huawei e173 dongle

[sevenjen]

Hi to one and all,

Many thanks for past assistance.

I have now downloaded and installed the latest Pclos and is now fully up to date. And working fine.In fact, in the past I have system hopped. It is now time to settle down.

I need to change to a wireless broadband plan and would like to stay with Internode, who are offering the above dongle as part of the deal. The snag is Internode will not guarantee it's use with Linux operating systems.

Could someone offer advice and point me in the direction, please, before I spend my money.
Cheers,

Sevenjen

[bicol_willem]

I have had always good luck with huawei usb modems. Just make sure you have the latest firmware installed (kernel-firmware-extra) next to the usual kernel firmware.
My guess is you are good to go with this one but .... I got non of the same model.
Maybe you can somehow test one from someone or even from the company (if you have a laptop that would be easy to do).
Setup through PCC >> Network and Internet >> Set up a new network etc. >> GPRS/Edge/3G is easy as 1,2,3, where the next step will detect your modem already. If not you might be out of luck (unlikely).

Edit:  I found here some info about eventual update of firmware of said modem:
http://www.3gdatacardmodem.in/2011/01/huawei-e173-hands-on-review-update.html
Probably no need but just in case.

Also this link can become handy ..
http://www.unlocked-dongle.com/mobile/Downloads/Windows-PC-Software/Huawei/Modem-Software/E173.html

[Just17]

Although the user in this thread reported some problem, the dongle did work

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,101613.msg867989.html

[Ramchu]

This is what I did to get my Huawei EC168 dongle to work

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,71649.0.html

[sevenjen]

Hi once more,

Thank you for the kind posts I have bought my dongle, but am at a loss of how to connect to the web using it.

The dongle works in Vista.

Using Wine with PcLos is the nearest I have got to getting on line. I now have an icon on my desktop which leads me to the set up window. But no connection. From here I have looked at the help manual and other bits and pieces.

lsusb in the shell reveals the dongle to be recognised.

Installing as PCC >> Network and Internet >> Set up a new network etc GPRS/Edge/3G does not connect me.
 
Using select Network and Internet > Set up a new network interface
Next select - Alolog telephone modem (POTS) - click next
Select - Manual Choice and click next
Now choose which serial port your modem is connected to ( not sure about this, tried several) and click next
Select Your Provider ( Australia is not listed here, Could not nominate provider) and click next

and filling in the other details that were asked for resulted in, no connection.

The default pin number  given to me from my ISP was 0000. The PUK code was not needed.

I realize this is not the most coherent post, I am trying to help myself, but at a loss of where to from here. Thank you,

sevenjen

[seahawk5]

Hi sevenjen, I hope this helps, when I used my bigpond dongle I used to connect by doing what you're doing then using ttyS1/COM2 then click unlisted-edit manually,then connection for me was telstra.bigpond so yours must be internode then phone no in Oz as far as I know is #99* or cos I can't remember might be *99# then your internode username & password leave as pap/chap then just next next next then tick the users can connect &other 2 then when promted to connect now just click connect. Adrian

[sevenjen]

Hi again,

I am beginning to realize my connection problem is quite wide spread.

In other forums the following was asked to be posted in reply to a similar problem as mine.

-bash-4.1# dmesg | grep tty
console [tty0] enabled
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB3
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB4
option1 ttyUSB3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now disconnected from ttyUSB3
option1 ttyUSB4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now disconnected from ttyUSB4
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB3
usb 1-3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB4
option1 ttyUSB3: GSM modem (1-port) converter now disconnected from ttyUSB3
option1 ttyUSB4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now disconnected from ttyUSB4
-bash-4.1#  lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 174f:5a35 Syntek Sonix 1.3MPixel USB 2.0 Camera
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 192f:0916 Avago Technologies, Pte.
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 12d1:1436 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
-bash-4.1#

I do not understand quite what is needed. My device is there, at the bottom.

When attempting to install the Moviestar 3.5G/driver  the following error message appears at the end

Install NDIS driver failed.
The compiling environment is not all ready.
Please check gcc, make and kernel buid(/lib/modules/3.2.18-pclos2/build) to be all installed?
Now please enter any key to finish other installations.

I have installed gcc and the correct kernel through the package manager.

Installing using PCC to connect is not helping. Maybe I need to start again? All aid appreciated.

sevenjen

[bicol_willem]

sevenjen I think you´re totally of track right now.

"The dongle works in Vista.

Using Wine with PcLos is the nearest I have got to getting on line. I now have an icon on my desktop which leads me to the set up window. "

You seems looking for "Windows like" solutions. Forget that to begin with.

If that kind of configuration speaks to you try to configure umtsmon.

But (in my view) better is to configure the modem via PCC > Network & Internet > Setup a new network interface > GPRS/Edge/3G.
If you try so you will see the modem detected (or not). The rest (if detected) is simply configuration. You do then need the right details IF you´re provider is not listed. Maybe you can find these by contacting your provider or extracting the info from your Windows install. Just don´t try to make Linux act like Windows and use Windows software. That is the road to disaster.  In case you got the details and you still like to try umtsmon let us know. (There is a tricky setting you need to know before it to work which I right now cannot remember from my head, I got to look at it but not installed right now on this machine).

[sevenjen]

Hi and good news,

I am now connected using my huawei e173 dongle.

Thank you for your post bicol_willem. I was floundering a bit. I concentrated on following your instructions after removing the previous bits and pieces I had installed, talking to Internode, changing their details and bingo.

Thank you,

sevenjen

[bicol_willem]

Well, well done after all 

Glad to have been of help.