tweaking of configuration files to make it automatic. Here I give only the steps which needs to be followed to make the mode switching (from storage mode to serial mode) automatic in ubuntu

Step 1: Plug in the CAPITEL evdo modem

When I plugged the evdo modem it was detected as a storage device and showed as a CDROM icon on the desktop

To switch this device into serial mode required listing it's vendor id and product id. Ubuntu comes with a command called lsusb when run as root displays the vendor id/product id information of each attached device. After inserting the device goto command line and give the following command to list down the vendor/product id


sudo lsusb



Output will be having a new usbdevice like
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 1c9e:9e00

See the ID 1c9e:9e00 in the above output (also you can see the line highlighted in the following image)

for this device the vendor and product  id are 1c9e and 9e00 (it can be any other in case you require this tweak for another 3g modem)

Step 2: Install usb-modeswitch and gnome-ppp along with wvdial

Nowthat we know the vendor id (1c9e) and product id (9e00), we should be in a position to switch the mode to serial. Fortunately linux has a tool to do that. Install usb-modeswitch using synaptic or aptitude or apt-get to do that


sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch-data tcl



When the above command line is executed usb-modeswitch will get installed automatically. Package 

tcl is required to automate usb-modeswitch handling

We are ready with tools necessary to switch usb from storage to serial mode. Also we will require tools to connect to internet

sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp

Step 3: Edit udev rules for automating usb mode switching

We have usb-modeswitch and gnome-ppp (wvdial frontend) ready. We are configuring udev rules to make the modeswitching automatic

Edit the file /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules as root

sudo vi /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

Use your favorite editor (I assume it is vi and gave the above command, replace with gedit or whatever is your favorite)

locate  the line

LABEL="modeswitch_rules_begin" 

    and add the following bold lines

# CAPITEL

ATTRS{idVendor}=="1c9e", ATTRS{idProduct}=="9e00", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

in the above line we added 1c9e the vendor id and 9e00 the product id

save and quit the vi editor (or whatever editor in which you opened the file)

Step 4: Create the command file for controlling the modeswitch

To easily create the control command file, just copy an existing one

sudo cp /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/1c9e\:9200 /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/1c9e\:9e00








Here you can see I copied a vendor file with a different product id, only the product id differs in the filename

sudo vi /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/1c9e\:9e00

open the newly copied file for editing and change the DefaultProduct and TargetProduct to 9e00

DefaultProduct should look like

DefaultProduct=0x9e00

TargetProduct should look like

TargetProduct= 0x9e00

save and quit the vi editor (or whatever editor in which you opened the file)

Step 5: Insert the usbserial module along with vendor and product id inside the /etc/modules file



Edit the modules file



sudo vi /etc/modules

add this to the modules loaded on bootup of your system


usbserial vendor=0x1c9e product=0x9e00

in the above 1c9e is the vendor id and product id is 9e00 (if you have a different product/vendor id put the appropriate values, the vendor and product id can be got from lsusb command as described in the first step)

Save the modules file, remove the device from usb slot and reboot

Step 6: Plug the usb modem and wait for automatic switching to serial mode

Plug the CAPITEL modem, you should not see the CDROM icon on your desktop due to our rules and control file. Wait for some 10 seconds

Check if your modem is configured as a modem instead of a storage device using dmesg

dmesg | tail -20

see the ttyUSB0 which is the auto configured modem port by ubuntu due to our hacks

[   68.537858] usbserial_generic 6-2:1.0: generic converter detected

[   68.537922] usb 6-2: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB0

You can also visually see "New Mobile Broadband (CDMA) connection..." when you left click network manager applet (nm applet). See the following screenshot

Step 7: Configure wvdial.conf

Before using the front end gnome-ppp  we should configure /etc/wvdial.conf

Use the following command 

sudo wvdialconf

to get an initial version of wvdial.conf.

Edit the wvdial.conf and fill username, password and phone number

username is the 10 digit number you got as username and password is (do you think, I will tell my password ????)

phone number is #777 for bsnl

Apart from these values, add a line which is very important

Stupid Mode = 1

This line makes sure, your dialing using 3g modem does not wait for the prompt to appear and here is the trick to get your 3g modem without any problem (without this stupid mode option, your modem may not connect)

Save and exit the wvdial.conf file

Step 8: Configure Gnome - PPP

Launch gnome-ppp from Applications --> Internet --> Gnome PPP

Fill Username with 10 digit number you got as userid (just those digits without any @ or any other characters)

Fill Password with 10 digit password you got (usually it is the same user id!!)

Tick Remember Password

Phone number should be #777 for bsnl

GNOME-PPP Setup

Do not press connect, press setup and do the following

Modem Tab

1. Detect Modem

2. Change Modem Type to ISDN

3. Enter Dial Prefix as DT

4. Untick Wait for dial tone

Options Tab

Tick "Ignore terminal strings (stupid mode)" in the last tab (along with minimize and dock to tray, if you want to monitor your ppp connection, which of course, you will want to!!)

Press close button

Step 9: Connect

Oh this is straightforward, press connect button and press the log button to see what is happening. It should connect in 10 to 15 seconds and you can see a blinking icon left to that of your network manager applet

Fallback commandline connection method

If you have problems, connecting using gnome-ppp do not worry, just unplug and replug the modem, wait for 10 seconds and run the following fallback

sudo wvdial

The above command is the command line version of the gnome-ppp, if you faced problems with gnome-ppp, you could fallback to the above wvdial command line. Dont give control + c, your connection will be disconnected

Note:
Reconnecting requires unplugging the device and plugging it back before redialling using gnome-ppp or wvdial

Step 10: Enjoy

Hope you will enjoy your evdo connection in Ubuntu. Here are some screenshots which are after connecting to evdo.

Conclusion: Hope my neighbour friend will enjoy evdo CAPITEL in Ubuntu, when he comes back tomorrow and gets back his laptop (before which I posted this blog for you, as I can't get hold of evdo modem without purchasing). And sorry to tell, here is the finish of the blog and I can't be of much help as I am not permanent owner of this evdo modem (and my neighbour is not a geek to answer your queries)

Common, it is linux, help yourself