# USB 3G/4G Dongle?



## balanga (Jun 30, 2016)

Does FreeBSD have support for any 3G/4G USB dongles?


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## ASX (Jun 30, 2016)

Because of similar uncertainty in the past I bouth a "wifi router" because that would have always worked with a wifi enabled laptop:
http://www.ztedevice.com/product/mobile-broadband/Data-Card/MF65M

Later I found it worked by using the USB cable too, so yes, it was supported, that was on FreeBSD 10.1


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## SirDice (Jun 30, 2016)

Have a look at u3g(4). I can remember another one too but I can't seem to find it on short notice.


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## kpa (Jun 30, 2016)

Many of the do work but the main stumbling block is often getting the device into a correct operating mode when it's connected. By default many of those dongles appear as mass storage devices that contain MS Windows (OS X in some cases) drivers/software that the user can then install. The driver then switches the device to the real operating mode and the device operates as an USB serial port adapter. Under FreeBSD this "modeswitch" has to be performed as well and it's often done by usb_quirk(4) as mentioned in the u3g(4) manual page. There also the sysutils/usb_modeswitch port that can be used for the purpose.


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## Phishfry (Jun 30, 2016)

I am going to throw a shameless plug for the Sierra line. The MC7700 for GSM-ATT works well  (Please state your carrier for help)
This is a miniPCIe device but can be mounted externally in a usb to miniPCIe adapter with/Sim slot commonly found on ebay for 5-10 bucks.
It eliminates the whole mass storage mess.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271824339295

There are a few other LTE modules depending on your carrier.

Basically you can use `cu` to connect but most would use PPP or net/mpd5


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## Phishfry (Jun 30, 2016)

If you want to browse working devices checkout this file:
/usr/src/sys/dev/usb/serial/u3g.c

There is an issue with the Sierra modules where some are shipped in QMI mode which FreeBSD does not support. So if the module is shipped in QMI mode it will appear unsupported as a device. Simple fix is to use an Ubuntu Machine with Putty and switch the module using AT commands as Ubuntu supports QMI. DirectIP mode(DIP) is achieved with one command in extended mode. AT!UDPID=68A3. This changes the modules PID. In QMI mode it shows 68A2 along with the TMobile module MC7710 which functionally acts exactly the same. Just different LTE-GSM frequencies the only difference.

The MC7355 was added later by the Netgate crew so most MC7354 and MC7355 work now or can be switched to a working PID.


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## gpw928 (Jul 7, 2016)

Hi, my Huawei E1762 USB 3G modem works fine with ppp.  I posted about it some time back:

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/27874/#post-156168

Don't forget to configure a firewall...


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