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    Are you using a USB HSDPA/EDGE/UMTS 3G Modem on pfSense?

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    • C
      cmb
      last edited by

      @torontob:

      Anyone using Alix boards in Canada in conjunction wtih USB keys?

      Yes, not in Canada, but the cards are the same regardless of where you are.

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      • M
        mlanner
        last edited by

        Yes, but like cmb's reply, not in Canada. I've successfully used a Huawei E181 USB (GSM/WCDMA/HSDPA) stick with pfSense 2.0 BETA4 on the T-Mobile USA's network. The Huawei E180 should work too since it is has the same firmware as the E181, with the only difference between the two models being the WCDMA frequency bands they support. Chances are that many/most other Huawei modems will work too, but I have yet to test that.

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        • T
          torontob
          last edited by

          Is this supported in version 1.2.3?
          Can it be used as a backup or in load-balance mode with a DSL PPoE?

          Thanks

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          • M
            mlanner
            last edited by

            I haven't tried, but I don't think so. I think it would require loading drivers for those cards. In 2.0 it pretty much just works.

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            • C
              cmb
              last edited by

              @torontob:

              Is this supported in version 1.2.3?
              Can it be used as a backup or in load-balance mode with a DSL PPoE?

              No and yes.

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              • T
                torontob
                last edited by

                Any plans to get it working with version 1.2.3.

                By the way, when would version 2.0 become stable?

                Thanks

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                • C
                  cmb
                  last edited by

                  @torontob:

                  Any plans to get it working with version 1.2.3.

                  By the way, when would version 2.0 become stable?

                  No, and sometime this year.

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                  • M
                    MADI
                    last edited by

                    hi i have the usb modem: huwai cdma. i want use it to pfsense . but pfsense don't see it as a usb modem. pfsense see it as a storage mass. somoene can help me to use it. think

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                    • M
                      mlanner
                      last edited by

                      What version of pfSense are you using? And what's the model number of your Huawei card? If you are on v1.x.x, chances are it won't work without a lot of hacking, or at all. Try upgrading to 2.0 BETA and it may work out of the box. However, beta is beta …

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                      • M
                        mlanner
                        last edited by

                        Successfully tested T-Mobile webConnect Rocket, aka Huawei UMG1831, an HSPA+ modem with pfSense 2.0 BETA4. Got very low speeds up and down (despite it being an HSPA+ card), but my coverage was really bad so that was most likely at least part of the problem.

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                        • M
                          mlanner
                          last edited by

                          Also tried a miniPCI express card, Huawei EM770U, and got the following message during boot:

                          ugen1.2: <huawei technology="">at usbus1
                          u3g0: <huawei 0="" 2="" technology="" huawei="" mobile,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 0.00,="" addr="">on usbus1
                          u3g0: Found 6 ports.

                          So, I'm guessing it should work … but I can't get it to connect.

                          If anyone has any ideas, I'd be grateful.

                          Thanks in advance.</huawei></huawei>

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                          • W
                            wallabybob
                            last edited by

                            @mlanner:

                            Also tried a miniPCI express card, Huawei EM770U, and got the following message during boot:

                            ugen1.2: <huawei technology="">at usbus1
                            u3g0: <huawei 0="" 2="" technology="" huawei="" mobile,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 0.00,="" addr="">on usbus1
                            u3g0: Found 6 ports.</huawei></huawei>

                            This suggests the modem is recognised by the u3g driver so it should work Did you follow the steps in the documentation at http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Configuring_3G_modems

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                            • M
                              mlanner
                              last edited by

                              wallabybob,

                              Thanks. Yes, I did follow those steps. I've got a few other modems to work before. However, those have all been USB modems, plugged in directly to the standard USB ports on the board. In this case it's a miniPCI express card sitting in the miniPCI connector on the board and with the SIM in the SIM slot directly on the board.

                              Although the OS seems to properly recognize the card, maybe there's some setting I need to change on the board? The board is an Alix.6E1.

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                              • W
                                wallabybob
                                last edited by

                                Mini PCI express is compatible electrically with USB 2.0.

                                Rather than hijack the original topic how about creating a new topic for your particular issue and include in that the status of your interfaces as displayed by the shell command # ifconfig -a and any other information that might give some more details of why you say "I can't get it to connect."

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                                • F
                                  fabifri
                                  last edited by

                                  @mlanner:

                                  Successfully tested T-Mobile webConnect Rocket, aka Huawei UMG1831, an HSPA+ modem with pfSense 2.0 BETA4. Got very low speeds up and down (despite it being an HSPA+ card), but my coverage was really bad so that was most likely at least part of the problem.

                                  Did you tested that in Germany? I am from Austria and i recently got an Huawei E182E stick from A1 which is also HSPA+ and i assume (reffering to the USB-slide-mechanism) that it is the same Hardware. I have a spare ALIX here and will set up pfSense 2.0BETA on it today, and try it out…

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                                  • M
                                    mlanner
                                    last edited by

                                    I tested on T-Mobile USA's network. So, no, not in Germany. But, yes, the E182E modem appears to be essentially the same as the modem I tested with. I'm fairly certain it uses the same chipset, and thus, should very likely work with pfSense too.

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                                    • B
                                      Brian A
                                      last edited by

                                      @fabifri:

                                      @mlanner:

                                      Successfully tested T-Mobile webConnect Rocket, aka Huawei UMG1831, an HSPA+ modem with pfSense 2.0 BETA4. Got very low speeds up and down (despite it being an HSPA+ card), but my coverage was really bad so that was most likely at least part of the problem.

                                      Did you tested that in Germany? I am from Austria and i recently got an Huawei E182E stick from A1 which is also HSPA+ and i assume (reffering to the USB-slide-mechanism) that it is the same Hardware. I have a spare ALIX here and will set up pfSense 2.0BETA on it today, and try it out…

                                      Has anyone been able to get a Huawei E182E stick to work with pfSense 2.0 ?  I picked up one of these, as it was my other option to the Sierra Wireless 306 I couldn't get working, and I'm not  having much more luck with this one.  the u3g driver does see it, but I get errors in the PPP log in pfSense when it tries to connect.  Any ideas?

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                                      • W
                                        wallabybob
                                        last edited by

                                        If you posted the PPP log or at least a part around the error reports it would give your readers a bit more information to work with.

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                                        • B
                                          Brian A
                                          last edited by

                                          @wallabybob:

                                          If you posted the PPP log or at least a part around the error reports it would give your readers a bit more information to work with.

                                          Here are the last 50 entries in my PPP system log

                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] chat: Connected at 21600000.
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MODEM: chat script succeeded
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] Link: UP event
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: Up event
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: state change Starting –> Req-Sent
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: SendConfigReq #1
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACFCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] PROTOCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACCMAP 0x000a0000
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MRU 1500
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MAGICNUM 5583f418
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: rec'd Configure Request #0 (Req-Sent)
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACCMAP 0x00000000
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] AUTHPROTO CHAP MD5
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MAGICNUM 02d9b92b
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] PROTOCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACFCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: SendConfigAck #0
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACCMAP 0x00000000
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] AUTHPROTO CHAP MD5
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MAGICNUM 02d9b92b
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] PROTOCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACFCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: state change Req-Sent –> Ack-Sent
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: rec'd Configure Ack #1 (Ack-Sent)
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACFCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] PROTOCOMP
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] ACCMAP 0x000a0000
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MRU 1500
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] MAGICNUM 5583f418
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: state change Ack-Sent –> Opened
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: auth: peer wants CHAP, I want nothing
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: LayerUp
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: rec'd Discard Request #1 (Opened)
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] CHAP: rec'd CHALLENGE #1 len: 35
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] Name: "UMTS_CHAP_SRVR"
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] CHAP: Using authname "user"
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] CHAP: sending RESPONSE #1 len: 25
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] CHAP: rec'd SUCCESS #1 len: 4
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] LCP: authorization successful
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] Link: Matched action 'bundle "opt1" ""'
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] Link: Join bundle "opt1"
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1] Bundle: Status update: up 1 link, total bandwidth 21600000 bps
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1] can't config [19]:: Invalid argument
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: fatal error, exiting
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1] IFACE: Close event
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1] IPCP: Close event
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1] Bundle: Shutdown
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: [opt1_link0] Link: Shutdown
                                          Nov 11 11:02:24 ppp: process 36722 terminated

                                          I'm not sure what can't config [19]:: invalid argument means, or where that is coming from to take a look.  It looks like it's going to go, but doesn't.

                                          When I plug the USB stick in, I get a bunch of messages, but the important one I think in this case is:

                                          u3g0: <huawei 0="" 2="" technologies="" huawei="" mobile,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 0.00,="" addr="">on usbus2
                                          u3g0: Found 4 ports.

                                          So, it does appear as a u3g device, and I'm able to setup the PPP, and interface, but this is where I'm stuck.  Any ideas?</huawei>

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                                          • X
                                            xopah
                                            last edited by

                                            Anybody have got the Huawei E122 to work in any of the pfsense versions out now (1.2.3 or Beta 2.0)?

                                            Other than Pfsense there does not really seam to be any good alternative to a 3G router…

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