Comment # 2 on bug 903753 from Bruno Pesavento

NOPE, at least not with this E173 dongle;
even with usb_modeswitch-2.2.0-1.1.x86_64 lsusb still reads:

linux-a2yg:/home/etabeta # lsusb
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 12d1:1c0b Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E173s 3G
broadband stick (modem off)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 08ff:2580 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:171d Hewlett-Packard Bluetooth 2.0 Interface
[Broadcom BCM2045]
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
linux-a2yg:/home/etabeta # 

BUT deleting "-w 3000" from line 24 of
/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules
did the magic. Now it reads:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTR{bInterfaceNumber}=="00",
ATTR{bInterfaceClass}=="08", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

and after rebooting I correctly get:

linux-a2yg:/home/etabeta # lsusb
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 12d1:1c07 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 08ff:2580 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:171d Hewlett-Packard Bluetooth 2.0 Interface
[Broadcom BCM2045]
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
linux-a2yg:/home/etabeta # 

This fix might be model-dependent though; I have no way to test.
(Posting this via E173 3G connection again, BTW)