MB connection timeout problem

[Rick Jones <rick activeservice co uk>]

I'm experiencing an odd problem trying to make a mobile-broadband connection. 
Sometimes it fails, and there is a message in the log saying:

Jun  9 16:28:41 mineee NetworkManager: <WARN>  pppd_timed_out(): Looks like pppd didn't initialize our dbus module 

This appears to be a 15-sec timeout, which I think is too short.

The more detailed situation is this - when I have a 3G signal the connection works OK. When there is only a 2G signal I get this connection problem. I know the modem will connect to 2G, because it works on Windows with the carrier's proprietary connection gadget, but it takes noticeably longer to make the connection. This is why I suspect it's just a timeout issue.

Is there a way to tweak this timeout? I'm not even sure if it's in NM or pppd.

I've attached log extracts for both the successful & unsuccessful cases.
NM is 0.7.1, as included with Ununtu 9.04. I see there is an alternative 0.7.1 on launchpad, but I don't know what differences there are, if any. I haven't tried it.

(this is of course a pain to test, as I have to take the laptop off somewhere to lose the 3G signal in order to force the 2G case :-/ )

Thanks, Rick

Attachment: NM-logs
Description: Binary data