Using Micromax 3G Modem on Ubuntu 12.04

In Sep 2010 I had written about using Micromax 3G modem on Ubuntu 10.04. Since then I could not find time to see whether Ubuntu 10.11, 11.04 and 11.10 has any changes wrt modeswitch etc. In Ubuntu 12.04 the newest version of usb-modeswitch is already installed by default and  mode switching takes place in the background.

Today I downloaded the iso of Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop iso and made a boot-able pen-drive and wanted to use the Micromax 3G Modem. Before implementing the procedure in my last post I searched and found following procedure on askubuntu:

Open up a terminal from Applications -> Accessories. Type:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

At the bottom of the file, make two new lines, like this:

usbserial
option

Then close the editor program and save it. Reboot the computer and hopefully you’ll be right from now on!

Since I was running from usb stick I used the following commands to load these modules:
sudo modprobe usbserial
sudo modprobe option

Then I inserted Micromax usb modem and configured a new Mobile Broadband connection through the Network Manager.

Although the Network Manager had not detected the insertion of modem but after configuring the connection it worked.

If you have installed Ubuntu 12.04 and want to use this modem on regular basis you can edit /etc/modules file as per the procedure on askubuntu so that the modules would be loaded on boot.

If you want to occasionally use this modem you can use my procedure i.e. to load the modules before inserting the modem.

NB: Network Manager takes about 3 minutes to detect the modem on LiveCD/USB or even installed Ubuntu 12.04. You need to have some patience after inserting the modem. In addition the modules 'usbserial' and 'option' need to be loaded before insertion as described above. In Ubuntu 11.10 this Modem shows up in Network Manager after a few minutes without giving any command.

One visitor wanted me to post screen shots. Here they are.