need different wireless network settings for Telstra Next G card

[Mikel Ward]

I just got a Telstra BigPond PCMCIA/PC Card card.

To connect, I had to use different settings that the current Telstra settings that Ubuntu provides.

The main problem is that the AT+CGDCONT=... command doesn't work, so instead we need to dial a different GPRS number depending on the plan we're on, meaning we probably need a separate connection template for each permutation with this card.

In my case, using a casual internet plan on my mobile phone plan:
Number to dial: *99***3#
APN: must be empty

The list on my card is:
1 telstra.pcpack Data plan with time limit
2 telstra.datapack Data plan with download limit
3 telstra.internet Phone plan

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

Here's a theoretical diff based on the documentation at http://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager/MobileBroadband/ServiceProviders.

Untested.

It also seems that XML file doesn't allow you to customize the phone number, which needs to be changed to *99***3# for my needs, and possibly *99***1# or *99***2# for other users who are on other plans.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

the phone number is a separate issue ... unrelated to the DB.

[Savvas Radevic (medigeek)]

I'll try to include in a patch for upstream. :)

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

OK, committed in upstream SVN, but it actually doesn't fix the problem.. I'm going to leave this "In Progress" as a reminder when we design the next version of the database format.

[Jeremy Visser (jeremy-visser)]

I tried *99# with my mobile phone over USB without the ***1# ***2# or ***3# at the end, and it worked fine.

According to this link, *99# is the offical number Telstra is giving their customers: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=411575&r=7863478#r7863478

I know I have a USB mobile, and not a PCMCIA card. Mikel, could you test to see if *99# works with your card as well?

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

That's the point Jeremy, yes most devices work with *99#, but the BIgPond Sierra AirCard 875 PC Card requires no APN/CGDCONT and an explicit connection id such as *99***3#.

I have verified this again just now.

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

Does "AT+CGDCONT?" work on BigPond? I would really like to see the output..

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

AT+CGDCONT?
+CGDCONT: 1,"IP","telstra.pcpack","",0,0
+CGDCONT: 2,"IP","telstra.datapack","",0,0
+CGDCONT: 3,"IP","telstra.internet","",0,0
+CGDCONT: 4,"IP","telstra.internet","",0,0

Also just noticed this in syslog after connecting with NetworkManager and *99***3#:
Apr 15 08:34:50 laptop NetworkManager: <info> Associated with network: +COPS: 0,0,"Telstra Mobile",2
Apr 15 08:34:50 laptop NetworkManager: <info> Connected, Woo!
Apr 15 08:34:50 laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Apr 15 08:34:50 laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...

I wonder if that COPS line has anything to do with an APN?

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Mikel,

Could you please tell us here if this is fixed now? The bug was filed a fair amount of time ago, and I don't have hardware to test whether this found be okay or not by now.

Also, *99***3# is essentially the same as using AT+CGDCONT=3... so it seems like this is less an issue with phone numbers and the m-b-p-i database and more with a possible quirk we need to use for the device, if it doesn't support the standard AT+CGDCONT calls to set the APN.

For now, I'll mark the mbpi task as Invalid and open an empty task against NetworkManager upstream so that an upstream bug can be opened. I'll also set the m-b-p-i task for the Ubuntu package to Incomplete, so that we can be notified when you answer my question above :)

[Bhavani Shankar (bhavi)]

Closing the bug as its marked incomplete for nearly 2 years.

Regards
Bhavani