Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Michael Seyfert]

AT doesn't have 4g USB devices you can use?

I use a usb modem for my 4g LTE internet (verizon) connected to
an OpenBSD router. It shows up as cdce0:
cdce – USB Communication Device Class Ethernet device
Works just like any ethernet connection.

Also you might want to consider an amplifier and antenna setup
depending how far the cell tower is.

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Tati Chevron]

On Tue, Nov 03, 2015 at 03:31:07PM -0500, Alan Corey wrote:

What I'd like to get is something I can connect to an OpenBSD machine
over USB or go for one of the slightly better ones that offers an
ethernet connection.  Firewall it, connect it through my wired LAN,
run a WiFi AP for portable devices.  I'm on Straight Talk, so AT
towers, I'm looking for something unlocked.


Have you looked at the 3G routers by teltonika?  Specifically the RUT950.

They support operation in bridge mode, so you can basically disable all of the
internal routing and firewalling, and dedicate an OpenBSD machine to that task.

They have decent antennas, too.

Unlike DSL routers, most 3G routers don't have an option to run in bridge mode.

--
Tati Chevron
Perl and FORTRAN specialist.
SWABSIT development and migration department.
http://www.swabsit.com

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Chris Cappuccio]

Alan Corey [alan01...@gmail.com] wrote:
> 
> I have used USB tethering from a phone to an OpenBSD machine and
> bridged that to a WiFi card set up as an AP.  I'm not impressed with
> the reliability of WiFi after using it a few months.  It's convenient
> when it works but I'd rather run wires then maybe hang WiFi APs off
> them, like one at each end of the house.
> 

The net80211 infrastructure and related drivers need help. Apply within.

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Jason Tubnor]

On 4 November 2015 at 07:31, Alan Corey  wrote:

> Anybody have good experiences with any of the currently available
> 4G/LTE modems that start around $30 on eBay, mostly by Huawei?  I
> won't have a real internet connection for at least a year.  Right now
>

You might want to see if the chipset you are looking at lines up with
support under the umsm(4) device [ see
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi/OpenBSD-current/man4/umsm.4?query=umsm=4
].  Personally I don't have any of these (I tether to my HTC One when I
need internet on the go) but I have heard that everything works as intended
with supported devices.  At $30, I don't think it is much of a risk to give
it a shot, much cheaper to burn out than phones.

Cheers,

Jason.

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Tati Chevron]

Froogle sees the RUT950 at $278 which is a little steep.


Yes, they're not cheap.  Actually, $278 is probably a good price for the
RUT950.


I was using
an $88 Xgody phone that mostly worked.  I used it for a couple months
and I think the prolonged use of the WiFi hotspot maybe overheated it.
The WiFi and GPS both stopped working after being intermittent.  Both
are sometimes built into the CPUs on those I've read.


Exactly.  The, 'portable hotspot', funcion on those phones is not a good
replacement for a real router in the long term, although it does work
reasonably well in the short term.  A higher-end phone may survive
longer...


I have used USB tethering from a phone to an OpenBSD machine and
bridged that to a WiFi card set up as an AP.  I'm not impressed with
the reliability of WiFi after using it a few months.  It's convenient
when it works but I'd rather run wires then maybe hang WiFi APs off
them, like one at each end of the house.


There are definitely some weird bugs in the rate control code.

Testing with various ral, ath, and athn devices, I've found that the
higher the ratio of uploaded to downloaded bytes, the lower the,
'linespeed', becomes.

For example, with no traffic, it might sit at OFDM56.  Downloading over
the wifi works fine, but as soon as you send data out, the rate drops,
sometimes as low as DS1.  Then, once you stop, or start sending data the
other way, the rate picks up.  Presumably this is a known issue.


I didn't know about umsm, I'll try to find one of the supported
devices.  That's what I was looking for.


I've experimented with several 3G, 'USB dongles', and had very little
success, unfortunately.  Random dropped connections and the device
locking up and needing to be physically removed and re-inserted were
the main problems.  That was basically with various Huawaii dongles.

Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did, if you go down that route.

--
Tati Chevron
Perl and FORTRAN specialist.
SWABSIT development and migration department.
http://www.swabsit.com

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Alan Corey]

re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

Comparing the man page and eBay I found a used Huawei 156g for $10
right off the bat.  This could be fun.  Need to make a spreadsheet or
something of specs.

The phone I'm using now is a Motorola Moto-e2 and the wifi hotspot
seems to work sometimes.  Some Androids turn off WiFi when they sleep.
Some are low powered to try to improve the battery life.  And I mostly
hate Android 5.

On 11/3/15, Chris Cappuccio <ch...@nmedia.net> wrote:
> Alan Corey [alan01...@gmail.com] wrote:
>>
>> I have used USB tethering from a phone to an OpenBSD machine and
>> bridged that to a WiFi card set up as an AP.  I'm not impressed with
>> the reliability of WiFi after using it a few months.  It's convenient
>> when it works but I'd rather run wires then maybe hang WiFi APs off
>> them, like one at each end of the house.
>>
>
> The net80211 infrastructure and related drivers need help. Apply within.
>


-- 
Credit is the root of all evil.  - AB1JX

Re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

[Alan Corey]

re: Anyone experienced with 4G/LTE modems?

Froogle sees the RUT950 at $278 which is a little steep.  I was using
an $88 Xgody phone that mostly worked.  I used it for a couple months
and I think the prolonged use of the WiFi hotspot maybe overheated it.
The WiFi and GPS both stopped working after being intermittent.  Both
are sometimes built into the CPUs on those I've read.

I have used USB tethering from a phone to an OpenBSD machine and
bridged that to a WiFi card set up as an AP.  I'm not impressed with
the reliability of WiFi after using it a few months.  It's convenient
when it works but I'd rather run wires then maybe hang WiFi APs off
them, like one at each end of the house.

I didn't know about umsm, I'll try to find one of the supported
devices.  That's what I was looking for.

On 11/3/15, Tati Chevron <chev...@swabsit.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 03, 2015 at 03:31:07PM -0500, Alan Corey wrote:
>>What I'd like to get is something I can connect to an OpenBSD machine
>>over USB or go for one of the slightly better ones that offers an
>>ethernet connection.  Firewall it, connect it through my wired LAN,
>>run a WiFi AP for portable devices.  I'm on Straight Talk, so AT
>>towers, I'm looking for something unlocked.
>
> Have you looked at the 3G routers by teltonika?  Specifically the RUT950.
>
> They support operation in bridge mode, so you can basically disable all of
> the
> internal routing and firewalling, and dedicate an OpenBSD machine to that
> task.
>
> They have decent antennas, too.
>
> Unlike DSL routers, most 3G routers don't have an option to run in bridge
> mode.
>
> --
> Tati Chevron
> Perl and FORTRAN specialist.
> SWABSIT development and migration department.
> http://www.swabsit.com
>


-- 
Credit is the root of all evil.  - AB1JX