Connecting to Internet using a Sony Ericsson K530i mobile phone in Ubuntu (Linux) via USB cable

We are going to connect our Ubuntu system to Internet using a Sony Ericsson K530i phone via a usb cable.

First of all we switch on our phone, we insert the pin number and then connect the usb cable that came with the phone to our K530i and to our computer.

A menu presenting three choices will appear on the phone screen:

• File transfer
• Phone mode
• Print

We select Phone mode.

Now our phone is ready to use the usb cable.


There are two ways to connect to Internet via USB:

• Emulating a ethernet device through a usb cable.
• Using the K530i mobile phone as a usb serial modem.

EMULATING A ETHERNET DEVICE THROUGH USB CABLE

Our system Linux kernel has to already be compiled with cdc_ether module support. This module performs the emulation.


Let's configure our phone, we go to:
Menu->Settings->Connectivity->USB->USB Internet->USB data accounts
and select our Internet ISP provider account.

If there is not an already configured account we shall create a new account:
Menu->Settings->Connectivity->Data comm.->Data accounts->New account

Some APNs from Spanish Internet providers are:

Movistar: movistar.es
Vodafone: ac.vodafone.es
Yoigo: internet
Orange: internet

Usually user and password are not needed.


At the end, we establish the connection:
Menu->Settings->Connectivity->USB->USB Internet->Turn on

To check what has happened, we open a console and execute:
$ifconfig

An interface like usb0 with its IP address correctly configured will appear.


When we finish navigating, we switch off the connection:
Menu->Settings->Connectivity->USB->USB Internet->Turn off

USING THE K530i MOBILE PHONE AS A USB SERIAL MODEM

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