This trip up the island highway is like an old friend.  Been with me for many many years.  I don't really begrudge the time that it takes.  The 1-5 hours that it takes to get to where I'm going have been and will no doubt continue to be host to some great moments of talking, thinking, laughing at the radio, watching the sun rise and the rain fall.

I got a mobile internet stick from Bell so that I could have a little internet on the go. And... it works really quite well. The model I got was the Bell U727 made by Novatel. It worked right away under Windows (as expected) but I was really hoping to get it working under Debian Linux as that's my preferred working environment. And so my adventures began... A friend had said that he had got a similar stick working using KPPP. So that seemed like a good place to start.

After much futzing around with KPPP, I abandoned it on the strength of some forum encouragement that wvdial is the way to go being the way to go and if you're going to mess around you may as well mess around on the command line.

How I made WvDial work!

You need to update the /etc/wvdial.conf file to read as below.  Provided that your modem is indeed located at /dev/ttyUSB0, easiest way to find out if that is the case.  unplug is, from the command line run "ls /dev/tty*" then plug it in and run the same command and see if what has changed, the new address is new stick.  (A lot of people on the Ubuntu forums have mentioned that this device gets mounted as a memory stick and that the mounted memory stick needs to be ejected first, this wasn't the case for me running Debian.)

Here are the settings for the working /etc/wvdial.conf
[Dialer Defaults]

Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0 Username = '' Password = '' Phone = #777 Init1 = ATZ Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 Dial Command = ATDT Abort on No Dialtone = on Carrier Check = on Auto Reconnect = on Check Def Route = on Auto DNS = on Idle Seconds = 0 Stupid Mode = on Dial Attempts = 1 Ask Password = off

then you'll need to close up that file and... at the command line type

~$ wvdial

Generally I get some output that looks like

--> 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 --> Modem initialized. --> Sending: ATDT#777 --> Waiting for carrier. ATDT#777 CONNECT --> Carrier detected.  Starting PPP immediately. --> Starting pppd at Sun Feb 28 09:19:56 2010 --> Pid of pppd: 28980 --> Using interface ppp0 --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> local  IP address 70.28.210.69 --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> remote IP address 68.182.192.100 --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> primary   DNS address 204.174.120.46 --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01] --> secondary DNS address 204.174.120.45 --> pppd: 0[02]n� --> Q [10]�P [01]

and then if I check my connections by typing at the command line

sudo ifconfig

I see a new entry, ppp0 and there is a small amount of traffic running on it.

Gotchas

One possible gotcha I found is that if you attempt this while my wireless is on (not even connected, but just on) it still connects fine but my browser doesn't connect to the internet.  The solution for me was to switch the wireless off then run wvdial. I've only had to do this on 1/3 machines that I've set up my Bell internet stick for.

U727 Performance

An interesting side note, is that another friend of mine was visiting a fairly remote part of BC and tried a newer model side by side with the U727 and found that the newer model (Sorry I don't know the model). The newer model was unable to maintain a service signal but the U727 worked without problem. I guess the external antenna really does improve reception!

I've used the stick in a number of remote areas where the reception is really quite weak. 1 or two bars on a cell phone and had reasonably good success. Sometimes it is quite slow, but in general it has been perfectly adequate for what I need and in places that aren't remote (one bar of reception areas) its relatively zippy.

Buckminster Fuller, what a guy. Take a few minutes to read his wikipedia page if you're unacquianted, he's an interesting guy. ANyways, my Dad bought this book to give to me over Easter, unfortunately or fortunately, I found it snooping around before he had the chance to give it to me and started reading it!

There is a lot in this book that I enjoy. He notes that the world resources are finite and points out that for a long time previous to industrialization no one really noticed this because there was always more world to explore, subdue and use/exploit/harvest. But as industrialization has come into full swing we've turned a corner where it seems that we're able to use resources up faster than they regenerate. At this point the book has effectively defined Earth as a spaceship which we are the actors upon. And have the choice to act in the interest of reaching a place where we are living sustain-ably (although he doesn't use that word) during this finite period of time where we have the benefit of relatively easily accessible resources.

He takes a few shots at people who resist automation, which is something I have thought about numerous times as well. The thought that always comes to my mind is that if automation is possible that frees the worker up to do more interesting work. The one trouble is that automation and capitalism is that putting people out of work definitely through automation rneeds to require some aspect of training for those people, so that they can continue to work at a job that is more interesting. ( I should think about that for a future post, I'm sure there are a ton of considerations I'm missing), but Fuller points out that this is a lack of faith in the creativity of humanity to find a way to survive and earn a living.

It is interesting to read predictions for what is going to be going on in 1985. Hint his predictions are certainly not all correct. But the admonition to do more with less and work towards a society and system of living that doesn't require us to use the resources faster than the accumulate is still a VERY worthy goal.

I do have to say that the book uses quite an academic style of language to convey it's points. And frankly I could do without that. I like plain language. Maybe it's my vocation and training to not be terribly interested in complicating things with heavy language.

I haven't read a lot of Fullers books but I have a hunch that there might be one that is out there that is a little more succinct but still captures his hey-everybody-get-out-there-and-do-more-with-less-while-we-have-the-benefit-of-our-current-resources attitude.

One person accidentally bumps another and they both apologize and move on. One for bumping the other and the other for I don't quite know what.

I used to think it was stupid that when one person would bump into another person they would both end up saying sorry. This is a classic scenario here in Canada maybe other places as well. Anyways, the point is that after a little more reflection on it I don't think it's stupid at all.

Having both parties say sorry makes it obvious that both parties want to put whatever just happened behind them and carry on with their lives. I like that attitude. It's the attitude that says, I'm not sure if it was me standing in the wrong spot or you running into me, but let's not dwell on it. Let's move on. And that's a great attitude.