Vodafone Nokia N73 Bluetooth modem with Ubuntu Linux Howto

Posted At : December 11, 2006 11:57 AM | Posted By : Mark Lynch
Related Categories: Open Source, HOWTO, Gadgets, Ubuntu
Despite the fact that there is no "Official Support" (i.e. no linux logo on the box) it turns out that it is actually really quite simple to set up a Nokia N73 (and probably others - I based this off an N80 example referenced below) to work as a modem.

I've cobbled together these instructions from a number of sources referenced below.

What you need:

  • A Nokia N73 (or similar)
  • A computer with Ubuntu Linux
  • A bluetooth device (built in or USB dongle)
  • Internet access available on your N73

What you need to do:

Pair your mobile with your computer

Make sure bluez-passkey-gnome is installed - if not just do:

sudo apt-get install bluez-passkey-gnome

On your phone do the following:

Menu->Tools->Bluetooth
Move pointer right to get the "Paired devices" screen.
Under options select "New paired device"

It should find your bluetooth device on your computer.

It will prompt for a passcode on your phone: Put in something - eg: 1234 You will then be prompted to put the same passcode in on your computer.

This is also a good point to copy and paste the bluetooth device address that is shown eg: Nokia 73 (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)

For simplicity you should also select "Authorise device to make connections automatically" on your phone which will mean you don't have to go through this each time.

Find your mobile's bluetooth address

If you cut and paste this during pairing then you are all set - no need to do anything further.

Otherwise you can run the following command:

Note: you need to make sure that your phones visibility is: "Shown to all"

You should see the following:

$ hcitool scan
Scanning ...
xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx Nokia 73

You can turn the phones visibility back to "Hidden" once this step is complete.

Confirm you can connect to your mobile

Modify the file: /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf

rfcomm0 {
# # Automatically bind the device at startup
bind yes;
#
# # Bluetooth address of the device
device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;
#
# # RFCOMM channel for the connection
channel 2;
#
# # Description of the connection
comment "Nokia N73";
}

Then enter the following (ignoring the comments - i.e. after the #):

rfcomm release 0 # make sure is it not already connected
rfcomm connect 0 # create a connection to rfcomm device 0
And you should see:
Press CTRL-C for hangup

Note - the "0 here relates to the rfcomm device number that was set in rfcomm.conf. If you're using /dev/rfcomm2, for instance, you should use "2" instead.

Modify your PPP scripts as necessary

You may need to modify these scripts - particularly the connect one if you are not on vodafone. I try a bit of gueswork and see how you go - that's how I got it working.

See the example files here:

To connect you need to run the following:

$ pon vodafone

To disconnect you need to run the following:

$ poff vodafone

You should see something like the following in /var/log/messages

Dec 9 22:48:54 localhost pppd[17650]: Serial connection established.
Dec 9 22:48:54 localhost pppd[17650]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 9 22:48:54 localhost pppd[17650]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/rfcomm0
Dec 9 22:48:56 localhost pppd[17650]: PAP authentication succeeded
Dec 9 22:48:57 localhost pppd[17650]: local IP address 10.130.130.70
Dec 9 22:48:57 localhost pppd[17650]: remote IP address 10.6.6.6
Dec 9 22:48:57 localhost pppd[17650]: primary DNS address 198.6.1.2
Dec 9 22:48:57 localhost pppd[17650]: secondary DNS address 192.189.54.17

Hope this helps - and please feel free to ask if you get stuck - I can't guarantee anything but I'll try to help.

References

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Comments
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Richard Waid's Gravatar Thanks ... a handy reference, I've set this up a number of times (everytime I install a laptop and forget the copy the ppp files across :)), and I keep forgetting the connectscript details.

To make it even more useful, in the vodafone-connect script, people reading this might like to look at http://www.taniwha.org.uk/gprs.html to find the APN with which to replace the 'vfinternet.au' ... assuming they aren't using Vodafone Australia. For example, for Vodafone New Zealand you typically just want 'internet' there.

Thanks again,

Richard.
# Posted By Richard Waid | 3/2/07 9:24 PM
Marco's Gravatar Thanks, almost got there...

Got tantalisingly close to getting connected, in that I managed to obtain a connection (ipconfig happily showing ppp0 connected with an IP that looked reasonable for the Vodafone GRPRS subnet) but was unable to ping, connect, anything, really

The phone was definitely connected to the net (could see the small indicator solid, indicating a valid connection) but nothing much else.

I had to change the APN back to "internet", as in:
+cgdcont=1,"ip","internet"
(that's something that bedevilled me since the days back in 1992 of iPaq, with NO DOCUMENTATION anywhere as to what to put there! one had to guess, and, in a sense, we stil are).

Another comment is that I tried to use wvdial and it looked definitely simpler than the collection of scripts. But pretty much same result: DHCP resolves, but no real data connectivity.

Any suggestions would be MASSIVELY welcome, thanks!
# Posted By Marco | 10/8/07 5:14 AM
swas's Gravatar Nice way to share functions between mobile phone and internet. Doesn't Vodafone complain about users evading her mobile internet contracts?
# Posted By swas | 8/30/08 9:38 PM
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