Saved for Later: Blackberry Tethering to Linux

Being a sysadmin, I have to take my laptop with me when I'm on call. Being a Linux user, I don't want to resort to Mac OS or Windows on a laptop to connect to my networks and do what needs doing.

Until recently, I had a Verizon "aircard" a 1xEVDO PC Card modem that worked really really well. NetworkManager saw it when it was plugged in, and it was almost DSL-fast when coverage was good. Sadly, with the current recession (Yeah, I said it), my employer has been trying to cut costs, and $60 a month for an aircard is a cost they wanted trimmed.

They didn't leave me out in the cold though. We have a USB modem that gets shuffled around to the guy who gets to hen-sit Nagios and be available 24x7. I haven't gotten that working yet, but there is another method, the company did add a data-plan to all our phones. This unlocked Dial-up Networking (DUN) which means our laptops can communicate through our phones to get on the Internet.

I had already gotten that part working with my Nokia N810 (It was trivially easy, actually), but the keyboard on the n810 drives me. It's okay for typing a few things (Better than pecking them out on a Crackberry if only a little bit) but if it's going to take more than a few minutes, I want a real keyboard (At least a laptop-sized one). I've been searching for a way to get the "tether" working from my laptop to the phone.

Today I did.

I followed primarily these two HOWTOs:

http://naraku.net/2008/08/15/how-to-teather-blackberry-and-linux-via-bluetooth/
http://pegelinux.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/blackberry-curve-8310-as-bluetooth-modem-on-ubuntu-hardy/

Both are pretty good and covered the basics to get me connected to the Internet. It's no replacement for a real networking connection. Even 802.11b is faster and has better latency, but it's good in a pinch and sometimes that's all I need.