I’ve been helping a friend at work get Linux on her laptop. I installed Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 as this is quite good for new users (and we have a mirror at work). She connects to the Internet like many people these days, using a USB 3G modem. Her provider is Dodo, which actually uses the Optus network.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged in the device and Network Manager popped up a wizard prompting for a new connection. Yep, the device just works on Linux.
Unfortunately there is no “Dodo” profile the Network Manager, but knowing it runs on Optus network I chose “Optus 3G”. I booted into Windows to get the APN, as it will be different to Optus. After changing that I just needed to click on the Network Manager applet and tell it to connect. But it didn’t work. It tried to log on, everything goes green and then BAM. Nothing.
There was obviously something else that was needed. I checked the settings and saw that the Optus profile had DNS servers hard coded. I grabbed the DNS servers that dodo uses and put them in instead. This time everything worked and I could log on. Internet, she was a working.
So, for anyone already with Dodo or thinking about it, here are the settings I used.
Number: *99#
APN: dodolns1 (that's a letter "L")
Authentication: CHAP
DNS: 202.136.43.197, 202.136.42.229
You will need to register your account with Dodo first and activate it. After that, your Internet should work just fine by using these settings.
It seems that it’s often quite slow when compared to Windows, which I’m putting this down to the Linux driver. Speeds seem to range between 600b/sec and 50kb/sec, which is a little disappointing. It could just be signal or something else, I’m not sure. Still, it’s great that it works out of the box under Linux. Now if only I could get Mike’s friend’s Telstra stick to do the same! HAL rules here I come..
-c
6 thoughts on “Internet by way of the Dodo”
Dear All, I followed Chris’s instructions and yes it works on a HP mini.
Thanks to Chris
Glad it helped 🙂
-c
Michael back here, it seems that linux had used another network connection that I had set up and not the Dodo 3G. Will keep at it and get back to you all.
Hi Chris,
I know this post is over a year old but I am desperate for help. Do you know if the above instructions will work on Ubuntu 10.10. Also regarding DNS settings, I have seen different ones listed for dodo around the net. Do DNS settings change from year to year. I’m new to this stuff and am a bit confused. Hope you can help. Thanks
Hi Sunjay,
They should work for Ubuntu, although there was another bug which stopped it from detecting the device as a modem, which might affect you.
As for DNS, yes they might change. I’d try it without specifying any at first – if that doesn’t work, then try mine, other others you find. For me, it wouldn’t authenticate until I put those in. The people I set it up for haven’t complained that it stopped working, so I assume they are still OK.
Oh, and also, it probably depends on what service you are using, i.e. postpaid or prepaid. Prepaid needed them, but the other week when I set it up for another friend on postpaid, I didn’t need them. So not sure..
-c
DO NOT USE DODO. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, CHARGE EXCESSIVE FEES. PLENTY OF DROP OUTS, VERY POOR SERVICE PROVIDER.