Bmobile’s 1st Generation 3.5G HSDPA Modem in Ubuntu/Linux

Ever since I had the opportunity of using bmobile‘s 3.5G modem to get mobile broadband (via Zoom!) I was curious to see whether it would work in Linux. After much testing, I did manage to get it to work but it wasn’t consistent (it only seemed to work when the modem was tied to /dev/ttyUSB0, so I kepted plugging it in and out and redialed to see if it worked).

For the newer bmobile modem check out this page courtesy of @jikam

Test system: Running Ubuntu 9.04.

1. Get usb_modeswitch (in Ubuntu / Debian you can “apt-get install usb_modeswitch” which makes things much easier)
2. Get the usb_modeswitch.conf file and put it in /etc/
3. The modem is identified an Alcatel One Touch X020 / X030 / MDB-100HU / Nuton 3.5G (lsusb will show ) so search usb_modeswitch.conf and uncomment the section for DefaultVendor, DefaultProduct, TargetVendor, TargetProduct and MessageContent
   
   ########################################################
   # Alcatel One Touch X020 (aka OT-X020, aka MBD-100HU, aka Nuton 3.5G), works with Emobile D11LC
   # Alcatel One Touch X030 (aka OT-X030, aka Nuton NT36HD)
   #
   # Contributor: Aleksandar Samardzic, Marcelo Fernandez

   ;DefaultVendor= 0x1c9e
   ;DefaultProduct= 0x1001

   ;TargetVendor= 0x1c9e
   ;TargetProduct= 0x6061

   # only for reference and 0.x versions
   # MessageEndpoint=0x05

   ;MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000606f50402527000000000000000000000"

   ########################################################

   to
   
########################################################
# Alcatel One Touch X020 (aka OT-X020, aka MBD-100HU, aka Nuton 3.5G), works with Emobile D11LC
# Alcatel One Touch X030 (aka OT-X030, aka Nuton NT36HD)
#
# Contributor: Aleksandar Samardzic, Marcelo Fernandez

   DefaultVendor= 0x1c9e
   DefaultProduct= 0x1001

   TargetVendor= 0x1c9e
   TargetProduct= 0x6061

   # only for reference and 0.x versions
   # MessageEndpoint=0x05

   MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000606f50402527000000000000000000000"

   ########################################################


4. Do the actual mode switch for the modem to change the device from USB storage to modem mode:
   sudo usb_modeswitch
5. Create the USB serial device for dial up:
   sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1c9e product=0x6061
   This step created 3 devices (/dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, /dev/ttyUSB2) on my system.
6. Use the Network Manager Applet to configure a new broadband modem connection with the B-Mobile configuration (APN: bmobilewap)

As mentioned this does not work consistently, so if it doesn’t seem to connection try plugging the USB modem out and back in and retry. I will try find a way to get this more consistent, but hopefully this will help those who are trying to get it to work