How To : Mobile Broadband Connections [ Ubuntu 11.04 : 10.10 : 10.04 : 9.10]

[llamahunter]

Hi there-

Having trouble with Ubuntu 10.04 and my Sierra Wireless 598U CDMA USB modem. Worked like a charm in 9.10, now very very flakey (but occasionally works) in 10.04. It seems to be recognized and establish a working connection almost all the tim, but then 80+% of the time drops the connection 5 seconds after establishing it. I have to unplug the USB modem and plug it back in to try again. I filed (and have been updating) a bug with launchpad, but no one seems to be looking at it.

Any ideas? Would really like this to work smoothly again.

Richard

[alexfish]

Hi johnBUK

RE: Posts #29 and #30

welcome to the forum

Your post is Certainly most welcome and useful , there have been numerous threads and posts regarding 3 at the Networking and Wireless , if you frequent these forums your input may be appreciated by other members trying to get connected with 3

once again thanks

regards alexfish

[JackAbear]

Hi there-

Having trouble with Ubuntu 10.04 and my Sierra Wireless 598U CDMA USB modem. Worked like a charm in 9.10, now very very flakey (but occasionally works) in 10.04. It seems to be recognized and establish a working connection almost all the tim, but then 80+% of the time drops the connection 5 seconds after establishing it. I have to unplug the USB modem and plug it back in to try again. I filed (and have been updating) a bug with launchpad, but no one seems to be looking at it.

Any ideas? Would really like this to work smoothly again.

Richard

I also get similar problem quite often with my mf668, being on the outskirts, i.e. 4 clicks oustide of recognized 7 click service area, whether I'm using it with win 7 64, windows XP home, or UbuntuStudio 10.04 64bit. And I only get service with the rocket stick on a 6' extension going to a very narrow (6cm) 3 inch square area in my dinning room window overlooking the valley. move it one inch off and it goes green instead of blue, another inch or anywhere else in the house and it stays red...no signal at all...
On good days I get up to 2mb/s, on poor days I get between 2 kb/s to 50 kb/s with frequent drop offs,all depending it seems on wind direction, humidity( air density) skips off thick cloud cover, stick itself getting too hot from the sun... etc. (6 ft extension also creates resistance and worsens my reception, but what can you do?)
So, my question to you is, have you changed the position or angle of your stick in any way?
Just food for thought, hope this info helps,
My two beans

[JohnBUK]

Hi Alexfish, thank you. I do frequent the site as many people have been very kind and helpful to me. I have very little technical knowledge re Linux / Ubuntu but am delighted to "repay" in my own small way!!
John

[BigScaryDragon]

I am hoping that GeorgeVita will pick up on this cry for help, but failing that, any kind soul will do!

My netbook is running 10.4 and I have updated it through update manager. I have bought an o2 dongle (MF100) on payandgo. It is ZTE device. I went into Network Manager and entered the details and I now get o2 payandgo as an option under the network manager. I read some of GeorgeVita's earlier posts and noted that I should not enter the keyring password when asked, and cancelling this request brings up a request for the ZTE password. I enter payandgo (which was entered by Ubuntu when I created the link). It tries to connect, but does not.

Also, when Ubuntu created the o2 link, it put *99# as the phone number. I have tried with this, and also inserted the actual number that came with the dongle.

Is there any hope for me? Not sure I can cope with difficult stuff like wvdial (which I saw on another post).

Thanks in anticpation,

Jim Whitston

I had exactly the same issue (with the MF100 too), and solved it following these steps (lifted from http://www.redirecttonull.com/?p=202):

1. Plug in the USB dongle, and wait 30 seconds for it to be detected and initialised
2. Go to System -> Preferences -> Network Connections.
3. Click the Mobile Broadband tab
4. Click “Add” to start the wizard to add the USB dongle
5. The first page should have “ZTE Incorporated ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM” selected in the device drop down. Click “Forward”
6. Select your country. Click “Forward”
7. Select the provider (O2). Click “Forward”
8. Select your plan (Pay and Go (Prepaid)). Click “Forward”
9. Click “Apply”
10. A new window will pop up. Under the “Mobile Broadband” tab change the defaults to the following:
    Number: *99#
    Username: o2bb
    Password: password
    APN: m-bb.o2.co.uk
    Network: (leave blank)
    PIN: (leave blank)
    
11. Click “Apply” to close the new window
12. Click “OK” to close the “Network Connections” window

[alexfish]

Reference Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat :Moved to Post #2

[toloykhan]

[QTUOE=alexfish;9283123]Sakis3g :

This is a recent dialler so as to its usage I have listed part of the Wiki site , well worth a visit

Advantages of sakis3g click on the “Sakis3G script is all about”

If you have installed usb_modeswitch try to disable it , since the usb_modeswitch is part of Sakis3g.[QTUOE]
thanx so much this was realy helpful for me I use it to initilizing my hawawi 3g data card witch haven't software driver for ubuntu thanx again .

[rasaiashok]

Sakis3g :

This is a recent dialler so as to its usage I have listed part of the Wiki site , well worth a visit

Advantages of sakis3g click on the “Sakis3G script is all about”

If you have installed usb_modeswitch try to disable it , since the usb_modeswitch is part of Sakis3g.


Getting started :

• Read what Sakis3G script is all about.
• Installation guide.
• Locate user interface best fitting your environment, or explore its command line powers.

Getting support :

• Check if your operator is found within list of known operators, or information you need to collect if it is not.
• Learn how to receive support.

Read more :

• Read Sakis3G manual.
• Check out usage guides.
• Read all about dependencies and requirements.
• How to recompile it if necessary.
• Learn how to configure it.
• Frequently Asked Questions.

http://wiki.sakis3g.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Forum:
http://forum.sakis3g.org/smf/index.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to install latest version in Ubuntu: . Possibly Sakis3g 0.2.0e . now includes usb_modeswitch " Version 1.1.3 (C) Josua Dietze 2010"

From the terminal:

sudo bash

cd /usr/bin

wget ' http://www.sakis3g.org/versions/latest/sakis3g.gz'

echo "dda70fd95fb952dbb979af88790d3f6e sakis3g.gz" | md5sum -c

You should see: sakis3g.gz: OK

gunzip sakis3g.gz

chmod +x sakis3g


then run sakis3g from the terminal

Code:

sakis3g

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~



Note : Normally I do not recommend a preferred use of software : but I could recommend trying Sakis3g , if your connection is 3g that is
Sakis3g + Netspeed + Wammu will give you a powerful set : can only but try


Available options are:

CONNECT
Connect with 3G
PREPARE
Only prepare modem (Setup + PIN unlock + Register Network + Update HAL)
SETUP
Only setup modem (Switch + Load module + Setup tty)
SWITCH
Only switch modem (if applicable)
COMPILE
Compile embedded Usb-ModeSwitch
DESKTOP
Create desktop shortcut
ABOUT
About Sakis3G
HELP
Show help

For Command line usage :See also: Examples

Sir
I am using Ubuntu 10.10 I am living in India. I am using BSNL USB dial up Modem. It works Windows XP. But it does not connect Ubuntu 10.10. Please give me Idea.

[jdcrownover]

Wow, looonnnngggg post. A prime example of why I have NOT yet made Ubuntu my primary operating system -- there is NO SINGLE GOOD INSTALL APPLICATION available.

I've been looking around trying to figure out how to get my Options Velocity modem working. I see lots of suggestions with lots of packages, some of which I have install, but most of these require you to KNOW LINUX AT THE SYSTEM LEVEL to do anything. THEY DON'T EVEN TELL YOU WHICH DIRECTORY YOU NEED TO PUT STUFF IN.

I read a post made in JANUARY 2010 about ZeroCD. Here it is 11 months later, and there is STILL NOTHING IN THE UBUNTU UPDATES which allows my zeroCD to operate.

And I haven't even attempted yet to attach my peripheral devices to my Ubuntu laptop, mainly because I now expect the same LACK OF SUPPORT for them as well.

PS - I'm writing this from my WINDOWS 7 laptop, where my Options Velocity modem INSTALL WITH NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.

[GeorgeVita]

...I've been looking around trying to figure out how to get my Options Velocity modem working...

Hi jdcrownover, welcome to this forum.
I fully understand your problem with your specific 3G modem (and many other also). Some of us got tired to make our modems 'working quite good', gain some 'linux' knowledge from these tests and tried to help other people to connect.

Unfortunately these efforts are just 'history' when you try a 'compatible' 3G modem! As most manufacturers do not provide technical info to developers this 'compatibility' is a result of painful tries and/or number of modems used by other linux users.

Regards,
George