Installing Ericsson's Home Internet Solution in Windows NT
4.0 and Windows 2000
(SuperMemo R&D, March 6, 2000,
revised March 6, 2001)
On Feb 22, 2000, Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. began the so-call trial period for
implementing Home Internet Solution in Poland.
We have subscribed to this program enthusiastically hoping this technology
along with the cable Internet will greatly boost the growth of the Internet in
Poland.
Both Ericsson and TP SA have to be commended for implementing this new
opportunity for private users and small companies who do not live in cable covered areas; yet, there have
been some major shortcomings in implementing the program in terms of customer
support, support escalation, terms of the agreement and plain implementation,
esp. on software side.
Some of most painful technical errors in the program:
- errors in documentation (including wrong Ericsson support phone number)
- the diskette for installing HIS modem drivers was NT-incompatible (no
mention of this fact in the documentation)
- no NT-installation guidelines, no FAQs on the web, no quality support on
the web, no official support e-mail (one could be only found on the Ericsson
website which was not mentioned in support materials), etc.
- no TP SA website for technical stuff to upload case studies even if there
are many!
Consequently, we decided to help those who might run into trouble with HIS in
Windows NT/2000 and fill out the gap left by TP SA tech support. Let this be our
little contribution to the growth of the Internet in Poland and
abroad (foreign HIS sites are info-scanty as well -- except information in other
languages, including Russian)
Connecting the HIS-NT network terminal
This seems to be the simplest step. Follow the instructions in the manual and
note the following:
- synchronization proceeds in four steps with the blinking synchronization
diode quickly accelerating the blink-rate and getting synchronized in mere
seconds. As the manual speaks of "minutes" we have erred on the
safe side and waited "hours" for success. To no avail! TP SA
reassured us that the access device (HiS-NAE) was correctly installed at the
local telephone exchange. We have suspected a wiring problem and had done
some (futile) rewiring done to be sure the terminal is as close to the
Master Socket as possible. After 3 days it appeared the problem was on the
exchange side with
HiS-NAE and was fixed by support stuff in minutes
- it is important to put the HiS terminal before a local switchboard! If
your switchboard is not plugged into an RJ-11 socket (or equivalent), you
will have to have such a socket installed before the switchboard
- note that your HiS terminal must be connected with the server computer via
RS-232. If there are major distances between the Master Socket, the
switchboard, the server and the terminal, you will need lots of logistic
thinking to find optimum wiring!
- for some unknown reasons, the first day on which synchronizations were
run, the whole phone line went haywire! Be sure you do not run the
installation on a critical line in a critical period. The line showed bursts
of noise activity that would render it useless. Luckily, the tech-support at the
local exchange managed to fix this in about an hour
- we could not figure out the significance of the user name ID,
which TP SA requested on their test application. Even service people at TP
SA could not answer this question! Later on it transpired though, that this
name was to become the password needed to log on to the service (until then
the password was produced serially for all users and could easily be
determined for all users in a given area)
Installing HIS-drivers in Windows NT/2000
See your manual for the outline and basic parameters. Here we only point to
sticky steps that cause most problems:
- the installer on the diskette supplied by TP SA will not work! It
was designed for Windows 95 and it will also run in Windows 98 (although
there were multiple installation errors at execution!). Do not run the installer in
Windows NT/2000! You will need manual installation!
- remove the currently installed modem to prevent conflict:
- in Windows NT: in Control Panel : Network : Services : Remove Access Service :
Properties use Remove on your currently installed modem to be
sure your HiS driver become visible at setting up the dial-up connection
- in Windows 2000: in Control Panel : Phone and Modem Options :
Modems use Remove
- RAS will rely solely on TCP/IP protocol. Important! Do not attempt
to configure TCP/IP with the IP number provided by TP SA. This number will
be sent back automatically by the server
- in Control Panel : (Phone and) Modem(s) use Add, check Do not detect my
modem, choose Have Disk and provide the diskette with HiS driver
(Disk #2 of the TPSA installation). Note that if you attempt to use modem
diagnostics in Windows 2000 with Query Modem, you will receive an
error message (HiS-NT is not a standard modem and does not support all Hayes
command set)
- in advanced modem setting use set flow control to Hardware
- add a dial-up connection:
- in Windows NT: in My PC : Dial-Up Networking choose New and set individual
fields as in the manual. In Script : After dialing choose None.
In Security, choose Accept any authentication including clear text
- in Windows 2000: in My Computer : Network and Dial-Up Connections :
Make New Connection
- Important! In Dial-up Networking : More : Edit entry and modem properties : Server
uncheck Enable software compression (i.e. disable software
compression). Otherwise the authentication step is likely to leave you in a
hung state. As for other modem and dialup setting, the defaults work ok or
just do not matter. For example, the correct transmission parameters are
115200,8,N,1, but if you choose 8,E,1 instead, the modem with negotiate the
correct parameters as sent by the remote server
- Important! When asked for the phone number, type 1,
otherwise you will hang at the Dialing stage
- in Dial-Up Networking : More choose Create shortcut to entry
to gain an easy access to your dial-up connection directly from the desktop.
You can also put this shortcut to Start : Programs : Startup to
always establish the connection as you boot your computer
- to test the modem-port connection, you can use Start : Program :
Accessories : Hyperterminal : Hyperterminal and issue an AT command.
Modem's response with OK would indicate that the modem, the port and
the connection work ok. If you issue ATI3 you should get "Ericsson
HIS Vi 115200 modem"
- once your Dial-Up Networking Monitor shows data transfer in Device
statistics at connecting (even on the order of 50 bytes), you can assume your modem, port and drivers
are ok (even if you are still unable to connect to your HiS server)
Connecting
Once the above is done, you can dial. First time you do this, you will need
to type in your username (at TP SA they call it login) and password. You
should have receive these two at the moment of collecting the hardware (in our
case, it was a handwritten note slipped into the modem box). Note that the
password should ultimately match the mysterious User ID you have
determined on your application (typed in in block letter squares). If you are
not sure, call TP SA. Important!!! Delete
the domain name from user-password dialog box when dialing. Otherwise you will
receive: Error 5. Access is denied (or if you evoke the connection indirectly, e.g. by
sending e-mail, Error 734: The PPP link control protocol terminated). If you opt to save the password, on subsequent connection attempts, dialing
and authentication will take 3-6 seconds (at least that was the case at our
location at Rataje in Poznan).
Important!!! In Windows 2000, if you specify a wrong password, you will
receive a message that seems to have nothing in common with the cause: "Error
619: The specified port is not connected". Do not go on checking your
ports or reinstalling the modem! In PPP protocol, once the Link Control Protocol
(LCP) phase is passed successfully, the authentication phase is terminated
abruptly if the authentication packet contains wrong data. Your modem log will
simply show Remove modem hung up, your PPP log will show Line down
event occurred on port <port number> and you will be given no clues as
what has caused it! Please call TPSA and ask again for your password or ask them
for a test password to log to an unused HiS port
HiS in LAN
You can connect more computers to your HiS connection via a LAN. In Windows
NT you will need NAT software or a proxy server. WinRoute is very professional
and secure; however, it is quite hard to install and expensive. PPPShar from
India, on the other hand, is quite limited but could be installed in 10 minutes
and has worked for months without a hitch.
In Windows 2000, you only need to check Dial-Up Networking : HiS
Connection : Sharing : Enable Internet Connection Sharing on the computer
connected to HiS-NT terminal. In all client computers on your LAN you need to:
- get IP address via DHCP
- set up all applications such as browser, e-mail software, etc.
- For example, in Internet Explorer, set Tools : Internet Options :
Connection : LAN Setting : Automatically detect setting (turn off
Proxy server)
- In Outlook 2000, set Tools : Accounts : Properties : Connection :
Connect using my local area network (LAN) (if you have used proxy server
before, return the server set up information to the state as if connected
directly to the phone line)
What next?
After all tribulations, you will be happy to notice that HiS works remarkably
well. At all times of the day you will experience reasonable transfer rates.
Downloading Delphi 5 Update Pack (about 30 MB) from the US took about 50
minutes. Check any log or e-mail sent via HiS to see your real IP (the
one provided by TP SA had often wrongly placed dot separators!). The
simultaneous use of other phone lines on the same socket proceeds undisturbed
(including dialing the Internet via another modem).
Conclusions: do not get discouraged with the above. Luckily others
have suffered pain for you to have a smoother ride. Check the service map (see
His Fan Club below) and hurry to get enrolled (limited allocations in the
testing period!). At PLN 160 per month (plus PLN 999 installation), this service
is hard to beat for those with heavy reliance on the Internet!
Happy surfing!
Important HiS links in Poland:
If you run into trouble, you can get best help from distributors of HiS in
Poland:
tel: 0 48 36 81 254
e-mail: his@rwttp.com.pl