Making an internet dongle work with Snow Leopard

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Level 1

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Making an internet dongle work with Snow Leopard

Can anybody tell me why my Swisscom usb internet 'dongle' (Unlimited Connection Manager) no longer works since I installed Snow Leopard? It still works perfectly on a PC - from where I am forced to send this message.

Upgrading to Snow Leopard has given me nothing but suprise problems in times of stress and was positively the worse move I ever made with Apple. My MacSpeech dictate has also just given up the ghost. I suspect it needs a software upgrade but as I can no longer access the internet ... grrrr

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 25, 2010 9:56 AM

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Answer 1

direwolf8

Level 4

1,286 points

Jan 25, 2010 10:42 AM in response to Barrold

My guess is that you need updated drivers from the manufacturer. Third party drivers aren't Apple's responsibility.

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Answer 2

Barrold Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2010 10:53 AM in response to direwolf8

Thanks. Will try to find out how to get these. Agree with you, of course, and apologise for my heat of the moment frustration but as a non-technical person I wish Apple had advised in advance that this kind of thing would happen - and provided some support - before urging everyone to upgrade. I have already had similar problems with my printers etc. and if it wasn't for the kindness and patience of people like you, I'd have been in a right mess. Your support and advice is really appreciated and invaluable.

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Answer 3

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Jan 25, 2010 10:56 AM in response to Barrold

Rather than use any third-party software (Unlimited Connection Manager), open the Network panel in System Preferences and see if the device is recognized. If so, then you should be able to configure it and use it in Snow Leopard without any additional software.

bd

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Answer 4

Junibus

Level 1

0 points

Jan 26, 2010 4:08 AM in response to Barrold

As far as I recall from German discussion groups there is currently no USB internet stick (dongle) working on SL. And nobody has even announced an upgrade to their software yet.

Hey, SL ist out since months and developers have been provided with beta software since 2008.

What's up you Internet Providers??

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,858 points

Jan 26, 2010 5:47 AM in response to Barrold

Barrold wrote:
I wish Apple had advised in advance that this kind of thing would happen - and provided some support - before urging everyone to upgrade.

Having been a longtime Mac user, I've always taken that responsibility on myself. Given that many Mac sites publish compatibility reports ([like this one|http://snowleopard.wikidot.com>) at every upgrade, I imagine that is the case for many Mac users.
Apple provides developers with a stable feature set far in advance of the actual release so that they can identify and fix any problems. I expect developers to do their part. If developers aren't up to that task, I find and support other developers that are.

Hardware like yours has always had problems with updates and they are slow to fix them. They don't seem to put much effort into the software to drive them. If they even make Mac drivers, they usually cause problems.

Message was edited by: Barney-15E

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Answer 6

almapc

Level 1

0 points

Feb 9, 2010 2:55 PM in response to Junibus

Hi, I am having the same problem. I just got a Macbook Pro 10.6 and I am trying to use my 3 mobile broadband dongle but i still have no internet connection. i was able to download 3 software but i cannot get internet, nothing is loading. I tried to download the driver from Three website to worth with OS 10.6, snow leopard but it did not help. I also downloaded that Rosetta application still no luck. What is the problem with Mac Pro...

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Answer 7

ctmurray

Level 1

88 points

Feb 11, 2010 6:41 PM in response to almapc

Snow Leopard uses a 64 bit data set and so I suspect this is the issue with getting a new driver. SL dropped appletalk on me so I had to reroute a printer using Bonjour through an iMac that can't be upgraded.

Are these external wifi dongles (or cellular dongles?). I have a Macbook with some Airport card / antenna issues so I got a WiFi USB adaptor (not technically a dongle as it has a USB cable and it clips onto the display). And this is running on Snow Leopard.

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