Usb_modeswitch: Bye, bye, I won't miss you!

[tallboy]

For some years now, I have struggled with a 3G USB flash memory stick/modem as my internet connection when away from home, first a ZTE MF636, and currently a Huawei E353. At home, there is a common cabled network for all ~350 apartments, it was actually upgraded to the latest fiber-optic network just a couple of months ago, connected to a 5G-ready wifi-router i each apartment. The router also have LAN-ports, which I use, and a lot of options I haven't bothered to investigate yet. It's fast!
But the little modem stick has given me a lot of problems all the time. It has never connected automatically to the net, nor activated the connections according to usb_modeswitch, I have had to perform a series of magic formulas to make it work. (yes, I tried usb_modswitch up to 2.01) The old ZTE modem actually connected all by itself, once! (in the first Quirky, I think) The modem itself has been unable to automatically choose the best network, it switches to down to 2G, or just break the connection, as soon as the traffic increases. Besides, support for the little Huawei E353 stick is being phased out by the ISP. Most later model wireless modems usually doubles as routers, and they are far too expensive for my meager economy.
But then, via a norwegian opposite to craigslist, I found a 2 month old Huawei E1586s-22A modem/router at a very low price, because the previous owner moved into a house wih cabled network. Oh what a joy! One USB port, 2 phone ports, 4 LAN ports, whereof one is also WAN. 2G, 3G, 4G and 4G+. I use a LAN port with cable to my stone-age Linuxbox, but I also have WiFi support for 64 devices, if needed. Set in the SIM card, attatch power cable, and turn it on. Connected to eth0, you're online! A minimal config can be set up by connecting your browser to 192.168.0.1. It feels almost too easy, after stuggling for years with the old stick! As icing on the cake, I also managed to get a monthly quota of 12GB at a lower price than my previous 10Gb from my ISP! (I don't stream or game) It works, I'm online!
I have only found positive comments about the E1586s, most people are very impressed by it's real world speed, and by it's extremely easy setup.

Huawei E5186S-22a Broadband Router Specifications:

4G LTE FDD DD800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz, TDD 2600MHz
3G UMTS/WCDMA: 2100/900Mhz
2G GPRS/GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
FDD Down Link (DL) Carrier Aggregation (CA): 1800 MHz + 2600 MHz, 1800 MHz + 800 MHz, 2600 MHz + 800 MHz, 1800 MHz intra-band contiguous, 2600 MHz intra-band contiguous
TDD DL CA: 2600 MHz intra-band contiguous

Speed:
* LTE CAT6 Download Speed up to 300mbps, upload speed to 50Mbps @ 20MHz + 20MHz BW
(compared to the little old 3G Huawei E353: HSPA+ Download speed up to 21mbps, HSUPA Upload speed up to 5.76Mbps)

Wi-Fi:
WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac, 2.4GHz/5GHz, supports Wi-Fi devices up to 64 devices
Antenna slots: 2 SMA connector slots (included was 2 antennas, 'Ears')
SIM Card Size: Micro SIM card
Interface port:
* 4 RJ45(GE) interface + 2 RJ11 Interface + 1 USB host interface
Features:
* Firewall, CS Voice, VoIP, VoLTE, TR069 Remote Management
* HTTP Online Upgrade, QoS, USB Share, UPnP
* IPV6, DLNA, Fax, Print, VPN

tallboy

[Mike Walsh]

Hiya, tallboy.

I, too, spent years struggling with broadband 'dongles'; especially in recent years, after converting a friend's box with a sick Vista install to Puppy instead.

Dongles are not the easiest things to work with in Linux, as I'm sure you know. We had no option with him, because he lives out in the middle of nowhere.....and the local phone company quoted nearly £4,000 to run a land-line out to him.

After a suggestion from rcrsn51, I ended up getting one of these new-fangled mobile modems, or 'hotspots', as they're called. Easiest way I know of getting a mobile connection; it's just like a phone, receiving a mobile signal, except it simply provides an output signal to a wireless transmitter. That's basically all it does.

And then all you need is a wireless connection.....which is easy-peasy in Pup!


Mike.

[tallboy]

Hi Mike. It was a clear message when the ISP informed me, after my complaints about the dongle, that support would be faded out 'very soon'. The situation became hopeless, I could surf for maybe an hour or so, but typically when I tried to make a forum post, send a PM, or was about to confirm payment of a bill in my netbank, the connection would be cut off without warning.
Another thing is that my puppy - lately LupuPlus 5.2.8-005.1, frequently crashed during the Pupdial connection prosess, everything froze, and I had to cut the power to turn off the PC before I could restart.
I feel I'm in heaven now, with 4G constantly up since I connected the modem. The reception is not very good at this location, but the built-in meter on the modem webside says 'normal', and that's good enough for me!

tallboy