What to use for LTE/4G linux

elamre · 06-24-2015, 01:49 PM

Hello,
I'm kinda new here, and desperate.
I have spend a long time trying to get 4G working on my debian distrubution. Of course i had to choose a special modem which nobody else on the planet seems to have.
I build a small pc with an arm microprocessor and a mini pci modem.
The modem i use is a Toby L210 from Ublox (http://www.u-blox.com/en/wireless-mo...ss-module.html this one to be precise) which lists as a ACM device.
I get 3g working just fine, I'm using WVdial which uses ppp to connect to the internet. However I'm getting very low speeds, where do i check what technology is being used?
And how do i use LTE on linux properly?
All the tutorials I've seen so far used a networkmanager or some propietry software based on the modem.
http://lteuniversity.com/ask_the_exp...59/t/3270.aspx here they talk about how ppp is not really a good match for LTE since its in a different layer, what am i supposed to use then?
Thanks so much in advance!

Code:

usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using atmel-ehci
usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1546, idProduct=1146
usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-2: Product: MODEM-LTE
usb 1-2: Manufacturer: u-blox
usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 000000000100
cdc_acm 1-2:1.2: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

Code:

root@arietta:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1546:1146 U-Blox AG

jefro · 06-25-2015, 03:24 PM

If you use this device on any other linux will it get 4G? Any way to log into it's ip address or such?

Wonder if any interference is causing it? Low power may cause it too.

lsusb -v may offer some more clues.

Is it a version 9?

Off hand I'd say it should connect 4g if the internals of it say there is good enough signal. Could be that the speed is very low for other reason.

Peek into this. Not sure if you can issue any AT commands but you may be able to get info about that here. http://www.u-blox.com/images/downloa...3004618%29.pdf

The more I think about it, it should be able to accessed via terminal using AT commands.

elamre · 06-25-2015, 04:02 PM

Thank you so much for your comment.

I wrote another topic with more detailed info about the wvdial connection (because this one wasnt showing up, but i figured it out now

)
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ux-4175546389/

This is the lsusb -v info i get:

Code:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 1546:1146 U-Blox AG
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceSubClass         2 ?
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1546 U-Blox AG
  idProduct          0x1146
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 u-blox
  iProduct                2 MODEM-LTE
  iSerial                 3 000000000100
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength          141
    bNumInterfaces          4
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0xe0
      Self Powered
      Remote Wakeup
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Association:
      bLength                 8
      bDescriptorType        11
      bFirstInterface         0
      bInterfaceCount         2
      bFunctionClass        224 Wireless
      bFunctionSubClass       1 Radio Frequency
      bFunctionProtocol       3 RNDIS
      iFunction               6 RNDIS
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      3 RNDIS
      iInterface              4 RNDIS Communications Control
      ** UNRECOGNIZED:  05 24 00 10 01
      ** UNRECOGNIZED:  05 24 01 00 01
      ** UNRECOGNIZED:  04 24 02 00
      ** UNRECOGNIZED:  05 24 06 00 01
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0008  1x 8 bytes
        bInterval              32
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass        10 CDC Data
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 Unused
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              5 RNDIS Ethernet Data
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Association:
      bLength                 8
      bDescriptorType        11
      bFirstInterface         2
      bInterfaceCount         2
      bFunctionClass          2 Communications
      bFunctionSubClass       2 Abstract (modem)
      bFunctionProtocol       0 None
      iFunction               9 CDC Serial
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        2
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         2 Communications
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Abstract (modem)
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 AT-commands (v.25ter)
      iInterface              7 CDC Abstract Control Model (ACM)
      CDC Header:
        bcdCDC               1.10
      CDC Call Management:
        bmCapabilities       0x00
        bDataInterface          3
      CDC ACM:
        bmCapabilities       0x02
          line coding and serial state
      CDC Union:
        bMasterInterface        2
        bSlaveInterface         3
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x84  EP 4 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x000a  1x 10 bytes
        bInterval              32
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        3
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass        10 CDC Data
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 Unused
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              8 CDC ACM Data
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceSubClass         2 ?
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0001
  Self Powered

I indeed am able to address it via AT commands, however i can not seem to find out about the network technology being used as the commando is not supported. I will have a dig in that document and report back. Thank you so far!

power is more than sufficient, that does not seem to be the problem.

Maybe it might be USB interferance? Altough the traces on the pcb are according to specs. I will test it tomorrow with an usb stick as tomorrow my usb otg cable arrives.

jefro · 06-26-2015, 04:51 PM

That may help. Finding out all the AT commands it supports would help you decide what it is set to or can be set to.

ferrari · 06-28-2015, 08:30 PM

Ultimate throughput may well depend on how heavily congested the network is, and interference issues. Another thought - Does this device present itself as an ethernet (CDC) device as well, or just as a USB serial modem device? (Some of the newer 4G devices can be configured via a web interface using a default IP address.)

Is the device plugged into a USB 2.0 port?

veerain · 06-29-2015, 01:00 AM

Usually the modem autoconfigures the 2G/3G/4G mode. So no need to set any AT settings.

You should use a ppp rate monitor (e.g. vnstat) to see how the transfer speed changes each second by the device.

elamre · 06-29-2015, 11:41 AM

The device is indeed plugged in a usb 2 port, usb high speed. So that should not be the bottleneck.
The network is nog congested, as i get great speeds with my phone in somewhat of suburbs. So not in the center near tall buildings.

I did some copying from large files via usb, which resulted in an average speed of 6 MB. So the USB seems to be working good. It has to be related to either my phone company, although using a sim card from somebody else with another phone company doesnt seem to be any better, or it has to do with the modem.
The antennas are good, and the rf circuitry is not developed by Ublox.

I will attempt and set it up with another end point for AT commands, so that i can both use the modem and send commands (if linux allows me). Then i can also get back with the proper responses of the ublox commands. It is unfortunate that there is no tcp/ip stack support on the modem (yet). As that wouldve made it easier to find out the problem.

I will do somet testing with vnstat, I'm using some speedtest in python right now which only gives me the dataspeed upon finish of the test. I will get back with the results of that.

Thanks for everybody trying to help, much appreciated!