When using a custom kernel, make sure to include the following line in the kernel configuration file:

device   uart

The uart device is already included in the GENERIC kernel, so no additional steps are necessary in this case. Just check the dmesg output for the modem device with:

# dmesg | grep uart

This should display some pertinent output about the uart devices. These are the COM ports we need. If the modem acts like a standard serial port, it should be listed on uart1, or COM2. If so, a kernel rebuild is not required. When matching up, if the modem is on uart1, the modem device would be /dev/cuau1.

Connecting to the Internet by manually controlling ppp is quick, easy, and a great way to debug a connection or just get information on how the ISP treats ppp client connections. Lets start PPP from the command line. Note that in all of our examples we will use example as the hostname of the machine running PPP. To start ppp:

# ppp

ppp ON example> set device /dev/cuau1

This second command sets the modem device to cuau1.

ppp ON example> set speed 115200

This sets the connection speed to 115,200 kbps.

ppp ON example> enable dns

This tells ppp to configure the resolver and add the nameserver lines to /etc/resolv.conf. If ppp cannot determine the hostname, it can manually be set later.

ppp ON example> term

This switches to “terminal” mode in order to manually control the modem.

deflink: Entering terminal mode on /dev/cuau1
type '~h' for help

at
OK
atdt123456789

Use at to initialize the modem, then use atdt and the number for the ISP to begin the dial in process.

CONNECT

Confirmation of the connection, if we are going to have any connection problems, unrelated to hardware, here is where we will attempt to resolve them.

ISP Login:myusername

At this prompt, return the prompt with the username that was provided by the ISP.

ISP Pass:mypassword

At this prompt, reply with the password that was provided by the ISP. Just like logging into FreeBSD, the password will not echo.

Shell or PPP:ppp

Depending on the ISP, this prompt might not appear. If it does, it is asking whether to use a shell on the provider or to start ppp. In this example, ppp was selected in order to establish an Internet connection.

Ppp ON example>

Notice that in this example the first p has been capitalized. This shows that we have successfully connected to the ISP.

PPp ON example>

We have successfully authenticated with our ISP and are waiting for the assigned IP address.

PPP ON example>

We have made an agreement on an IP address and successfully completed our connection.

PPP ON example>add default HISADDR

Here we add our default route, we need to do this before we can talk to the outside world as currently the only established connection is with the peer. If this fails due to existing routes, put a bang character ! in front of the add. Alternatively, set this before making the actual connection and it will negotiate a new route accordingly.

If everything went good we should now have an active connection to the Internet, which could be thrown into the background using CTRL+z If PPP returns to ppp then the connection has bee lost. This is good to know because it shows the connection status. Capital P's represent a connection to the ISP and lowercase p's show that the connection has been lost.

If a connection cannot be established, turn hardware flow CTS/RTS to off using set ctsrts off. This is mainly the case when connected to some PPP-capable terminal servers, where PPP hangs when it tries to write data to the communication link, and waits for a Clear To Send (CTS) signal which may never come. When using this option, include set accmap as it may be required to defeat hardware dependent on passing certain characters from end to end, most of the time XON/XOFF. Refer to ppp(8) for more information on this option and how it is used.

An older modem may need set parity even. Parity is set at none be default, but is used for error checking with a large increase in traffic, on older modems.

PPP may not return to the command mode, which is usually a negotiation error where the ISP is waiting for negotiating to begin. At this point, using ~p will force ppp to start sending the configuration information.

If a login prompt never appears, PAP or CHAP authentication is most likely required. To use PAP or CHAP, add the following options to PPP before going into terminal mode:

ppp ON example> set authname myusername

Where myusername should be replaced with the username that was assigned by the ISP.

ppp ON example> set authkey mypassword

Where mypassword should be replaced with the password that was assigned by the ISP.

If a connection is established, but cannot seem to find any domain name, try to ping(8) an IP address. If there is 100 percent (100%) packet loss, it is likely that a default route was not assigned. Double check that add default HISADDR was set during the connection. If a connection can be made to a remote IP address, it is possible that a resolver address has not been added to /etc/resolv.conf. This file should look like:

domain example.com
nameserver x.x.x.x
nameserver y.y.y.y

Where x.x.x.x and y.y.y.y should be replaced with the IP address of the ISP's DNS servers.

To configure syslog(3) to provide logging for the PPP connection, make sure this line exists in /etc/syslog.conf:

!ppp
*.*     /var/log/ppp.log