How do I configure wireless mobile broadband?

[Jake Hapeta]

I just installed Fedora 10 from dvd, then went to install modem. Usual method was plug in and it installed itself.
It's a wireless stick and mobile broadband plan with dodo. The sticks a HUAWEI E169 HSDPA USB Stick.
Although I read as much as I could prior to installing, I'm an absolute newbie so please help. Many thanks Jake

[trigpoint]

Has it shown up as a new connection when you click NetworkManager?

[amturnip]

I don't know anything about mobile broadband except that progress was supposedly made between Fedora 10 and Fedora 11.

[Jake Hapeta]

Originally Posted by trigpoint

Has it shown up as a new connection when you click NetworkManager?

Hi, no it didn't. the folder Broadband comes up on the desktop when I double click to install it comes up error, wrong command.
I can't actually see it cos I installed an old hard drive with windows still on it to access net. I think I need the correct command to install the exe file. Thanks for your help Jake

[amturnip]

If a folder opens on your desktop when you plug in the modem, that just means the modem looks like a thumb drive. Which is ok but it doesn't get you anywhere. The exe, probably intended for Windows, will not be of help.

You might try Fedora 11 instead of 10. NetworkManager is supposed to auto-detect some mobile broadband modems and supposedly it got better during the intervening 9 months. (Software Updates preferences even has a checkbox to let you control whether it uses a mobile-broadband connection.)

[ryptyde]

I had a 3G usb and yes there is a .exe on it for setting up the connection in Windows and activating it. I had a dual boot with F10 and XP and initially set up on XP and activated the device and verified it worked in XP. I rebooted and went into F10 and under NetworkManager>Edit Connections>Network Connections>Mobile Broadband was listed "Auto Mobile Broadband (CDMA) connection 1" and you can edit settings there.

[shess01]

For CDMA broadband cards, in order to get the card to be provisioned, initially you will need to install the connection manager in a windows environment. This performs an important step - provisioning the card.

Afterward, you should be able to plug the card in an NetworkManager should see the card.

You can verify that the hardware is being recognized by looking at dmesg after plugging the modem into a usb port.

[Jake Hapeta]

Thanks people for your help so far. Rang my ISP they said they're not supported by linux system a song and dance they suggested googling it. No help at all really.
I do NOT want to go back to microsoft! Having found linux I'm philosophically behind the entire free systems cause.
I can't be the only person who's faced this modem install problem. So I'll keep checking back here.
My email is jacobhapeta@gmail.com if anyone wants to contact direct.
Thanks again Jake

[petercn]

Hi,

I had the same problem, the auto detecting function just didn't work on my card!!!

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=225330

Peter

[trigpoint]

Memories coming back.

Most of my Mobile Broadband experience is through my phone, however my brother in law has a USB Mobile Broadband device which I borrowed and tried (my Fedora 10 USB live and his laptop).

On plugging it in, it was detected as 2 devices, USB mass storage and USB serial. The USB mass storage device has the windows drivers (ignore this, just close it).

Left click the NetworkManager and you should see along with your "Wired Network" and "Wireless Network" and new heading "Mobile Broadband" and a new connection underneath that. If not you really should try fedora 11 or try following my guide http://www.trigpoint.me.uk/3GModemConfig.

You could try running dmesg after connecting the modem to ensure its detected, start fedora first and then plug the modem in to ensure its at the end,

I assume you are using GPRS/3G, locations in your profile really help with this sort of problem.

[JFDee]

Many mobile broadband modems have to be switched to a new device state before usage. In Windows the proprietary driver (that is contained int the storage portion of the modems) does it after installation.

With Linux, it matters which brand your modem is. In newer kernels Option, Sierra and Huawei devices are switched via special handling in the storage driver. For other devices or older systems there is USB_ModeSwitch which needs some manual tweaking but comes with a lot of documentation on the homepage.

In FC11 there is a "usb_modeswitch" package, I'm not sure about FC10.

I'm working on a fully automatic device recognition for USB_ModeSwitch but this might take some weeks. As of now, if you have your device working with it you can add a rule for the "udev" daemon to switch your specific device automatically.

See http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/