Usable if you have a vodafone version of this device, might even work on other networks but cant confirm this.
if that helps some one out im glad, if not well it will the post will vanish beneath all the new ones soon enough!
first some preparations, well 1 of them. elyssa and hardy both seem to want to detect the e272 as an airprime device so this needs to be blacklisted
open a terminal and type
'sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist'
add 'blacklist airprime' to the end of the file and save.
Download and install the Drivers and utility program, this thing also tracks your usage as well so is quite handy no need for pen and paper to keep track!!
next step is for some permission editing "/opt/vmc/etc/ppp/peers" you will need to set the persmissions for this folder so that it is accessable by the group 'vmc'. 'vmc' is a group created by the installer to guage who has permissions to run the program. this is easy in elyssa thanks to the wonders of 'open as root'
voila insert the modem and start the utility which is handily placed in the internet section of the mint menu select 'huawei' from the device list and enter details for vodafone Im using the following:
username: vodafone uk
password: vodafone uk
APN: internet
leaving all other details as defaults. The username and password seem to be happy as just vodafone, but im picky and want to tell them where i am as well not that they care really!
with all that done all you need to do is press connect and your away, you can set the usage bars to your limit and set a warning level in the preferences.
I should note that if you dont do the first step and blacklist airprime you will have to plug in the device run program, remove device when not detected close program, reinsert device and run program again to get it to initialise plus the utility doesnt correctly track your usage.
should also link to this as it is a guide that helped me get started with the device.
EDIT: hmm the usage thing has buggered up, will have to look into that see if i can find out why.