4G USB dongles known to work on Linux

[Nate Pleasant]

Henrique,


I don't have any personal experience with that alcatel modem, but I have used one of its predecessors, the alcatel w800, which worked well under Linux.  Both USB modems are web-UI based modems.  Meaning, they offer an Ethernet-like interface, and to control the USB modem, you have to open its web UI.  Below are some notes I took on the w800 several years ago, which may be relevant for the IK40V.


https://bitbucket.org/accelecon/modemmanager/wiki/AlcatelW800


I also found the following manual for the IK40V, which confirms its web UI setup and usage.


https://descargas.mundo-r.com/descargas/sites/descargas/files/imce/mobil/manual-alcatel-IK40V.pdf


Nate Pleasant



________________________________
From: Henrique Ferreiro <henrique.ferreiro at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 9:17:01 AM
To: Nate Pleasant
Cc: modemmanager-devel at lists.freedesktop.org
Subject: Re: 4G USB dongles known to work on Linux

I will be using it in Spain. My current carrier offers the following dongle: alcatel IK40V, which apparently is a rndis modem. Any idea about this particular model/protocol?

El mar., 20 feb. 2018 a las 15:47, Nate Pleasant (<nate.pleasant at accelerated.com<mailto:nate.pleasant at accelerated.com>>) escribió:

Henrique,


What carrier and country are you looking to work in?  I've been using the Huawei E8372 here in the US, and it works great on Linux with both AT&T and T-Mobile SIMs.  It gets recognized as a Ethernet interface, and provides a web UI that you can use to manage and configure the E8372.  The downside is this USB modem acts like a router (i.e. it provides a NAT-ed 192.168.8.x address to your PC), so you'll never get to directly use the IP address the E8372 received from the cellular network.  Here's a link I found for the user manual for the E8372 if you want to read more:


https://images.wirelessdealer.ca/images/phones/userguide3967.pdf


As for other USB modems that work well on Linux, I can recommend the following additional modems, based on carrier.  However, some of these USB modems are a bit old at this point, and may have to be purchased used or from a third party:


- AT&T/T-Mobile - Sierra Wireless 313U (unlocked if not using on AT&T) - does not act like an Ethernet interface, instead provides standard tty/wwan interfaces

- Verizon - Novatel 551L - acts like a Etherenet interface, but doesn't have a web UI for management (uses a tty port for AT commands).  Benefit is you can use the cellular IP address on your Linux machine

- Verizon - Novatel 620L

- Sprint - Netgear 341U - similar to Sierra 313U mentioned above, but it has a LCD screen

- Sprint - Franklin 770 - similar to E8372 in usage (Ethernet + web UI)


Nate Pleasant



--

--
Henrique
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