4G/LTE USB modem

[cyberwarfare]

@rajil.s are you able to get a stable internet uplink/downlink from the device in pfsense?

 

[rajil.s]

Internet tests will need to wait until i am back in India.

 

[rajil.s]

@rajil.s - when you restart pfsense and disconnect/reconnect the device, does pfsense throw up the missing interface?

I dont expect it to work if you unplug the usb modem and put it back. However, I do expect to work if the pfsense router is rebooted.[DOUBLEPOST=1532201643][/DOUBLEPOST]I decided to upgrade to E3372h-607_UPDATE_21.200.07.00.00.BIN from here since there was an issue with internet. Out of the box the device is set to

AT^SETPORT?
^SETPORT:A1,A2;12,1,16,A1,A2                               
                     
OK

I changed it to,

AT^SETPORT="FF;10,12,16"

The init string in PPP connection had to be modified to, &F&C1&D2E0S0=0

It comes up fine in pfsense now.

@vivek.krishnan After a reboot of the pfsense router, the connection came back up. Ofcourse if you take out the dongle and put it back the device would come up on a different USB address, so it wont work. In FreeBSD it is possible to give a fixed name to a USB device (udev rule in linux). So instead of using /dev/cuaU0.0, you could use /dev/modem. Whether that interface actually shows up in pfsense GUI is another question.

Under linux, the NCM driver can be turned on by using,

$echo -e "AT^NDISDUP=1,1,\"TypeYourAPN\"\r" > /dev/ttyUSB1
$dhclient wwan0

 

[rajil.s]

I was able to get this modem working in NCM mode in FreeBSD 11.2. Sadly, NCM is not available is not available in pfSense (stable based on 11.1). The slower PPP mode works fine though as demonstrated above. I guess NCM should be available in pfSense 2.4.4 which is based on 11.2.

@vivek.krishnan There are LTE B3/B5 mini-pcie card available here. Dont see anything on B40 though.

----------------------------
Tried pfSense 2.4.4 snapshot in a VM and NCM works!. The APN needs to passed manually though,

echo 'AT ^ NDISDUP = 1,1, "yourAPN"' > /dev/cuaU0.1

The above could be stuck in /etc/rc.local.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

There are LTE B3/B5 mini-pcie card available here. Dont see anything on B40 though.

Sadly, B40 is needed since most places, Airtel or Jio are used, with the former being on B40 for LTE, while the Jio has the best speeds on B40 only.

 

[rajil.s]

@vivek.krishnan Have a look at Sierra Wireless MC7430, it supports B40 band and is supported by pfSense too.

How do you intend to use a mPCIe card though, do you have a mPCIe to PCIe adapter?

 

[vivek.krishnan]

@rajil.s I have a convertor, I think. Let me check...

 

[cyberwarfare]

@vivek.krishnan Have a look at Sierra Wireless MC7430, it supports B40 band and is supported by pfSense too.

How do you intend to use a mPCIe card though, do you have a mPCIe to PCIe adapter?

That is a super pricey option

 

[rajil.s]

@rajil.s I have a convertor, I think. Let me check...

An alternative to that EM7430 which is the same card but with M.2 interface.

 

[rajil.s]

That seems promising, did you get it working with pfSense and Jio?

I was finally able to test it with JIO (APN Jionet) and can confirm the device works very well i.e.connection is stable. I have seen it hop between Bands 3, 5 and 40. Here is a screenshot from a router mounted at the house terrace running Rooter firmware,