Help with Huawei E367, pfSense battles to connect to internet

CraigZA

Hi folks, I come hat in hand seeking some assistance on my problem.

Hardware is an HP Microserver N54L with a Huawei E367 3G USB modem (listed on the compatible list). pfSense is 2.1 RELEASE (have tried 2.03 RELEASE as well).

pfSense can see the modem, /dev/cuaU0.0 to /dev/cuaU0.4 are available, I've selected /dev/cuaU0.0 as that's the only one that works (occassionally).

Output from usbconfig dump_device_desc as follows:

ugen1.2: <huawei mobile="" huawei="" technologies="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON

bLength = 0x0012
bDescriptorType = 0x0001
bcdUSB = 0x0200
bDeviceClass = 0x0000
bDeviceSubClass = 0x0000
bDeviceProtocol = 0x0000
bMaxPacketSize0 = 0x0040
idVendor = 0x12d1
idProduct = 0x14ac
bcdDevice = 0x0000
iManufacturer = 0x0003 <huawei technologies="">iProduct = 0x0002 <huawei mobile="">iSerialNumber = 0x0000 <no string="">bNumConfigurations = 0x0001

idVendor = 0x12d1 & idProduct 0x14ac indicate that it's switched into modem mode (although I also get TF & MASS STORAGE devices available).

My issue is the connection is wildly unstable, sometimes plain refusing to connect to the internet at all. Logs report modem refusing to respond to AT commands, etc. I have a high gain antenna attached, reported signal strength of 67dbm, have tried 3 SIM cards from 3 cellular providers.

Yet when I use the E367 in my Windows machine, connection is perfect. I did notice that Windows reports VID 0x12d1 & PiD 0x1506 which differs from what pfSense reports? Would this make a difference at all?

I looked into using usb_modeswitch but found a post on the DD-WRT forums stating that it was pointless as 0x14ac is already switched mode.

Tearing my hair out here, have spent the last day searching for solutions online.

Any and all advice on how to resolve is appreciated, if there are any commands/outputs/results/queries you need to see by all means let me know!

Thanks

PS: I also tried disabling the CD-ROM/SD CARD option via using a terminal Windows application and issuing AT^SETPORT="A1,A2;1,2,3,7" , the CD-ROM disappears from Windows, yet when I plug the modem back into pfSense the MASS STORAGE and TF CARD appears in dmesg?</no></huawei></huawei></huawei>

CraigZA

To add, I connected the E367 to an Ubuntu 12.04 box, lsusb reports Vendor ID of 0x12d1 and Hardware ID of 0x1446, so it hasn't switched to modem mode. As soon as I figure out how to get usb_modeswitch running on Ubuntu I'll update this post.

mukidu

Hi,

I am facing exactly the same issue, same PF version but different 3g dongle Huawei E156G (which is supposed to be fully supported), it has been working for a couple of months so far but suddenly it doesn't come up anymore. I'll keep you informed if i sort it out, so pls make the same if you make it work.

mukidu

I sorted it out by both reconnecting the modem to the port cuaU0.0 and adding an antenna to the dongle in order to have a better gain (was <45% now is >55%).
Now the loadbalancing is working fine.

Regards
Mirco