How can Huawei E3276 USB modem work on MAC OS X 10.8.4?

Question

I spent over an hour on the help line with the local telecom operator. We could not get the Huawei E3276 USB modem to work on MAC OS X 10.8.4 on a Macbook Air 2013.

It works without any problems on lower versions, e.g. MAC OS X 10.7.5, on a Macbook Pro but not with 10.8.4 on the Macbook Air where the modem is shown as connected (also under network preferences), however, it does not appear as an available network in the drop down list of the netwok utility.

The telecom operator can see it as connected and exchange SMS#s, but for some reason neither Safari nor Mail can "see" the modem.

Any workaround or fixes by either Apple or Huawei are appreciated!

Solution 1

I've found the workaround for E3276 with Mac OS X 10.8.4 on my MacBook Air mid2013 that really works - thanks to vvevvevve on www.gsmforum.ru (In Russian use google translate )

The point is to establish the dial-up connection using standard Mac OS X RAS feature instead of using bundled MobilePartner application.

Here what you have to do:

1. Install the driver (MobilePartner). You have already done that. If you choose to install on a new Mac you don't have to install the complete pack - it is enough to install only one binary from the pack:
   MOBILE_CONNECT.dmg->Mobile Partner.app (right-click, Show Package Contents)->Contents->Resources->MobilePartner.mpkg (right-click, Show Package Contents)->Contents->Packages->MobileConnectDriver.pkg (install it)

2. You can now open Network connectivity options window (sorry, I have the Russian-language OS on the Mac, so I don't know the definitely right english names of the windows/menus/etc.) and press the plus (+) button under the list of available connections. If you now see your modem in the list of the new opened window you only have to move to step (4). If no - read next step.

3. You can check the presence of the modem in the system using Terminal (it is the standard application already installed on your Mac from the factory).
   Start it and type there the command ls /dev
   You should see the full list of connected devices with your modem named like tty.HUAWEIMobile-Pcui among them. If yes, the modem is connected. You can now connect to it with command screen /dev/tty.HUAWEIMobile-Pcui in Terminal. Now you can send standard AT-commands to the modem (it is normal that you don't see the characters you type - the ARE sent to modem as you type them), for example AT (press enter after the command) which should reply OK. If you'd like to see the characters you enter, put the command ATE1 (and as always press enter) which will enable echoing of typed characters.
   Now you have to put the command which opens the port on the modem allowing to use it as a Dial-Up modem: AT^SETPORT="A1;10,12,16" - you have to put all the characters as written and press enter, shure. You'll see OK reply again.

4. Now you can create a new connection with the modem which you can find under the plus (+) button situated under the list of available connections. Put only the dial-up number *99# (it is the standard for mobile modems since GPRS appeared) and save it and connect it. Now the Internet connection (GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/LTE - according to coverage of your operator and its technologies) should work as expected.

You can get the latest driver for Huawei here.

Use "HUAWEI_DataCard_ClientSoftware_MACB009D05SP00C983(for Mac OS 10.8)" - it is published on 2012-08-29, the version number of the MobileConnectDriver.pkg inside it is 4.25.35.00 and there is no later version on the official site at the date of writing this message. It seems to me that the newer version doesn't exist anywhere.

Thats it.

Solution 2

new driver MobileConnectDriver for Mac Book Air 2013 http://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/downloads/detail/index.htm?id=17263

worked for me!

Comments

[manoj]

The same solution worked for me for Mac Os X 10.11.1 EI capitan, with HUAWEI EC156 USB stick (Tata Photon+), Thanks

[retif]

Thank you for the instruction, it worked for me just fine. Although, all the driver links I found were dead, but this one is still available. And like you said, it's only MobileConnectDriver.pkg that is needed (can be found inside MobileWiFi_Driver.app).