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No USB Tethering in Bullseye

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
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KitchM
Posts: 169
Joined: 2019-06-11 18:11

No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#1 Post by KitchM »

I have a HP notebook with Debian Bullseye, and an Alcatel flip phone. I start my notebook and then my phone. I plug a USB cable into the notebook. On my phone I go to the settings area and look into tethering. I select usb tethering and plug in the cable, and I get a beep like it is connected. I check the network settings on the notebook and there is no tethered device.

The command

Code: Select all

ip  link
returns:
1. lo: .....
2. ensp0s10: ......
3. wlan0: ....

The command

Code: Select all

lsusb
returns no phone information.

The USB Tethering line in my phone menu appears to be greyed-out. This would indicate that the phone is the culprit. Do you agree?

Dai_trying
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Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#2 Post by Dai_trying »

When I use tethering I have to select the tethering after I plug in the phone, it sounds like you are trying to tether before the phone is connected
I select usb tethering and plug in the cable, and I get a beep like it is connected.
which would not be available.
I do not recall having to jump through any hoops when I first used tethering, I think it just connected after being selected.
So to summarize

1. turn on pc
2. turn on phone
3. connect phone to laptop/pc (after both have fully booted)
4. Select tethering on phone (mine is under network settings and the option pops up when I connect the cable)

now the laptop/pc should automatically connect, although I have never used a flip-phone but if it has the option for usb tethering I would guess it should work.

CwF
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Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#3 Post by CwF »

KitchM wrote: 2022-01-16 02:13 The USB Tethering line in my phone menu appears to be greyed-out. This would indicate that the phone is the culprit. Do you agree?
I hope you get it working, I'd like to know. I've that flip for a few years and it rocks! However, it has no data enabled so I can't test it, I use an alcatel hotspot also, with no voice!

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NorthEast
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Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#4 Post by NorthEast »

Dai_trying wrote:
1. turn on pc
2. turn on phone
3. connect phone to laptop/pc (after both have fully booted)
4. Select tethering on phone (mine is under network settings and the option pops up when I connect the cable)
I don't have the same hardware, rather I have a lenovo thinkpad and samsung galaxy mobile, but the procedure is a little different to this, which may or may not be helpful. The steps I take are:
1. turn on pc and have it boot right up of course,
2. turn on phone til it becomes live,
3. turn wifi off on phone,
4. select tethering on phone - at this point I think the phone expects to be contacted wirelessly, and the usb cable option is greyed out,
5. plug the usb cable from phone to computer - I watch dmesg -w to see that the computer sees the phone,
6. at this point the greyed out usb option on the phone becomes available, and I choose that, and it's all fine from there.

KitchM
Posts: 169
Joined: 2019-06-11 18:11

Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#5 Post by KitchM »

Thank you so much. You folks are awesome!

I followed the various instructions to the letter and nothing worked. So I got to thinking that it might be the cable. I tried another one and there was a connection.

However, the problem sort of persists anyway. While one can now select USB Tethering, what it does is that it allows selection between tethering to share files (MTP, PTP, MIDI) or system update, but not plain USB tethering; the last choice.

I say that because selecting that one causes it to go back one menu and you might think it is okay. But nothing happens. So now I select USB Tethering again, and it shows an on or off selection with off being selected by default. When selecting on, it pops up a message saying "MHS feature checking" but always fails. ("Turn on USB tethering failed.")

Here's what I believe is true. MHS is mobile hotspot. There is an option to turn on mobile hotspot instead of Bluetooth or USB tethering. It is evidently not a service I have available because it does not work. ("Turn on mobile hostspot failed" after checking MHS again.)

So now I wonder what USB tethering has to do with MHS.

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NorthEast
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Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#6 Post by NorthEast »

When the user selects the option in the phone settings to make the phone a mobile hot spot, there remains another step. That step is the selecting of the means by which the external units, computers etc, are going to connect to the phone, the phone being the mobile hot spot. This latter step is to choose the form of "tethering", which just translates to the form of "being tied to," or the means of connection that will be used to connect to the mobile hot spot. The external units (say, a computer) can connect wirelessly, or by wire as in through a usb lead. Now it may be that when the mobile hot spot option is chosen, the phone automatically just assumes that the external units will connect wirelessly, which, if true, means the user doesn't have to choose anything if that is what they want. In that case, for example, the computer can just log into the phone by wireless and get online. If that automatic configuring is used by the phone, then user may have to actually connect the usb cable from phone to computer for the phone to register the matter and then offer to use that usb lead and allow the computer to log into the mobile hot spot phone that way. It depends on the phone but the basics are common.

KitchM
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Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#7 Post by KitchM »

Interesting, and thanks. However, it does not appear to apply in my case.

KitchM
Posts: 169
Joined: 2019-06-11 18:11

Re: No USB Tethering in Bullseye

#8 Post by KitchM »

Okay. I did find a solution, and you all were correct. I was looking at it incorrectly. I had put in a call to Alcatel and they said what was exactly as stated above; plug the phone into the computer with the appropriate cable first and then go to the menu; in that order. At that point, the USB tethering menu option becomes available.

The reason I missed it was that I was confusing two things, and that kept making me look at the wrong thing. I wanted to connect my computer to the Internet with my phone. There is a feature called Mobile Hotspot and another entitled Bluetooth tethering. Both are on the same menu as USB tethering. When either is selected, it tries to to connect with MHS (mobile hotspot). It does not work.

So I could get tethering to work (once I noticed that the item became available on the menu), but that does not give me the Internet. It turned out that the MHS feature is broken on my phone, and now out of warranty. So after all of that, I have to find another flip phone once again. This was the second brand I tried.

Aw, well. Thank you to all who helped here. I really appreciate it very much. You all are awesome! :D

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