Lanka Bell

Lanka Bell broadband charges for services not requested

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Last 14th I got my self a LankaBell broadband connection, there were no addons available either. Today I got the bill and they have charged me for web space and web mail that I was not even aware of they had. I complained to their billing department and they said they will get back to be on Monday. Just to clarify things I rang up their sales department acting as a new customer and queried about web mail and web space, and according to them web mail is free and they have never provided web space.

Be aware if you are getting a new LankaBell broadband connection. They charge you for products/addons they do not even provide. I’ll post and update after the billing department gets back to me. Let’s hope it was a mistake on their part. For everyones reference see the bill bellow.

Update 10/12/2008: Lanka Bell informed me that web space and web mail was billed erroneously.

Going multi uplink

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Last Friday I got a 2nd connection for my home-office. Now I have 1Mbit/s WiMAX uplink from Dialog Broadband and 512Kbit/s (Soon will be upgraded to 1Mbit/s) WiMAX uplink from Lanka Bell.

I have setup one of my old PCs as the router. I couldn’t find a single router with multi-uplink here in Sri Lanka, but PC router is more flexible, IMO. I’m running Debian on the router and using Shoreline Firewall aka Shorewall for firewalling and traffic shaping/control. It took a good few hours to setup mainly because I mixed up the ethernet interfaces 😀 . Shorewall documentation on multiple internet connections and traffic shaping/control by Tom Eastep helped me a lot in setting up my router.

Installing Huawei ETS1000 on Linux

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*** Update for Ubuntu 8.10 ***

You will have to copy the driver files to the correct location. Please run the following command.

sudo cp /lib/firmware/$(uname -r)/ti_3410.fw /lib/firmware/ti_usb-3410.bin

***

I managed to install my ETS1000 Series Fixed Wireless Terminal on Linux and go online. I thought of sharing the steps I took to install the modem on Linux such that you might be able to help someone with the same problem. This should work for any of the CDMA modems that will be using TI USB 3410 cable (the cable you get when you pay for Bell Net) as the problem is with the USB/Serial Cable not the HUAWEI modem.

System Requirements

* Linux with kernel above 2.6.** (Check it by command in console uname -a).
(Personally Tested on FC6, should work on any Linux Distribution)

Let’s Start

It is well assumed that Linux is up on your system and your USB/Serial cable is plugged in.
Now in console type command dmesg -c search for the following lines

ti_usb_3410_5052 1-1:2.0 : TI USB 3410 1 port adapter converter detected
usb 1-1: TI USB 3410 1 port adapter converter now attached to /dev/ttyUSB0

If u even see ttyUSB0 in the kernel message then also your modem is detected and you are ready to start,now just configure your wvdial.conf in /etc and start your dialup.

If not then possibly u will be seeing the following error messages in bundle but i will paste only two lines here.

ti_usb_3410_5052 1-1:1.0: TI USB 3410 1 port adapter converter detected

ti_usb_3410_5052: probe of 1-1:1.0 failed with error -5

Note that the problem is only the USB/Serial Cable not the HUAEWI modem.

Now we have to make one rule file in /etc/udev/rules.d/026_ti_usb_3410.rules

The file may not exist, but don’t worry.

In console login as a root

su

password *****

cd /etc/udev/rules.d/

vi 026_ti_usb_3410.rules (Now Paste the following lines in it)

SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device" ACTION=="add"
SYSFS{idVendor}=="0451",SYSFS{idProduct}=="3410" \
SYSFS{bNumConfigurations}=="2" \
SYSFS{bConfigurationValue}=="1" \
RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2 > /sys%p/device/bConfigurationValue'"

SAVE AND EXIT (:wq)

Now once again plug out ur USB/Serial cable and then plugin.

Again type dmesg -c in console

Check the kernel message and find the following line

ti_usb_3410_5052 1-1:2.0: TI USB 3410 1 port adapter converter detected
usb 1-1: TI USB 3410 1 port adapter converter now attached to /dev/ttyUSB0

CONGRATULATIONS it is finally done.

Now edit your /etc/wvdial.conf (Mine as a Sample below working fine)

My /etc/wvdial.conf

[Dialer ptcl]

Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0

Baud = 230400

Phone = #777

Init1 = ATZ

Stupid Mode = 1

Dial Command = ATDT

Username = YourUsername

Password = YourPassword

PPPD Options = crtcts multilink usepeerdns lock defaultroute

Important Note: Stupid Mode should be set to 1 otherwise the hash sign # with Dialing phone number will not be treated by wvdial.

LAST PROBLEM

When u will connect to ptcl with wvdial ptcl command as a root , it will not browse any page and will disconnect.

You have to set the nameserver in the /etc/resolv.conf .You can get the nameserver IPs from the terminal window when wvdial is trying to connect to your ISP.

Put those two nameserver in /etc/reslov.conf.

Now again as a root in console wvdial ptcl.

FINALLY YOU ARE DONE.