How to get the Huawei 1550 3G (Three UK) mobile broadband dongle modem working in Slackware 13

How to get the Huawei 1550 3G (Three UK) mobile broadband dongle modem working in Slackware 13.
SOURCE: http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/networking/huawei_e_1550_3g_broadband_dongle_three_uk_slackware_13_how

This device is not currently supported directly yet by the kernel and when plugged in looks like an external drive. To get it to work as a modem the follwing steps will get it working.

Thanks to all the sources I pulled this together from

Prerequisites:
Need to belong to sudoers

Step 1.

Download usb_modeswitch from http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch
This is a Debian package, so a couple of extra steps are needed.
Extract to a directory of your choice, the cd to that directory.

Either trash or delete the current binary file, then run the usual make and make install (as root) to install the resulting binary to /usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch, and the config file to /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf

Step 2

Plug in the 3g Mobile dongle, open a konsole or switch to cli mode and run (as root) dmesg and make a note of the dongle device id. Should see something similar to this

Code:

usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1446
usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-6: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
usb 1-6: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
usb-storage: device found at 7
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usb-storage: device found at 7
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning

In this example, I am looking for the idVendor and idProduct strings. 12d1 and 1446 respectively
Unplug the dongle. (Be sure to eject safely if notified it has been detected as a usb storage device)

Step 3

Now edit and save the config file /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf using your favourite text editor and add the following line in the Huawei section: (well commented so quite easy)

Code:

########################################################

# Huawei E1550

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct= 0x1446
MessageEndPoint= "0x01"
MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000"


;DetachStorageOnly=1
;HuaweiMode=1

########################################################

Replace the DefaultVendor and DefaultProduct ids with whatever you discovered in step 2

Step 4

Now create a new udev rule for the dongle to have it automagically switch to modem mode. I called mine 45-3G.rules, but you can name yours whatever you like, and place in the /etc/udev/rules.d directory. It should look like this:

Code:

ACTION=="add" SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1446", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1", RUN+="/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch"

Above rule all on one line

Again, use your own idProduct and idVendor codes. Now either reboot, or issue (as root)

Code:

/etc/rc.d/rc.udev reload

to see your new rule.

Step 5

Plug the dongle back in and wait around 15 seconds then issue the dmesg command again and you should see this or similar:
Code:

usb 1-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9
usb 1-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi27 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
scsi28 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1446
usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-6: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
usb 1-6: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
usb-storage: device found at 9
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usb-storage: device found at 9
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usb 1-6: usbfs: process 24002 (usb_modeswitch) did not claim interface 0 before use
usb 1-6: USB disconnect, address 9
usb_storage: module is already loaded
usb_storage: module is already loaded
usb 1-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 10
usb 1-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb-storage: probe of 1-6:1.0 failed with error -5
option 1-6:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 1-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
usb-storage: probe of 1-6:1.1 failed with error -5
option 1-6:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 1-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
usb-storage: probe of 1-6:1.2 failed with error -5
option 1-6:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 1-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
scsi32 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 10
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi33 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1001
usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-6: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
usb 1-6: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
usb-storage: device found at 10
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 32:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sr0: scsi-1 drive
sr 32:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
sr 32:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5
usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 33:0:0:0: Direct-Access HUAWEI MMC Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 33:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 33:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

Notice that the idPrduct string has now changed to 1001. This means that the process has been successful, and as can be seen, the dongle is now identified as a GSM modem.

Step 6

Use your favourite dial up tool to connect to the 3G (Three UK) network. The parameters are:

* Device node is /dev/ttyUSB0
* Number to dial: *99#
* Login ID: Three
* Password: Three


Step 7 (optional)

Download and install UMTSmon from http://umtsmon.sourceforge.net/ for an easy GUI interface.