I was frustrated for a very long time because I could not get access to the Internet via my LG VX6000 cell phone in Linux. However, just recently I discovered that it is possible with very little configuration! It may even work for similar model phones including LG VX4400. Here is how to do it.

First we want to have a compatible USB cable for our phone. I bought the Verizon Mobile Office kit ($70.00 ripoff + software) and used the cable included with that package. You can find them much cheaper online, but be aware that some companies claim things about their cables that are not true, and my brother found that out the hard way when he bought one online.

Anyways, now that you have the cable, let's setup our PPP connection. I am running Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary), with Gnome 2.10, and am using the integrated Networking setup utility. You can crib the settings for any other application that you like, but be aware that Kppp seems not to allow one to manually specify the interface of the device. Also, the fast Verizon internet service (~10 KB/sec) is only available when you are directly on their network (with non-leased towers), and for when you are not roaming. I have not tried the roaming service in Linux yet, but they call it Quick2Net and the speed is about 1-2 KB/sec from anywhere you can make phone calls not on Verizon's direct network. I provide both settings below.

System -> Administration -> Networking...now enter your password for the setup utility
You should see a little telephone icon with the heading "Modem Connection". Go to the properties dialog for this connection. Now check the box that says "This device is configured".

Phone Number: #777
Dial prefix: <leave blank>
Username: <your 10 digit number>@vzw3g.com [ie. 2125551212@vzw3g.com]
Password: vzw

Now click the modem tab at the top. The modem could be either of two devices below, so do an ls on each to see which one exists when your phone is plugged in. On mine it is /dev/ttyACM0 (that's a zero).

Modem port: /dev/ttyACM0 or /dev/usb/ttyACM0
Dial type: Tones
Volume: Off

Now go to the Options tab. Check the box for both "Set modem as default route to internet" and "Retry if he connection breaks or fails to start". Hit OK and you should be all set. Now just click the Activate button for the new modem settings and your phone should begin to dialup to the internet!!! So cool! If you want to use the Quick2Net service (when roaming), just replace the user/pass to both be "qnc", and leave everything else the same. That should get you online -- but I have not tried it myself.

PROBLEMS??:
If you cannot communicate with your phone, try to modprobe the following modules:
uhci
usbserial
ftdi_sio
cdc-acm

You may also try to specify an initialization string of "AT$QCMRD=3" for the dialup connection, but it was not necessary for me to get online. Are there any other questions? Hopefully this will help future cell phone internet junkies like me (free on the weekends, since it uses my minutes and night/weekends are free!!!!)

Kristian Hermansen

I didn't know you could connect to a cellphone with Linux.

Cool beans!!!!

You should submit this as a HOWTO for the LQ.org Tutorial section.

I tried adding this as a HOWTO to the Networking tutorial section, but it did not show up after I submitted it. Do the admins review before posting it up?

Kristian Hermansen

Yea they do. You receive an email if you have the option set to receive emails from the admin's here in User CP.

Sometimes it takes a while too depending I suppose on how many articles they are reviewing. Send a private message to Jeremy and ask him if your article is pending.

I am not a contributing member yet, so I can't PM :-( I will try to become one soon though because I have been using LQ for years, and love it...

Kristian Hermansen

Post a question in the Feedback/Website Suggestion forum asking what the usual time for a "submitted document till it's posted" eta is.

Usual time is "time permitting" unfortunately. Jeremy (and the rest of us) have other commitments outside of LQ as well as all our commitments within LQ. No entries languish for long, I'd just ask that you be patient.

khermans,

Didn't you see a notice that stated that your tutorial would be posted after it was reviewed?

khermans,
First, long time no see/talk! (It's Aaron from UML, sir)

Second, and more pertinent to your article, there are a few things you should know about your cellphone connectivity as it pertains to
internet. Firstly, your connection goes over the 1xRTT voice network, which will yield somewhere around 60 - 100 kbps or so. You might
actually be able to get higher rates depending on your location relative to the cell tower, but that's pretty much the max you'll cap out
at.

Third, you need to make sure that people understand that this will work for any Verizon LG VX phone that you can establish a serial
link to (or any phone in the verizon network). Also, realize that you can get Sierra Prime 1xRTT/1xEV-DO cards that do the same thing
for ~$70. Those have a 1xEV-DO capable QualComm chip which will allow you to get up to 600-900 kbps just with Rev. 0; Rev. A
promises even higher speeds (I'll let you know once we get them in). The only advantage to using the cellphone as your modem is that
you can get onto the verizon network. However, any 1x capable phone can be converted to use the Verizon network. I can give you
tons more information on the whole system if you want, including an overview of the physical layer, and how a full 3G network operates
(I work for Airvana, Inc. writing the software that make 1x work

-Aaron

Well I'd like to throw another question out there.


Has anyone successfully configured wvdial to use the 1xrtt network?


Here is what I have done so far, mind you I have a slightly different setup.


Samsung XV6600 1xrtt/EV-DO enabled phone w/ bluetooth
Dell Inspiron 9300 with internal Dell 350 bluetooth

After some kernel tweaking (mainly adding bluetooth support, and VHCI so it thinks my internel card is actually connect via USB) I have been able to communicate with my phone.

I have got the wvdialer to attempt to call out using my phone, but it wants to send init strings to my phone and then nothing happens.

[example]
wvdial vzw
connecting to /dev/rfcomm0 [at this point phone wants to pair]
sending ATZ
sending ATQ0
resending ATZ
resending ATQ0
modem did not respond

So my question is, does anyone have a working wvdial.conf file for use on the Verizon 1xRTT network?

I think my problem is just setting in this conf file due to the fact that it actually tries to make communication through my phone.

Thanks in advance!