Spent a little while today getting an EV-DO card working with openSUSE 10.3. It was nowhere near as difficult as I was expecting it to be.

I found a decent resource on this site, though it specifies Ubuntu. I’m using wvdial to connect, and it’s fairly straightforward. The page makes it look more complex than it is, so I’m going to boil it down a bit more…

Here’s the wvdial config (found at /etc/wvdial.conf):

[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 921600
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = ATM0
Area Code =
Phone = #777
Username = xxxxxxxxxx@vzw3g.com
Password = vzw
Ask Password = 0
Dial Command = ATDT
Stupid Mode = on
Auto Reconnect = on
Compuserve = 0
Force Address =
Idle Seconds = 300
Auto DNS = 1


The modem line may be different depending on what device it’s assigned. I’m using a V740 Cardbus card with a SIIG Expresscard adapter that converts it to USB.

Just take the wvdial.conf that I’ve displayed there, change the username to be your device’s phone number (plus @vzw3g.com) and then save the file. Run wvdial and you should be connected in a flash.

Regular old wireless would still be a bit faster, but this does great in a pinch when hotel wireless is either unreliable, or when you’re at a show and the wireless connections have died from too many connections. (Which, it seems, they inevitably do…)

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