Overview
These are my experiences with UMTS/GPRS networking using my new Huawei E220 box on a Ubuntu Dapper installation.
You may compare this with my previous HOWTO for the ICON GlobeSurfer Box, it's similar but not the same.
I guess this box is also sold under various rebrands from several providers, my device is from One.
Details
The box operates in two states:
-
as flash storage (CDROM) containing the Window drivers (initial state after plugging in)
-
as GPRS/UMTS modem (after it gets a "switch" command)
USB Vendor/Device ID in both states (this is a difference to the GlobeSurfer Box which changes its IDs): 12d1:1003
Again there is a command available to switch from flash to modem state:
http://www.kanoistika.sk/bobovsky/archiv/umts/huaweiAktBbo.c
by Miroslav Bobovsky. (local copy huaweiAktBbo.c)
Note: This is possibly only needed for old kernels like that 2.6.15 kernel in Ubuntu Dapper!
Compile it with (you need libusb-dev installed)
sudo apt-get install libusb-dev wget build-essential # possibly not necessary wget http://www.kanoistika.sk/bobovsky/archiv/umts/huaweiAktBbo.c cc huaweiAktBbo.c -lusb -o huaweiAktBbo
and install it to /sbin/huaweiAktBbo and call it with root privileges.
sudo cp huaweiAktBbo /sbin/
When in modem state, the box offers three serial USB devices:
/dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, /dev/ttyUSB2
Use /dev/ttyUSB0 to examine modem settings using minicom or go online via PPP.
The default modem settings are (One, AT):
&C: 1; &D: 2; &F: 0; E: 1; L: 1; M: 0; Q: 0; V: 1; X: 4; Z: 0; S0: 0; S3: 13; S4: 10; S5: 8; S6: 2; S7: 45; S8: 2; S9: 6; S10: 14; S11: 95; +FCLASS: 0; +ICF: 3,3; +IFC: 2,2; +IPR: 115200; +DR: 0; +DS: 0,0,2048,6; +WS46: 12; +CBST: 0,0,1; +CRLP: (61,61,48,6,0),(61,61,48,6,1),(240,240,52,6,2); +CV120: 1,1,1,0,0,0; +CHSN: 0,0,0,0; +CSSN: 0,0; +CREG: 0; +CGREG: 0; +CFUN:; +CSCS: "IRA"; +CSTA: 129; +CR: 0; +CRC: 0; +CMEE: 2; +CGDCONT: (1,"IP","fullspeed","",0,0) ; +CGDSCONT: ; +CGTFT: ; +CGEQREQ: (1,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(2,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(3,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(4,2,0,0,0,0,); +CGEQMIN: ; +CGQREQ: ; +CGQMIN: ; +CGEREP: 0,0; +CGDATA: "PPP"; +CGCLASS: "B"; +CGSMS: 0; +CSMS: 0; +CMGF: 0; +CSCA: "",; +CSMP: ,,0,0; +CSDH: 0; +CSCB: 0,"",""; +FDD: 0; +FAR: 0; +FCL: 0; +FIT: 0,0; +ES: ,,; +ESA: 0,,,,0,0,255,; +CMOD: 0; +CVHU: 1; +CPIN: ��������,��������; +CMEC: 0,0,0; +CKPD: 1,1; +CGATT: 0; +CGACT: 0; +CPBS: "SM"; +CPMS: "SM","SM","SM"; +CNMI: 0,0,0,0,0; +CMMS: 2; +FTS: 0; +FRS: 0; +FTH: 3; +FRH: 3; +FTM: 96; +FRM: 96; +CCUG: 0,0,0; +COPS: 0,0,""; +CUSD: 0; +CAOC: 1; +CCWA: 0; +CPOL: 0,2,"",0,0,0; +CPLS: 0; +CTZR: 0; +CTZU: 0; +CLIP: 0; +COLP: 0; +CDIP: 0; ^PORTSEL: 0; ^CPIN: ��������,��������; ^ATRECORD: 0; ^FREQLOCK: 11296852,1162820144
You have to provide the options vendor=0x12d1 and product=0x1003 when loading the usbserial module, e.g via
modprobe usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1003
Automatic module loading via udev
Create a udev script /etc/udev/rules.d/50-huawei-e220.rules with the content:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1003", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1", RUN+="/sbin/huaweiAktBbo"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1003", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1", RUN+="/bin/sleep 5"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1003", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1003"
With this udev script there is no need for an option entry in an /etc/modprobe.d/... or /etc/modules file.
In contrast to the GlobeSurfer Box there is no two-stage switch script needed ...
PPP configuration
The PPP configuration needs some special chat scripts. This is for two reasons:
- You have to enter the PIN of your SIM card, but only once, the chat script will fail if it enters the PIN twice.
- Here I'm not sure, I just took my GlobeSurfer scripts and converted them for the Huawei. Maybe this sleep between PIN entering and dialing is not necessary here:
You have to wait some amount of time after entering the PIN because the device then decides whether to use GPRS or UMTS/HSDPA. If you continue your PPP dial-in process too fast you will get no error but your IPCP requests will fail and you'll end up without a IP address.
/etc/ppp/peers/hui:
# usbserial device, some options: /dev/ttyUSB0 460800 idle 7200 lock crtscts modem noauth # dns, routing usepeerdns replacedefaultroute defaultroute noipdefault # avoid compression: noccp nobsdcomp novj # usually doesnt matter for GPRS/UMTS connections: user "web" password "" # connect script connect "/usr/sbin/hui-chat.sh" # t-mobile specific? ipcp-restart 8 ipcp-max-configure 50 ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote
a rather unusual two stage connect script /usr/sbin/hui-chat.sh:
#!/bin/sh # call the preparation chat script (with pin and if this fails without pin) /usr/sbin/chat -V -f /etc/chatscripts/hui-prep || /usr/sbin/chat -V -f /etc/chatscripts/hui-prep-nopin # wait to switch between GPRS/UMTS sleep 20 # the final chat script: /usr/sbin/chat -V -f /etc/chatscripts/huiand the three above mentioned chat scripts
/etc/chatscripts/hui-prep
ABORT BUSY ABORT ERROR ABORT 'NO CARRIER' REPORT CONNECT TIMEOUT 10 "" "ATZ" # replace XXXX with your PIN: OK "AT+CPIN=XXXX" OK "ATE1V1&D2&C1S0=0+IFC=2,2" OK "AT+IPR=115200" OK "ATE1" SAY "\nWaiting 20 Seconds to switch between UMTS/GPRS ...\n"
/etc/chatscripts/hui-prep-nopin
ABORT BUSY ABORT ERROR ABORT 'NO CARRIER' REPORT CONNECT TIMEOUT 10 "" "ATZ" OK "ATE1V1&D2&C1S0=0+IFC=2,2" OK "AT+IPR=115200" OK "ATE1" SAY "\nWaiting 20 Seconds to switch between UMTS/GPRS ...\n"
/etc/chatscripts/hui
ABORT BUSY ABORT 'NO CARRIER' ABORT ERROR REPORT CONNECT TIMEOUT 10 SAY "Calling ONE\n" TIMEOUT 60 "" "ATD*99***1#" CONNECT \c
You may even try to avoid to put the PIN into the chat scripts by using some pin entry program within the connect shell script.
start your connection with
pppd call hui
or for debugging
pppd call hui nodetach
Notes
In contrast to other HOWTOs for the Huawei E220 I don't have to plug it in at boot time, it works without this.
The second serial device /dev/ttyUSB1 periodically spits out a ^BOOT: prompt followed by some parameters (frequencies?)
During a dialup session it shows even more status messages like ^DSFLOWRPT: followed by several hex numbers.
Connecting with minicom to /dev/ttyUSB2 during a session, the modem initialization killed this connection. Furthermore nothing was visible there.
Sources
- http://joergweis.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/huawei-e220-and-ubuntu-610/
- http://www.kanoistika.sk/bobovsky/archiv/umts/
- http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/viewtopic.php?p=677729#677729
PS:
Today I had the chance to configure another Huawei E220 (also from One), this time I noticed that it only started to work after I ran it once under Windows (which I also did with my first modem). I compared the modem default settings (AT&V) before and after, and it turned out that the firsttime start under Windows changed some of these values:
before:
+CFUN:; +CSCS: "IRA"; +CSTA: 129; +CR: 0; +CRC: 0; +CMEE: 2; +CGDCONT: (1,"IP","","",0,0);
+CGDSCONT: ; +CGTFT: ; +CGEQREQ: (1,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(2,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(3,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0);
+CGEQMIN: ; +CGQREQ: ; +CGQMIN: ; +CGEREP: 0,0; +CGDATA: "PPP";
after (see above for full listing):
+CFUN:; +CSCS: "IRA"; +CSTA: 129; +CR: 0; +CRC: 0; +CMEE: 2; +CGDCONT: (1,"IP","fullspeed","",0,0);
+CGDSCONT: ; +CGTFT: ; +CGEQREQ: (1,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(2,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(3,2,0,0,0,0,2,0,"0E0","0E0",3,0,0),(4,2,0,0,0,0,);
+CGEQMIN: ; +CGQREQ: ; +CGQMIN: ; +CGEREP: 0,0; +CGDATA: "PPP";
Note the differences in +CGDCONT and the 3rd argument (and additional 4th argument) of +CGEREQ.
I guess instead of running it under Windows one time it will suffice to change these values with AT commands. But of course these values will depend on your provider ...