Huawei E3372 LTE GSM Modem in Stick Mode

Question

Has anyone had success with the Huawei E3372 LTE modems. We could get it to work in HiLink DHCP mode, but we need the modem to present the WAN IP address directly to the XG interface. HiLink mode uses NAT, so we have managed to Re-Flash the modem with firmware to convert it to Stick (Serial) Mode. 
 Our XG is detecting the modem's COM ports and attempts to connect, but just sits on connecting forever. We have the correct APN for telstra.extranet which provides us with a static IP address and the correct phone number of *99# 
 I am wondering if there are any "Initialisation Strings" / AT commands to get this to work correctly. Thanks in advance.

Damian Moscatt · Answer

Hi There, 
 
 I have done this successfully following this guide: http://www.0xf8.org/2017/01/flashing-a-huawei-e3372h-4g-lte-stick-from-hilink-to-stick-mode/ 
 The steps are quite easy. 
 1. Open device and short the pins & attach to computer 
 2. Run balong utility (no need to compile as mentioned in the article) available here https://github.com/forth32/balong-usbdload 
 Command is: balong-usbload -p (COM port number-just the number e.g if COM4 you just need to put the number 4 not COM4) usblsafe-3372h.bin 
 This will put the stick in a special mode where you can then flash firmware as below 
 3. Flash firmware with balong flash utility here https://github.com/forth32/balongflash 
 Firmware available here: https://www.lteforum.at/mobilfunk/firmware-versionen-hi-non-hilink-e3372h-inkl-mod.2691/ 
 Command is: balong-usbflash 3372h-153_UPDATE_21.180.01.00.00.BIN if your device is not a 153, do not worry after flashing this firmware you can then upgrade to the specific firmware you need from lteforum site above. 
 You just need the BIN file not the *.exe 
 Upon completion you will have a stick only device with original huawei firmware.

Damian Moscatt · Answer

I had forgot to include in my original post that you will need the following initialisation command in the Sophos there is a box to paste it in the GUI under the WWAN settings. 
 AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","yourapn" 
 Where "yourapn" is the apn from your 4g mobile broadband ISP. 
 E.g here in Australia we have: 
 Optus= yesbusiness or CONNECT or yesinternet (depends if your plan is business residential or prepaid) 
 Telstra= telstra.wap 
 Vodafone= live.vodafone.com 
 So for Optus it would look like this AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","yesbusiness" 
 Your welcome

Damian Moscatt · Answer

Damian Moscatt · Answer

I would connect the stick to a windows computer 
 Download this http://download-c1.huawei.com/download/downloadCenter?downloadId=94325&version=378649&siteCode=in 
 Configure the connection and if it works then you know you are looking at an issue with SFOS otherwise you might have the wrong firmware for your device (remember firmware is region specific, although some/most will work globally)

Damian Moscatt · Answer

I've had a couple of instances where I need to unplug and plug the dongle back in. I have raised a support ticket with Sophos and it has been escalated to the devs apparently. 
 
 I find that if you reboot the appliance the WWAN1 connection does not work correctly until the USB modem is unpluged and plugged back in. Seems it needs a cold boot to work. 
 
 I'd say its the driver that is implemented in SFOS and that it does not boot and detect switch the device into the right mode.

Damian Moscatt · Answer

Hi Vincent, 
 Sorry for the extremely late response the answer to your question is YES I do have a netmask of 255.255.255.255 
 Also I have had another issue where after a hard reboot or power outage the WWAN1 connection will not re-establish and it says that the USB modem is not identified, I have fixed the problem by running the following command in the console. 
 console > system cellular_wan set modem-setup-delay 15 
 I had to run this command twice for some reason, second time it worked

Damian Moscatt · Answer

Don't waste your time. My newest solution which works far better in terms of throughput and performance is an external 4G router such as B525s-65a, you then configure it for DMZ, give the WAN interface an IP address such as 192.168.1.1 and then inside 4G router forward all data to that DMZ address. Port forwarding then works and all as per 4G USB. No firmware hacking etc. 
 
 I will add that if you apply for a static IP address with your ISP on 4G USB they will apply and extranet profile to the connection and there is also no need to downgrade and flash firmware.