Getting Connected to the broadband Internet On Linux !!!!

Contents 1 BSNL DataOne 1.1 Prerequisite 1.2 Instructions 1.2.1 Ethernet Connection 1.2.2 Wireless Connection 1.2.2.1 Wireless security 1.2.2.2 One stop instruction for wireless NIC: 1.3 Alternative 1.4 Checking Usage 1.5 USB Connection 2 MTNL Triband 2.1 Ethernet 2.2 USB 2.3 Checking usage 3 Sify 3.1 Obtaining the sify dialer 3.2 Installing the dialer 3.3 Using the dialer 3.4 Autologin 3.5 Troubleshooting 3.6 External Resources 4 Pacenet 5 Airtel Broadband 5.1 Adsl Router 5.1.1 PPPoE (non bridged)

BSNL DataOne

Prerequisite

BSNL Dataone provides different types of ADSL modem/router:

1. Huawei ADSL modem/router with ethernet and USB port
2. DareGlobal ADSL modem/router with ethernet port.
3. Huawei ADSL modem/router with ethernet port, USB port and built-in wireless access point.

You should have a working ethernet card to connect the modem/router. No information is available about connecting using USB (PPPoA).

Instructions

Note: The router/modem would trigger the connection if configured this way.(Router on -> Connected)

Ethernet Connection

1. Connect the modem/router to the ethernet card
2. Assign an IP address for the ethernet card; the router has a fixed interface address of 192.168.1.1, so you can use 192.168.1.2 for your ethernet interface.
   

   $ sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.2

3. Add 192.168.1.1 as default gateway.
   

   $ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1

4. Enter the address of some DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. These DNS adresses are provided on BSNL's instruction manual.
   

   $ sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf

   
   The entry will be of type nameserver 61.1.96.71, where the IP will be the one provided in your DataOne instruction manual.
5. Access the router's management interface via a browser by typing the address 192.168.1.1. The admin username/password is admin/admin

• Set the connection type to `PPPoE'. On my MT882 box, this comes under `WAN Settings'
• Enter your user name and password (username is of the form xyz@dataone)
• Reset the router. It will take 2-3 minutes for the box to come up again

Steps 2, 3, 4 can also be done from menu System->Administration->Network in GUI

Alternate Method:

1. Connect your ethernet wire to the port at the back of your computer.
2. Fire up the terminal and type in sudo pppoeconf
3. It should detect your modem.
4. Keep on pressing enter. Fill in your user name and password when indicated.
5. It should be easy to stick on to defaults.
6. You should be prompted back to your terminal when it would say pppoe loaded. Simple. That's the end of terminal.

Now go to System>Administration>Networking. Click on it. You would be asked for your password to carry out the administrative job as root. You should be prompted to enter the following details.

1. Activate the Wired connection.
2. Highlight the wired connection and click on properties.
3. Check the box "enable the connection"
4. Configuration as Static IP.
5. IP Address : 192.168.1.2
6. Subnet mask fills on it's own as 255.255.255.0
7. Gateway address :192.168.1.1

Wireless Connection

1. Assign an IP address for wireless NIC; the router has a fixed interface address of 192.168.1.1, so you can use 192.168.1.2 for your wireless NIC.
   

   $ sudo ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.2

   In some cases you may need to replace wlan0 with with eth0 or eth1.
2. Add 192.168.1.1 as default gateway.
   

   $ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1

3. Add network ESSID.
   

   $ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid WA1003A

   Default ESSID for the modem/router provided by BSNL are same as model names. You can change it from modem/router's admin console.
4. Enter the address of some DNS servers in /etc/resolv.conf. These DNS adresses are provided on BSNL's instruction manual.
   

   $ sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf

   The entry will be of type nameserver 61.1.96.71, where the IP will be the one provided in your DataOne instruction manual.
5. Access the router's management interface via a browser by typing the address 192.168.1.1. The admin username/password is admin/admin

• Set the connection type to for PVC0 connection as 'PPPoE'. On WA1003A modem/router, this comes under 'Setup'
  
• Enter your user name and password (username is of the form xyz@dataone)
  
• Set the modulation to GDMT. On WA1003A modem/router, this comes under 'Setup->Modem Setup'
  
  
• Save and restart the modem/router. On WA1003A modem/router, this can be done under 'Tools->System Commands' It will take 2-3 minutes for the box to come up again

Wireless security

• In admin console, 'Advanced->Wireless Security' set security to WEP.
• Add a 64 bit authentication key, 10 characters in hex format i.e 0-9 and A-F
  
• Add this key to wireless NIC configuration.
  

  $ sudo iwconfig wlan0 key A1B2C3D4E5

• Save settings in router and restart it. Reactivate the card, probably using ifdown and ifup

One stop instruction for wireless NIC:

• Add following lines to /etc/network/interfaces

iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1 wireless-essid WA1003A wireless-key A1B2C3D4E5  auto eth0 

Most of the steps can also be done from menu System->Administration->Network in GUI

(Note: Most of the instructions are based on the document at http://www.calcuttatelephones.com/dataoneinstall/bb008.html)

Alternative

Note: Ubuntu would trigger the connection if configured this way.(Router on -> Ubuntu on -> Connected)

1. Make sure your Ethernet card is configured
2. Open a Terminal: Applications->Accessories->Terminal
3. Enter sudo pppoeconf
4. Follow instructions on the screen. The defaults are fine for most cases. Make sure you enter your username and password carefully. Beware : The password will be visible on the screen.

Checking Usage

Casanova has made a python script for checking dataone usage.
NOTE: For bug reports, feature requests go to http://code.google.com/p/doufs/
Dataone usage script

MTNL Triband

MTNL Triband offers DSL 502T Dlink Router for ADSL for those who opt not to buy one. However, I would recommend buying the same router, if one chooses not to pay rent to MTNL for this modem. This router has known to work without issues for me.

Users who try out Ubuntu Live CDs would have to set up DNS as shown below. For Kubuntu Users, Konqueror automatically detects the network (if through ethernet) and one can access without any configuration.

Ethernet

• For users, who have connected their router to the Ethernet card, only have to setup the DNS address as provided by MTNL.
• Follow the following steps
  1. Go to System->Administration->Network
  2. Move to the DNS Tab
  3. Click on the default entry (which could be 192.168.1.1) and click on "Delete" button
  4. Click on "Add" button and enter the DNS address. You would have to call up on 1504 and get DNS addresses.

USB

At the time of writing this, Ubuntu 6.10 is able to detect the device (DSL-502T) Router provided by MTNL. However, it is not able to understand network through an ADSL connection and send / receive packets. However, I tried connecting using USB, and was able to access the internet using Kubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) which recognized the device as well as the network. The device was able to allocate an IP address using DHCP and requires no further configuration.

Checking usage

For finding out your usage, you can log on to http://register.mtnl.net.in and input your telephone number as "username" and the password as your "CA" number, if you haven't changed it. Click on Account Summary on the left pane, when you are in.

Sify

Obtaining the sify dialer

Download the client from the same place where you got the windows client. This should ideally be http://202.144.65.70:8090 , and at the time of writing the file is can be found at http://210.18.11.199:81/bbandclient/sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz. or http://210.210.4.74:81/bbandclient/sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz

Installing the dialer

Untar the the dialer using your favorite untar program , or do this :

$ tar -xzvf sifyconnect-1.3-bin.tar.gz 

Then run the following commands as root :

$ cd sifyconnect-1.3-bin/ $ bash install.sh

 Using the dialer

Run the following commands :

$ sifyd $ sifyconnect -l 

This will prompt you for your username & password , give them. Once you do that your as good as logged in , you can now close the terminal and use the internet.

Autologin

Want to automatically login onto sify everytime you switch on the computer. Just write a shell script. Just make a file (something like sify.sh) in "/usr/bin/". The scriptwill be something like this :

$ sifyd $ echo -e 'accountname\npassword' | sifyconnect -l 

To start this everytime the computer switches on add the following lines to the /etc/rc.local file (untested):

$ bash sify.sh

 Troubleshooting

Sometimes the client on trying to log in says something like --

"Login failed : Get the latest version of the client"

This is because after upgrading it's protocol in some places, sify has discontinoued support for the old protocol . It has also stopped development of it's GNU/linux and Mac clients , so you might have to call sify customer care and tell them your problem. They probably just allow you IP and account to use the old protocol It took them about 8 hours to fix the problem when I had it. :D

Another problem that might occur would be like --

"-bash: /etc/init.d/sifybb: No such file or directory"

If that ever happens all you have to do is Broadband_Howto#Installing_the_dialer again.

External Resources

Configuring Sify Broadband on Ubuntu Configuring Pacenet on Ubuntu

Pacenet

Following is a guide for configuring Pacenet on Fedora. Should be somewhat helpful for Ubuntu users. http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-82441.html

Airtel Broadband

Adsl Router

PPPoE (non bridged)

In this mode, your router will connect as sson as it is switched on. If you are billed for time connected then you need to use bridged mode

• Go to System->Administartion->Networking and make sure you have configured an ip (192.168.1.2, for example) and have set your DNS (supplied by Airtel) and Default gateway (192.168.1.1). If your router is handling DHCP then you needn't configure an ip.
• Navigate to http://192.168.1.1
• Enter the username and password (default is admin for both)
• Click Run Wizard
• Click Next
• Select your time zone (+5:30)
• Click Next
• Select <PPPoE/PPPoA Choose this option if your ISP uses PPPoE/PPPoA. (For most DSL users)>
• Click Next
• Enter your username and password. VPI = 1, VCI = 32, Connection Type = PPPoE LLC
• Click restart 

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Sachin Modeel