[SWLUG] Ntl Broadband and Mandrake Linux 9.1 - Success

['o-Dzin Tridral]

Ntl Broadband and Mandrake Linux 9.1

In March, I asked for help with setting up ntl Broadband on Mandrake Linux 9.1, in the South Wales Linux User Group and Mandrake-Linux mailing lists.  Thanks to the advice I received I was able to get successfully set up.  Ntl themselves do not offer support for using broadband with Linux, and the information they send may not be enough to create a working system, so the support of Linux users is important.  I'm grateful for all the help and advice I received.  For the benefit of anyone else who wants to use ntl Broadband with Linux, this is a summary of the process.

Components
	01. Computer (Evesham eLinux 2700).  (This has an ethernet port.)
	02. Cable Modem
	03. Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router
	(This is not an essential part, but I was recommended to use a router because it has some firewall capabilities.  It should also mean that I can let other computers use the same internet connection).
	04. Mandrake Linux 9.1
	
Physical Setup
	01. Cable Modem - Ethernet - WRT54G
	02. WRT54G - Ethernet - Computer
	
Power on
	01. Router
	02. Computer
	03. Cable Modem
	
	(Linux seems to have automatically detected the network connection)
	
Register
	01. Go to https://autoreg.aurotegister.net/
	02. Select Broadband
	03. Select Register
	04. Enter 11 character serial number from letter (***-***-*****)
	05. Continue
	06. Pin Number from letter (********)
	07. Surname (*******)
	08. Continue

	At this point the registration process responds with
	[Verifying ...]
	(Customer details check)
	This takes a little time.
	
	09. Continue
	
	At this point the registration process asks
	'Do you already have a dial up account?'
	
	If you have a dial up account and you want to convert it to a broadband account, answer 'Yes', if you don't have a dial up account, or want to keep it, answer 'No'.  I said 'No' because I wanted to keep the dial up as a fallback.
	
	10. No (if you want to retain what you've got)
	11. Mother's maiden name (****)
	12. Continue
	
	At this point the registration process responds with
	[Transferring data from autoreg ...]
	(Displays top part of a page with ntl: and 'Terms and conditions' and nothing else.
	
	The registration got stuck at this point. I waited about 30 m inutes, stopped it and started again.  I tried this three times in all, each time going back to point 04 above.  I was originally using Mozilla as the web browser, and I switched to Konqueror.  I don't think that made the difference, but eventually the process continued. 
	
  	The 'Terms and conditions' are displayed
  	13. Select I accept
  	
  	'Internet advice' is displayed
  	14. Select continue
  	
  	'Registration information' is displayed offering a proposed  e-mail address etc.  You can change this if you wish.
  	15. Modify
  	(Change the settings)
  	16. Continue
  	
  	The process responds with
  	[registering user ...]
  	Membership number *********
  	Complelete registration
  	
  	17. Continue
  	
  	The Cable modem reboots
  	Lights go out ... lights come back
  	
  	18. Quit
  
That was it.  It seemed to take a while for registration to be successful. For a while nothing worked, than after about 5 minutes it sprang into life and it's been working ever since.

Once again, my thanks to all those who offered advice.  I hope this is helpful to others and also that one day Ntl will support Linux on broadband.

'o-Dzin



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