Sierra MC7430 4g LTE-A mini-PCI-e Modem PPP issues

WOW guys, there has been some updates to this thread… I haven’t been checking because I never got a “Topic reply notification” till yesterday..

Well an update my end, I gave up.. No help from Sierra and no help from MikroTik.. However MikroTik did say it should be supported natively in the new kernel (ROS V7) ROFL. It was just taking too long to work a solution that I was confident that would be stable.

I am now deploying “Cat 16” Telstra Nighthawk M1’s (Netgear MR1100) to access B28 and they are working great! Especially where the Sierra Aircard 320U had extremely poor signal.
Note: I am also using “Panorama 700-2700MHz MiMo Ultra Wideband Panel Antenna” on both devices which has helped a little.
You should be able to pick the Nighthawk (MR1100) up for around $330 from Telstra in any quantity.

The MR1100 is powered from the USB port on the router (battery left in for stability) and I am passing through the external(ish) IP address to a DHCP Client on the MikroTik via Ethernet

The only issue I have is the Ethernet port on the MR1100 can go to sleep should there be no detected Ethernet connection e.g. the MikroTik is turned off overnight.. This is to save battery power as the Ethernet port apparently consumes a lot. Not something you need enabled in a typically battery powered Wi-Fi hotspot. Yes it even sleeps when connected to power, fully charged. The simple fix is to tap the Power button on the MR1100 to reactivate a scan of the Ethernet port. This has currently not been an issue if the router is left on at all times.
Oh, and don’t forget to update the firmware through the WEB interface on the device as there have been some stability and functionality improvements. The latest firmware has a setting that will keep the Ethernet port alive for 2 Minutes before going to sleep

It is a pain in the butt having a 2nd loose devices floating around with cables everywhere, but I am currently making a 3D printed “backpack” to house the MR1100 for the CA/433U case for a little protection and cable management. I may also make one for the RB2011UAS-2HnD-IN… I will post the STLs on thingiverse and link it to here when completed.

IanD

Has someone tried to use this card with RBM33G (Do USB 3.0 pins have to be taped also with this board)?

What speeds are you getting out of the MR1100?
I was never able to get a decent speed out of the Mikrotik when it had the MC7430 plugged directly in to it’s ports.
So I’ve kinda splashed out bought a mini PC to host the modem, which now looking at the MR1100, kinda looks stupid and expensive.

I've been using EM7430/EM7455 (the M.2 version of MC7430/MC7455) for a while steadily on RB3011.

To disable DirectIP modem mode: plug the card into your computer (any adapter will be OK; you might need to download driver on Sierra Wireless website if you are using Windows, Linux is fine). Find the correct COM port (There will be 3 or 4 COM ports from that card; type "ATI" into every one, hit enter and check the reply if it matches below) and type the following commands (you only need to type the line after #input, others are returned by the card itself)

view card info

input:

ATI

Manufacturer: Sierra Wireless, Incorporated
Model: EM7430
Revision: SWI9X30C_02.14.03.00 r6134 CARMD-EV-FRMWR2 2016/03/28 14:34:14
MEID:
IMEI:
IMEI SV:
FSN:
+GCAP: +CGSM


OK

set a password (you need to do this to get some command working, don't know why)

input:

AT!ENTERCND="A710"

OK

query USB mode

input:

AT!USBCOMP?

Config Index: 1
Config Type: 1 (Generic)
Interface bitmask: 0000100D (diag,nmea,modem,mbim)

OK

disable DirectIP modem mode

input:

AT!USBCOMP=1,1,D

OK

query again

input:

AT!USBCOMP?

Config Index: 1
Config Type: 1 (Generic)
Interface bitmask: 0000000D (diag,nmea,modem)

OK
now pull out the card and put it to RouterOS.

My RouterOS config:
/port
set 1 baud-rate=auto name=em7455
/interface ppp-client
add data-channel=2 dial-command="AT+CGATT=1;D*99#" info-channel=2 modem-init="AT+CGATT=0" name=ppp-out-em7455 port=em7455
/system gps
set channel=1 enabled=yes init-string="$GPS_STOP,$GPS_START" port=em7455 set-system-time=yes

Hey Helipos,

Ran a test from one of our sites in deep inside Melbourne Airport and was getting 30-35Mbps down and 25Mbps up. These speeds are a lot faster and signal is much more stable than the Sierra 320U's we were using.
Speeds can be much much faster outside or in smaller buildings, especially where there is less contention on the tower.

Note: I am using the Ethernet port with IP pass-through (DHCP client) so the USB port is just for charging/power. (No need for ignore-directip-modem and PPTP client, which limits speed to begin with)

As for looks and price, i say "ehh". Looks do not matter to us, its all about functionality and reliability. You also have to put a price on man hours for time and effort messing around with devices (mc7430) that may or may not work to a service level you require. At $330 for a device that will be in service for 4+ years.. Tis OK in my books

If i can get some more speed test results I will update this message

Regards
IanD

Well I’ve built the first working version of the speed box. It looks like this.
MC7430-- Jetway NF591–Mikrotik RB953

The NF591 is just a low powered PC running Kali which is a offshoot of Debian Linux.
It sets up the MC7430, does the NAT and then pumps it out on one of it’s interfaces.

The RB953 pick it up from there and runs the DNS and DHCP servers for the subnet.
It also has the wireless cards.

Here is the Kali config, quite a bit of the network config is GUI based. I also expect you to complete the network config as you require for your setup I;ve just put the bits I need to remember to do.

systemctl enable ssh
rm /etc/ssh/sshd_config
nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PermitRootLogin = yes

#################################################################

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

X11Forwarding yes
AllowAgentForwarding yes
PermitRootLogin yes

#################################################################

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp ! -s 192.168.6.2 -j DROP

#################################################################


#################################################################


#################################################################

Setup networks manually
eth0 192.168.6.1
IPv4 method "share to other computers"

Mobile broadband 
"automatically connect"


#################################################################
reboot
#################################################################

touch /etc/apt/sources.list
chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free" > /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 7D8D0BF6


#################################################################

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

Here is the Mikrotik.

[admin@Porta_Hub] > export hide-sensitive 
# jul/08/2018 08:56:48 by RouterOS 6.42.5
# software id = 0NE8-0RN3
#
# model = 953GS-5HnT
# serial number = 49C50414682D
/interface bridge
add fast-forward=no name=bridge1
/interface wireless
set [ find default-name=wlan1 ] band=5ghz-a/n channel-width=20/40mhz-Ce country=australia disabled=no frequency-mode=regulatory-domain mode=ap-bridge ssid="MikroTik 5.0" wireless-protocol=802.11
set [ find default-name=wlan2 ] band=2ghz-b/g/n channel-width=20/40mhz-eC disabled=no frequency=auto mode=ap-bridge ssid="Mikrotik 2.0"
/interface ethernet
set [ find default-name=sfp1 ] auto-negotiation=no speed=100Mbps
/interface wireless security-profiles
set [ find default=yes ] authentication-types=wpa2-psk eap-methods="" mode=dynamic-keys supplicant-identity=MikroTik
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk eap-methods="" name=Free supplicant-identity=MikroTik
/ip ipsec proposal
set [ find default=yes ] enc-algorithms=aes-256-cbc,aes-192-cbc,aes-128-cbc,3des
/ip pool
add name=pool1 ranges=192.168.6.100-192.168.6.200
/ip dhcp-server
add address-pool=pool1 authoritative=after-2sec-delay disabled=no interface=bridge1 name=server1
/port
set 1 baud-rate=9600 data-bits=8 flow-control=none name=usb2 parity=none stop-bits=1
set 2 baud-rate=9600 data-bits=8 flow-control=none name=usb3 parity=none stop-bits=1
/interface ppp-client
add apn=telstra.datapack data-channel=2 dial-on-demand=no info-channel=2 name=ppp-out1 port=usb3
/interface l2tp-client
add connect-to=180.181.XXX.XXX disabled=no keepalive-timeout=30 name=l2tp-out1 profile=default use-ipsec=yes user=Porta_Hub_remote
/routing ospf instance
set [ find default=yes ] name=OSPF router-id=0.0.0.2
/snmp community
set [ find default=yes ] addresses=0.0.0.0/0
/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridge1 hw=no interface=ether2
add bridge=bridge1 hw=no interface=ether3
add bridge=bridge1 interface=wlan1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=wlan2
add bridge=bridge1 interface=ether1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=sfp1
add bridge=bridge1 interface=sfp2
/ip address
add address=192.168.6.2/24 interface=bridge1 network=192.168.6.0
/ip dhcp-server network
add address=192.168.6.0/24 dns-server=192.168.6.2 gateway=192.168.6.1
/ip dns
set allow-remote-requests=yes servers=61.9.242.33,61.9.194.49
/ip firewall filter
# bridge2 not ready
add action=drop chain=forward dst-port=53 in-interface=*14 protocol=tcp
# bridge2 not ready
add action=drop chain=forward dst-port=53 in-interface=*14 protocol=udp
/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat disabled=yes out-interface=ppp-out1
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat disabled=yes out-interface=*14
/ip route
add distance=1 gateway=192.168.6.1
/ip service
set telnet disabled=yes
set www port=8080
set ssh port=50000
set www-ssl disabled=no
set api disabled=yes
set api-ssl disabled=yes
/routing ospf network
add area=backbone network=172.16.1.4/30
add area=backbone network=192.168.6.0/24
/system clock
set time-zone-autodetect=no time-zone-name=Australia/Perth
/system identity
set name=Porta_Hub
/system leds
add interface=wlan2 leds=wlan2_signal1-led,wlan2_signal2-led,wlan2_signal3-led,wlan2_signal4-led,wlan2_signal5-led type=wireless-signal-strength
add interface=wlan2 leds=wlan2_tx-led type=interface-transmit
add interface=wlan2 leds=wlan2_rx-led type=interface-receive
/system routerboard settings
set silent-boot=no
/system scheduler
add interval=1w name="Sunday Midnight" on-event="system script run Autoupdater" policy=ftp,reboot,read,write,policy,test,password,sniff,sensitive,romon start-date=dec/03/2017 start-time=00:00:00
/system script
add name=Autoupdater owner=admin policy=ftp,reboot,read,write,policy,test,password,sniff,sensitive,romon source="policy=ftp,reboot,read,write,policy,test,password,sniff,sensitive,romon source=\"system package update or-updates :global FWstatus [/system packag\
    e update get status]; if (\\\$FWstatus = \\\"New version is available\\\") do={system package update download; delay delay-time=3600; system reboot} else={}"
[admin@Porta_Hub] >

The speed is quite an interesting topic.
I was building it at work yesterday and had some double NAT going on until I figured I could get rid of that.
With the double NAT a laptop running windows OS really struggled to get anything +40MB/s.
The same laptop on the same connection running Kali it flew, +100Mb/s down and around 35 up

I bought the porta hub home to try it off my desktop, got rid of the double NAT and it flies as well. I’ve just run at it 0900 local time, 80Mb/s down 37.5Mb/s up.
I will go back to work to try it out again on the laptop.
I should also mention I’ve got access to all three Telstra Bands 700, 1800, 2600 so it will crossband to get that sort of speed.

PS the latest Telstra Firmware 02.24.05.06 seems to work no problems.

I’ll second the Nighthawk M1.

A little bit fiddly, doesn’t always behave how you think, but once its setup it does go quite well.
USB tethering works a treat, can get 80+ Mb/s over USB.
Do have to use double NAT, unless you get a proper public IP from your provider, but that is no different to the MC7430 I suppose.

‘I’ll second the Nighthawk M1.
A little bit fiddly, doesn’t always behave how you think, but once its setup it does go quite well.
USB tethering works a treat, can get 80+ Mb/s over USB.’

Newbie using a hAP lite with firmware 6.44 here. No luck with USB connecting to the US AT&T Nighthawk M1 latest Firmware Version NTG9X50C_1202.06.01. The device showed under resources as LTE1, but not under ports. It also showed ‘Functionality: Minimum’ under interface-status. Pinging 8.8.8.8 worked, but no other internet.

There is something wrong with ROS 6.44 onwards. I just finally got sick of putting up with it.
My netgear MR1100 has been working pretty well for 6 months.
Since that update the internet speeds are glacial.

If I manually downgrade, its fine.

I’ll submit a ticket.

There is a fix released in the beta version 6.45.18 and 6.45.19. It’s working well. I assume it will get in to the stable release at some stage.

6.45.1 issue is resolved.