Use ZTE AC580 3G Dongle in your Ubuntu – Setup using China Telecom Service
I got my 3G connection the other week! Hurray!
Armed with the latest Ubuntu 10.04, I tested…
…but nothing works out of the box…
Since it was my first dip in the world of ZeroCD configuration, it took me sometime to figure out how to make things work.
The methods listed here work for the ZTE AC580 3G Dongle. I am using China Telecom’s 3G service, so there will be a variation on the Network Manager configuration settings with what you have.
Assumptions:
1. Your 3G Dongle is inserted before boot-up to Ubuntu
For starters, you need to install usb-modeswitch – this allows your 3G Dongle to automatically switch to modem mode upon insertion to the USB interface of your computer. Fire up Synaptic, look for the package “usb-modeswitch”, and install. [HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]
The usbserial driver can be used on the AC580, so all we have to do is load it…
First, fire up terminal and check your USBs via lsusb command. The ensuing list should bring up something like this:
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 093a:2500 Pixart Imaging, Inc. USB Optical Mouse
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 19d2:0094 ONDA Communication S.p.A.
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0a5c:2145 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 17ef:480a Lenovo
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
The ID that says “ONDA Communication S.p.A. is what we need to fire up. BTW, if you have successfully activated modem mode in your 3G dongle, the ID would change from:
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 19d2:0026 ONDA Communication S.p.A.
to
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 19d2:00** ONDA Communication S.p.A. (** meaning, something else than 0026)
After getting the ID, time to make use of modprobe usbserial command:
sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0×19d2 product=0×0094
The produce ID is for my case, yours may vary…
Well, you don’t want to manually enter that command every time you fire up your Ubuntu box, so we will load the driver automatically:
sudo gedit /etc/modules
And then insert the following line at the end:
usbserial vendor=0×19d2 product=0×0094
Remember to change the product code – it should be similar with the results from the command lsusb with usb-modeswitch doing the dirty work.
Network Manager should now be able to detect the 3G dongle. Setup Mobile Broadband…
For China Telecom, use the following:
Number: *99***1#
Username: CARD
Password: CARD
After that… ENJOY MOBILE FREEDOM!!!
