Gobi Broadband Modems

From
Wikipedia
:
Qualcomm Gobi is a family of embedded mobile broadband modem products by Qualcomm.
Device identification
Install
usbutils
and then examine the output of
$ lsusb
which will show the vendor and product IDs of the device.
For example, on a HP un2430 modem:
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 03f0:371d Hewlett-Packard
The device is detected by the qcserial module, if not, you are going to have to recompile the qcserial module with your added product and vendor id.
Alternatively you can add the Product and Vendor ID by writing them into the
new_id
file (best both at the same time because most Gobi modules switch the Product ID when the Firmware is loaded).
For example on a Gobi2K with the Vendor ID
04da
and the Product IDs
250e
(waiting for Firmware) and
250f
(firmware loaded)
# echo "04da 250e" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/qcserial/new_id
# echo "04da 250f" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/qcserial/new_id
note that this has to be repeated when you reload the qcserial module or reboot/shutdown.
gobi_loader
From
the developer GitHub page
:
gobi_loader
is a firmware loader for Qualcomm Gobi USB chipsets. These devices appear in an uninitialized state when power is applied and require firmware to be loaded before they can be used as modems.
gobi_loader
adds a
udev rule
that will trigger loading of the firmware and make the modem usable.
Install
gobi-loader
AUR
and
gobi-firmware
AUR
.
After installation, you should enter your product and vendor id in the
/lib/udev/rules.d/60-gobi.rules
Then a simple reload of the qcserial module:
# rmmod qcserial
# modprobe qcserial
Manage Connection in Network Manager
ModemManager
is required for network manager to detect any mobile broadband devices.
This needs to be
started/enabled
. As soon as they are started the Mobile Broadband option will be available from the Network Manager Applet.
Make sure
mobile-broadband-provider-info
and
nm-connection-editor
are installed.
To use this quite old modem, you need to blacklist qmi_wwan and cdc_wdm modules from loading into [modern] Linux kernel. Else, if these modules are loaded, ModemManager recognizes this modem as something new with QMI interface, and then complains about too small versions of some QMI services.
Source
Connection
wvdial
See main article:
wvdial
The general procedure is to switch the device into modem mode, make sure the
ttyUSB
device(s) are recognized by the qcserial kernel module, and then to run
wvdial
to dial, connect and start
pppd
.
Install
wvdial
. The configuration file
/etc/wvdial.conf
will in general depend on which device you have and which mobile network you are connecting to. A single
wvdial.conf
can be defined with named sections to be usable with several USB modems and networks, should you need them.
Run:
# wvdialconf
which will attempt to write
/etc/wvdial.conf
correctly. You will need to add the user, password and Access Point Name (APN). You can obtain these from your network provider, from other users via published
wvdial.confs
, or by logging the USB tty traffic under another operating system (e.g. Sysinternals' Portmon).
An example of
/etc/wvdial.conf
looks like this:
/etc/wvdial.conf
[Dialer status]
Init1 = AT+CPIN?
Init2 = ATI
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB1

[Dialer pin]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB1
Init1 = AT+CPIN=1234

[Dialer wwan]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","data.apn.com"
Stupid Mode = yes
Phone = *99***1#
New PPPD = yes
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB1
Username = XXXXXX
Dial Command = ATDT
Password = XXXXXX
Baud = 460800
To simplify the procedure, one can take the SIM card out and disable the PIN so
wvdial pin
is not needed before connecting to the internet.
Often there will be several devices (at
/dev/ttyUSB0
,
/dev/ttyUSB1
,
/dev/ttyUSB2
for example). If in doubt about which to use, try each of them in turn. Once the configuration files are prepared, the internet connection is established by running
$ wvdial
section
The final wvdial command should start pppd and the obtained IP address should be visible in the terminal output. At that point the internet connection should be live, which can be easily checked with a web browser or by pinging an external IP address.
See also
USB 3G Modem
Allow users to dial with wvdial
Idea netsetter(Huawei EG162G)
ZTE MF636
3G and GPRS modems with pppd alone
Huawei E1550 3G modem