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SingTel Huawei E169 USB Modem with Fedora Core 8

July 24, 2008 By miketeo

This rattle records my experience in getting the SingTel Huawei E169 USB modem to work on my laptop running Fedora Core 8 (2.6.25.10-47.fc8). The process is straightforward and the Vodafone Mobile Connect application eliminates the need for complex pppd configurations.

You will need root and internet access to your machine and some basic skills at running commands on a shell. Before attempting the following procedures, you should ensure that your modem and your SingTel BroadBand on Mobile account is working on Windows XP or Vista first.

1. Unplug the Modem !

Yes, unplug the modem first. Reboot your machine if needed.

2. Download Softwares

The following softwares are not part of the Fedora distro. Hit the links and save the downloads to your hard disk.

2. Installing the Softwares

First, install gksu.

$> rpm -i gksu-2.0.0-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm libgksu-2.0.5-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

Next, open a terminal and run the vodafone installer.

$> sh vodafone-mobile-connect-card-driver-for-linux-2.0.beta2-fedora-installer.run

If you see failures due to missing dependencies, just yum install the packages. For example,

$> yum install python-twisted

3. Plug in Modem

Once the vodafone installer has completed the installation, plug in your Huawei USB modem. The indicator light on your modem should be blinking green initially before showing a slow blinking blue.

Now, open your /var/log/messages and check if you can see lines that are similar to the following.

Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1001
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: Manufacturer: <some cryptic characters>
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: SerialNumber: <some cryptic characters>
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: USB disconnect, address 2
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
Jul 23 09:55:27 localhost kernel: drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 4
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver option
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: drivers/usb/serial/option.c: USB Driver for GSM modems: v0.7.1
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: option 3-2:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: option 3-2:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: option 3-2:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: option 3-2:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jul 23 09:55:28 localhost kernel: usb 3-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB3

Within the whole chunk of logs, check if the modem has been successfully attached to the ttyUSB0 (the required line is marked in the above log chunk). If you don’t see this line, that means something is wrong. It is likely that the vodadone installer has failed to install some files on your machine, or you may have some other devices conflicting with your modem.

4. Configure Vodafone Mobile Connect

Start the Vodafone Mobile Connect application. The application is located under Applications > Internet. You will be prompted to select the modem device. For some reasons, my modem shows up as Huawei E660A. I have selected this and it works.

Next, you will be prompted to create a new profile. Follow the settings shown in the diagram below.

New Profile Settings

Click OK to save the settings. Now click the big green Connect button on the upper right corner of the Vodafone Mobile Connect application. A progress dialog will be shown to indicate the connection is being initiated now.

If you are not the root user, gksu will prompt you to enter the root user password. You are highly advised to use the “Remember Password” option and select “Save in the keyring”. If you have never used a keyring before, you will be prompted again to set the password for your keyring. Once you have done that, the Vodafone Mobile Connect application should be able to initiate the connection.

Admin Password

The application needs to be kept running in order to maintain the connection. When you need to disconnect, just click the Disconnect button on the application. The Vodafone Mobile Connect application also allows you to do SMS, but I believe this will incur separate costs on your phone bills. The Usage screen is useful to monitor your current data usage for the month. However, for the most accurate figures, you should visit the SingTel web site.

Vodafone Mobile Connect Screenshot

If you are interested, please take part in the following poll to let me know how much you are paying for your 3G broadband Internet in your country.

Posted in: Fedora, Linux, Tools
  1. David Banham Said,

    I got no joy out of the Vodafone tool. I did, however, solve the problem with wvdial. Here’s how I did it if you’re curious.

    http://www.dbe.cc/?p=36

    Also, any idea how to get completely rid of the Voda tool?

  2. miketeo Said,

    @David:
    Personally, I’m not in favor of using the vodafone tool as well. It uses too much memory and I’m not really excited by the network graphs. After seeing your wvdial.conf, I have created a profile under gnome-ppp and have been using it instead of the vodafone tool. The gnome-ppp doesn’t use that much memory and it gives readings on the bandwidth usage for my current session.

    I believe there should be ways to package some of the vodafone drivers and the wvdial.conf into a deb or rpm to allow the more sophisticated users to setup their E169 swiftly.

  3. jiaming Said,

    Hi, do you know how do i get my vodafone data card to run singtel broadband on mobile?

  4. miketeo Said,

    @jiaming
    Hi, assuming you already have the SingTel data SIM for broadband on mobile, you just need to start the control software for your vodafone data card and use the following settings:
    1. number to dial is *99#
    2. dns to use is 165.21.83.88 and 165.21.100.88
    3. APN for Singtel is “internet”
    4. username = dummy
    5. password = dummy

  5. jiaming Said,

    the default software don’t seems to have option to key in the parameters e.g. number to dail, dns, apn etc..

  6. miketeo Said,

    @jiaming:
    I have uploaded the SingTel vodafone software that comes with my SingTel modem. Maybe you can try if the software will work with your data card as well.

    http://miketeo.net/files/SingTel-Huawei/singtel-vodafone.zip

  7. jiaming Said,

    hi, i’ve downloaded the software, but it does not seem to be for vodafone, it is for huawei instead.

  8. miketeo Said,

    @jiaming:
    Huawei has a deal with vodafone as its OEM supplier. I’m making a guess that that the equipments can be compatible. If the software doesn’t detect your card, then my guess is wrong. However, I have heard that some Vodafone cards are locked to their telcos, but I don’t have a chance to verify it yet.

  9. white-v Said,

    Hi, any idea where I can get a Huawei USB modem for my broadband on mobile SIM card? I have damaged the one provided by the provider, and to have it replaced by the telco will cost me S$368. I’m told the device can be obtained more cheaply elsewhere.

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