Macintosh OS X dial-up configuration details

This page provides more configuration information than the Quick Start, including directions for manually configuring your DNS and WINS server information if the dialup connection has difficulty auto-detecting it. A printable Adobe PDF version is also available.

Note: The screen shots shown below were taken on Macintosh 10.3. If you have an earlier or later version, the placement of some items may vary slightly from the screen shots shown, although the same information will be provided.

What you'll need to know

Some things you'll need to know to configure your Mac OS X machine to connect to campus dialup services include:

Do you know your Network ID and Network ID password?
You use your NetID and NetID password to connect to UIUCnet Premier and/or UIUCnet Dialup. For more information about your NetID, see Your Network ID.

Is this computer's networking protected with an administrator password, and, if so, do you know that password?
If you see a lock symbol on a screen called up below and the text is partially or completely grayed out, you will need an administrator's password to change those settings.

Do you have an internal modem or an external modem?
An internal modem is built into the machine; you plug the phone cord directly into the computer. An external modem is a box that connects to the machine, and you plug the phone cord into the box.

What type of modem do you have?
If your modem is internal, you can guess "Apple Internal 56K modem" to start with. If that option doesn't work, you'll need to find your system documentation to get more information about your make and model of modem.

Has your modem been installed yet?
Under Start -> Settings -> Control Panel, click on the Modems icon. If you don't see your modem listed, look here for modem installation directions.

Which service are you using?
You'll need to choose which phone number you dial based on which dialup service you're using.

Dialup phone numbers

The following numbers are used for dialup access to the campus network:

Speed Access Phone Number

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex Premier subscribers only 239-7252

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users 333-3700

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users, limit of 15 minutes per call 244-4976

On campus users: If you’re calling from on campus, add a 9 before the telephone number.

If all the restricted-use phone lines are busy, they will redirect automatically into the 333-3700 (all users) pool. If all 333-3700 lines are also busy, you may receive a busy signal. (The exception is the Premier service, which is designed not to have busy signals. If you receive a busy signal from the Premier line, contact the Operations Center.)

Configuring Macintosh OS X to connect to UIUCnet Dialup services

Under the Apple menu, choose the System Preferences option.

In the window which appears, choose Network.

If you are allowed to edit this section with your current login identity, the lock will be open and the text will not be grayed out. (If the lock is closed and the text is grayed out, contact a person who has the administrative password to make these changes.)

PPP tab

There are several options to edit in this window. From top to bottom, they include:

Location: You define the place you're calling with this option.

If you use more than one service provider, click this and select New Location, then name your new configuration UIUC or something similar to distinguish it from your other service providers.

If UIUCnet Premier or UIUCnet Dialup is the only service provider you use, you can leave the location selection set on Automatic. This way, any time you try to connect, it will try to connect to this location. (The pictures below have Automatic in the location selection list.)

Show: This is where you select your networking preference. Options include internal or external modem, Ethernet, or others. Most people using dialup will want to select Internal Modem.

If you don't see an Internal Modem option in this list, select Active Network Ports to see what is and is not enabled at the moment. Make sure your modem is listed here and has a check mark beside it. If it isn't shown at all, you may need to install modem drivers and/or assign a port to it.

PPP tab: If it's not selected yet, click on the PPP tab. The screen will look like this, although the information shown has not been entered in your system yet:

There are several options to edit, including:

Service Provider: UIUCnet Premier (or UIUCnet Dialup)

Telephone number: (Select your preferred number from the list below) If you are dialing from a location on campus, or somewhere else which requires 9 to get to an outside line, you will want to place 9 and a comma before your dialup number.

Alternate number: Because the system defaults into the largest modem pool when one of the restricted pools is full, you can either leave this line blank or enter 333-3700.

Speed Access Phone Number

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex Premier subscribers only 239-7252

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users 333-3700

56Kb/s V.90/Kflex available to all authorized users, limit of 15 minutes per call 244-4976

Account name: Give your network ID here.

Password: Leave this line blank, and enter your password each time you connect. Similarly, do NOT check the "save password" box. (This prevents the possibility that someone else could use your system to connect to your account when you're not present.)

PPP options: Clicking this button gives the following window:

Make sure that these options are checked:

Disconnect when user logs out

Send PPP echo packets

Use TCP header compression

If you like, you can also check Disconnect when idle for 15 minutes (to prevent accidentally using your dialup hours while you're doing something else) and Redial if busy (if you want the computer to automatically keep trying to connect if you're calling around peak usage hours in the evening).

Next, you'll complete the TCP/IP tab.

TCP/IP tab

Note: In most cases, you shouldn't need to manually assign the DNS server addresses; your computer should automatically detect them. For that reason, this step was not documented in the short version. However, if you've experienced problems connecting with the quick configuration, you can add the following information to your dialup configuration.

Configure: To make a dialup connection, select Using PPP.

DNS Servers: In this box, you should enter the dotted number forms of the DNS server IP addresses. These include:

128.174.5.58 Primary DNS server

128.174.5.102 Secondary DNS server

Search Domains box: This area tells your computer what domain names to search for other computers. Enter cites.uiuc.edu, cso.uiuc.edu, and uiuc.edu.

Modem tab

When you click the Modem tab in the Network window, you should see a window like this:

The Modem drop list includes many models of modems. Select your modem type from this list. If your modem came built-in, "Apple Internal 56K modem" is a safe first guess.

Note: This list is generated from the drivers that are installed; if you do not see your modem on this list, find the installation software that came with your modem and install it.

Sound: If you want to hear the modem dialing and negotiating with the other end, select the On option. (If you don't want to hear the modem dialing, select the Off option. However, the dialing tones can help with troubleshooting.)

Dialing: Choose whether you want to use tone or pulse dialing. (Most modern phones use tone dialing. Only use pulse dialing if your phone line won't support tone dialing.)

You've now finished initial configuration of your modem. Click Apply Now , then click the red circle at the top of the Network window or select Quit System Prefs from the System Preferences menu.

Starting a dialup session

After you've done the initial configuration, connection is a simple process:

Plug a phone line into your modem and into an analog phone jack in the wall.

From the Applications window (found by clicking in empty space on the desktop to bring up the Finder menu bar, then clicking the Go menu and the Applications option), double-click Internet Connect.

Internet Connect will take its options from whichever network connection was last marked as active in the Location section of the Network window. The directions above will produce a window that looks like this (although obviously your choice of telephone numbers and the Network ID used in the Name field will be different).

Click the Connect button. The Status line at the bottom of the window will display various messages about the connection process. If all goes well, you will see a message saying "Connected." You will also see the IP address which has been assigned to your computer for this session. From this point you can run a Web browser, check email, or anything else that requires an active Internet connection.

Macintosh OS X modem troubleshooting

As of this writing, the most frequently reported problems with Mac OS X dialup configuration include:

I don't have an administrator password. If you don't have an administrator password and your system requires it, you'll need to find the person who does have this password.

I can't use a calling card with my modem. For more information on this problem, see the Calling Card troubleshooting's Mac OS X section.

Macintosh OS X dialup configuration details

On this page: