Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NDI after cold start or hard reset

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10
At the end I guess it depends not on BSD/pfSense but on the Card itself and its behaviour... *sigh
Guess I have to remove it from the device and try my luck w/ the Windows drivers and/or ADB to bring in "PPP-Mode" or another one which fixes the MAC Issue. Otherwise I don't want to go back to the CE Edition, since this is also at Test of pfSense+ for some Customers since -overall- the support is great.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Importantly it doesn't show:

Ah Ok. Thats what you meant before

[stephenw10]

@Famelazar said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

At the end I guess it depends not on BSD/pfSense but on the Card itself and its behaviour...

To some extent. This Sierra card, for example, does return a value for the MAC address but....

Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ugen0.4: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE> at usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		cdce0 on uhub0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		cdce0: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE, class 239/2, rev 2.00/17.29, addr 3> on usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ue0: <USB Ethernet> on cdce0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		ue0: Ethernet address: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		on uhub0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0: <Sierra Wireless Inc. Sierra Wireless EM7345 4G LTE, class 239/2, rev 2.00/17.29, addr 3> on usbus0
Jun 14 17:37:52 	kernel 		umodem0: data interface 3, has no CM over data, has break 

Not useful!

No second config index available on your card.

Yes, switching the mode in something else might be easiest.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

ue0: Ethernet address: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Uhhh GREAT *laugh ...tztz

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Yes, switching the mode in something else might be easiest.

Ok. I don't want to disassemble the box, since its 24/6,5 needed. This will take some time until I get another (external) Quectel Card of the same type to "fiddle" around with. I will post the results here.

Many thanks for your time, ideas and help!

Best Regards
Famelazar

[stephenw10]

Do you get an AT prompt on any other com port? It could be one allows setting values.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10
Oh yes! I tried all of them (also on the pfSenses GUI to establish a ppp IF), but the ttyu0.3 and cuaU0.3 operate like my historic ZyXel 19k2 landline Modem and its predecessors (Proper Output w/ CR/LF) on the (ssh-) command line/console.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

It could be one allows setting values.

Was one of my idea too :-) - Since the AT Commands documentation from Quectel lacks quite a bit on infos . "AT+QCFG="usbnet", x" isn't explained and not listed in the output of "AT+QCFG=?", but the firmware presents that option, wich is explained in the OpenWRT forum like this:

AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0 < QMI/PPP/Default (??? - Not in my humble oppinion)
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,1 < ECM (seems to be the default with Revision: EP06ELAR03A08M4G)
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2 < MBIM

The 0.3 allows me to set any other settings like this:
AT+CFUN=1,1 (reset/reboot the card)
OK
or
AT+QCFG="volte_disable",1 (self explaining)
OK
or
AT+IPR=921600 (set "line"-Speed)
OK
But not this one at tty/cua 0.0-3 :
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
ERROR
Tested anew on ttyU0/cuaU0 - Results:
On .0 - No response w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .1 - No response w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .2 - error w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0
On .3 - error w/ AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0

[stephenw10]

You do have an alternate interface descriptor on interface 5. You could try setting it:
usbconfig -d ugen0.2 -i 5 set_alt 1

I don't really expect that to work TBH. It will probably just refuse as the interface is in use.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10
Hi Everyone! Hello Steve!!

Finally I got that Quectel EP06-E running in PPP-Mode WITHOUT having a dynamic MAC ueX Ethernet interface.

Preamble: The cuaU Device which is held by the Modem-Card depends on your Hardware!! The named one here is only for Reference!!

Steps:

Connect (ssh) to the pfSense box, get a shell (option 8), and open the LTE cards AT-Interface via a serial link & cu

cu -l /dev/cuaU0.3 -s 115200 -> serial connection to the Modem-Card w/ 115200 baud

This "linespeed" is imho mandatory since other modes seem to "eat" typed or pasted characters, which was one of my faults here!
Anyway: AVOID, if possible, to copy and paste AT Commands, the Card (imho) might missinterpret that command and responses w/ an error.

Set the cards "usbnet" mode 2 and fix the "serial"-linespeed of that Card!

AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2

3. Write the config to the Card

AT&W

4. soft reboot the LTE-Card to activate the changes (no (hard-)reboot of the whole box necessary)

AT+CFUN=1,1

"cu" will close and you are back on the shellprompt after a while.

5. Create a PPP IF on the GUI.
   Parameters depend on your Cell-Provider-Plan to communicate w/ this Quectel device.
   BUT: pfSense here awaits a linespeed of 115200 (baud) to sqawk to the Modem-Card.
   This should be forced w/ the advanced settings at the ppp-IF page:

Init String +IPR=115200

6. Assign that newly build ppp-If to an OPT-Interface on your box

That will do - I Hope ;-) - Its working for me, but maybe not perfectly described.

Addendum:
Possible "usbnet" Modes are:
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,0 < Default
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,1 < USB Ethernet IF,* w/ dhcp Server active on the Card. Typically w/ IP 192.168.225.xxx/24, GW 192.168.225.1
AT+QCFG=“usbnet”,2 < PPP IF via /dev/cuaU0.3

*W/ an auto generated MAC Address on ueX which changes the NID as in the Topic!

Last but not least:
Any suggestions, critic and so on are welcome!
And also many Thanks to Steve for accompany, ideas and help w/ this topic!!

---

Any typos and syntactic errors found here, can be kept by the finder ;-)

[stephenw10]

Ah, nice. So it was just the console doing something funy at a different baud rate? Nice catch!

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

So it was just the console doing something funy at a different baud rate

Seems to be that and the pfSense software itself, because of the Baud-Rate while initiating the communication w/ the Card.
Are there any options to change that to a lower or higher rate (i.E. to 921600 Baud -> AT+IPR=921600)? I would like to check that out and measure the troughput w/ different rates ...

Anyway: One more USB/mPCIE Card which can be listed in the docs, I hope.

[stephenw10]

The actual throughput is not limited by the ppp baud rate, you should see a lot more than 115kbps!

I usually see ~30Mbps here on the Sierra modems. Pretty good signal area. I've seen reports of other getting ~60Mbps.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10
OK. Guess I was too much in my "landline modem times" from the 80ties w/ the AT-Commands

The Gateway Monitoring ping-Times (public IP Address from within the Providers Network) and the RTT aren't really different from the other Mode.
So its OK to me. I haven't measured the rates since my external Yagi-Antennas will move to a better place in a few weeks.
Much more important for me was to prevent the change of the NDI.
(BTW: Can someone change the Topic to the correct abbreviation...??)

Even if the performance will not reach the old mode: I can only die one dead.

[stephenw10]

@Famelazar said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

Can someone change the Topic to the correct abbreviation...??

Done.

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10
Great!
Many Thanks!

[Famelazar]

@stephenw10 said in Quectel EP06-E LTE Module changes pfSense+ NID after cold start or hard reset:

AT+QCFG=“usbnet

After all, the Modem will respond to " AT+QCFG="usbnet",? "