Centos 5.6 with Three 3g Dongle ZTE MF112

I am setting up a developement laptop that will connect to the internet using a Three 3G modem.  It is a ZTE MF112. This didn’t automatically work in Centos 5.6 and I had no other way of getting it connected to the net so this is what I eventually discovered.

1.  Update the Kernel.
2. Install Sakis3g

Sakis3G won’t work on the default Kernel and usb_modeswitch doesn’t help.

I retrieved the Kernel from ElRepo.org The most recent Kernel from there is 2.6.38 which is not too far from current.  There are quite a few errors upon boot up but none appear to be fatal so far.

Sakis3g is a single script that tries its best to get you connected to the internet with a 3g dongle.  The first time I ran it there were errors the second time it worked.  I think the first run through initialises the modem and the second actually connects.  It’s good enough for me.