Comment 6 for bug 1562431

I am experiencing the same problem with Kubuntu 16.04 and an Huawei E1800 usb key modem. Indeed, as in the bug description, there is a workaround also for my device by issuing a switching message manually.

On kubuntu 16.04 usb_modeswitch (version 2.2.5+repack0-1ubuntu1 with data version 20151101-1) does not automatically perform the switch of huawei E1800 usb modem. This usb modem worked correctly out of the box with kubuntu 14.04.
On kubuntu 14.04 one can read the vendor and device id before and after the switch by using lsusb in rapid succession: before the switch it is identified as
12d1:1446 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E1552/E1800/E173 (HSPA modem)
and after the switch as
12d1:1436 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E173 3G Modem (modem-mode)
On kubuntu 16.04 it is identified by lsusb as
12d1:1446 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Broadband stick (modem on)
and it does not switch automatically to the other device id.

Workaround: I can issue a usb_modeswitch command and make it switch manually:
sudo usb_modeswitch --verbose -J -v 0x12d1 -p 0x1446
then, looking at the lsusb output, I can read the correct id:
12d1:1436 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Broadband stick
and the modem is correctly recognized by the network manager.