I have used several these sticks (Huawei E353, E3131 and others). You plug them in, they are automatically handled by usb-modeswitch and show a few CDC serial p

I have used several these sticks (Huawei E353, E3131 and others). You plug them in, they are automatically handled by usb-modeswitch and show a few CDC serial ports (one for PPP, one for AT commands and one that I'm not sure what is for). You run ppp on the port (I guess this is also managed automatically by NetworkManager in more user-friendly distros) and it connects you to the internet. Nothing is being installed in the process. (maybe there indeed is some Linux driver from Huawei, but I see no reason for installing it)