SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Documentation Chapter 29. Wireless Communication / 29.4. Managing UMTS/3G Network Connections
	29.3. Infrared Data Transmission		Part IV. Services

Managing UMTS/3G Network Connections

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), also known as 3G, is a cell phone technology which can offer several multimedia services such as browsing the Web or sending and receiving messages. UMTS cards that are available as PCMCIA cards or Express Cards can be connected to your computer or laptop, and in combination with a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, use the UMTS network to connect your machine with an Internet provider.

To use the UMTS module included in SUSE Linux Enterprise®, you need to install the umtsmon package that is not installed by default. It contains the software to control your UMTS (or GPRS/EDGE) card. With the UMTSmon application, you can then control the network connection. After the network connection has been established, use a Web browser of your choice to surf the Internet.

After you have installed the umtsmon package and have connected your UMTS card to the computer, make sure that the smpppd service is running: Start YaST, select System+System Services (Runlevel) and check the status of smpppd. If smpppd is not enabled yet, click Enable. After you have received a confirmation message, leave the module with Finish.

Now start UMTSmon from the main menu or press Alt+F2 and enter umtsmon. You are usually prompted to enter your SIM card's PIN before the UMTSmon main window appears.

Figure 29.3. UMTSmon Main Window

If you do not want to enter your PIN each time, you can also disable the PIN protection for your card. To do so, select PIN-Settings+Disable PIN and enter your PIN to confirm. If you need or want to change the PIN, select PIN-Settings+Change PIN.

Configuring UMTSmon

Before you can connect to a network, check and configure your network settings in UMTSmon. To define the network operator, select Connection+Select Network Operator. To search for available networks, click Find Networks. After the search has been performed, select your operator from the list and click Select.

Procedure 29.1. Managing Profiles

You can create different profiles to use in different situations.

From the menu, select Manage Profiles.
To create a new profile, click Add Profile or to change an existing profile, select a profile from the list and click Edit Profile.
Enter the APN (Access Point Name), Username and Password you got from your provider and click Save.
If you have created several profiles, select one from the list and Set As Active.
To remove a profile from the list, select it and click Delete Profile.

You can also define or limit the type of connections to be used (UMTS/GSM/GPRS). To do so, select Connection+Radio Preferences and change the options according to your wishes. If you disable automatic update of signal strength and download statistics, these parameters are not automatically refreshed in the UMTSmon main window. In this case, you need to click the refresh operator/signal/radio statistics on the display icon to show the current parameters.

Monitoring UMTS/3G Network Connections

To connect to an existing network, select Connection+Connect or click the Connect with default profile icon in the toolbar. After the connection has been established, the UMTSmon main window shows the signal strength and the traffic, depending on the type of card you use. Not all cards are able to monitor the signal strength automatically during an existing network connection.

	Approximate Total Traffic Values
Note that the Total traffic values in the main window are only approximated values and do not necessarily reflect the real values. If you have a contract with your provider based on data volumes transferred, take care not to exceed your volume.

To stop the connection, select Connection+Disconnect or click the Disconnect icon in the toolbar.

Troubleshooting

If you have difficulties establishing a connection or running UMTSmon, proceed according to the following list.

Is the UMTS card device accessible for the user currently logged in and does it belong to the dialout group?

UMTS cards connected to your computer are usually listed as /dev/ttyUSB* or as /dev/noz0.

Check the access permissions for those devices with ls -l /dev/ttyUSB* or ls -l /dev/noz0. If root is still listed as owner and the device does not belong to the dialout group, set the current user and the dialout group as owner (root permission needed) with one of the following commands:

chown user.dialout /dev/ttyUSB*
chown user.dialout /dev/noz0

Note that the current user needs to be in the dialout group to be able to connect to a network. After restarting UMTSmon, the user should now be able to establish a network connection.

Does /etc/sysconfig/network contain a file named ifcfg-raw0?

This file is needed to establish a connection with smpppd. If it is not present in /etc/sysconfig/network, create an empty file with

touch ifcfg-raw0

You still cannot establish a network connection with UMTSmon?

Run the following commands as root:

touch /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-raw0
rcsmpppd restart

Try to reconnect to a network with UMTSmon. After the connection has been established, check the Kernel IP Routing Table you get with /sbin/route -n. It should contain an entry such as the following with ppp0 listed as Iface for Destination 0.0.0.0:

Destination   Gateway       Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0       10.64.64.64   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 ppp0

For More Information

Find further additional (last-minute) documentation about UMTSmon in your installed system under /usr/share/doc/packages/umtsmon/README.SUSE