The device contains not only the cellular antenna but also about
22MB (10 MB on older versions) of storage memory accessible to the
operating system as a USB mass storage device formatted with CDFS, thus
emulating a CD-ROM drive. In this memory, E220 devices supplied by
mobile operators may contain 3G dialer software written by the
operator, while Huawei-branded devices contain Huawei's original
firmware. Huawei's firmware and updates for it are also available for
flashing from Huawei's website, or the firmware for 7.2 Mbit/s from
the URL we provided in Email.(in reality 'flashing' this
device means writing a firmware image to its internal flash memory).
Flashing the firmware of this device doesn't change the memory used
for their operator's software, therefore connection settings (such as
APN) will be retained. The software loaded on the device may start
automatically through Windows's autostart facility, which can be
bypassed by pressing the Shift key while inserting the USB cable of
E220.
E220 connects to the computer with a standard Mini USB cable. The
device comes with two cables, one short and one long. The long one has
two USB A interfaces, one used for data and power and the other
optionally only for assistance power in case the computer is not able
to provide the full 500 mA (milliamperes) required for the device to
work from one USB interface only. If your connection gets disrupted
often or isn't really stable, consider using the two plug usb cable
and supplying secondary power.
The E220 antenna is internal; the USB cable does not act as an
antenna. There is a way to connect an external antenna even though there
is no antenna connector. Together with a high gain antenna like an
LPDA or an OMNI booster antenna and an adapter, signal strength can be
considerably improved. There is also a way to open the modem, remove
the small internal antenna, and solder a umts-antenna cable onto the
board. You will invalidate the guarantee, but it can be a cheap and
functional way to connect an external antenna
E220 is available in the following countries:
Algeria (ATM Mobilis)
Angola (Unitel)
Argentina (Claro, Movistar, Telecom Personal)
Australia (3 Mobile, Vodafone, Optus, Virgin Mobile, iPrimus, Soul)
Austria (A1, Orange, TeleRing, Drei, Yesss)
Bahrain (Batelco), (Zain)
Belgium (Proximus), (unofficially works with Base.be service)
Bolivia (Tigo)
Brazil (TIM), (Claro), (Oi)
Brunei (B Mobile)
Bulgaria (M-Tel)
Chile (Entel, Movistar)
Colombia (Tigo, Comcel, Movistar)
Croatia (VIPnet)
Czech (Vodafone), (T-Mobile)
Denmark (3, Telia, TDC, SkyLine)
El Salvador (Tigo)
Estonia (EMT, Elisa, TELE2)
Egypt (Vodafone), (Vodafone-eg) Etisalat Egypt
Finland (Saunalahti, Elisa, DNA, TeliaSonera)
France (SFR, Orange (brand))
Germany (O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus, Base DE)
Guatemala(Claro,Tigo)
Greece (Cosmote, Vodafone, Wind)
Honduras(Tigo)
Hong Kong (Smartone-Vodafone, 3-3G)
Hungary (Vodafone, T-Mobile, Pannon)
Iceland (Nova, Vodafone)
India (Vodafone)
Indonesia (Indosat, Telkomsel, XL)
Ireland (Vodafone, O2, 3)
Italy (Vodafone, Tim, Wind, H3G)
Jamaica (Claro)
Japan (Emobile)
Kenya (Safaricom,Zain)
Kuwait (Zain)
Latvia (LMT, Tele2, Bite)
Lesotho (Vodacom LS)
Lithuania (Omnitel)
Luxembourg (Tango Vodafone, Vox Mobile, Luxgsm)
Malaysia (Maxis, Celcom, DiGi)
Mauritius (Emtel)
Moldova (Moldcell)
Montenegro (Promonte, T-Mobile)
Namibia (MTC Namibia, Telecom Namibia)
Morocco (Meditel, Maroc Telecom)
New Zealand (Vodafone)
Netherlands (Capestone (without sim-lock!), KPN, Vodafone, Telfort)
Norway (Netcom)
Nigeria (Zain, Visafone, Multi-Links Telkom, MTN, Glo)
Oman (Nawras)
Pakistan (Warid Telecom)
Paraguay (Claro, Telecom Personal)
Philippines (Sun, Globe Telecom)
Poland (Era, Plus GSM, Orange Polska, Play Mobile)
Portugal (PT - TMN & Sapo, Vodafone PT, Sonaecom - Optimus& Clix)
Qatar (Qtel)
Russia (MTS, Megafon, Beeline)
Romania (Orange, Vodafone)
Saudi Arabia (Mobily)
Serbia (Telenor, Telekom Serbia)
Singapore (M1, Singtel, Vodafone)
Sri Lanka(Dialog GSM, Mobitel (Sri Lanka))
Slovakia (T-Mobile, Orange)
Slovenia (Mobitel)
South Africa (Vodacom, MTN, Telkom SA)
Spain (Vodafone, Movistar, Orange, Simyo,Yoigo)
Sweden (Tele2, Telia, 3,)
Switzerland (Sunrise, Swisscom)
Syrian Arab Republic (Syriatel
Taiwan (Chunghua Telecom, FarEastone)
Tajikistan (Babilon-M)
Tanzania (Vodacom, Zantel)
Uganda (MTN)
United Arab Emirates (Etisalat)
United Kingdom (Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile)
United States of America (Cingular, AT&T)
Uruguay (Ancel, Claro)