Huawei E220 HDSPA modem under Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04

Support for 11.10 Huawei E220 HDSPA modem is broken since Ubuntu 11.10. Unfortunately version 12.04 of my favorite Linux distribution doesn't fix the issue.

The problem with the modem manifests itself by refusing to establish the network connection.

I use mobile Internet from Play Mobile with Huawei E220 USB modem delivered by the service provider. In order to establish connection with The Internet, I need to perform some mambo-jumbo hacking.

First I try to connect to the network with modem. It fails of course. Then I execute the following shell command:

$ sudo usb_modeswitch -v 0x12d1 -p 1003 -V 0x12d1 -P 1003 -R

The trick is to reset (-R) the USB modem firmware with the usb_modeswitch command. Note that both vendor and product do not change in the command - I just reset the device.

After I execute the magic fix-huawei command I plug and unplug the modem. Then I try to connect to the network again - this time connection is established successfully.