A few days ago I took the leap and upgraded my Macbook Air to OS X Lion. After a seamless (and typically Apple) upgrade process, I was enjoying the benefits of an even more refined operating system.
However, one of the first things I did was test out my mobile broadband – and there the problem began.
I have an O2 mobile broadband dongle, the ZTE MF100 USB stick. When I originally installed it a small application called O2 Mobile Connect installed and worked a treat for connecting to the O2 service.
After upgrading to OS X Lion the application crashed as soon as it opened – I assume because of a change in an API somewhere. After hunting around the O2 site (and Google) I could find no update on getting the Mobile Connect application to work on Lion, or even where to download it. It would appear that O2 have ditched supplying the ZTE dongles in favour of Huwaei branded sticks.
Anyway, I was damned if I was going to lose my mobile broadband (and I certainly didn’t want to uninstall Lion), so here’s how I eventually got the stick working:
- Open System Preferences
- Click on the plus sign to Create a new service
- Choose ZTEUSBModem as the interface
- Name the service O2 Mobile Broadband (or something recognisable)
- Set Telephone Number to *99#
- Set Account name to 02web
- Set Password to password
Note that this is for Pay Monthly Broadband – I think the details are different for Pay & Go customers.
Key step: set DNS server to 193.113.200.201
And hey presto, I now have mobile broadband working again.
Hope this helps anyone out there trying to get it working.
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25 comments
Stuart Marden
July 27, 2011 at 11:41 pm (UTC 0)
Brilliant – thanks
Stuart Marden
July 27, 2011 at 11:43 pm (UTC 0)
PS Works fine for PAYG with these settings
shuggill
July 28, 2011 at 8:31 am (UTC 0)
Stuart – glad it was helpful, had me stumped for a while!
Kevin T
July 28, 2011 at 10:29 am (UTC 0)
Sam, You are a star! I went round in circles with O2 Guru yesterday (he pointed me to the Windoze configuration even though I explained it was for a Mac!). Simplez.
Kevin
shuggill
July 28, 2011 at 10:33 am (UTC 0)
Yeah it had me tied up for a while, just relieved to have got it working!
Justin Morris
July 28, 2011 at 1:14 pm (UTC 0)
Fantastic, worked a treat for me. Cheers mate!
chris suddes
August 4, 2011 at 2:21 pm (UTC 0)
Thanks Sam, lifesaver, cheers. Everything else seems fine with Lion so this was a big help to me, appreciate you sharing
google
August 28, 2011 at 6:08 am (UTC 0)
I liked your article is an interesting technology
thanks to google I found you
Kevin
August 29, 2011 at 11:22 am (UTC 0)
Sam
Excellent – many thanks. O2 were completely useless with this problem, and when I checked to see if Vodafone were doing any better, they were ‘working on it’ and hoped to have it sorted by ‘October’. Why they simply cannot tell people to do what you have is beyond me!!! Well done
Anonymous
September 1, 2011 at 9:06 am (UTC 0)
Many thanks! Exact same problem and works perfectly with O2 PAYG
Neil
September 7, 2011 at 10:18 am (UTC 0)
I am trying something very similar with the Sierra Wireless Compass 889. A couple of quetsions:
1. Did you install the 3G Watcher software as well?
2. Is that an “O” for orange in “O2web” or a zero? Upper or lower case?
shuggill
September 8, 2011 at 9:13 am (UTC 0)
Hi Neil,
1. No, I didn’t install 3G Watcher software
2. The ‘O’ is for Oscar, not a zero. I think it is case insensitive, but I’m using lower-case
Hope that helps!
Sam
Nick Francis
October 22, 2011 at 4:54 pm (UTC 0)
Neil – did you get your Compass 889 working? I am trying to get mine working now and not having any luck.
Daniel Levitt (@supercerebral)
September 10, 2011 at 3:34 pm (UTC 0)
Legend!
Harry Stringer
October 27, 2011 at 12:19 pm (UTC 0)
Sam. Your tip on the ZTE USB modem is exactly what I need, but I can’t figure out where/ how to create the new service you mentioned in System Prefences.
I have Lion installed, and admit I’m new to Apple and MacBook so not too familiar with how to change things in the operating system.
Could you tell me idiot steps to set up the service?
Regards Harry
shuggill
November 1, 2011 at 4:40 pm (UTC 0)
I think the missing step is when you have opened System Preferences to click on the Network icon.
Let me know if this works for you and I will update the post.
ts2k
October 29, 2011 at 3:13 pm (UTC 0)
Great working perfect on my MAC Lion OS x
best dongle speeds
November 14, 2011 at 11:01 am (UTC 0)
Hi there, You have performed an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and in my opinion suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Duncan Brack
November 22, 2011 at 11:36 pm (UTC 0)
I have exactly the same problem, but I can’t follow the instructions here – or maybe I’m misunderstanding.
When I click the plus sign in Network, my options for ‘interface’ are wifi, Bluetooth DUN, VPN, PPPoE and 6 to 4 (the same with the modem not plugged in). I assume from your post above that I should see the name of the modem – but I don’t.
Any advice? Thanks.
shuggill
November 24, 2011 at 8:31 am (UTC 0)
Hi Duncan,
Are you running a fresh install of Lion or did you upgrade? Don’t have my Mac to hand right now but I’ll check later today.
Duncan Brack
November 26, 2011 at 2:38 pm (UTC 0)
It’s a new MacBook Air with Lion installed from the beginning – currently running 10.7.2.
shuggill
February 3, 2012 at 10:10 pm (UTC 0)
Hi Duncan,
I guess the original O2 installer must have put the interface in somehow – have you made any progress?
Steve
November 30, 2011 at 2:22 pm (UTC 0)
Shuggil, thanks man! I had a similar issue after upgrading to Lion and thankfully came across your post while searching for solution on Google and O2 site. Thanks!!
med
December 1, 2011 at 10:12 pm (UTC 0)
hi shuggill,
thanx for the tuto that works for me. but i have another usb modem from another operator, i must set the APN (acces point network) to make it work, the problem is that i can’t find a place where i can set my apn.
just don’t ask about what operator because i live in Morocco
thanks again
shuggill
February 3, 2012 at 10:12 pm (UTC 0)
Hi Med,
By APN do you mean the number the modem dials? I know that there is a Telephone Number field in the Network Preferences dialog.