UMTS USB Dongle in OpenSuse 11.1

Lately I ordered a UMTS usb dongle from KPN for my OpenSuse 11.1 notebook.
As you all probely know, for Microsoft you just plug the USB stick in and maybe you have to install some additional software and it works.
With Linux this is different. In OpenSuse 11.1 we can use NetworkManager to connect to the Internet.

Fist challenge I had was to let OpenSuse recognize my USB UMTS USB stick as a modem and not a Mass Storage Device.
After some googeling I found a post on de OpenSuse forums to fix this.

But actually, I solved my problem with a ONDA MT503HT (MF628) using usb_modeswitch.
The software is ready in my OpenSuse 11.1 64 bit, just a little editing on the /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf file and everything is OK, even the built in MicroSD card reader.
Comment out the section “Option GlobeSurfer Icon (aka “Vodafone EasyBox”)” and enable the section “ONDA MT503HS (most likely a ZTE model)”.

Of course some tweaking is needed on the side of /etc/wvdial.conf and, if you don’t want to run usb_modeswitch in a console (as a root), you have to create a new rule for udev.
For example, create the rule with:
touch /etc/udev/rules.d/75-onda-MT503HS.rules
and then insert in the file this string:
SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, ATTR{idVendor}==”19d2″, ATTR{idProduct}==”2000″, RUN+=”/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch”

This fix from Acez works great. Now NetworkManager recognizes the UMTS dongel. Now you have to set the right APN name.
This is a site where almost every provider is listed.

Now I can Blog anywhere!