[arm-allstar] 3G Dongle with Hamvoip on PI

[Mike - W5JR]

The usefulness of this LTE approach is that a FreedomPop SIM can be installed in the LTE USB modem and you’re off to the races with “free” cellular data service. 

Here in the US, FP has been using AT&T as their LTE provider. That could always change. The FP service will not fall back to 4G, 3G, 2G, EVDO or anything that isn’t LTE. It’s LTE or nothing. 

tnx
Mike / W5JR
Alpharetta GA


> On Jul 19, 2019, at 12:13 PM, Doug Crompton via ARM-allstar <arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> wrote:
> 
> It sounds like maybe there should be a howto on this and from your
> description I guess one could be created. The problem I see is the
> complexity of it over just using a hotspot. The advantage would be more
> self contained and once it was setup it should just work anywhere you have
> cell service with that provider. But as was pointed out the carriers are
> constantly changing things and at least the hotspot method to a phone or
> external device should always be there.
> 
> 
> *73 Doug*
> 
> *WA3DSP*
> 
> *http://www.crompton.com/hamradio <http://www.crompton.com/hamradio>*
> 
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2019 at 12:55 PM "Lawrence Roney via ARM-allstar" <
> arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Rachid,
>> 
>> If I understand correctly, you want to use a cellular dongle (USB modem)
>> that plugs into the Pi, vs. an external cellular/Wi-Fi hotspot.  I've had
>> good success with a Huawei E397u-53 dongle for this purpose.  It is
>> self-contained, powered directly from the Pi, and does not require the use
>> of Wi-Fi from a separate hotspot device.
>> 
>> In the USA, I have it activated on a T-Mobile LTE, unlimited $10 per month
>> plan (2GB high speed, then rate limited, but the limited speed is more than
>> adequate for Allstar VoIP traffic)
>> 
>> To set it up:
>> You need to install the USB Modeswitch utility to force the dongle into
>> modem mode.  They usually start out in CD ROM emulation mode to load their
>> Windows drivers, etc.   This is done with:  pacman -S usb_modeswitch
>> 
>> Then, install a PPP stack on the Pi with:  pacman -S ppp   (this may
>> already be included in the recent HamVoIP distribution)
>> 
>> You will need to create an /etc/chatscripts/carrier_name configuration
>> file  (where "carrier_name" is the name of your cell provider, ex. Verizon,
>> T-Mobile etc.)  This file sends the connection setup, "AT" commands to the
>> modem's dialer and looks for the expected responses.  This file also
>> contains the carrier specific access point name (APN) information that
>> tells the modem what to "dial" to join the carrier's mobile data network.
>> For example, my T-Mobile chatscript file has the line:  OK
>> AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","fast.t-mobile.com"   YOU WILL NEED TO RESEARCH YOUR
>> CARRIER'S SPECIFIC APN AND THE ZTE MODEM COMMANDS
>> 
>> You will need to create an /etc/ppp/peers/carrier_name file.  This file
>> contains the configuration settings for the PPP session.
>> 
>> Archlinux will create a new ppp0 interface for the modem.  (Note: Make
>> sure the eth0 interface is set to DHCP and is unplugged, otherwise the
>> default route will not change to ppp0)
>> 
>> To connect, at the Linux prompt start the PPP session by typing: pon
>> carrier_name   (where "carrier_name" is the filename of the chatscript and
>> peers files created in the previous steps)
>> 
>> To disconnect, at the Linix prompt, type: poff
>> 
>> On my Pi, I added automatic startup configurations in /etc/rc.local and
>> on-demand DTMF macro sequences in /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf  to bring up/down
>> the PPP connection.
>> 
>> Hope this helps to get you started.  Email me directly if you would like
>> specific notes and chatscript file examples for how I setup the Huawei
>> E397u-53 (available on Amazon) for use on the US T-Mobile LTE network.
>> 
>> 73,
>> Lawrence - N6YFN
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> 
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>> 
>> Visit the BBB and RPi2/3 web page - http://hamvoip.org
>> 
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