I’ve been trying to get my Huawei E173 modem working on Ubuntu. I’m no Ubuntu expert and it took me half a day to get it working, so here’s what I eventually did:

Use HyperTerminal on Windows to switch device into modem mode (factory default is to make it a CD-ROM and a microSD card reader). Install all the drivers and connect to correct COM port. In my case it was COM3, but it was just my case. I’ve been trying to issued AT on all COM ports and finally I saw OK. Then I issued AT^U2DIAG=0 which also resulted in OK. If you don’t want to do this, you can try using usb_modeswitch.

On Ubuntu I’ve inserted the device, and issued lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 12d1:1c05 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

I’ve edited /etc/modules and added a line:

usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1c05

Reboot.

Configure your mobile broadband connection using gnome network manager.

Use at your own risk (especially the Windows part).