BSNL Broadband Setup (Even Corporate VPN Access) - Step By Step Instructions

As usual, i had to struggle through this one too. Setting up BSNL broadband for my pals in India was a nightmare. No Documentation, no setup documents and no CUSTOMER SERVICE at all. Two technicians come and setup the phone line. Then couple days later two more come and give you the BSNL userid and password alongwith portal id without telling you what to do with them. No fault of there bu they are not even trained to do anything. Then through your contacts and people who you know who use BSNL broadband, you atleats try to setup and see if it will work but no luck.. After spending couple of days on internert googling instructions and issues people have faced, i finally figured it out and its setup and running. Below are some of the key things that are more than enough for you to setup BSNL Broadband.

My Modem is the TYPE IV Modem from ITI (WiFi enabled)

PPPOE (configured on the MODEM directly) is the way to go with ADSL setup of broadband. You will find several posts online talking about using the BRIDGE connection but take my word for it and using PPPOE is better and simpler and works with devices which have no way of dailing a seperate PPPOE connection from the device like WiFi enabled phones, iPod Touch etc.

• Power up the modem and scan for wireless on your computer. You should find "ITI" SSID being broadcast by the modem. If not just use an ethernet cable and connect it directly to your computer.

• Your Ethernet connection/Wireless Connection most probably will connect but will show "Limited Connectivity". Don't worry.

• Just go to the network settings of the Ethernet or Wireless and under "Internet Protocol TCP/IP" properties you will have to manually specify the following details and repair your connection if system doesn't do it automatically.

• The "Limited Connectivity" status on the network connection will go away with above setup.
• Now open your browser and type in "http://192.168.1.1/main.html".
• Go to "Advanced Setup > WAN"
• On the Right pane you will most probably see a service "ppoe_0_35". If not click the ADD Button. If the service exists click the EDIT Button.
• Just Specify VPI/VCI from 0 to 35 and select all the default settings on clicking next. When you are on the USER-PASSWORD page enter your BSNL User ID and PASSWORD.
• Click the Final NEXT and SAVE followed by a SAVE/REBOOT.
• The Modem will reboot. Don't touch anything till the modem reboots and the screen will automatically refresh with the new setting.
• Try repairing the network connection and then open any webpage now from the browser. It should work now.
• I have tried corporate CISCO VPNs and they also work with this setup.
• This setup avoids setting up a PPPOE dialer from your computer and will allow you to use the conection from any handheld device as well.

I hope this post will help many who are stuck the same way i was. Send me a message if you are stuck and my post doesn't help..

iPod Restore Firmware Downloads (Any iPod - Even the Latest Touch)

I was struggling to restore my iPod touch 2nd Gen to its 2.1 without having iTunes tell me that the only option i had was to upgrade to 2.2. I did a lot of googling and then stumbled across a website that has genuine Apple download links. Just select your ipod and it will actually fetch it from APPLE's server. Below is the Link... Enjoy :-)

Felixbruns iPod Firmware Restore Links

How To Install Windows Mobile Pocket-PC Applications on Smartphone

Well to start with, PocketPC Windows Mobile Professional and Smartphone Windows Mobile Standard have a lot in common and most of the applications designed for PocketPC will run on Smartphones as well. There might be navigability issues because of the inherent assumption of a TOUCH vs NON-TOUCH device. Some of the PPC apps will fail to install on SMARTPHONES. Below is the workaround which works and i have tested it several times.

1st Approach

If you have a PocketPC lying somewhere which you don't use at all, this is time to bring it back to life. Install the PPC app on it, connect to your computer and copy the installed directory over. Now connect your SmartPhone to your computer and copy the "copied app folder" to your smartphone. Try executing the EXE on smartphone now and it will work except for the layout etc..

Try the SPHelper application which will let you simulate a CROSSHAIR (meant for touchscreen apps)

SPHELPER Application Link

2nd Approach

If you are not lucky to get hold of a PPC try the following approach. Open the CAB file using Winzip or any zip extraction utility. Extract all the files in the CAB to a folder. The Files will have funky last characters but don't worry. 99% of the CAB files will have a "_setup.xml". This file will tell you the exact name of the installed file and the corresponding funky extension file in the CAB. Use the XML to rename all the extracted files on your computer and copy them over to the SmartPhone.

Sometimes the XML is not present. In that case extract the contents of the Smartphone Version of CAB to a seperate Folder and see if it has the XML file. If not Just extract all the files and try to compare the filenames in the folder containing the PPC files. Most of the times, it will give you a rogh idea as to what file is the EXE file and what are the DLLs. GOOGLE the missing files and you will find some hits for sure...

I have done this with several apps and it works.. :-)

Edit Read-Only Network Settings on BlackJack II

Blackjack II WM 6.1 comes with a unique application which will let you unlock the GPRS and Network Streaming settings. No more registry editing. The Application is "UAMgr.exe" and can be found under Windows folder. You might have to enable show hidden files and show rom files to see the application. Also you can create a shortcut for the same for easy access. Once you click it following image will show up. Click Menu -> Tool -> Unlock RadOnly. It will give you a snapshot of all the network connections unlocked.

Subsidy Unlock Samsung Blackjack II

When you travel internationally its always better to get your cellphone unlocked so that if needed you can use the foreign SIM Card with your phone. It was a pain indeed to get the UNLOCK code from ATnT and since there are no calculators out there at least for SAMSUNG, that was the only way i had to get this done. Anyway long story short, i was finally able to get the unlock code and below are the steps to unlock it once you have the code.

ATnT will say to power off the phone and remove the SIM card. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS, atleast with the new BlackJack II. If you remove the SIM Card there is no way for the system to UNLOCK itself. Either you enter another SIM card or keep the existing ATnT inside and follow the steps below.

1. Power off the Phone (Required if Using a different SIM)
2. Remove the SIM Card (Required if Using a different SIM)
3. Enter #7465625*638*
4. Enter Network Control Key (8 digits Unlock Code received from Cingular)
5. Press "OK" Softkey (not the Send or OK hard key i.e. the KEY Next to the HOME sign key)
6. Successfully unlock Network Status

Finally its unlocked.. Iust waiting for a differnt carrier SIM to check it out..

Please run this program from the Administrator account so it can set up your license. Once the license is set up, you can run it from any account ??

The reason for XP/VISTA behaving like this with certain programs is because the Registry setting for License no longer has correct permissions. Below is the fix.

1. From an Administrator account, run RegEdit.exe.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Licenses.
3. Right-click on that key in the left pane (the one that shows folders) and select "Permissions".
4. Use the Remove button to remove all users and groups from the permissions box.
5. Then click the Add button and in the "Enter the object names to select" box, type "Everyone" (without the quotes), then click the Check Names button.
6. The Everyone you just typed should become underlined, if the system recognizes it.
7. Click OK to return to the main permissions dialog; you'll now see only one entry, for the Everyone group.
8. Below it, select the box for "Full Control - Allow", which should also turn on Read - Allow. Then hit the OK button to finish it.

Run the Troubled program and you should be all set :-)

Bluetooth File Transfer in Windows Mobile !

Thanks to Howard Forums... MS Bluetooth Stack doesn't provide a separate service or button for enabling Bluetooth File Transfer service. Its tied to the "Receive All incoming Beams"option under BEAM settings which might be confused for Infrared only.. Enable all incoming beams and wuhooo..u can receive files via bluetooth.. Original Thread on Howards Forum is below...

YouTube Player on Smartphones and PocketPC !

Well after a long search.. ZBOP on TREOCENTRAL has finally hacked his way into playing Youtube and any other FLV format hosting sites, on Windows Mobile Smartphones and PocketPC. The hack works perfectly even with an option of saving the video.. The two cab files install TCPMP and FLV capture and a shortcut HTML page to all the links.. Check out the website belwo for all the details

Youtube Player On Windows Mobile

Youtube now supports Windows Media PLayer on Mobile. Accessing youtube via the following link Youtube Mobile. All videos are using rtsp protocol now.. so enjoy..

Doordarshan TV Serial Featuring a Song - Heart Of Stone.....

Almost 15+ years ago.. Doordarshan aired an International Series on sophisticated Computer Hacking.. and it had this amazing song "Heart Of Stone".. I googled it and couldn't find any valuable reference to it.. There are some fans like me who are out there searching for it.. Found couple of posts searching for the same song.. below are some of them.. no credible source that can point to either the song or the series... I hope someone will find this post and actually help us fans out..

Molon-Labey's Blogspot Entry

My Search Finally has ended.. Thanks to Manish Gupta (link). He has been able to find the Singer, the serial and a preview mp3.

Domain - Hearts of stone

The MP3 preview of it is HERE.

Thanks Google, IMDB, Tradebits and Manish... :-)