I need a prepaid internet Dongle that WORKS

[Lisiano]

AGAIN. Only modems that work OUT OF THE BOX are modems that use SIM cards. You could just go and buy a compatible SIM modem, then buy a prepaid SIM card with a affordable price list for data. Then use that on Linux. OR we could actually try to make that CDMA modem of yours to work. Please do what I told you to do in my post above. I'm asking this because modems, while having the same model, might have different internal hardware (Different revisions). This is, luckily, not true for WiFi modules.

[zacharysonicfast]

Thanks, but I have a 3G version of the ZTE dongle.

My main problem is I have used PCLOS for about 3 years and nearly never had to alter files or manually make changes. PCLOS is great but doesn't work on my new laptop. I have a 64 bit i5 and the vid card is too new for them to adjust things.

Note: I am not opposed to typing although it takes me a long time to do it but how will your information help me if I use a live version of Linux? Windows has spoiled me with the ease of use.
But it is too problematic for me - required constant babysitting with antimalware programs and constant crashing. Linux almost never crashed and isn't hampered with many of the headaches windows has.

If I were 30 years younger I probably would learn programming and make a fix for everyone. I used to love MSDOS.

I feel that Ubuntu (and other distro's) should show you exactly what is connected, where the files are, etc in the hardware section. I can find nothing in there for internet devices, especially those that don't even work.

Perhaps someone could ask the developers to put an icon in there that shows all devices?

Also, I contacted ZTE. They said to contact the ISP about divers and such.

I asked them during the email if the device was some sort of spyware or tracking device. They didn't reply to that question and merely said they code the device according to what the network provider wants and do not market to the public.

So be forewarned that something sneaky may be happening behind people's backs.

Perhaps an easy to use packet/data analyzer & logging could be of use?

Maybe that is why they won't fix it to work with linux - too easy for them to get caught?

I can't install any version of linux right now because of UEFI. When I did try it and went back to test windows, windows forced a R/R and disabled Linux.

UEFI is very problematic. I can only use a live version of linux.

[zacharysonicfast]

AGAIN. Only modems that work OUT OF THE BOX are modems that use SIM cards. You could just go and buy a compatible SIM modem, then buy a prepaid SIM card with a affordable price list for data. Then use that on Linux. OR we could actually try to make that CDMA modem of yours to work. Please do what I told you to do in my post above. I'm asking this because modems, while having the same model, might have different internal hardware (Different revisions). This is, luckily, not true for WiFi modules.

Unfortunately my dongle doesn't use a sim card (sigh)

Right now I am on Win7 and don't have the dongle with me (wife has it).

Note: on another post I was looking for a way to dual boot linux with windows.

I found one such way but it is a pain to do.
1st unplug the win hard drive.
2nd get an external usb drive - preferably a usb 3.0 and ssd drive)
3rd turn off or disable uefi in bios if you can.
4th install linux.
5th test
6th D/C that drive and reattach the win hard drive
7th turn the uefi in bios back on if you turned it off.
8th start the computer and windows should start like nothing ever happened.
9th shut down computer plug in the external drive
start computer and press ESC, F1,F2, or whatever key lets you choose what to boot from.

do not choose anything that says uefi on it. Some drives, especially flash drives will have a uefi listing as well as a regular listing.

Choose the external drive and the computer should work just fine.

The biggest problem I can see is people are trying to dual boot with uefi and windows as part of the setup. Anf grub interferes with uefi and windows.

As long as neither sees the other at the linux install and you manually select at boot time everything should work OK.

I did this with a USB 3.0 external drive enclosure and a 64GB ssd drive.

Speed isn't screaming but it is usable with little slow downs.

An enterprising individual might cut and splice wires installing a single pole dual throw switch to select which one before boot up

Again, I can't seem to find the post I made about dual booting. But at least it is documented somewhere (here).

Can you tell me which dongles with SIM cards are out there?
I need one that is locally obtainable and prepaid with cash.

Verizon wants full ID information which isn't needed for a prepay.

Cricket does to some degree but they aren't too picky about the ID stuff. A piece of mail with your name and address on it works for some of them.