How to use ZTE 3G USB dongle modem?

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davelectronic
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun 06 May 2012, 00:12
Location: South East Coast UK.

#21 Post by davelectronic »

Hello again Fossil and Muggins.
I don't fully understand the AT command thing, ive only input a search on ZTE in general, i thought if i can find info on getting connected via 3 network it would work as all ZTE 3G dongles work in the same way.

The picture posted of the connection screen shot ive got that far, and clicked choose, as ive not had it running for a day or two due to illness ive forgot some of the screen detail on installation, any way i do remember being offered a list of drivers to choose from.

Today the misses bought a new ZTE 535 3G today on 3 network again, so its never seen a machine yet, the first it see's will be the puppy OS.

As far as windows drivers go when installed on XP or Vista nothing about the installer shows a windows installer if that makes sense, the spec of this dongle supports Mac OS as well, and that's not windows, ive no doubt good people blazing the trail are working on software to get this incompatibility 3G issue resolved.

As there are a far few distro's of Linux it will take a while, so i get it totally, so next day or two i will get all the screen shots for you to view.

Today ive looked in to it a bit more and found dongle unlocking etc as well, i found a store that sells unlocked dongles and in the description of sale it supports Linux, a Wiki store i think, so update on progress soon. :)

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Fossil
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Location: Gloucestershire, UK.

#22 Post by Fossil »

Dave,
I'm confused! The pictures 'posted on the connection screen' look very much like Windows, not Puppy. Can you please answer Muggins question: Have you tried, Puppy's, Connection Wizard>Internet by dialup, analog or wireless modem? What was the result?
With regard 'unlocking' 3G modems. This process allows the individual to use any network on their wifi dongle (rather than one locked to the device by the provider) by simply changing the SIM card, ie: O2, Virgin, T-Mobile, 3G, whatever. This 'unlocking' has nothing to do with starting up the wifi dongle under Linux.

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davelectronic
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Location: South East Coast UK.

#23 Post by davelectronic »

I have tried wireless, dial up, gprs to access a connection, yes i used the puppy connection wizard for all the attempts.

The user interface of the dongle when installing on windows does not look like a windows installer, in puppy there is just a windows opening prompting me for the next step, the wall i hit is as follows: Puppy has detected your devise, but there is a problem there is a driver string missing.

The above is the exact stopping point for which i can go no further, i explained my daughter wiped a driver off the dongle, but when installing it on windows XP Vista it updates on first connection to the internet.

Could the driver not be generic ? Linux puppy see's the dongle, but connection not possible as a driver string is missing, hope this explains and answers Muggins question, i will do screen shots soon and you will see the missing driver message in a window puppy is giving me. :)

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davelectronic
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Location: South East Coast UK.

#24 Post by davelectronic »

Sorry if i missed a question put to me, not thick just ill.
Anyway ive googled lots of terms regarding hits through Google, just tried another, usb mode switch for ZTE 3G Dongle, second hit this thread, don't wont to sound flippant but not cutting edge if all Google can spit out is this thread A.

So if i missed some thing its not intentional, but me not getting it first time.
I will follow this up to a conclusion even if i have to draft in help, a few mates are IT Tech's with the know how more so than me, but once shown i will get it, some thing Tallboy said about no reply, if i find a fix for one or more model of ZTE dongles the results will end up here.

As i said progress is only a bit slow due to other problems, illness etc.
But as i say i will follow it up to a conclusion be it slightly slower than normal. :)

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tallboy
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Location: Drøbak, Norway

#25 Post by tallboy »

Muggins, not much use in the connection wizard if you cannot use it on a modem. In some of the puppys I list, there is nothing coming up on the desktop when the modem is connected. The wizard need to see a modem to work! It cannot be mounted manually, because to 'mount' it is nonexistent!

davelectronic, have you tried to perform my recipe to get online?

You can also look for your modem by browsing all the files /etc/udev/rules.d. (or run find)
Why all? It may have been sold under a different name. You can also try to add your modem to the lines where MF626 and MF628 modems are listed, and see what happens!

tallboy

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davelectronic
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Joined: Sun 06 May 2012, 00:12
Location: South East Coast UK.

#26 Post by davelectronic »

Hi again to you all.
I have been pulling my hair out so to speak with this wireless connection issue with puppy, i see other Linux distro's have success with wireless dongle connections.

Although i like puppy, ive given enough time to a problem i cant fix, so for the time being ive shelved puppy and moved on.

Since my last post ive found what i am looking for, an operating system for a pair of old Pentium III machines.

Its not puppy for now, until the experts find a fix for us wireless users, but another Linux distro, if all you've known is Windows you cant go far wrong with the link below, its just what i needed right now, and there are two versions, standard offering and a lite offering for older hardware.

The links below if any one's interested, fir me its ticked all the boxes and works a treat, for info of the hardware i am running it on look back to page one and earlier posts.

I will follow puppy and or until the fix comes will install it again then, the other optional system i chose wont appeal to every one, but i think its really good.

Thanks to you all for your help and ideas. :)
Regards,
Dave.

Link below.

http://zorin-os.com/index.html

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tallboy
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#27 Post by tallboy »

davelectronic, I haven't seen a single detailed step-by-step description from you, on what you actually did to improve the situation.

Even if you did not make it work, it would be valuable information for future development and for giving assistance, to know exactly what you actually did, or did not, do, and what happened then!

tallboy

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Semme
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#28 Post by Semme »

Dave- this is all you had to forward...
"Another problem getiing these devices working with linux is correct ID. If you go to Menu>SystemHardInfo>USB, then select your modem, what does HardInfo say the device's VendorID & ProductID is?

Note: Most of these devices will have one set of vendor & product ID's for their mass storage mode, and another when in modem phase..

Philh
Posts: 150
Joined: Wed 17 May 2006, 13:26
Location: England

#29 Post by Philh »

Ive just tried a ZTE MF627 vendor 0x19d2 Product id 0x31.
This is on a pc with a usb2 port. Dont know about usb1.
Wary522 Racy522 Slacko531p all worked ok.
By plugging in after bootup,let it get detected.
Internet connection
Dialup analog or wireless modem
Phone *99#
apn 3internet
Tick Stupid mode

But with Lupu528.002 there was no modem detected.
Probing found the modem.
But it always picked the wrong port.
I had to edit wvdial.conf to make it work.

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davelectronic
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Location: South East Coast UK.

#30 Post by davelectronic »

Sorry for the lack of screen shots, i don't know how to do it through Linux, all i could do is take pic's with a camera and upload.

You and others would glean nothing from that anyway, its plastered all over the web what others have tried, i am not different as in the things ive tried, so whats the point in keep mowing the lawn ? as i said i am not a computer programer, command line etc, i am a electronics engineer, well that's my back ground attributes, not pc programer, i see me as the end user.

USB 1.0 on these machines, so that might be an issue, but its working with Zorin, my screen shots are no different from what's all ready available, why clutter the web with more failures, hope that explains it for you.

Good luck with all your ventures, what ever they may be.

Regards,

Dave. :)

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tallboy
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#31 Post by tallboy »

Philh, that was very interesting. Those distros you mention did not find my MF628. I shall try them all again, just so I don't make more of a fool of myself, than I already am! :lol: I only have old machines with USB-1 here, I wonder if that may be the reason, I guess I'll have to do some serious specs. reading... :(

tallboy

EDIT: My modem is a ZTE MF636, not a 628, sorry, brainfart!

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nilsonmorales
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Location: El Salvador

#32 Post by nilsonmorales »

menu--setup--internet conection wizard
by dialup
choose
probe
then ttyUSB
and fill
phone number
mine is *99# depends country
username claro
apn ba.amx
password internet
check in stupid mode
and conect

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=68086

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davelectronic
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Location: South East Coast UK.

#33 Post by davelectronic »

Hi again guys.
Just a quick update, Ive still not managed a 3G connection with Puppy Linux, i still have it on two machines be it old ones ( see start of thread ) so i will keep searching for an answer / solution.

But in the mean time Ive been trying Zorin lite, no problem with 3G there and its requirements are fairly modest, also at the moment Ive totally took the plunge and dumped my Vista business OS for Linux mint 12 Lisa using the LXDE desktop 32 bit edition, again lite on system resources, and again no problems with huawei or ZTE dongles.

So i will continue to look for solutions to 3G connectivity problems, i just don't get why such a nice distro as Puppy cant make life easier for wireless users, oh well i hope for a simple solution soon.

In the mean time Linux mint Maya looks very good and LTS for it as well.

BYE BYE to Windows, on the Linux road now, great stuff. :D


http://linuxmint.com/

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davelectronic
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Location: South East Coast UK.

#34 Post by davelectronic »

Oh Tallboy, i don't feel stupid at the usb 1.0 comment, or silly, just a speed observation might have been an issue, i don't know what program software Puppy uses to see 3G hardware, also nothing wrong with old machines, P 3 USB 1.0 etc, there meant for the kids to use, Compaq Ipaq light legacy machines 500 MHZ CPU 512 Ram in each one, rather than kill my duel core system.

If you cant find any distro that can see your dongle your doing something wrong, or your dongles nakered. :lol:

jontyuk
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Joined: Thu 13 Jun 2013, 19:20

this works for mf112

#35 Post by jontyuk »

Fossil wrote:Hi Dave,
Welcome. I see you are using Lucid: more info on your computer system does help - laptop, desktop, etc. Your locality in the world might give a slightly different result depending upon local providers, but I've had success using a ZTE MF112 3G modem using this method. I'm in the UK.
Click on 'Connect'.
Internet Connection Wizard. Choose 'Internet dialup, analog or wireless modem'.
Pupdial test. The modem should be detected.

Account 1.
Phone Access number. *99# (that's, star 99 hash, no spaces )
Username. 3g
Wireless APN. 3internet
Password. 3g

Tick box Auto Reconnect.

A short USB extension lead with the modem clear of the computer and of any obstructions, preferably close to a window or higher in the house/loft, gives a stronger signal.
This is my first post on the forum. Basically I want to thank fossil for this information, as it has just worked to get my mf112 dongle working, using samba mobile (on the 3 network) in the UK.
tested so far and works with
slacko-5.5-4G.iso
Puppy_Crypt_528.iso
Dongle pluged in before boot, don't know if that makes a difference yet on a dell latitude C600, usb 1.1 (I think) 256mb ram 800mhz PIII no HD just booting from cd.
I'm also curious if I can use this dongles micro sd card as a bootable usb stick with either iso mentioned above, and still use the dongle as a modem (I don't have a micro sd to test yet) but if possible I would have a very usefull little doofer to plug in and get online on just about any system with usb boot capabilitys.
Thank you to all involved with this project, I discovered puppy a couple of months ago and I love it, once I get used to navigating the file system I will probably ditch windoze for good!
Cheers!
Jonty

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