Ubuntu – Networkmanager for Lubuntu 18.10 & 19.04 – how to enable mobile broadband

lubuntunetwork-managernetworkingwireless

In previous iterations of Lubuntu, that is, pre-QT, the network manager had a GUI which made it deadsimple to install a mobile-broadband SIM card USB receiver, when you clicked the "edit connections" on the connections icon in the panel, you'd get this:

After choosing "Mobile Broadband", there was a very easy guide – it even included presets for the internetprovider in my country! (Denmark)

In Lubuntu 18.10 and 19.04, doing the same drops you into terminal and presents you with this:

Some of the possibilities are the same, but the non-GUI menu does not have "Mobile Broadband".
The possible connection types in the CLI networkmanager, that can't be seen are:
Bridge – IP tunnel – Team – VLAN

I'm guessing/hoping it's because it's really just a popular special case of one of the other possibilities, so it's included in the GUI version from 18.04, but not in the 18.10+.

I just don't now how to proceed from here, can a kind soul help? I'd really like to use great new QT enviroment but I need to be able to connect to mobile broadband. Thank you.

Best Answer

I just installed Lubuntu 19 and still didn't have the GUI by default. So I had to install it via

sudo apt install network-manager-gnome

Network Connection GUI

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Ubuntu – How to enable/disable mobile broadband from terminal

Open terminal window and type:

sudo gedit /etc/init.d/mobile-broadband-connect

Then copy and paste this (Change for your needs):

Note: Replace the <Your Mobile Broadband Connection Name Here> with the name of your connection.

#!/bin/bash

case "$1" in
start)
      echo "Starting Mobile Broadband Connection."
      while true; do
        # testing...to see if gsm is on the list of active devices
        LC_ALL=C nmcli -t -f TYPE,STATE dev | grep -q "^gsm:disconnected$"
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
            break
        else
         # not connected, sleeping for a second
            sleep 1
        fi
      done
      # now once GSM modem shows up, run these commands
      nmcli -t nm wwan on
      nmcli -t con up id <Your Mobile Broadband Connection Name Here>
;;
stop)
      echo "Stopping Mobile Broadband Connection."
      nmcli -t con down id <Your Mobile Broadband Connection Name Here>
      nmcli -t nm wwan off
;;
status)
      # Check to see if the process is running with Network Manager dev status
      nmcli -p dev
;;

*)
      echo "Mobile Broadband Startup Service"
      echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|status}"
      exit 1
esac
exit 0

Change the permissions of this file for execution:

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/mobile-broadband-connect

To run this script has a service, do:

sudo update-rc.d mobile-broadband-connect defaults

The script is registered as a system startup service so you can start, stop, or check the status of the script with :

sudo service mobile-broadband-connect start

sudo service mobile-broadband-connect stop

sudo service mobile-broadband-connect status

Reboot to complete installation and auto connect.

Reboot your system to complete the installation.
After reboot it takes up to 60 seconds before the USB device is active.
When active - The Mobile Broadband Connection will be activated and auto connected.

Done ...

Ubuntu – Enable mobile broadband not working

could be, that you are too quick or impatient ?

mobile broadband needs sometimes more time to initialize the connection. it depends on reception of the technical devices in broadband.

my huawei mobile broadband usb stick is sometimes not working too. but it is matter of reception (state of satellites - not state of Linux). - then it can last 5 minutes or more until it works.

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