The Rogers HSPA+ Rocket Stick & Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Posted by markm Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:11:00 GMT

Zero-Install Plug and Play Software Doesn’t Mean What You Think…

Okay so before I get to the punchline I am going to rant. Sorry.

I am used to using Novatel Wireless devices and they have great Mac support. Many have drivers bundled with the OS so you just plug them in and type in the settings. Then you are on the web.

Clearly a Microsoft Windows user wrote this statement because on a Mac this means that the driver is bundled with the OS (and not on a hidden read-only flash drive on the device). Really, doesn’t Zero-Install mean you don’t have to install drivers. So when I plugged the Rocket Internet Stick into my MacBook and it didn’t appear in my network settings I was disappointed to say the least.

Making matters worse for some reason the Rocket Stick (ZTE MF668) didn’t even work once I installed the drivers. I had the following symptoms on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard):

  • The bundled Rogers App does pretty much nothing. It tries to connect but always fails.
  • Once the devices is unplugged it is uninstalled along with any network settings preventing manual configuration.

The Game Plan

Having setup several different Rocket Sticks and similar devices I figured that the best option would be to manually configure the modem. That means we need to accomplish two things - first we need to disable whatever is removing the device from the network settings and then we need to create a manual profile.

To do this we need to get everything installed first then clean it up. First we will install the package that comes on the Stick. Then we will delete the LaunchDaemon that clears the settings and remove the Rogers App. Finally we will add a Modem profile for the Rocket Stick (ZTE MF668) and enter the Rogers network settings.

Installation

The first step is to install the provided drivers. They will mount (showing up as a CD on the desktop) when you first plug the device in.

Once this is done you need to remove the Rogers App (Connection Manager.app) and uninstall the LaunchDaemon that will keep trying to remove any created profiles.

cd /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl unload cn.com.zte.PPPMonitor.plist
sudo rm -rf ./cn.com.zte.PPPMonitor.plist

cd /Applications/
sudo rm -rf ./Connection\ Manager.app

Eventually you should see a popup where you can launch Network Preferences to configure the device.

Configuration

Now you are staring a the Network Preferences Panel. We need to do a couple things here to get things running. You need to setup the newly added ZTEUSBModem (you can safely delete the ZTEUSBATPort if you want - it is just needed for the Rogers Connection Manager).

First we need to type in basic settings:

  • Telephone Number: *99#
  • Account Name: wapuser1
  • Password: wap

The click the “Show modem status in menu bar” so you can easily connect.

The you need to go to Advanced Settings (button in bottom left) and click Advanced. Make sure you are on the Modem tab. Select Generic as the vendor, GPRS (GSM/3G) as the Model and type in internet.com as the APN.

If you want you can rename the USB Modem to something like “Rocket Stick” and you can reorder the service so that when plugged in this takes preference over other connections.

Using the Modem

At this point all you need to do is click connect from the Rocket Stick tab in the Network Preferences.

If you have enabled it you can also do this from the menu bar by clicking connect directly form there.

Final Thoughts.

Well, that might have been a little tricky or hard but, trust me, it will be worth it in the end. Rogers has done a great job of expanding their existing 3G coverage and I am looking forward to HSPA+ in Edmonton.