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The Huawei E220 / E270 is a USB HSDPA modem. It is sold in NZ by VodaFone as a Vodem.

It generally presents a couple of /dev/ttyUSB? devices. If you have a 2.6.20+ kernel, it will present 2 /dev/ttyUSB devices, and you should be able to get it working with wvdial or pppd by accessing /dev/ttyUSB0. If you have an earlier kernel, it'll show three devices, one of which is actually a USB mass storage device, and you'll need to make some changes to your configuration to make it work.

If you have a recent distro such as Ubuntu 9.04 (Intrepid Ibix), it should "just work". A network-manager wizard will popup asking you to configure it, and it will make some attempt at autodetecting your country/provider.

I've copied configs from different sites below to prevent against page disappearance, and have attributed work where appropriate.

Kernel version >= 2.6.20

Using pppd:

The following configs are taken from http://juanjosec.blogspot.com/2008/09/making-3g-huawei-220-usb-modem-work-in.html and adjusted for Vodafone NZ.

Add the following files to your system:

# /etc/ppp/peers/3g
# pppd call 3g nodetach
# (using Huawei e220 USB modem)
/dev/ttyUSB0
#3600000 #irrelevant
noipdefault
defaultroute
user gprs
password gprs
#persist
lock
noauth
nodetach
usepeerdns
nodeflate
nobsdcomp
nopcomp
noaccomp
novj
novjccomp
nomagic
#asyncmap 0
#lcp-echo-failure 10000
#lcp-echo-interval 1000
lcp-echo-failure  10
lcp-echo-interval 30
connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/ppp/peers/3g.chat'
debug
idle 180
holdoff 10
# /etc/ppp/peers/3g.chat
TIMEOUT 3
ABORT BUSY
ABORT 'NO CARRIER'
ABORT VOICE
ABORT 'NO DIALTONE'
ABORT 'NO DIAL TONE'
ABORT 'NO ANSWER'
ABORT DELAYED
"" ATZ
OK ATQ0V1E1S0=0&C1&D2
OK AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet","0.0.0.0",0,0
OK ATDT*99#
CONNECT ""

You can now use "pon 3g" to start your connection.

wvdial

This page has some wvdial configs. I've not tested them.

If you use these configs, remember to change the dial number ot *99# (for VodaFone NZ). You may also need care with the Init2 and Init3 lines - compare them to the first 2 lines after ' "" ATZ ' in the 3g.chat script mentioned in the pppd section above.

network-manager

It "should" "just work". :)

Kernel version < 2.6.20

The methods described for > 2.6.20 kernels will work, but first of all the pseudo cdrom drive needs to be disabled.

Not having a machine with an earlier kernel than 2.6.20, the following notes are not tested.

udev rule

The following config was taken from http://juanjosec.blogspot.com/2008/09/making-3g-huawei-220-usb-modem-work-in.html. I have not tested it, but I gather the original author did.


## /etc/udev/rules.d/99-huawei.rules
##
## to enable it, run: udevcontrol reload_rules
##
#
# udev rule for HUAWEI E220 3G HSDPA Modem
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# (c)opyleft   OOZIE < oozie@poczta.fm >
#
# This file prevents the pseudo scsi cdrom device from enabling,
# thus providing a workaround for kernel versions < 2.6.20
#
# Minor edition by JuanJo Ciarlante
##

SUBSYSTEM=="block", \
ACTION=="add", \
SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1", \
SYSFS{idProduct}=="1003", \
RUN="/sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1003", \
OPTIONS="ignore_device"

This page has more information on this, and was the original author for the above udev config I believe.

usb_modeswitch

This page discusses using a program called usb_modeswitch to work around the USB pseudo device.

See Also