Freeserve ISP Linux Howto

About this document

This page describes how I successfully got Freeserve No Ties working with wvdial under Debian GNU/Linux 3.0.

Configuration

In /etc/wvdial.conf put:

[Dialer freeserve]
Phone = 0845-0796699
Username = your-username
Password = your-password
Stupid mode = 1

In /etc/ppp/pap-secrets put:

# OUTBOUND connections

# Here you should add your userid password to connect to your providers via
# PAP. The * means that the password is to be used for ANY host you connect
# to. Thus you do not have to worry about the foreign machine name. Just
# replace password with your password.
# If you have different providers with different passwords then you better
# remove the following line.

your-username   *   your-password

Replace 'your-username' and 'your-password' with your real Freeserve username and password. Then start wvdial using the command 'wvdial freeserve'. Successful output should look like this:

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.53
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT0845-0796699
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT0845-0796699
CONNECT 57600
User Access Verification
login:
--> Carrier detected.  Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Mon Jul 28 06:50:37 2003
--> pid of pppd: 1123

To verify you're connected, use the 'ifconfig' command. You should get output like this:

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
          inet addr:62.137.25.2  P-t-P:195.92.66.74  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:13 errors:1 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:1
          TX packets:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:10

Freeserve No Ties is a very interesting provider. They prompt you for a username and password but you are supposed to simply start PPPD immediately without logging in. That is why 'Stupid Mode' is required in wvdial.conf. In Freeserve Anytime there is no initial username prompt, they simply start PPP immediately so 'Stupid Mode' is needed there too.

Quick help

Problem: LCP terminated by peer

Attempting to connect with wvdial causes the following error in /var/log/messages:

pppd 2.3.11 started by root, uid 0
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyS1
LCP terminated by peer
Hangup (SIGHUP)
Modem hangup
Connection terminated.

Meaning:

Freeserve wants your PPPD to authenticate your Linux box using PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) but you have not put your username and password in /etc/ppp/pap-secrets. Therefore PPPD is dying because LCP (Link Control Protocol) could not be completed.

Solution:

Edit /etc/ppp/pap-secrets as shown above.

Problem: It silently fails to connect.

The modem dials, the 'ppp started' message appears and that's it. It goes no further. No more messages appear on the terminal or in the syslog. No 'ppp0' interface appears, and there is no error message either. Even setting 'debug' (see below) does not reveal any more information.

Meaning:

Your modem is broken, or you are using the wrong modem-to-telephone-socket connection lead.

Solution:

Get another modem. For example, the Sitecom 56K V90 External Serial Modem works well.

Further information

To see details of the PAP exchange and other exchanges within Link Control Protocol, edit /etc/ppp/peers/wvdial so it looks like this:

noauth
name wvdial
usepeerdns
debug

Then attempt to connect using wvdial. Full information about the connection attempt will be logged in /var/log/debug.