Neotel on *nix

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armanddp

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Hi,

Has anyone successfully configured their Neotel devices to have a sustainable connection on a non-Windows machine?

I subscribed to the service and were very happy with the customer service but neglected to check the one small detail of OS support. Only having a mac and an OpenSolaris box this presents a bit of an issue.

With a little digging I've pieced together a sufficient ppp config to establish a connection which works great for about a minute but then it dies.

Basically here's where I am at the moment (OpenSolaris):

Using the guide from here (http://opensolaris.org/os/project/wwan/) I've managed to get it recognized as an USB modem.

The contents of my /etc/ppp/peers/evdo script: (evdo the name given to the connection)

Code: 
nodetach
evdo
423000
noauth
debug
defaultroute
#usepeerdns
user "[email protected]"
password "xxxxxxxx"
# added from bb forum
#novj
crtscts
#end add
lock
#local
persist
holdoff 2
#ipcp-accept-local
#ipcp-accept-remote

lcp-echo-failure 4
lcp-echo-interval 65535

connect '/usr/bin/chat -V -t15 -f /etc/ppp/evdo-chat'

And the text from my /etc/ppp/evdo-chat file:

Code: 
'' 'ATZ'
'OK' 'ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0'
#'OK' 'ATE0V1&F&D2&C1&C2S0=0'
'OK' 'ATE0V1'
'OK' 'ATS7=60'
'OK' 'ATDT#777'
CONNECT ''

This works, gets a connection established but it dies a silent death after only a minute or so. I assume I'm missing some config option.

Does anyone have this working on a non-Windows machine and able to shed some light on the appropriate configuration options?

Armanddp
 
now if you used ubuntu all you had to do was type "pppoeconf" and followed the onscreen instruction
 
Kloon said:
now if you used ubuntu all you had to do was type "pppoeconf" and followed the onscreen instruction
Click to expand...

LOL.

I managed to get my iburst ONCE working that way. Never worked again. I ended up giving up.
 
That's why I am hoping they get an ethernet/wireless router out soon. No more having to worry about drivers and other such arb details that we shouldn't have to care about!!
 
@kloon post not meant to indicate a specific preference for any distro, i used opensolaris as that is the distro i've got setup and the one i'd like to use as the gateway.

If you can assist with the config your pppoeconf generated to get neotel working it would be a great help!

PS. It's not over ethernet though but as a usb modem.
 
yea, that's why I want Neotel to release an ethernet device - these are the simplest and best to have.
 
Update: Ignore this post. Right after posting this I realized my one ethernet card was re-enabled after a reboot and thus traffic was probably going out over iBurst....

Thanks for all the pointers and links guys!

Below is my settings that allows for a relatively stable Neotel connection on OpenSolaris.

I've brought down the LCP ping interval to 5 seconds which seems to keep the connection alive where it time-out/died after a couple of minutes before. It still disconnects and reconnects often but the internet now at least is usable on this machine.

I believe with a little more tweaking we might be able to get the exact config required.

/etc/ppp/peers/evdo
Code: 
nodetach
evdo
115200
debug
noauth
#noipdefault

defaultroute
#usepeerdns

user "[email protected]"
password "xxxxxx"
crtscts
#lock
ipparam evdo

lcp-echo-failure 10
lcp-echo-interval 5
#lcp-echo-internal 65535

connect '/usr/bin/chat -V -t15 -f /etc/ppp/evdo-chat'
 
Last edited:
So there is no reason that this won't work on a linux router OS. ie. Clark Connect, Smoothwall, IP Cop, etc.
 
It *should* work. But I'm not sure if you saw my update on the original post after I thought I got it working - I'm still suffering the same inconsistent connectivity when connecting using pppd so there's still something not quite right with my configuration.

In the post above I've accidently left one NIC enabled that was routing out over iburst :(

Interestingly enough the Neotel connection stayed active (or at least frequently reconnected successfully) in that scenario. It's as if it only disconnects after a minute or two when signicant non-LCP traffic is routed through it.
 
What did you need to do to have OpenSolaris pick up the device as a USB Modem?
 
armanddp said:
Update: Ignore this post. Right after posting this I realized my one ethernet card was re-enabled after a reboot and thus traffic was probably going out over iBurst....

Thanks for all the pointers and links guys!

Below is my settings that allows for a relatively stable Neotel connection on OpenSolaris.

I've brought down the LCP ping interval to 5 seconds which seems to keep the connection alive where it time-out/died after a couple of minutes before. It still disconnects and reconnects often but the internet now at least is usable on this machine.

I believe with a little more tweaking we might be able to get the exact config required.

/etc/ppp/peers/evdo
Code: 
nodetach
evdo
115200
debug
noauth
#noipdefault

defaultroute
#usepeerdns

user "[email protected]"
password "xxxxxx"
crtscts
#lock
ipparam evdo

lcp-echo-failure 10
lcp-echo-interval 5
#lcp-echo-internal 65535

connect '/usr/bin/chat -V -t15 -f /etc/ppp/evdo-chat'
Click to expand...

Can you confirm that internet users can connect directly to you from the internet? Users claim to receive a public IP, so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to.

Now all you need to do is add an external aerial, and redo the speed test :rolleyes:
 
chubster, unfortunately it doesn't work reliably for longer for than a couple of minutes.

I've parked this for now until someone with experience of ppp/lcp/cdma/whatever else is required can chip in to assist in getting this working reliably.

PS. The Neotel connection works really well. It's just the connectivity on non-Windows machines that's problematic at the moment, just in case someone gets the impression from the thread that the Neotel connection itself is not working.
 
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