Help Me!! USB Mobile broadband dongle is not working
 

I am newbie to linux and recently installed Ubuntu 16.10. But i can't access to internet using my dongle. I use the regular method; going to the wireless settings and adding a new connection. I did that too and nothing worked.
In my USB modem drive, there is a folder called linux, and inside of it, there are several files named, 7zr, install, Mobile Broadband.dat, etc etc... . And also a readme.txt.
I followed the instructions, which I m not understanding properly but there was a code to type in the terminal with logging as the root, something like " sudo tar (4 letters) Linux_install.tar.bz2"
I did that too but in return a message shows that can't find the file or event, exiting tar... .
Then I googled a bit and checked if the device is recognized by the OS using lsusb. In the list USB Modem is recognized but as a MASS STORAGE.
HOW can I make this work?
Plz help me any one.

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org. In order to assist further we're going to need more details about your, mobile broadband device. So please provide the chipset details from lsusb. It is 'usb_modeswitch' that is involved in switching these devices from 'mass storage' mode to 'modem' mode, and this is done via device-specific udev rules. So, make sure that you have 'usb-modeswitch' and 'usb-modeswitch-data' packages installed first.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...usb-modeswitch

For new devices it may sometimes be necessary to use a newer version to help with the device recognition and switching...

http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/

Thanks for the reply.

in lsusb my dongle shows as , Bus 003 Device 004: ID 12d1:14fe Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Modem (Mass Storage Mode).

And its a Huawei broadband dongle E303.

can you guide me through the downloading process of usb_modeswitch in the links you mentioned. There are 3 files and how do I download them.


File Size (in kB) MD5 checksum
usb-modeswitch_2.2.5+repack0-1ubuntu1.dsc 2.1 kB caf35ae4b2f8d465cfb7f98f27abee6c
usb-modeswitch_2.2.5+repack0.orig.tar.xz 43.0 kB eb8ea1038694895197bacb7f5e11101d
usb-modeswitch_2.2.5+repack0-1ubuntu1.debian.tar.xz 27.8 kB cdca5286aa0331a2f5bba5ad840f0c14

You should use your package manager to install software: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ty&section=all

From a terminal, you could use apt-get like this

#ferrari #Emerson I opened the synaptic Package Manager and look for usb_modeswitch. It is already installed. But nothing works. Still usb modem shows as MAss Storage

It would help to know the chipset on the dongle. One way to do that would be to use dmesg:

There is likely to be quite a bit of output to go through to find the portion relevant to that particular dongle.

usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[ 2.620206] usb 3-3: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1506
[ 2.620207] usb 3-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 2.620208] usb 3-3: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 2.620209] usb 3-3: Manufacturer: HUAWEI
[ 2.625870] usb-storage 3-3:1.4: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2.625980] scsi host6: usb-storage 3-3:1.4
[ 2.626038] usb-storage 3-3:1.5: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2.626125] scsi host7: usb-storage 3-3:1.5
[ 2.626174] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 2.627922] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[ 2.707218] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=10f1, idProduct=1a4f
[ 2.707220] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber

Okay, so which version is installed?
Some debugging may be required here...
http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/#trouble

For reference, I'm using openSUSE Leap 42.1 and using version 2.2.5, which includes a udev rule in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules to handle all Huawei devices...
[CODE]# Generic entry for all Huawei devices, excluding Android phones
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{manufacturer}!="Android*", ATTR{bInterfaceNumber}=="00", ATTR{bInterfaceClass}=="08", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

This output is interesting, since 1506 is the target device ID which suggests that usb-modeswitch is doing it's job..
However, it's not clear why usb mass storage device is then detected.

Problem is somehow fixed.
While I m waiting here I also googled for some answers and there was a suggested ppa package to be installed. And after the installation even if I restart my pc my usb modem didnt show up. SO I remove the installed package and mark the both canonical packages.
Somehow without giving a restart in wifi settings top right corner My dongle started to show up. Any way now its working and thanks for everyone's help

A bit confusing about what you did here, but as I mentioned before, the kernel output did suggest usb-modeswitch was doing its job with the 'idProduct=1506' being reported. Anyway, good to read that you now have mobile broadband connectivity. :)