FireBrick 2700 with 4G ZTE MF823: Difference between revisions

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→‎Changing the ZTE MF823 to 'serial modem' mode

CecilWard

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<indicator name="FireBrick">[[File:Menu-USBDongle.svg\|link=:Category:~~FireBrick_USB_Dongles~~FireBrick USB Dongles\|30px\|Back up to the FireBrick USB Dongles Category]]</indicator> This page is also relevant to the FB2900 =ZTE MF823 Overview= The ZTE MF823 is a 4G dongle that (as of 2017) is widely available at a good price. (Below £50).) =Default settings and configs just work if NAT is acceptable= The FireBrick will give you internet access over the dongle =ZTE MF823, Firebrick and No NAT= In its default state, the ZTE MF823 dongle will give internet access and the FireBrick can also be configured to use the dongle as a backup internet connection if your main connection goes down. However, when used with a Data SIM from AAISP you may want to take advantage of the static IP and routed blocks of IPv4 addresses. In these cases you don't want the dongle to do any NAT. ==Changing the ZTE MF823 to 'serial modem' mode== Warning: This is still in progress and has not been fully tested, and as such may not work. Tests were performed on an unlocked ~~MF623~~MF823 purchased from Amazon. There have been reports of this procedure not working on O2 branded dongles, causing the network lock which was previously not set to be applied, so proceed at your own caution if using a branded dongle. Networks often customise the firmware of these devices so they may behave in a completely different manner with these firmware modifications. The ZTE823 works as an Ethernet device by default, it is possible to change the mode so that it works as a modem. The idea here is that rather than the dongle NATing the connection it can be a modem and the FireBrick will be given the public WAN IP address directly. One caveat of modem mode, is that it does not seem to reliably respond to AT commands, as it appears the dongle is generating its own AT commands internally, presumably part of ~~it's~~its web interface thing. It does appear to respond to the AT+CGDATA command to start a data session, with almost no other interaction required on the behalf of the Firebrick. ==Switching to ~~Modem~~'Download' Mode==▼ Download, or debug mode is where the dongle acts as a serial modem device. ▲==Switching to Modem Mode== [[File:ZTEMF823-mode.png\|right\|thumbnail\|Disabling Autoconnect]] [[File:ZTE APN Settings.png\|right\|thumbnail\|Setting APN]] #Go to your newly created profile, and click 'Set as default'. #Put the Dongle into download mode: #In your browser, go to: <~~syntaxhighlight inline~~tt>http://192.168.0.1/goform/goform_process?goformId=MODE_SWITCH&switchCmd=FACTORY</~~syntaxhighlight~~tt> #The modem should respond with: <syntaxhighlight inline lang=json>{"result":"FACTORY:ok"}</syntaxhighlight> #Unplug and plug back in to the FireBrick and the FireBrick should see the dongle as a modem [[File:FireBrick-ZTE-DongleAttached.png\|none\|thumbnail\|ZTE as shown in FireBrick UI]] ==FireBrick config== <syntaxhighlight lang=xml> <port name="USB" ports="" dongle="ZTE"/> <dongle name="ZTE" vendor="19d2" product="0016" modeswitch="noswitch" dial-string="AT+CGDATA=~~"~~"PPP~~"~~",1"/> </syntaxhighlight> If you have a block of IPs being routed to the SIM, then set <syntaxhighlight inline lang=xml>NAT="false"</syntaxhighlight> in the <syntaxhighlight inline lang=xml><dongle... /></syntaxhighlight> configuration. =Further help with the dongle=▼ ▲=Further help ~~with~~and information regarding the dongle= ==Throughput== Ethernet mode seems slightly faster than in download/debug (modem) mode. 16.77Mbit/s compared to 12.77Mbit/s - from our office. ==Switching back to Ethernet mode== To put the dongle back to Ethernet mode you will need to connect the dongle to a computer in order to send it some commands via a serial terminal [[File:ZTE831modeswitch.png\|thumbnail\|gtkterm]] Open gtkserial, gtkterm, run screen /dev/ttyUSBx, or another serial terminal (or simply echo the following AT commands to /dev/ttyUSB2) (or maybe another dev/ttyUSBx): ATZ AT&F ==What mode is it in?== On a linux system, if you run <~~syntaxhighlight inline~~tt>lsusb</~~syntaxhighlight~~tt> you'll see something like: Bus 002 Device 030: ID 19d2:0016 ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM The <~~syntaxhighlight inline~~tt>0016</~~syntaxhighlight~~tt> is the mode: 1225 – Default Mode. Available USB Mass Storage Device with CD-ROM and card reader. Corresponds to AT+ZCDRUN=9+AT+ZCDRUN=F 1403 – Operating Mode. Available RNDIS adapter and Mass Storage Device. Corresponds to AT+ZCDRUN=8+AT+ZCDRUN=F 1405 – CDC Ethernet Mode. A mode similar to that described above (1403). Included in Linux after starting usb_modeswitch c default settings. 0016 – Download/Debug Mode. Under the name of ZTE., but simply a mode where available diagnostic port and two command (analog modem port and PC UI devices Huawei). Corresponds to AT+ZCDRUN=E *0076 – "real" Download Mode. Includes a standard for devices running QC methods. [[Category:Data SIMs]] [[Category:~~FireBrick_USB_Dongles~~FireBrick USB Dongles]]