Using the U727 under Linux
Comments(4)
This USB 3G EVDO stick is available as Novatel Wireless Ovation U727. Mine is from Sprint, but there also used to be a version from Verizon (but I can’t find it on their site right now).
Sprint states that it supports Linux (which is part of why I got it). Sprint even provides instructions how to install it under Linux. That’s great, except that these instructions are wrong, as are most of the hints you can find online when googling for U727 and Linux.
Sprint tells you to use the usbserial module and give it the specific vendor and product codes for the devices as options in order to tie it to usbserial; something like modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1410 product=0x4010. This is bogus in the first place as the product code for the newer versions of the U727 has changed to 0x5100. But even then, while it might work (depending on how your Linux distribution is set up) it limits your data rate to about 500kbit/s – Sprint even documents that limitation!
If you keep looking, you’ll find several posts online that instead suggest to patch the AirPrime driver in the Linux kernel – only that one was removed in 2.6.26. So with a current Linux distribution (and soon most people will have upgraded to something with a newer kernel) neither of these solutions really works.
Instead, the USB Serial Option driver is now the correct driver to use. But even though this is supposed to work “out of the box” on a recent Ubuntu or Fedora system, I did find myself having to manually load the module before plugging in the stick. Simply run sudo modprobe option from a terminal window before connecting the U727 and things will work smoothly; after a moment NetworkManager realizes that there now is a Mobile Broadband connection available. It tends to populate things correctly (all default settings plus #777 as the number to call), but it’s always worth to double check.
I’ve been very happy with the U727 so far. Very decent data rates (often more than 1Mbit/s) and acceptable latency, given that this is a wireless WAN connection. The one major downside is that there is no signal strength indication under Linux – that would certainly be useful when trying to figure out the best position for the little antenna. Oh and don’t forget to connect the stick at least once on a Windows or Mac OS system before using it under Linux so that those drivers can correctly program your account information into the flash on board.
Thank you so much. I was beating my head against the wall on this one. Now it works perfectly!
[...] posted about getting 3G modems to work under Linux before. But trying to get the UK version of the Huwei E220 to work (actually, O2’s website [...]
In my experience, you also need to eject the “CD” that the u727 auto-mounts. (on ubuntu at least)Only then will Network Manager recognize the Broadband Connection.
Thank you for this guide. I have Crunchbang linux on my netbook and couldn’t find any specific instructions but the !# distro is based of ubuntu and this worked valiantly.
Thank you etosamoe also. I would have never figured that out