Enabling Lenovo WWAN on Linux (Example: Quectel EM120R_GL on Rocky Linux 10)

Many Lenovo laptops come with an integrated WWAN modem (e.g., Quectel EM120R_GL or EM160R_GL).
On Linux, the hardware is usually detected, but the connection often fails due to the so-called FCC unlock.
Without this step, the modem remains in a blocked state (Invalid transition error in ModemManager).

Lenovo provides an official WWAN Enablement Tool for Linux:
👉 Lenovo WWAN Enablement on Linux (PDF)
👉 GitHub: lenovo-wwan-unlock

APN Configuration Note (English)

In my example I am using a Telekom contract.
The APN configuration must of course match your provider.
Since APN names may change over time, I recommend checking the latest values directly with your carrier.

Where to configure the APN:

nmtui → menu Edit a connection → select mobile connection → enter APN
GNOME Network Settings → Mobile Broadband → Details → set APN

nmcli (CLI):

nmcli con modify <connection-name> gsm.apn <APN-NAME>
nmcli con down <connection-name>; nmcli con up <connection-name>

Requirements

Linux distribution with a recent kernel (≥ 6.x recommended, tested on Rocky Linux 10)
git installed
ModemManager running
Access to nmcli or the GNOME Network Manager GUI

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Install the Lenovo WWAN Unlock Tool

git clone https://github.com/lenovo/lenovo-wwan-unlock.git
cd lenovo-wwan-unlock
chmod +x fcc_unlock_setup.sh
sudo ./fcc_unlock_setup.sh

2. Enable FCC Unlock for ModemManager

sudo mkdir -p /etc/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.d
sudo ln -sft /etc/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.d   /usr/share/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.available.d/*
sudo systemctl restart ModemManager

3. Bring the connection online

In GNOME simply toggle the Mobile Broadband switch.
Or via CLI:

nmcli con up telekom

Verification

nmcli device status
ip a s wwan0

Example output (shortened):

4: wwan0: <POINTOPOINT,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 ...
    inet6 2a01:599:.../64 scope global

The modem is now UP and online.
With Telekom, you typically get an IPv6 address right away. IPv4 may also be available depending on your APN (e.g., internet.telekom, internet.t-mobile, internet.business).

Troubleshooting

If the modem does not come online after reboot → check logs:
```
journalctl -u ModemManager -n 100 --no-pager
```
Try different APNs (internet.telekom, internet.t-mobile).

Enable auto-connect for the connection:

nmcli con modify telekom connection.autoconnect yes

Conclusion

With the official lenovo-wwan-unlock and FCC unlock symlinks, the internal WWAN modem on Lenovo devices works reliably under Rocky Linux.
This solution is generic and also applies to other distributions (e.g., Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu) as long as the kernel is ≥ 6.x and a recent ModemManager is available.