Automatic APN

[Aleksander Morgado]

Hey,

>>  an automatic setup for the US covering only the major operators
>> would be very easy
>
> I can see checkin's from 40+ unique countries just today, so I don't think I'm going to get off easy.
>
>> Different settings are for different things
>
> mhmm yes, I think maybe this highlights my over-assumption that I'm only considering the default for a data only connection plan.
>
>> I'm not totally convinced myself
>
> No worries, I really appreciate everyone's expertise here on the subject & it's best to know about the cliff that I'm going to have to walk off ><
>
>> Each time you get a SIM card, you usually get (at least in
>> Spain) a short leaflet with the APN settings to use with that SIM
>> card.
>
>  I believe people get hungry and eat these in route from the retail store to product installs :), sorry couldn't resist. I agree it really should be that easy but for some reason it's not.
>
>> I may like that as an optional non-default thing, though, but not sure
>> whether in ModemManager simple-connect or in NetworkManager in the
>> upper layers
>
> Do you think it'd be better as a hint system which resulted in a list of config's that a SIM might support, ie. no connection attempts. Implemented with just an execution switch which would then update an MM struct/stdout with an array of possible configs the user might consider. The supporting connection manager app could decide if/how they'd like to try the config array at it's discretion or if it could gather additional data from the user at that point to make the final decision, ie. we know you're this sim/carrier so we've narrowed it down to 3/4 plans you might use. This way NM could have a slight improvement in that it could at least narrow down a lot of choices that the setup is not?
>
> Sorry not trying to force this in MM, I just really value the expertise here and of course will do my best to help the project in return if I can make it useful enough.
>

This kind of application logic, I don't think it should be managed
inside ModemManager. I think that MM should be just a way to translate
a generic API into specific modem actions, and doing a "retry"
mechanism over multiple APN settings, that is not any kind of
translation of generic API into modem actions, it's just application
logic that would fit better in a connection manager on top of MM.
Unless there's anything specific to a modem implementation, I think it
should be managed by upper layers. It could even be a separate program
on top of NetworkManager!

-- 
Aleksander
https://aleksander.es