I connected my phone to a laptop today and was surprised - NetworkManager cheerfully issued a balun, saying that he discovered a connected GPRS-GSM modem:

Hmm, interesting.
NetworkManager has a line like this:
* management of 3G connections (GSM / CDMA)
')
What is it really?
In fact, a very convenient feature - it allows you to configure a pptp connection via a gsm-gprs modem, and it is extremely simple.
It looks like this:

Choose a provider:

Further, further ...;)
It remains in the settings to change the network from 3G to 2G (offtopic, and at least someone from the “big three” launched 3G in Moscow?)

Everything, now in the menu nm-applet you can choose a new connection;) Enjoy.
I used to set up through gnome-ppp, but usually I managed to do it with 3-4-5 attempts (to find the settings for authorization, encryption, etc.), and here everything is in a nice and intuitive interface.
Ubuntu took another step toward the masses.