4G modem on the official list not working

miloman

Hi

I bought a modem that was on the "official" list, because i wanted to make sure it would work.

Well, out of the box it doesn't work.

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Known_Working_3G-4G_Modems

I got the ZTE MF823, because an ethernet device seemed like the way to go.

I've put the device in RNDIS mode according to this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ZTE_MF_823_(Megafon_M100-3)_4G_Modem

(AT+ZCDRUN=8 - switch to 1403 mode (RNDIS))

And it shows as:

idVendor = 0x19d2
idProduct = 0x1403

usbconfig dump_device_desc

ugen1.2: <zte technologies="" msm="" zte,incorporated="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (500mA)

  bLength = 0x0012
  bDescriptorType = 0x0001
  bcdUSB = 0x0200
  bDeviceClass = 0x0000  <probed by="" interface="" class="">bDeviceSubClass = 0x0000
  bDeviceProtocol = 0x0000
  bMaxPacketSize0 = 0x0040
  idVendor = 0x19d2
  idProduct = 0x1403
  bcdDevice = 0xf0ab
  iManufacturer = 0x0001  <zte,incorporated>iProduct = 0x0002  <zte technologies="" msm="">iSerialNumber = 0x0003  <mf8230zted010000>bNumConfigurations = 0x0001</mf8230zted010000></zte></zte,incorporated></probed></zte>

The boot log:

Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1: quirks=0x2 <no_6_byte>Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1: 40.000MB/s transfers
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1: Serial Number MF8230ZTED010000
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1: <zte mmc="" storage="" 2.31=""> Removable Direct Access SCSI-2 device
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		da1 at umass-sim1 bus 1 scbus7 target 0 lun 1
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0: quirks=0x10<10_BYTE_ONLY>
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0: Serial Number MF8230ZTED010000
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0: <cwid usb="" scsi="" cd-rom="" 2.31=""> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-2 device
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		cd0 at umass-sim1 bus 1 scbus7 target 0 lun 0
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		umass1: <mass storage=""> on usbus1
Jul 10 16:31:35	kernel		ugen1.2: <zte,incorporated> at usbus1</zte,incorporated></mass></cwid></zte></no_6_byte>

What am I doing wrong?

The adapter works fine in both debian+ubuntu+windows.

I have tried with pfsense 2.2.6 and 2.3.1.

miloman

got it working:

Posting for future hackers….
I bought a 4G LTE modem from the official list. I chose the ZTE MF823 because it appears as an ethernet device.
Both nix and windows would see it as a network adapter and bring the connection up straight away. But not freebsd.
After several attempts at firmware tweaks and whatnot, i stumbled upon this russian thread: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=76363.0
I don't speak russki, but i saw this command in the thread:
"usbconfig -u 0 -a 3 set_config 1"
so I started digging a bit.
My device appeared like this: ugen1.2: <zte,incorporated>at usbus1
And in the end, this command did the trick: usbconfig -d 1.2 set_config 2
The ue0 adapter appeared:
ue0: Ethernet address: 36:4b:50:b7:ef:44
ue0: <usb ethernet="">on cdce0
cdce0: <cdc ethernet="" control="" model="" ecm="">on usbus1
ugen1.2: <zte,incorporated>at usbus1
I could then set the wan interface as ue0 with dhcp, and the interface came up.
It's been stable ever since, even across reboots.
Unlimited 40/20Mbps for $20 a month... I like it.
Imgur album with all the settings and speedtest.
http://imgur.com/a/TUa23</zte,incorporated></cdc></usb></zte,incorporated>