I used to buy the 3G USB dongle of Belgacom to surf for free on the web with my laptop during the weekends. It’s a Vodaphone dongle (a “HUAWEI Mobile Connect – 3G Modem” inside). I was just wondering if I could use it on my Fuhi Nabi II tablet. The answer is YES if your tablet is rooted!
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My Tablet, a Fuhu Nabi II, is running Android 4.0.4. It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but no 3G. Since a few weeks, I have a “Belgacom Internet Partout Maxi” subscription, including mobile internet for free during the whole week (You have to go into your “e-Services” to modify your current “Mobile Internet Free Weekend” subscription and activate the “Mobile Internet laptop” as mentioned here). That’s why I was motivated to try my Belgacom dongle on my tablet.
First, I had to install PPP Widget on my Tablet.
Next, I did add the Widget on the screen. At that time, you will see a status “Checking access” displayed by PPP Widget and you will be prompted to grant it root access. If you don’t grant it root access, you will see a status “No root access” displayed. I suggest you to re-add the widget on the screen and grant it access or you won’t be able to use it.
The status displayed next by PPP Widget should be No modem found”. Click on its “Configure” button to set the Belgacom parameters:
- Acces Point Name: internet.proximus.be
- Username: (keep it blank)
- Password: (keep it blank)
- Dialing string: (keep it unchanged: *99***1#)
- Check and set PIN: checked
- Pin Code: enter the pin code of the SIM plugged into the dongle
- HTTP Proxy: (keep it bank)
- Disable USB device sleep: unchecked
- Auto-Start Connection: unchecked
- Automatic Re-Connection: unchecked
- Automatic device detection: checked
- Manual port selection: unchecked
Then reboot the tablet to start from a clean situation. Once back:
- Disable the Wi-Fi.
- Connect a USB cable to the tablet. I did use an official Samsung USB adapter I bought for my Galaxy SII.
- Connect the Vodaphone Dongle on the USB cable.
- The dongle’s led should start to blink “green”.
- When you are prompted by PPP Widget to “open PPP Widget when this USB devices is connected”, select “Use by default for this USB device” and click OK.
- Wait for a few seconds. If nothing happens, unplug and replug the dongle. You should soon see the following status displayed by PPP Widget:
- Prepare device…
- Seach for port…
- Setup modem…
- Disconnected (and the button “Connect” should now be enabled)
- Now, The dongle’s led should blink “blue”.
The Connect button of the PPP Widget will become “enabled”. Click on that button. PPP Widget will display the status “Dialing out…”. If it fails to connect, the status “Disconnected” will displayed. Otherwise, you should see “Connected!” and the dongle’s led should stay fixed “blue”. Enjoy !
If it does not succeed to connect, check that the dongle is still working on your laptop. Running the application “Vodaphone Mobile Connect Lite” on your Laptop, you will possibly get more details like “Sim card not found”, … Notice: I tried to use the latest version of the application “Vodaphone Mobile Connect Lite” on my Laptop (Windows 8.1) but got a message like “This program as compatibility issues”. I tried to run the Compatibility Troubleshooter, but it didn’t find a solution. Finally, although the application could start anyway, it didn’t detect the dongle. So I would recommend to use the software version available on the key itself.
You can also enable the log within PPP Widget, via the Configure menu.
Notice: if your tablet goes to sleep mode, you will be “disconnected” and the dongle will restart to blink “green”. When the tablet waked up, you should see PPP widget trying to re-detect the dongle and setup the modem. If it succeeds, you will be able to click on “Connect”. Otherwise, to unplug and replug the dongle.
