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I have a Huawei E3131 3G modem and it doesn't work on latest 2012 MacBook Air. It works with older versions of OS X with USB 2.0 so it looks like the only problem is USB 3.0.

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Are you sure the problem is USB3? I suspect the issue might be 32-bit vs 64-bit kernel drivers. Can you share the output of the uname -a terminal command on a system where it works and on a system where it doesn't? The output of the kextstat command on each would also be useful. – pmjordan Aug 11 '12 at 10:03

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My personal experience with Huawei is that their installation app doesn't even run on a recent Mac for some reason. When I used it, I used to look into the package content to find another installation app that would actually start. If that is not the problem, please put more details.

pmjordan might be right as well as far as 32/64 bit-ness of their installation app. USB2/3 should be backward/forward compatible as per their specs as far as I know.

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I solved my problem! I had the same problems with my mid-2012 MacBook Air and a Huawei 122 stick. Changed the stick to a Huawei 1221 first, then did some software upgrades, which nevertheless was helpless. Yesterday, I bought a USB 2.0 Hub (from Belkin) and everything's fine!

The guys from an Apple shop in Vienna told me that the MacBook Air starting from mid 2012 now has an unusual USB 3.0. (I can't explain in detail.)

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It does seems like a problem with USB3 but to isolate it try two things: 1. Connect it to 2012 Air through USB hub 2. Connect it to a mac w/o USB3 but with OS X 10.8 onboard

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