The Geek Brewery

This Saturday, September 19, 2009, will be Smart Bro’s B Free Day! The event will be held at the Mega Tent, Meralco Avenue, Ortigas.

Smart Bro will be giving away 10,000 limited edition UAAP & NCAA plug-its (USB 3G modem) at a first come first serve basis. They’re also raffling off free laptops. Free food will also be served. There will also be free rides, free booths and a lot of other freebies. The best thing about this is that admission is free!!

The event is exclusive to college students of the following UAAP and NCAA participating schools:

• Adamson University
• Angeles University Foundation
• Arellano University
• Ateneo de Manila University
• Colegio de San Juan de Letran
• College of Saint Benilde
• De La Salle University
• Emilio Aguinaldo College
• Far Eastern University
• Jose Rizal University
• Mapua Institute of Technology
• National University
• San Beda College
• San Sebastian College – Recoletos
• University of Perpetual Help – Dalta System
• University of Santos Tomas
• University of the East
• University of the Philippines

Don’t forget to wear your school’s color. Validated school ID for the current term is also required. To register for the event, sign up for an access pass.

For more information, visit the B Free Day website.

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I just received a text message from SMART Bonus. The text says:

Wla na po kayong load. Punta na sa pnkamalapit n SmartLoad retailer upang patuloy ang text at tawagan! Pwde p mgkaroon ng FREE 5 txts pg nag-load ka bago mg Sep 17. Ipgsawalang bhla ang msg na to kung nkpg-load n kayo.

SMART is giving me five free texts if I load before September 17? LOL.

It’s been a while since I last topped up my SMART account. I usually use it is a backup whenever the handset linked to my Globe account goes dead.

Lately, I have been trying to amaze myself doing some weird stuff on Linux. Gladly, I thought of connecting my mobile phone to my Linux-running laptop for Internet.

I’d like to share it in case anyone might be concerned on how to do so.

Prerequisites

1. A Bluetooth, GPRS and/or 3G (but preferably with 3G) capable mobile phone.
2. A machine with a Bluetooth adapter.
3. Bluez Bluetooth GNOME applet (the Bluetooth icon on your system tray).
   1. If not installed, may be obtained by typing sudo apt-get bluez-gnome.

This works pretty well on my Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and Linux Mint 5.0 installation.

Here’s how to do it:

1. First of all, enable Bluetooth for the mobile phone and workstation (laptop, desktop, etc). Make sure both devices are discoverable.
2. On your workstation’s terminal (on Ubuntu, go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal), type hcitool scan .
3. You should see your mobile phone’s name and address.
4. Now, let’s bind your device to rfcomm. Type sudo rfcomm bind /dev/rfcomm0 <replace_this_with_address_of_device> <replace_with_channel> .
   1. Replace <replace_this_with_address_of_device> with the address you obtained from hcitool scan (the ones on the left of your phone's name).
   2. Try the values 1, 2 or 3 for <replace_with_channel>. In case the whole process doesn’t work, just unbind your device to rfcomm by typing sudo rfcomm unbind rfcomm0 and repeating the whole process again with another value.
5. After doing so, click on the network icon in your system tray (near the clock) and choose manual configuration. Unlock it with your password. Change the settings of point-to-point connection by double-clicking the option.
6. Check “Enable this connection”.
7. Choose GPRS/UMTS as Connection Type. Change access point name to “internet” without the doublequotes. For account data, just enter any username and password.
8. On the second tab named “Modem”, type /dev/rfcomm0 to modem port field.
9. On the third tab, check “Set modem as default route to internet” and “Use the internet service providers’ nameservers”.
10. Hit OK.
11. Now, check the checkbox of point-to-point connection.
12. By this time, you should have an internet connection on your workstation. If it doesn’t work, repeat the process. Note to try other channels (described in the fourth step).

That’s all. Hope it works.

Smart Bro is a wireless internet service provided by Smart Telecommunications, one major player in the Philippine mobile services arena.

Smart Bro connections differ in two types: the fixed antenna and modem usually installed above the house and the USB 3.5G modem, the more handy and truly mobile option.

I happened to use the second type, the USB 3.5G modem, which is actually capable of using 2G (the old-school voice and text), GPRS, EDGE, 3G and 3.5G (HSDPA) signals. I borrowed the 3.5G modem from a high school classmate. I tested the connection at Kalayaan Residence Hall of University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City Philippines.

Specifically, I used Smart Bro’s service in my room which is located on the basement and at the newly renovated lobby. First off, I’ll discuss my internet experience on my room.

Smart Bro @ the basement of Kalayaan Residence Hall

The connection was virtually dead even if it was connected to Smart’s servers. A high school batchmate earlier reported that she can’t connect to the Internet. The inner geek in me went out and suspected the DNS server to be the culprit. I switched to OpenDNS and tadaaa, it worked. (more…)