Linux modem tethering with berry4all, Rogers 3G network, and Blackberry Bold 9000

Because I'll be out of town for the next couple days, part of my packing list included setting up tethering via my Blackberry.

First I tried barry but was unsuccessful in trying to make a successful connection.

Then I found berry4all.

I had two problems, but thanks to the extensive FAQ, I managed to solve them:

1. Ensure your device (in my case, Blackberry Bold 9000) has its APN correctly set in Setup > Options > Advanced > TCP
2. Ensure other network connections are disabled using route -n; ifconfig -a before attempting to connect via tethered 3G modem. See also If your PPPD does not support replacedefaultroute
3. Ensure /etc/resolv.conf is being correctly updated with the appropriate DNS entries (I have to do this by hand at the moment, but tweaked the default /opt/bbtether/berry4all.sh script to add this line so that I can automatically update the file immediately before connecting:

   #!/bin/sh
cp -f /etc/resolv.conf.bbtether /etc/resolv.conf
python bbgui.py &

   where /etc/resolv.conf.bbtether contains:

   domain rogers.com
search rogers.com
nameserver 64.71.255.198
#nameserver 64.71.255.253

4. Load up a bandwidth speed test such as bandwidthplace.com and see what network speed you can get.

Admittedly, tethered speeds are nothing close to wifi speeds.

• With Rogers 3G network and Blackberry Bold 9000 attached via USB, I managed to get about 500-2800kbps down and 100-200 kpbs up.
• With Rogers "Exterme" cable internet access (wifi @ home) I get 9800kbps down, 960kbps up.

But at least I can surf on my laptop using the 3G network while I'm away from the office.

To disconnect wired & wifi, then tether automatically and stay connected until CTRL-C is pressed, try this script:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ $UID != 0 ]]; then
 echo "Must be run as root!"
else
 /etc/init.d/network stop
 cp /etc/resolv.conf.bbtether /etc/resolv.conf
 route -n; ifconfig

 cd /opt/bbtether; python bbtether.py rogers -P **YOUR_DEVICE_PASSWORD_HERE**

 /etc/init.d/network start
 route -n; ifconfig
fi

So long and thanks for all the faece

I'm done with Faecebook. Here's why. And here's how to quit. I encourage you to do the same.

Instead, find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Bellch, Part 2: Traffic Shaping

Another reason to boycott Bell: p2p traffic throttling, w/o first contacting customers & resellers.

So much for the claim that because everyone has a dedicated phone line (unlike the supposedly slower, pooled cable lines) the service will be faster and more fair for the consumer.

IT Business reports that Bell is now trying to throttle its p2p traffic.

Luckily, not everyone buys that claim:

In April, CAIP - a group representing 55 third-party ISPs that buy connectivity on a wholesale basis from Bell and then resell it to consumers – petitioned the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for an immediate cease-and-desist order on Bell's traffic-shaping practices.

Subsequently, other groups – such as The Campaign for Democratic Media (CDM) – lent their voices to the protest, urging the CRTC to initiate a "public proceeding" examining the practice. read more

In related news, I'm thinking it might be time to get myself a Blackberry -- the aptly named Bold(t). The Bold isn't available... yet, but I'm hoping when it does finally get released it'll be available through Rogers for less than its current pre-order / unlocked price. $800 for a phone is insane -- even one with gigs of storage and built in GPS & A2DP.

/usr/sbin/vpnc-connect: quick mode response rejected: (ISAKMP_N_INVALID_MESSAGE_ID)(9)

I've been using vpnc 0.3.3 and then 0.5.1 for about the last 3 years to connect to my VPN at work. This week, it stopped working.

/usr/sbin/vpnc-connect: quick mode response rejected:  (ISAKMP_N_INVALID_MESSAGE_ID)(9)
this means the concentrator did not like what we had to offer.
Possible reasons are:
 * concentrator configured to require a firewall
    this locks out even Cisco clients on any platform expect windows
    which is an obvious security improvment. There is no workaround (yet).
 * concentrator configured to require IP compression
    this is not yet supported by vpnc.
    Note: the Cisco Concentrator Documentation recommends against using
    compression, expect on low-bandwith (read: ISDN) links, because it
    uses much CPU-resources on the concentrator 

Did I call the help desk? No: Google to the rescue.

The fix? Well, this post got me in the right direction, and I updated my version of vpnc from 0.5.1r275-1 to 0.5.1r334-1 (apt-get update; apt-get install vpnc) using these repos... which didn't seem to help.

# Unstable Sid
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
# Unstable Sources
deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

# sidux http://sidux.com/files/misc/sources.list
deb http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free firmware fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free
deb-src http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free firmware fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free

But the actual solution was to add this line to my .conf file:

Enable Single DES

And remove this:

Perfect Forward Secrecy nopfs