Friday, July 29, 2011

[Singapore] How to get Starhub ZTE MF626 USB modem working on OSXLion

Update 18th Nov 2012: I upgraded to a new machine, and this broke again. The link below to the Vodafone Broadband Manager doesn't exist either.

So I went to Starhub today, and was told there was no way out other than to buy a new modem ( the one from Huewei starts at S$88) I didn't want to spend money on this, so went to look for the latest Vodafone broadband software. Found it here: http://www.business.vodafone.com/site/bus/public/enuk/support/10_productsupport/laptop_connectivity/40_software/software/10_latest/p_software.jsp. Sure enough, after installing the vodafone software, the starhub connection manager started working again. Vodafone - 1 ; Starhub - 0.

Dug around a little bit this time, apparently the drives that ship with the modem are 32 bit drivers only. OSX Lion and above don't load 32 bit drivers anymore AFAIK, so that's why the bundled driver software doesn't work anymore.

Wish Starhub updated their software and hosted it somewhere on their website.



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Old post:

Starhub's ZTE MF626 modem doesn't work on OSX Lion (10.7). Looks like the USB modem driver is outdated. Starhub doesn't seem to have an upgrade available yet. So, DIY time!

Thankfully, Vodafone has updated their connection manager for OSXLion ( thanks http://openmindlifestyle.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/tip-workaround-for-zte-mf626-broadband-modem-on-mac-os-x-lion-10-7/). Here's how to setup Vodafone's upgraded modem driver and connect to Starhub.

  1. Remove existing ZTEUSBModem Service from your network preferences panel.
  2. Install the Vodafone Broadband manager available here. This installs the drivers as well.
  3. Restart.
  4. Go to System Preferences > Network. Choose ZTEUSBModem. Key in *99# as the phone number to dial to. Click Connect. (Might take a couple of minutes to connect)
The Starhub Connection Manager doesn't seem to be able to use this updated driver. Just check the 'Show modem status on menu bar' option in the Network Preferences panel; Its simpler than using the Starhub Connection Manager anyway.