[arm-allstar] USB Cell Modems

[Lawrence Roney]

Mike, 

In the past I have used the Huawei E397u-53 USB cellular dongle.  I keep one around for emergency and portable use.  It plugs directly into the USB port on the Pi.

These are branded as a Cricket Wireless device, but will work in the USA with a T-Mobile SIM card and their basic $10 per-month 4G LTE prepaid data plan.   The modem will not work with Verizon and if I recall it did not work AT&T either. These can be found on eBay and Amazon also sometimes has them.

It is not completely plug and play as you need to install the usb_modeswitch and PPP packages in ArchLinux and then configure the PPP settings.  I also have a DTMF script to bring up/down the PPP connection to the cellular network.

If you would like my cheat sheet notes, shoot me an email.

73,

Lawrence Roney
Henderson Amateur Radio Club
www.w7hen.org

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Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2021 16:26:46 -0500
From: Mike Sullivan <kn4imu at gmail.com>
To: ARM Allstar <arm-allstar at hamvoip.org>
Subject: [arm-allstar] USB Cell Modems
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	<CAKoU=5fc8G9ycgyAEwGsb_vRi=_AuAmKKcrrqqLNdeokK3i-Jg at mail.gmail.com>
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Are there any USB cell modems that are basically plug & play compatible with Hamvoip? Or are there any that anyone is actively using without issue?
Would rather not have an external modem if possible, to minimize power consumption and space. I have a couple nodes I am redoing for one of the radio clubs that I maintain the repeaters for, and right now a point-to-point system is not looking feasible due to issues with the county. I would like to set up cellular primary via a prepay like Unreal Mobile/Freedompop, then have radios on local nodes for backup linking (two 70cm links between the two 2m repeaters, and a 2m base on the downtown
70cm) until we can set up a point-to-point system somehow.

Mike