Comments on: Safaricom, Huawei e220, Linux and you!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:04:47 +0000

Hi Carlos,
If I got you right, you have NOT yet figured it out, am I correct? I would also like to use Orange’s CDMA services, as they are much cheaper than Safaricom. The ZTE modem is not picked by Linux (I am running Linux Mint Helena), but their Huawei is. Yet, it does not connect. Any ideas or past experiences? Thanks a lot!

By: Carlos

Carlos — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:13:02 +0000

Hi, do anyone have experience connecting to Orange?

I am able to connect but the IP address that I get seem to be wrong. For example:

ATZ
OK
–> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
–> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”bew.orange.co.ke”
AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”bew.orange.co.ke”
OK
–> Modem initialized.
–> Sending: ATDT*99#
–> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99#
CONNECT
–> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
–> Starting pppd at Mon Feb 1 14:59:26 2010
–> Pid of pppd: 15754
–> Using interface ppp0
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> local IP address 10.53.0.196
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> remote IP address 10.64.64.64
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> primary DNS address 212.49.70.22
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]
–> secondary DNS address 212.49.70.23
–> pppd: (â[06][08][08]ã[06][08]

Now, I am not able to reach any of the DNS, not browse the internet.

Many thanks.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:53:32 +0000

Carlos,

Glad you could fix it by yourself. You’re in Slackware; a brave man!

By: Carlos

Carlos — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:25:42 +0000

I’m replying to my own post :-)

After some extra configuration in Slackware 13 using pppsetup, it worked perfectly.

Thanks a lot for this blog!

By: Carlos

Carlos — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:12:31 +0000

Hi,

I am trying to connect to safaricom but I have constant “NO CARRIER”.

I am using *99# to connect

Please help!

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:49:05 +0000

I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think that’s possible.

By: mac

mac — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:02:10 +0000

my question is,can i use my zain card in a safaricom modem

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:47:40 +0000

I would really appreciate if you took me on step to step help on how I would use the safaricom modem from when I am at the network preferences and click on network connection to whhere I select my provider and insert my username and password coz what u have given me is doing jerk for me. I just don’t get it. please help.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:24:47 +0000

hi i know it must be like a gazillion years since you wrote this article, but its still useful since i used it to get the huawei e220 working in my opensuse 11.2 installation. would be nice to note im in an area with 3G and the speed is :)~! , dop dead gorgeous

By: Alan

Alan — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:12:32 +0000

George,

Where I live there is Yu voice only, so I haven’t had a chance to test data yet. I was in Nairobi the other day and I used Yu’s EDGE without much trouble at all on my Nokia 5320. The configuration was fairly simple, and not nearly as complex as the Yu website wants it to be. For the record, I didn’t need any of the proxy settings they were talking about. I’m not even sure the APN matters (Yu’s website lists an APN of “internet” but I was successful with “yu” and I’m sure others will work).

I don’t have a Huawei modem anymore, and like I said there is no Yu internet here in Kangundo yet, but one thing to consider is that Safaricom has network locked the modem. It’s a shame if they have…

Good luck.