Ubuntu Manpage: wvdial - PPP dialer with built-in intelligence.

NAME

       wvdial - PPP dialer with built-in intelligence.

SYNOPSIS

       wvdial [ OPTIONS ] [ SECTION ] ...

DESCRIPTION

       wvdial  is  an intelligent PPP dialer, which means that it dials a modem and starts PPP in
       order to connect to the Internet.  It is something like the chat(8) program,  except  that
       it  uses  heuristics to guess how to dial and log into your server rather than forcing you
       to write a login script.

       When wvdial starts, it first loads its configuration from /etc/wvdial.conf and ~/.wvdialrc
       which  contains basic information about the modem port, speed, and init string, along with
       information about your Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as  the  phone  number,  your
       username, and your password.

       Then  it initializes your modem and dials the server and waits for a connection (a CONNECT
       string from the modem).  It understands and responds to typical connection problems  (like
       BUSY and NO DIALTONE).

       Any  time  after  connecting,  wvdial  will  start  PPP if it sees a PPP sequence from the
       server.  Otherwise, it tries to convince the server to start PPP by doing the following:

       •   responding to any login/password prompts it sees;

       •   interpreting “choose one of the following”-style menus;

       •   eventually, sending the word “ppp” (a common terminal server command).

       If all of this fails, wvdial just runs pppd(8) and hopes for the best. It  will  bring  up
       the connection, and then wait patiently for you to drop the link by pressing CTRL-C.

OPTIONS

Several options are recognized by wvdial.

-c, --chat
Run wvdial as a chat replacement from within pppd, instead of the more normal
method of having wvdial negotiate the connection and then call pppd.

-C, --config=CONFIGFILE
Run wvdial with CONFIGFILE as the configuration file, instead of /etc/wvdial.conf.
This is mainly useful only if you want to have per-user configurations, or you want
to avoid having dial-up information (usernames, passwords, calling card numbers,
etc.) in a system wide configuration file.

-n, --no-syslog
Don't output debug information to the syslog daemon (only useful together with
--chat).

wvdial is normally run without command line options, in which case it reads its
configuration from the [Dialer Defaults] section of /etc/wvdial.conf. (The configuration
file is described in more detail in wvdial.conf(5) manual page.)

One or more SECTIONs of /etc/wvdial.conf may be specified on the command line. Settings
in these sections will override settings in [Dialer Defaults].

For example, the command:
wvdial phone2
will read default options from the [Dialer Defaults] section, then override any or all of
the options with those found in the [Dialer phone2] section.

If more than one section is specified, they are processed in the order they are given.
Each section will override all the sections that came before it.

For example, the command:
wvdial phone2 pulse shh
will read default options from the [Dialer Defaults] section, then override any or all of
the options with those found in the [Dialer phone2] section, followed by the [Dialer
pulse] section, and lastly the [Dialer shh] section.

Using this method, it is possible to easily configure wvdial to switch between different
internet providers, modem init strings, account names, and so on without specifying the
same configuration information over and over.

BUGS

       “Intelligent” programs are frustrating when they don't work right.  This version of wvdial
       has only minimal support for disabling or overriding its “intelligence”, with the  “Stupid
       Mode”,  “Login  Prompt”, and “Password Prompt” options.  So, in general if you have a nice
       ISP, it will probably work, and if you have a weird ISP, it might not.

       Still, it's not much good if it doesn't work for you, right?  Don't be fooled by the  fact
       that  wvdial  finally  made  it  to  version  1.00;  it  could  well contain many bugs and
       misfeatures.    Let   us   know   if   you   have   problems   by   sending   e-mail    to
       <wvdial-list@lists.nit.ca>.

       You   may   encounter   some   error   messages   if   you  don't  have  write  access  to
       /etc/ppp/pap-secrets and /etc/ppp/chap-secrets.  Unfortunately, there's really no nice way
       around this yet.

FILES

       /etc/wvdial.conf
              Configuration  file  which  contains  modem,  dialing,  and  login information. See
              wvdial.conf(5).

       /dev/ttyS*
              Serial port devices.

       /etc/ppp/peers/wvdial
              Required for correct authentication in pppd version 2.3.0 or newer.

       /etc/ppp/{pap,chap}-secrets
              Contains a list of usernames and passwords used by pppd for authentication.  wvdial
              maintains this list automatically.

AUTHORS

       Dave  Coombs  and  Avery Pennarun for Net Integration Technologies.  We would also like to
       thank SuSE and RedHat for adding a number of various  cool  features  to  wvdial.   Thanks
       guys!