Linux & hsdpa/umts/gprs with Huawei E220 USB dongle

This page describes how to connect to the internet via a Vodafone hsdpa/umts/gprs dongle. I verified that one can also connect to the t-Mobile network with this modem and a t-Mobile sim. KPN seems to work too. Please note that using either vodafone, t-mobile and KPN are mostly the same. Only the username/password and the APN differ.
The dongle I bought is in fact an Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem which looks like this:

When the dongle is inserted, two devices are created. When it is the first USB serial device, /dev/ttyUSB0 and /dev/ttyUSB1 are created.
Both of these /dev/ttyUSB*-devices act more or less like a Hayes command-set compatible device.
While you use the first one (ttyUSB0) as a device via which you sent the ppp-data, you can use the other (ttyUSB1) to e.g. ask the modem for the signal quality.
To set things up you need to edit 5 files and create two scripts - the scripts are optional.
In this short how-to I used a Debian system altough other Linux systems should work fine too.

What you're expected to see

When the device is plugged in you're expected to see the following appear in the output of dmesg:

[ 1073.909131] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 1074.067219] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1003
[ 1074.067236] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1074.067248] usb 1-2: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 1074.067256] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technologies
[ 1074.067574] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1074.358664] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 1074.361247] usb-storage: probe of 1-2:1.0 failed with error -1
[ 1074.361297] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 1074.361307] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 1074.504154] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 2
[ 1075.240141] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
[ 1075.401219] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1003
[ 1075.401237] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1075.401249] usb 1-2: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 1075.401257] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technologies
[ 1075.401554] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1075.412213] usb-storage: probe of 1-2:1.0 failed with error -5
[ 1075.421353] usb-storage: probe of 1-2:1.1 failed with error -5
[ 1075.423283] usb-storage: probe of 1-2:1.2 failed with error -1
[ 1075.861613] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 1075.861672] USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 1075.861797] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 1075.861804] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[ 1075.879364] USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
[ 1075.879495] option 1-2:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1075.879710] usb 1-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1075.879743] option 1-2:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1075.879894] usb 1-2: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 1075.879943] usbcore: registered new interface driver option
[ 1075.879950] option: v0.7.2:USB Driver for GSM modems

As you can see, 2 devices were created: ttyUSB0 and ttyUSB1.

Files to create/change:

/etc/ppp/chap-secrets & /etc/ppp/pap-secrets

In these two files you add the following line:

vodafone  *   vodafone

For t-Mobile change this to:

tmobile   *   tmobile

For KPN change this to:

KPN       *   gprs

ppp configuration file

Vodafone: /etc/ppp/peers/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone

user vodafone
ipparam vodafoneusbumts
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone.chat"
noccp
noauth
noipdefault
usepeerdns
defaultroute replacedefaultroute

t-mobile: /etc/ppp/peers/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-tmobile

user tmobile
ipparam tmobileumts
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-tmobileumts.chat"
noccp
noauth
noipdefault
usepeerdns
defaultroute replacedefaultroute

KPN: /etc/ppp/peers/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-kpn

user KPN
ipparam kpnumts
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-kpn.chat"
noccp
noauth
noipdefault
usepeerdns
defaultroute replacedefaultroute

Chat-scripts (making the modem connect to the network)

If the SIM you're using requires a PIN-code to be set before you can connect, run the following script first. No, you cannot add it to the chat-script as the modem refuses to authenticate against the SIM if you already did that.

echo -e "AT+CPIN=1234\r" > /dev/ttyUSB0

Replace '1234' by your pin-code and replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with the device allocated for your modem.

Vodafone: /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone.chat

Vodafone Live (consumer)

TIMEOUT 3
ABORT "BUSY"
ABORT "NO CARRIER"
ABORT "VOICE"
ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
ABORT "NO DIAL TONE"
ABORT "NO ANSWER"
ABORT DELAYED
"" ATZ
OK ATQ0&FEV1X1S0=0&C1&D2
OK AT+CGDCONT=16,"IP","live.vodafone.com"
OK ATDT*99***16#
CONNECT ""

Vodafone office

TIMEOUT 30
ABORT "BUSY"
ABORT "NO CARRIER"
ABORT "VOICE"
ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
ABORT "NO DIAL TONE"
ABORT "NO ANSWER"
ABORT DELAYED
"" ATZ
OK AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","office.vodafone.nl"
OK ATDT*99#
CONNECT ""

T-Mobile: /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-tmobileumts.chat / KPN: /etc/chatscripts/pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-kpn.chat

TIMEOUT 3
ABORT "BUSY"
ABORT "NO CARRIER"
ABORT "VOICE"
ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
ABORT "NO DIAL TONE"
ABORT "NO ANSWER"
ABORT DELAYED
"" ATZ
OK ATQ0&FEV1X1S0=0&C1&D2
OK AT+CGDCONT=16,"IP","internet"
OK ATDT*99***16#
CONNECT ""

/etc/sudoers

Add the following 2 lines:

ALL ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/umtson
ALL ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/umtsoff

/usr/local/bin/umtson

#! /bin/sh

DEV=$1

if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
	DEV="/dev/ttyUSB0"
fi

/usr/sbin/pppd $DEV call pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone

For t-Mobile, replace the 'pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone' by 'pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-tmobile'.
For KPN, replace the 'pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-vodafone' by 'pct-hsdpa-3g-huawei-e220-kpn'.

/usr/local/bin/umtsoff

#! /bin/sh

/usr/bin/poff

Using it

Now it is rather simple.

Connecting

sudo umtson

Or if your modem uses e.g. /dev/ttyUSB1 (& ttyUSB2) instead use:

sudo umtson /dev/ttyUSB1

Disconnecting

sudo umtsoff

Book-keeping

In the Netherlands for pre-paid connections you pay per 200KB. So you might be interested in how much data you're sending/receiving.
For that you can use the following 2 scripts.
After each connection they add a line to /var/log/e220-usage.log with the time spent, and how much data sent/received.

/etc/ppp/ip-up.d/umts

#! /bin/sh

if [ "$6" == "vodafoneusbumts" ] ; then
	echo `date +%s` UMTS ON >> /var/log/e220-usage.log
	echo on-line on UMTS | wall
fi

For t-mobile replace 'vodafoneusbumts' with 'tmobileumts'.
For KPN replace 'vodafoneusbumts' with 'kpnumts'.

/etc/ppp/ip-down.d/umts

#! /bin/sh

if [ "$6" == "vodafoneusbumts" ] ; then
	echo `date +%s` UMTS OFF time: $CONNECT_TIME recv: $BYTES_RCVD sent: $BYTES_SENT >> /var/log/e220-usage.log
	echo off-line from UMTS | wall
fi

For t-mobile replace 'vodafoneusbumts' with 'tmobileumts'.
For KPN replace 'vodafoneusbumts' with 'kpnumts'.

It doesn't work!

Make sure you use the ttyUSB-device of the modem with the lowest number!
Sometimes it looks as if al is fine but no data gets through. In /etc/resolv.conf you'll then see:
```
nameserver 10.11.12.13
nameserver 10.11.12.14
```
This seems to be a ppp-problem. Disconnect and retry.

Menu with misc. stuff	Support this website	e-mail me at: folkert@vanheusden.com
August 19, 2010