Success at last! AOA110 Linux + Huawei E220 3G USB Modem

I've finally got online via my Huawei E220 3G USB Modem!

I'm using the Vodafone Mobile Connect Card Driver for Linux software. The modem connects to the 3 network here in UK.

Never had any problems installing the software, but getting connected just would not work at all, despite following numerous guides on ths forum on and others.

I even went to the lengths of trying other Linux OS's (Mandriva 2008.1 and Xubuntu 8.04) but that just brought other woes.

In the end, I restored (once again!) back to Linpus Lite from the recovery CD.

But, this time, I didn't bother running Live Update to get the updates - I had always previously done this straight away after restroing from the recovery CD - and I decided to install VMCCD and see what happens. Voila! Connected no problems!

So, something downloaded and installed by Live Update must be jinxing VMCCD from getting connected.

Now waiting for the announced official support for 3G USB modems to be released - no way am I doing Live Update until then...

 

I'm using Mandriva 200.1 and the modem is supported out of the box. You can use umtsmon or kppp. Both works perfectly well with Mandriva 2008.1. I really like umtsmon better as it has the same features like the Windows application.

 

I managed to get my Huawei E220 running on Linpus Lite without the need for the Vodafone connect software.

The procedure I followed was:

1. Install gcc and make via yum:
yum install gcc make

2. Donwload huawei.tar.bz2 from http://oozie.fm.interia.pl/pro/huawei-e220/

3. Extract the file:
tar xjvf huawei.tar.bz2

4. Change to the new directory and su to root
cd huawei
sudo su

5. Compiled the software
make generic_install

6. Plugin you modem and your done, Linpus will now detect the modem.

I use wvdial to make the connections, my /etc/wvdial.conf is setup for T-Mobile 3G as below:

[Dialer pin]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 460800
Init1 = AT+Cpin=12345

[Dialer tmobile]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 460800
Init2 = AT
Init3 = AT&FE0V1X1&D2&C1S0=0
ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = *99***1#
Username = username
Password = tmobile

To make the connection run : wvdial tmobile

I have used the files from OOZIE (http://oozie.fm.interia.pl/pro/huawei-e220/) on my other linux systems and never had a problem so highly recommend the solution he has provided to allow the kernel to detect and run the huawei e220 modem correctly.

So far Live update has not effected my installation, obviously if a new kernel not supporting the Huawei e220 modem correctly was downloaded and installed you would have to rerun the procedure. This doesnt bother me as its a 5 minute procedure.

My wvdial.conf configuration is for T-Mobile 3G and may not work on other service providers.

 

Those modems are "just" serial modems, with an extended Hayes command set (AT commands). No special software needed, as long as you get the USB connection mapped to a tty - that's what the usbserial module does. After that, you can use a terminal program on /dev/ttyUSBx - or a ppp dialer.

 

Yes I experimented with Mandriva 2008.1 and I did actually get online with my modem whilst trying it. But it seemed to take much longer to boot up than Linpus Lite and then it went a bit flakey at boot time with some curious hangings, so I abandoned it!

 

Just to clarify, the procedure you described works OK after Live Updates have been applied?

 

I have performed a number of live updates after the procedure and everything worked. The only time a live update would effect it would be if a newer kernel was installed.