How do I use Rogers Nokia CS-18 rocket stick?

Question

I've just got a Rogers Nokia CS-18 rocket stick but when I plug it into my laptop it doesn't get recognized as a 3G modem. I've rebooted and tried plugging it into windows first but nothing seems to work.

Why won't Ubuntu 10.10 detect this?

Answer 1

I have to give thanks to @inhuman4 from the USB_ModeSwitch forums for figuring this one out.

Basically, the modem acts like a USB key until a certain code is sent to it. This code is device specific and Ubuntu uses usb_modeswitch to switch the mode on the modem from key to modem.

For the time being to add support for Rogers Nokia CS-18 rocketstick users need to add this to the bottom of /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/0421:0627

######################################################## 
# Nokia CS-18 

DefaultVendor= 0x0421 
DefaultProduct=0x0627 

TargetVendor=  0x0421 
TargetProduct= 0x0612 

CheckSuccess=20 

MessageContent="5553424312345678000000000000061b000000020000000000000000000000"

Then they need to add this to /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

# Nokia CS-18 
ATTRS{idVendor}=="0421", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0627", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

That's it! Unplug and replug your rocket stick and you are ready to go! :)

Hopefully these config file changes will be added to the Ubuntu distribution soon.