[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#542582: UMTS setup is a red herring, /dev/noz0 not shown

[Daniel Pocock]

Package: network-manager

I have an Option GlobeTrotter 3G+ HSDPA data card in the PC card slot.  
It works with the nozomi driver in the 2.6.26 kernel package.

When the card is present, the driver creates /dev/noz[0-3]

It all works perfectly when I manually configure a peer in 
/etc/ppp/peers and /etc/chatscripts and dial from the command line (pppd 
call myisp)

Today, I thought I would try the same thing from network-manager.

I tried the following, which would seem to be the intuitive approach for 
most admins:

1. Gnome menu bar at top of screen, click `System' -> `Administration' 
-> `Network'

2. In the `Connections' tab, click `Point-to-point', and click the 
`Properties' button

3. Click `Enable this connection', and choose UMTS

4. Enter the ISP settings (in my case, Vodafone UK, settings are 
internet/web/web)

5. Click the `Modem' tab.  In this tab, /dev/noz0 is NOT listed, but I 
type it in manually.

6. Click the `Options' tab - the options for `default route' and `name 
servers' are NOT selected by default and must be selected.

7. Click OK

At this stage, there is now a tick next to Point-to-point, it appears 
that the settings are configured, but there is no way to activate the 
connection, even after clicking OK and even restarting the box.  After 
restarting, the settings have all disappeared.

I then looked at README.Debian, which suggests manually declaring ppp0 
in /etc/network/interfaces

Therefore, the whole UMTS setup phase in the admin utility appears to be 
a red herring.  Have I missed some important step, or is this 
functionality just not complete yet?

If the ppp/UMTS section of the admin tool is not meant to be used, maybe 
it should be disabled in the Debian binaries, so that people won't waste 
time there.

If I have missed some really important step, maybe some warning messages 
are needed to help the admin use the tool correctly?