Long before USB 3G modems and mobile broadband became ubiquitous, most phones can already be used as modems a few years back. It can either be by USB cable or Bluetooth. A good friend of mine even created a detailed guide on how to enable Bluetooth internet three years ago. It’s a series of steps, has a lot of manual tasks, but it’s the only option during that time.
Using a phone to connect to the internet via Bluetooth may not be practical in a sense, but the holiday season is here, a long vacation awaits for me, so I have to keep this option open. Besides, I’ll be out of the metro, so my Sun Broadband Wireless is quite useless.
So, I was revisiting the steps in how to enable Bluetooth internet in Karmic and it turned out to be a breeze… (proves the point things are improving in the Linux community)
Here’s how I did it in Ubuntu Karmic 9.10, using a Sony Ericsson K770i phone:
Note: Before anything else, I enabled Bluetooth in my K770i and made sure that it’s visible.
1. I made sure first that Bluetooth is enabled in my laptop (of course!).
2. I clicked on the Bluetooth icon, then clicked on Set up new device… It gave me this window, Bluetooth New Device Setup
3. I clicked on Forward, then, it searched for Bluetooth devices…
4. I selected my phone, jhayem-k770i, then clicked on Forward, then it gave me the PIN window.
5. The k770i detected that a device wants to pair, it asked for the PIN and I entered the PIN provided above. The phone inquired if I want to enable the following:
– add to pro-ubuntu-0 to my Devices? – Yes
– allow pro-ubuntu-0 to use the phone as modem? Yes, Allow always
– allow pro-ubuntu-0 to use your phone as remote control? – Yes
– start remote control now? – No
6. After all those inquiries, the Bluetooth New Device Setup has this last window
7. I checked Access the Internet using your mobile phone, then clicked on Close
That ends the set-up part, now, how to connect?
Once your done with the set up, If you click on the Network Manager icon, you now should have a PANU in your list of networks…
Just click on that to connect to the internet via Bluetooth through your phone :p
I remember when i installed Ubuntu 9.10 freshly, the method u mnetioned abouve was working fine & i was able to connect to my phone via bluetooth
Now when I have updated the packages, Bluetooth is refusing to get connected.
when i try to connect my Nokia Phone Bluetooth in Ubuntu it gives me following error —
Could not display “obex://[00:22:FC:FD:94:8D]/”.
Error: Connection refused
Please select another viewer and try again
Mind you — Earlier it was working fine , now it dont … suggest
did you try pairing them again?
hi,I installed ubuntu 9.10(i386) and i updated my system.how to install the bluetooth in my system.plz give reply
Even my Supernova is not getting connected,
Ive tried it on both Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 but it is simply searching for new device and thats it but it is not displaying my phone.
it does get connected with my Nokia supernova, but no webpage gets displayed…..All the procedure upto the point described goes through smoothly. Do you need to do anything else…. to complete the process….or is it just a problem with the cell phone’s settings.
it is adding my samsung j210 mobile, but it is not showing option to “access internet using mobile”.
Any help?
And also wvdial also not working.
hai,
When i newly installed ubuntu PANU was avaolable but I didn’t know what was it for, but now I have update to latest, but I am not getting that PANU option . I tried to pair again but itt’s not working . Please help……….
Thanks in advance……….
Thanks for this howto. It looked so simple, but it was too good to be true… because I also didn’t have the option “access internet using mobile”
So it is not going to work for me. I tried installing blueman because it seemed to have more options for gprs pairing, but since I was not trying with my own phone I didn’t have enough time to get it working.
Oh well… It would have impressed the phone owner about how easy linux/ubuntu is getting…
Now it just fulfilled already existing expections about linux…
hi,after the introduction i press the forward option but it don’t showing any device.plz give the reply plz
Wonderful blog post! I’ve been busy for over an hour trying to get a phone to do this. Bluetooth working allright, but still no connection. Now it works like a charm! Seems I only did things in a bad order… Thanks!
I have the same problem as Joris. Using Ubuntu Lucid 10.04
same here, the checkbox ‘access the internet using your mobile phone’ is not showing up…
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Know how to make it connect to the phone automatically on boot, or when the phone comes into BT range?
Hi Joe, I’m afraid I don’t have an idea. I only use the BT connection on-demand.