Network Manager: Problem using Mobile Broadband

Question

Hello,
I'm trying to use NetworkManager to configure an Internet connection using a 3G modem USB dongle.
I have a Huawei E160 on O2.
Steps taken so far:
* Installed NetworkManager using the ArchWiki article:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NetworkManager
* nm-applet would not start, and the error on the virtual terminal matched that in the troubleshooting section of that article. I backed up and changed those 2 files. I don't know much about PolicyKit but nm-applet started and was able to connect to a WiFi network.
* I tried connecting to O2: the device was detected but on attempting to connect, the nm-applet connecting icon froze or stuttered (as in the animation was about 0.2fps).
* Errors on the tty indicated that nm was looking for files that did not exist. After searching I found a package 'mobile-broadband-provider-info' on LaunchPad which is included in Ubuntu. I found it in the AUR and installed it.
* Tried again, same behaviour of the icon, but this time errors on the tty resembled the errors that occured when nm-applet would not start.
I'm guessing the problem is with the PolicyKit configuration in the 2 files:
/etc/dbus-1/system.d/NetworkManager.conf
/etc/dbus-1/system.d/nm-applet.conf
If we can put together a general solution to 3G modems (rather than my specific problem), I will be willing to help out with the relevant wiki articles (probably after my exams).
Thank you very much for your help,
James Haigh.

Answer 1

Hooray! It's working!
I booted into Arch to run nm-applet from the terminal emulator to collect the exact error message to post, but then I noticed the mast icon!
I couldn't figure out why this now worked but I wondered if Ubuntu had sort of initialised the modem somehow (when I started this thread using the LiveCD, that was the first time I'd got it to work).
I don't think it was the restart because I'm pretty sure I restarted after installing mobile-broadband-provider-info.
So I started to read the new replies. I thought I'd set pacman to download (and install) arch-wiki-docs while I write a reply. My USB wireless mouse stuttered and stopped working. I tried replugging it, syncing it, wouldn't work. The download which was going at about 20KB/s (I thought this was due to bad reception; my O2 phone gets 1 or 2 notches here at college), stuttered and spewed out errors.
My tablet PC annoyingly has only 2 USB ports and no CD drive. So to use a LiveCD, keyboard and dongle I had to use a hub. I left the hub in when I booted Arch, and unplugging it fixed my mouse and dongle. The download went about 100KB/s!
But I wasn't using the hub before I used the LiveCD. I was just using the keyboard and dongle, and a great Firefox add-on called LoL, which makes browsing with no mouse easier.
(If interested, this list including LoL is useful:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo … n/keyboard )
So the initial problem is at least 1 of these:
* Bad reception
* Ubuntu initialised the modem but my installation/configuration of Arch could not
* I forgot to restart if/when it mattered
And the 2nd problem was the hub.
These weren't problems:
* ConsoleKit configuration
* Settings
I tried to understand those 2 files using GVim's diff with the backups and I couldn't see anything to try, so I left them unchanged.
My settings are in the manual for the dongle. They're not in mobile-broadband-provider-info so I will file a bug to make it easier for Ubuntu users etc. Looking at /usr/share/mobile-broadband-provider-info/serviceproviders.xml I made this:
<apn value="m-bb.o2.co.uk">
<name>Pay & Go</name>
<username>o2bb</username>
<password>password</password>
</apn>
The manual also says that:
* Tel no: *99# (which appears to be default and is never specified in serviceproviders.xml)
* Authentication: PAP (Also not specified, the default of try all methods works for me)
I could add a mobile broadband subsection to the troubleshooting section of the wiki article:
* Check signal
* Check USB
And add relevant links on articles like 'USB_3G_Modem' etc.
owain wrote:...I felt a bit let down that some update, somewhere, had changed my settings without letting me know (there certainly wasn't a pacsave or pacnew which I'd missed).
I like pacman and I like the way upgrading my system is my responsibility but that shouldn't have happened without a message. I'll be aware of things like this now, thanks.
Misfit138 wrote:Moved, as requested.
Thank you.
schuay wrote:
JamesHaigh wrote:
To install packages from the AUR, I suppose I'd have to:
* look at the PKGBUILD and figure out what files I need
* download the files onto my hard drive and save relevant wiki articles
* restart and boot into Arch
* modify the PKGBUILD
* build and install.
Also, command line configuration of connections might not be very practical at college; if something goes wrong I won't be able to access the ArchWiki, Google or other help. Although it might be worth a try.
Yeah that sounds about right (except you don't need to modify the PKGBUILD, just place the downloaded files in the same folder as the PKGBUILD and run makepkg).
That's useful to know.
Once you've got your internet running you can install 'community/arch-wiki-docs' for offline wiki access.
Thank you so much! This could be a life saver! I've installed it.
If you're in the UK, mkwvconf output for O2 is:
I will explore this alternative sometime. For something as important as this, a backup plan is useful. I've been using netcfg for WiFi for quite some time before I installed nm. It'd be great to use netcfg (and the nice menu) with wvdial.
Thank you all very much,
James.