Connecting to 3G broadband fails randomly every 2 of 3 times - NM goes completely berserk

[Teo]

I have a Huaweii 3G USB modem and every time I want to connect to the mobile network it is a f***ing nightmare.

Sometimes it just works, meaning I plug the USB modem, I select the network from the menu, and it connects.

But some other times the following absolute nonsense happens.
- I plug the device and wait a few seconds
- In NM, the option "Enable Mobile Broadband" is unchecked (I NEVER uncheck it), so I check it
- IMMEDIATELY, NM says "You are now registered on a roaming network", which is obviously bullshit: network doesn't work. The name of a supposed roaming network appears in the place where you usually see the current network you're connected to, but greyed out.
- Then I select the network from the list. and any of the following happens:
-- A. Nothing at all
-- B. It shows the antenna animation as if trying to connect, forever
-- C. It shows the antenna animation as if trying to connect. Then it says connected, then it says disconnected. Or it says again "You are now registered to a roaming network"

Sometimes, instead, as soon as I try to connect the "Enable mobile broadband" option unchecks itself, and a few seconds later I get a popup window informing me that some program has crashed and offering me to send a report (HOW if I am not connected to the internet?) - I guess it's NM crashing.

I retry again and again and any of the above behaviors alternate randomly.

I desperately disconnect and reconnect the modem and also kill and relaunch nm-applet (something you already have to do every few hours or minutes because of bug #1019395), and I don't know which combination of these, or perhaps mere randomness, eventually makes it work again, so I finally can get connected.

UNTIL at some random moment minutes or hours ago, it suddenly disconnects, and the network disappears from the list and the Enable Mobile option disappears (it doesn't get unchecked, it DISAPPEARS) - everything as if I had disconnected the device (which is blinking though).

So I go through the above hell again, until I get connected again.

Here is how it SHOULD work:
- you plug the device (even a brand new one)
- a prompt appears asking the PIN if needed AND if it is the first time
- it just connects. If it is the first time it sees this device, it asks you the only 2 things it actually needs to know to connect to your newtork

If it is not the first time, it should just be PLUG AND START SURFING.

This feels like being in the 20th century. These devices are very common today and they are all the same, so this is ridiculous. I don't see the purpose of having a new release of Ubuntu every 6 months if this kind of things still don't work.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: network-manager 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu4.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-30.48-generic 3.2.27
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-30-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu12
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Sep 3 21:47:06 2012
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
IpRoute:
 default via 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto static
 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto kernel scope link src 10.140.32.177
 169.254.0.0/16 dev ppp0 scope link metric 1000
NetworkManager.state:
 [main]
 NetworkingEnabled=true
 WirelessEnabled=true
 WWANEnabled=true
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: network-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-17 (109 days ago)
mtime.conffile..etc.NetworkManager.NetworkManager.conf: 2012-08-30T13:38:55.126319
nmcli-dev:
 DEVICE TYPE STATE DBUS-PATH
 ttyUSB0 gsm connected /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/21
 wlan0 802-11-wireless disconnected /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1
 eth0 802-3-ethernet unavailable /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/0
nmcli-nm:
 RUNNING VERSION STATE NET-ENABLED WIFI-HARDWARE WIFI WWAN-HARDWARE WWAN
 running 0.9.4.0 connected enabled enabled enabled enabled enabled

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Teo (teo1978)]

The times when clicking on the real network in the list to connect does absolutely nothing, this message appears in nm-applet's output (at the very moment when you click on the network to connect):

** (nm-applet:13021): WARNING **: async_got_type: could not read properties for /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/156: Method "Get" with signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't exist

** (nm-applet:13021): WARNING **: async_got_type: could not read properties for /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/156: Method "Get" with signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't exist

(yes, it appears twice)

[Marius B. Kotsbak (mariusko)]

There is more than one issue described here. Please open separate bug reports for each issue you still see, as in your bug 1071853. I think most of the other issues are either fixed or known.

[Teo (teo1978)]

None of them is fixed. I'll try to file separate bugs if I can observe them separately.

[Marius B. Kotsbak (mariusko)]

You might be interested in following bug #848164.