This has been a major headache for me to reboot to Windows just to surf my net, and to update my Linux machine I had to forward the internet connection from a Windows computer to my Linux machine. None-the-less I eventually managed to make it work to day. 🙂

Note that I managed to make it work, and I provide no guarantee that it will work on your computer, but I will share my computer’s configuration so that it may help you.

So, first my computer’s configuration. I have Kubuntu Hardy Heron installed (8.04). My current kernel is 2.6.24-19-generic (installed from the official Ubuntu server). Mine is a 32-bit system. The USB modem I have is Micromax MMX 610U.

Now the steps to setup your USB modem:-

1. Plug-in your USB modem. A green light will start blinking. If the light is blue then you have PIN set and I have no idea how to enter PIN code from Linux. In that case, reboot to Windows and from the provided Airtel’s software enter the PIN code and reboot to Linux or disable the PIN altogether.
2. Now run the command lsusb in the console the output will be like as below.Bus 005 Device 003: ID 0d49:7410 Maxtor
   Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
   Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
   Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c016 Logitech, Inc. M-UV69a Optical Wheel Mouse
   Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
   Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
   Bus 001 Device 004: ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem
   Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

   An Important Note:- As I have found out that hot plugging of this USB modem doesn’t work. The modem will be detected by the kernel but for some reason wvdial won’t be able to locate the modem, hence, when you insert the modem into your USB drive then reboot your computer (or plug it in before turning on your computer).

   Note the bolded text above. That’s your modem.

3. Now run sudo wvdialconf. This will create the file /etc/wvdial.conf with some of the necessary values.
4. Now whatever values the file /etc/wvdial.conf keep that as such except for the ones shown below. If any settings shown below already existed then replace that with the ones below, if they didn’t exist then just add them to the file, but they must appear below the line [Dialer Defaults]. Note that will need to open the file /etc/wvdial.conf as a root. Try using sudo nano /etc/wvdial.conf.Init1 = AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”airtelgprs.com”,””,0,0
   Baud = 460800
   stupid mode = 1
   Phone = *99#
   Password = a ;No need to change this to anything else. This is immaterial, and note that no semicolon before Password =.
   Username = a ;No need to change this to anything else. This is immaterial, and note that no semicolon before Username =.
5. Now create a file connAir in your home directory. Copy and paste the following code into it and give it execute permission.
   [code lang=”bash”]#!/bin/bash
   # BY AppleGrew @ http://blog.applegrew.com (All rigths
   # reserved)

   pid=`pgrep wvdial`
   if [ -z $pid ]
   then

   sudo route del default
   echo "CONNECTING TO Airtel…"
   wvdial &

   sleep 10s

   IP=`ifconfig ppp0|grep -o  ‘inet addr:\([.0-9]*\)’`
   IP=`echo $IP|sed  ‘s/inet addr:\([.0-9]*\)/\1/g’`
   echo "YOUR CURRENT IP IS ‘$IP’".
   if [ -z $IP ]
   then
   echo "CONNECTION TO Airtel TIMED-OUT…….. : ("
   else
   echo "CONNECTED TO Airtel. : )"
   fi
   sudo route add default gw $IP

   else
   echo "A CONNECTION IS ALREADY IN PROGRESS."
   fi[/code]

6. Now create another file disconnAir in your home directory. Copy and paste the following code into it and give it execute permission.
   [code lang=”bash”]#!/bin/bash
   # BY AppleGrew @ http://blog.applegrew.com (All rigths
   # reserved)

   pid=`pgrep wvdial`
   if [ -z $pid ]
   then
   echo "NO CONNECTION IN PROGRESS."
   else
   echo "DISCONECTTING FROM Airtel…"
   kill -INT $pid

   sleep 6s
   pid=`pgrep wvdial`
   if [ -z $pid ]
   then
   echo "DISCONNECTED."
   else
   echo "DISCONNECTION MAY HAVE FAILED."
   fi
   fi[/code]

Connecting to Airtel:-

1. Open console and type ./connAir.

Disconnecting from Airtel:-

1. Open console and type ./disconnAir.

Hope this helps.