Mobile Broadband - Why so tricky?

[viking777]

Well the obvious thought is that since module usb-storage no longer exists then you don't need to rmmod it in the first place (the operator && means only do the second part of the command if the first part works). So if you want your modem to work then all you have to do is:

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modprobe vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1003

(though I would have thought the command should be

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modprobe usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1003

Try both.

But this doesn't address the problem as to why the usb-storage module is missing in the first place, as to why that is I am not at all sure.

[viking777]

For anyone interested in this thread, I have added a bit more information to the first post (I will keep it up to date as I test stuff as much for my own amusement as anyone elses ).

Not good news I am afraid. Just tested Ubuntu 10.04 alpha 2 (and thus, indirectly, Mint 9) It only supports one of my three modems directly from the kernel so it looks like the situation will continue to worsen rather than get better.

On a totally unrelated matter which I am sure will amuse those of you who are aware of my antipathy to a certain new boot program , I booted the Lucid iso directly from grub2 using a loopback boot stanza thus saving myself a cd or the time and space taken for a full install whilst getting full performance out of the distro rather than dragging along at 'cd' speed. Just goes to show, even in the midst of darkness there is some light (though not much ). It is a good feature though.

[ralukk]

i found a way that takes about 2 minutes to connect my huawey device to mobile broadband...
plug in the device, erase the mobile broadband connection from the VPN connections, open palimpsest disk utility and detach the huawey usb storage by turning it off, then add the connection into VPN connections, be sure not to make it available to all usesr (i don't know why , but if i make it available to all users it won't connect), and that's it....
if there is any way to make it to connect automatically like it did on linux mint 7, let me know, please..
i'm pretty annoyed doing this every time...

[viking777]

i found a way that takes about 2 minutes to connect my huawey device to mobile broadband...
plug in the device, erase the mobile broadband connection from the VPN connections, open palimpsest disk utility and detach the huawey usb storage by turning it off, then add the connection into VPN connections, be sure not to make it available to all usesr (i don't know why , but if i make it available to all users it won't connect), and that's it....
if there is any way to make it to connect automatically like it did on linux mint 7, let me know, please..
i'm pretty annoyed doing this every time...

Thanks for that ralukk, your advice about making my connection available to all users enabled me to fix a problem I didn't even know I had until my adsl went off last night!

As for your other problem I suggest you read my post here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 48#p209495. Ignore any references to version 1.0.5 I think it is 1.0.2 in the repos at the moment (and it works better anyhow). The topic I linked to is for a different modem but you shouldn't have too much difficulty translating it to your Hauwei.

Good Luck and thanks again.

Edit. You don't say what type of Huawei you have, but if it happens to be an E220 then 'modeswitch' on Mint 8 is probably not going to work at least it doesn't for me, but then again I haven't tried your 'all users' trick on my E220 connection yet - I will give that a go sometime soon.

[ralukk]

As for your other problem I suggest you read my post here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 48#p209495. Ignore any references to version 1.0.5 I think it is 1.0.2 in the repos at the moment (and it works better anyhow). The topic I linked to is for a different modem but you shouldn't have too much difficulty translating it to your Hauwei.

Good Luck and thanks again.

Edit. You don't say what type of Huawei you have, but if it happens to be an E220 then 'modeswitch' on Mint 8 is probably not going to work at least it doesn't for me, but then again I haven't tried your 'all users' trick on my E220 connection yet - I will give that a go sometime soon.

my modem is a huawey k3520 or k3565, don't really recal exactly which one of these... i'm glad i helped... i'll try your suggestion tonight, right now i'm at work and using windows ... thanks a lot, viking777 !

[viking777]

my modem is a huawey k3520 or k3565, don't really recal exactly which one of these... i'm glad i helped... i'll try your suggestion tonight, right now i'm at work and using windows ... thanks a lot, viking777 !

That surprises me. I have a k3565 as well and it works with every kernel/distro I have ever used it with, without any support from usb_modeswitch. Sadly the usb_modeswitch web site http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch does not specifically report either model you mention as being supported which leads me to think this might not be the solution you are looking for - sorry .

You could give it a try if you wanted, it won't do any harm, but don't get your hopes up.

I have just had another look at my own usb_modeswitch.conf and this is what it says:

Huawei E220 (aka "Vodafone EasyBox II", aka "T-Mobile wnw Box Micro")
# Huawei E230
# Huawei E270
# Huawei E870
# and probably most other Huawei devices (just adapt product ID)

The last line being the most appropriate, so maybe there is some hope here. If you don't know the product ID then all you have to do is to plug in your modem, go through the procedure you use to detach the storage, but do not connect with it then run the command:

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lsusb

In a terminal. You will get some output something like this:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 07ab:fc86 Freecom Technologies
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 15ca:00c3 Textech International Ltd. Mini Optical Mouse
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 004: ID 19d2:0001 ONDA Communication S.p.A.
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 1241:1503 Belkin Keyboard
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 058f:9254 Alcor Micro Corp. Hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 064e:a101 Suyin Corp. Acer CrystalEye Webcam
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

You need to identify which is your modem (if you can't do that initially then first run lsusb without it plugged in then run it again with it plugged in and note the difference). In my case I know my modem is called ONDA Communications so its ID is 19d2:0001.

Later on in the usb_modeswitch.conf entry for the E220 (you can use this same entry) you will see lines like this:

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct= 0x1003

You then change those figures to the ID for your modem (but with 0x in front) so if it were my modem above the entry would change to:

DefaultVendor= 0x19d2
DefaultProduct= 0x0001

The last step is to remove the comment mark from ONE of the two lines as below:

# choose one of these:
#DetachStorageOnly=1
HuaweiMode=1

Then probably reboot and try again. If uncommenting the first of those lines does not work then recomment it and uncomment the second, reboot and try again.

Hope that helps.

[ralukk]

have you tried it with mint 8? for me it works but with the uggly preparations i mentioned earlier... and it's pretty annoying repeating it every single time, on mint 7 i only plugged in the modem and it would connect automatically.
i realise that the problem is that mint 8 recognises my modem as a usb storage device, a cd-rom drive, and mint 7 or ubuntu 9.04 didn't do that. that's why if i remove the modem from the mass storage device list it works...
the problem is, how can i make mint 8 to see it automatically as a modem and not as a usb storage device, is it a way to set up that so it can remember it for ever?
if i can't find a way to connect it automatically i will surely un-upgrade to mint 7....

[viking777]

have you tried it with mint 8? for me it works but with the uggly preparations i mentioned earlier... and it's pretty annoying repeating it every single time, on mint 7 i only plugged in the modem and it would connect automatically.
i realise that the problem is that mint 8 recognises my modem as a usb storage device, a cd-rom drive, and mint 7 or ubuntu 9.04 didn't do that. that's why if i remove the modem from the mass storage device list it works...
the problem is, how can i make mint 8 to see it automatically as a modem and not as a usb storage device, is it a way to set up that so it can remember it for ever?
if i can't find a way to connect it automatically i will surely un-upgrade to mint 7....

I don't understand this post. I just spent quite a long time explaining exactly how I think you can do what you want on Mint 8. I haven't tried it myself because I don't need to, My Huawei K3565 works with Mint 8, it doesn't need anything else. My E220 doesn't work on Mint 8 whatever you do. It is my opinion that changes to the kernel have caused this as you are quite right it doesn't happen on Mint 7. You may want to read the next post I am about to make.

[viking777]

Something to watch - usb_modeswitch version 1.0.7.

A few days ago usb_modeswitch brought out a new version of their switching software. It is explicitly targeted at users of Ubuntu Karmic (and thus Mint 8 ). They obviously recognise that there is a problem on these distros.

At the moment there is no .deb package available. I tried compiling it myself, but it just resulted in the usual jumble of unhelpful error messages (nothing to do with build-essential btw).

As soon as I can get hold of a deb package I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

[ralukk]

i tried the way you suggested, but it doesn't work for me... it still sees the modem as an usb storage device... is there any chance that this will be fixed in the following updates?

[viking777]

i tried the way you suggested, but it doesn't work for me... it still sees the modem as an usb storage device... is there any chance that this will be fixed in the following updates?

Have to wait and see, but I hope so.

[vrkalak]

The other day, I bought an A600 USB Modem from Cricket Communications.

Apparently, there has been lots of problems on getting this device to work in Ubuntu.
Several threads/posts about this USB modem and fixes noted >> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1146110
Mainly, because it is also, a USB storage device, as well as, a Modem. There is a 'usb_modeswitch' fix listed.

This is the only piece of hardware that I've tried in Mint/Ubuntu that didn't work "out of the box" ... at least, for me.
I bought this USB Modem for my laptop that has Mint-7 Xfce on it, as I'm not always around a Wifi site.

I've been kinda sorta messing around with it for the past 2 days, just playing around with it, just to see if maybe, I could make it work . . . and it just started working!!!

[viking777]

I just had a look at this 'flipflop.sh' thing, and all it is is a script that invokes the command line interface of usb_modeswitch with a command for that particular modem.

Is that how you got your modem going or did you do something else?

[viking777]

Something to watch - usb_modeswitch version 1.0.7.

A few days ago usb_modeswitch brought out a new version of their switching software. It is explicitly targeted at users of Ubuntu Karmic (and thus Mint 8 ). They obviously recognise that there is a problem on these distros.

At the moment there is no .deb package available. I tried compiling it myself, but it just resulted in the usual jumble of unhelpful error messages (nothing to do with build-essential btw).

As soon as I can get hold of a deb package I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

Good News Bad News!

The good news is that a .deb package now exists for 1.0.7, and I have it working on Sidux where I replaced 1.0.2. As with the previous version, all three of my modems work, but with the additional advantage that it unlike version 1.0.2 it requires no post install configuration.

The bad news. When I tried porting this to Ubuntu 9.10 it refused to install (it actually complained about its own -data file not being compatible! - very strange). I tried a forced install (after installing its -data file first) but this is nearly always a bad idea and although it installed it resulted in a system where none of my modems worked. This might explain why I had difficulty compiling it from source. Anyway it is obviously not ready for Ubuntu/Mint just yet, but the .deb file was only released today so it will come in time - fingers crossed for an improvement.

[vrkalak]

In the original post of the the above mentioned Ubuntu Forums thread ... there is a link to a .deb file for downloading usb_modeswitch
Also, I noticed that the usb_modeswitch app is in the Synaptic repositories.

I just followed the instruction in that post, and made the flipflop.sh files executeable . . . Done.
I've now re-started the usb_modeswitch ./flopflop.sh files several times to test it.

[Xlayer2006]

I've owned a Huawei EC168 since november. I was using it on my laptop until a few days ago when i finally got fed up with windows. I started looking for a linux distro that would be "plug-n-play" compatible with my huawei when i stumbled upon Linux Mint 8. Once I had Mint fully installed I plugged my card into the usb and it recognized it right away. The problem was i couldn't figure out how to get it setup to connect to the internet. Turned out that it was even easier to get setup and going then it was in windows (talk about linux not being windows! ) Starting with the "networks" icon on the right of the task bar it was six straight-forward left clicks and i was information superhighway bound! Upon each startup its just two left clicks (one less than windows ) and i'm connected.

Anyway, there is my two cents. Whether that's helpful info or not I will leave that up to you.

[viking777]

Oh yes, some things do 'just work' like my Huawei K3565 for example which works on every distro I use. On the other hand some things work in Mint 7 but not Mint 8 and some things don't work in anything at all. The whole subject seems to be like a lottery and if you have the right 'ticket' (ie modem!) then you win. It really should be better than that though (and it used to be better round about kernel .26 to .28 but now it has gone bad again and that is very frustrating).

[viking777]

Something to watch - usb_modeswitch version 1.0.7.

A few days ago usb_modeswitch brought out a new version of their switching software. It is explicitly targeted at users of Ubuntu Karmic (and thus Mint 8 ). They obviously recognise that there is a problem on these distros.

At the moment there is no .deb package available. I tried compiling it myself, but it just resulted in the usual jumble of unhelpful error messages (nothing to do with build-essential btw).

As soon as I can get hold of a deb package I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

The pace of change seems to be extremely rapid over at the modeswitch 'factory'. With 1.0.7 not even available on Ubuntu yet, they have now already launched 1.1.0. Again this is not available in a .deb package yet, even on Sidux, but is available from their website as a tarball.

Should you wish to try it you will need three things. The usb-modeswitch package itself, build-essential and libusb-dev (this is why I couldn't compile it before). Extract the files somewhere like /opt, cd to that directory in a terminal and type

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sudo make install

and the job is done (remove any existing usb-modeswitch version first).

The problem for me is that it doesn't make any difference to my E220 modem it is still stuck in an endless loop of 60 seconds modem mode and three seconds storage mode. My other two modems work with it though, and all three continue to work on Sidux using modeswitch 1.0.7.

If you are having problems with mobile broadband modems then version 1.1.0 might be worth a try (unless you have an E220 )

[trapperpete52]

After reading your posts and links I havea question but don't want to hijack your thread. Would this include Balckberry phones as modems as well? I have been trying to find an answer to this on http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 44#p232444.
Huesse has been trying to help me with this problem but he isn't familiar with how a Blackberry functions. I am a total newbe to linux.

[viking777]

After reading your posts and links I havea question but don't want to hijack your thread. Would this include Balckberry phones as modems as well? I have been trying to find an answer to this on http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 44#p232444.
Huesse has been trying to help me with this problem but he isn't familiar with how a Blackberry functions. I am a total newbe to linux.

Sorry, but I know nothing about Blackberries either - except the ones you eat! A lot of the configuration for a mobile phone is done from the phone itself unlike a mobile modem where there is no configuration interface (unless you run windows). On my phone I just have to turn on USB Internet and plug it in and it creates a connection. It doesn't connect, but then I don't have any credit on my payg mobile which might be the cause! That is another issue though, accessing the net through a phone connection can work out more expensive than mobile broadband it depends on your contract type of course.

So basically I don't think anything in this thread will be much help to you, and neither can I , sorry.

EDIT. I just tried an experiment which is to connect my mobile phone via Mint7 instead of Mint8. Not only did it automatically create a connection but it connected as well. (Mint 7 is far better at handling mobile broadband than Mint8, which is what made me try it). You don't say which version of Mint you are using but if you are using 8 and have access to 7 then why not try it? Another alternative - and I have answered a couple of posts recently on exactly this topic - is to downgrade the network manager. Mint7 is using 0.7.0.100 whereas Mint8 is using 0.7.996. I might even try this myself it would be an interesting experiment.

EDIT 2. Correction there, in the case of connecting my mobile phone it is not the network manager making a difference, but rather the order in which I do things. If I connect the phone to the pc first and then switch on USB Internet it won't connect, but if I do it the other way round it does . Whilst experimenting with this I note that the phone when plugged in asks if I want to use 'File Transfer Mode' or 'Phone Mode', I make the appropriate selection in the phone itself. This is almost equivalent to what usb-modeswitch does, the difference being that the broadband modem has no interface to ask which mode you want to use so either the kernel or modeswitch have to do the choosing for you. In windows of course the connection software performs that function. That is why modeswitch will be no use on your Blackberry, you select the mode you want to use from the phone itself, not from the computer it is connected to.