Setting up Reliance Netconnect+ Wireless Broadband Modem on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

| | 1 min read

The Huawei USB modem that comes with new Reliance Netconnect+ mobile broadband connections might not work out of the box on an Ubuntu 11.10 box if the device id of the modem is 12d1:1505. Plug the modem into a usb port and run lsusb and check if the following line appears in the output - ID 12d1:1505 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd - and if it does then read on to see how to get this modem working on your computer.

Create a file named 12d1:1505 inside /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/ and copy the following into the file

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct=0x1505

MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000011062000000100000000000000000000"

Now run

sudo usb_modeswitch -I -W -c /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1505

Now run lsusb and you will no longer see the device 12d1:1505 in the list and instead see 12d1:140b. If so your modeswitching has worked and your device should be ready to be used as a wireless broadband modem.

If you add the following line

ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1505", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

in the file /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules just above the line

LABEL="modeswitch_rules_end"

If everything worked well till here you can 'Edit Connections' in 'Network Manager' and add a new Mobile Broadband connection for the Reliance connection.