OpenWRT on GL-AR750 + E3372 in NCM + receive SMS (2023)

Written by pmd - - no comments

⚫ Installed last available OpenWRT on AR750

login as: root
root@192.168.3.1's password:


BusyBox v1.35.0 (2023-04-27 20:28:15 UTC) built-in shell (ash)

  _______                     ________        __
 |       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
 |   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
 |_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
 -----------------------------------------------------
 OpenWrt 22.03.5, r20134-5f15225c1e
 -----------------------------------------------------
root@OpenWrt:~#

Source: [OpenWrt Wiki] GL.iNet GL-AR750

⚫ Expected configuration

One OpenWRT router getting internet access through a 4G USB dongle using NCM connection (much faster than PPP).

⚫ Configuration

⚪ Installing necessary packets on OpenWRT

# opkg update
# opkg installkmod-usb2 kmod-usb3 kmod-usb-net-huawei-cdc-ncm comgt-ncm kmod-usb-serial kmod-usb-serial-option kmod-usb-serial-wwan luci-proto-ncm usb-modeswitch kmod-usb-serial-ipw
# opkg install nano curl socat

Sources:

  1. Installer le firmware OpenWrt sur un routeur Wi-Fi
  2. Huawei E3272 и OpenWRT: klink0v — LiveJournal

⚪ Preparing the 4G USB dongle (Huawei E3272)

I bought for cheap money an old second-hand Huawei E3272. It was loaded with a HiLink software (22.X) and SIM locked.

It took me a day of struggle to sim unlock it and finally install a working stick software (21.X).

Sources:

Finally I installed a HiLink software + WEBUI to validate good working of the 4D USB dongle on Windows 10 then installed a stick software.
All downloaded from 3ginfo.ru :

  • Huawei_E3272_Firmware_22.436.07.00.00_Universal_3Ginfo.ru.7z
  • Huawei_E3272s_WebUI_17.100.08.00.03_general_3Ginfo.ru.7z
  • Huawei_E3272s-153_Firmware_21.436.11.00.00_Universal_3Ginfo.ru.7z

All of this had to be done on a Windows 7 computer. Impossible to do on a Windows 10 computer.

⚫ Testing

⚪ Checking Huawei E3272 on OpenWRT

root@OpenWrt:~# socat - /dev/cdc-wdm0,crnl

AT

OK
AT^SYSINFOEX

^SYSINFOEX:2,3,0,1,,6,"LTE",101,"LTE"

OK
AT^SYSCFGEX=?

^SYSCFGEX: ("00","01","02","03","99"),((2000000400380,"GSM900/GSM1800/WCDMA900/WCDMA2100"),(4280000,"GSM850/GSM1900/WCDMA850"),(3fffffff,"All bands")),(0-2),(0-4),((c5,"LTE_B1/LTE_B3/LTE_B7/LTE_B8"),(7fffffffffffffff,"All bands"))

OK
ATI

Manufacturer: huawei
Model: E3272
Revision: 21.436.11.00.00
IMEI: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+GCAP: +CGSM,+DS,+ES

OK
AT^FHVER

^FHVER:"E3272S-600 21.436.11.00.00,CH1E3272SM Ver.A"

OK
AT^VERSION?

^VERSION:BDT:Aug 30 2013, 12:47:28
^VERSION:EXTS:21.436.11.00.00
^VERSION:INTS:
^VERSION:EXTD:WEBUI_17.100.08.00.03_Hilink_V7R1_V3R2_V3R3
^VERSION:INTD:
^VERSION:EXTH:CH1E3272SM Ver.A
^VERSION:INTH:
^VERSION:EXTU:E3272
^VERSION:INTU:
^VERSION:CFG:1004
^VERSION:PRL:

OK
AT^SETPORT=?

^SETPORT:1: 3G MODEM
^SETPORT:2: 3G PCUI
^SETPORT:3: 3G DIAG
^SETPORT:5: 3G GPS
^SETPORT:A: BLUE TOOTH
^SETPORT:16: NCM
^SETPORT:A1: CDROM
^SETPORT:A2: SD
^SETPORT:10: 4G MODEM
^SETPORT:12: 4G PCUI
^SETPORT:13: 4G DIAG
^SETPORT:14: 4G GPS

OK
AT^SETPORT?

^SETPORT:A1,A2;10,12,16,A1,A2

OK


^Croot@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#

⚪ Speed test

I made a speed test with PPP and NCM protocol to verify the common speech readable on internet:

PPP (wikipedia) NCM (wikipedia)

NCM is definitly better performing.

⚪ USSD and SMS and Telegram

To be checked and tried:

Telegram

Send a message to telegram chat:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:multipart/form-data" -F chat_id=<CHAT_ID> -F text="message to test !!!" "https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/sendMessage"
curl -s -X POST -H "Content-Type:multipart/form-data" -F chat_id=<CHAT_ID> -F text="message to test !!!" "https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/sendMessage" | jq '.ok'

Get updates from telegram chats:

curl -s https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/getUpdates | jq
curl -s https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/getUpdates | jq '.result[].message.text'
curl -s https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/getUpdates | jq '.result[].message.date'

Send a message+file to telegram chat:

curl -s -X POST https://api.telegram.org/bot<token_from_@BotFather>/sendDocument -F chat_id=<CHAT_ID> -F document=@'/path/to/document' -F caption='your message here'

Receive SMS with smstools3 and forward to Telegram

opkg install kmod-usb-serial kmod-usb-serial-wwan kmod-usb-serial-option usb-modeswitch smstools3 curl iconv jq bc
mkdir /usr/local
mkdir /usr/local/bin
nano /usr/local/bin/pushsms

This file will be called as soon as a new SMS is received in order to transfer it to a Telegram chat:

#!/bin/sh
# /usr/local/bin/pushsms
# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/pushsms

chat_id=<CHAT_ID>
token=<token_from_@BotFather>

if [ "$1" == "RECEIVED" ] || [ "$1" == "REPORT" ]; then
   from=`grep "From:" $2 | awk -F ': ' '{printf $2}'`
   #sent=`grep "Sent:" $2 | awk -F ': ' '{printf $2}'`
   #received=`grep "Received:" $2 | awk -F ': ' '{printf $2}'`
   alphabet=`grep "Alphabet:" $2 | awk -F ': ' '{printf $2}'`

   if [ "$alphabet" = "UCS2" ]; then
       content=$(sed -e '1,/^$/ d' < "$2" | iconv -f UNICODEBIG -t UTF-8)
   else
       content=$(sed -e '1,/^$/ d' < "$2" | iconv -f "windows-1252" -t UTF-8)
   fi

   text=$(cat << EOF
$content
From $from
EOF
)

   curl -s -d "chat_id=$chat_id&text=$text&disable_web_page_preview=true" -X POST https://api.telegram.org/bot"$token"/sendMessage

fi

Don't forget to make above file executable.

Now editing the configuration of smstools3:

# /etc/smsd.conf
#
# Description: Main configuration file for the smsd
#

devices = GSM1
incoming = /var/spool/sms/incoming
outgoing = /var/spool/sms/outgoing
checked = /var/spool/sms/checked
failed = /var/spool/sms/failed
sent = /var/spool/sms/sent
receive_before_send = no
autosplit = 3
logfile = 1
loglevel = 5
eventhandler = /usr/local/bin/pushsms

# Uncomment (and edit) this section to allow smsd to start:
#
[GSM1]
init = AT+CPMS="ME","ME","ME"
device = /dev/cdc-wdm0
incoming = yes
#pin = 0000
baudrate = 9600
signal_quality_ber_ignore = yes
detect_unexpected_input = no
memory_start = 0
cs_convert_optical = no
report = yes

Now restart the utility:

/etc/init.d/smstools3 restart

And check logs:

logread | grep smsd

Send SMS with smstools3

sendsms 491721234567 'Hello, how are you'

Some method to send USSD code from command line

root@OpenWrt:~# socat - /dev/cdc-wdm0,crnl
AT+CUSD=1,"AA18CC3602",15

OK

^MODE: 5,4

^RSSI: 26

+CUSD: 0,"041204300448002004370430043F0440043E044100200432002004340435043B04350020003A002900200421043A043E0440043E0020043F04400438043B043504420438044200200053004D00530020043E00200432044B043F043E043B043D0435043D043804380021",72

OK
^Croot@OpenWrt:~#

Open kinda serial communication link with modem:

root@OpenWrt:~# socat - /dev/cdc-wdm0 << EOF
> AT+CUSD=1,"AA18CC3602",15
> EOF


OK

root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# cat /dev/cdc-wdm0 | grep +CUSD: > ./USSDresult.txt &
root@OpenWrt:~# echo -e -n "AT+CUSD=1,\"AA18CC3602\",15\r\n" > /dev/cdc-wdm0
root@OpenWrt:~# killall cat
[1]+ Done cat /dev/cdc-wdm0 | grep +CUSD: 1>./USSDresult.txt
root@OpenWrt:~# cat ./USSDresult.txt
+CUSD: 0,"041204300448002004370430043F0440043E044100200432002004340435043B04350020003A002900200421043A043E0440043E0020043F04400438043B043504420438044200200053004D00530020043E00200432044B043F043E043B043D0435043D043804380021",72
root@OpenWrt:~# cat ./USSDresult.txt | sed -e 's@+CUSD: 0,"@@g;s@",15@@g;s@",72@@g'
041204300448002004370430043F0440043E044100200432002004340435043B04350020003A002900200421043A043E0440043E0020043F04400438043B043504420438044200200053004D00530020043E00200432044B043F043E043B043D0435043D043804380021
root@OpenWrt:~# rm ./USSDresult.txt
root@OpenWrt:~#

To code the USSD code and decode the answer you can use this tool: SMSTools3 PDU Converter. Or these two first shell script functions below. Third function to code USSD, catch the answer and decode it:

#!/bin/sh
# Idea: https://github.com/Shumaher/huawei-ussd/blob/master/ussd.sh
# But slightly modified to make it work

decodeUCS2() # UCS2 to text (to decode USSD answer)
{
   bytes=$(echo -n $1 | sed "s/\(.\{2\}\)/\\\x\1/g")
   REPLY=$(printf $bytes | iconv -f UNICODEBIG -t UTF-8)
   echo -n "$REPLY"
}

encodePDU() # text to PDU (to code the USSD)
{
   in=$1
   let "in_len=${#in}-1"
   for chr in $(seq  0 $in_len)
   do
       let "chr2=$chr+1"
       let "t=$chr%8+1"
       if [ "$t" -ne 8 ]; then
           byte=$(printf "%d" "'${in:$chr:1}")
           let "c=$byte>>($chr%8)"
           let "c2=(1<<$t)-1"
           byte2=$(printf "%d" "'${in:$chr2:1}")
           let "b=$byte2 & $c2"
           let "c=$b<<(8-$t) | $c"
           REPLY=$REPLY$(echo "obase=16; $c" | bc | sed 's/\<[0-9A-F]\>/0&/' )
       fi
   done
       # echo "AT-command to send '$1' as USSD-request: 'AT+CUSD=1,\"$REPLY\",15"
       echo -n "$REPLY"
}

sendUSSD() # To send an USSD code to operator and get result
{
   ussd_human=$1
   ussd_pdu=$(encodePDU $ussd_human)

   rm -f ./USSDresult.txt
   cat /dev/cdc-wdm0 | grep "+CUSD: 0," > ./USSDresult.txt &
   echo -e -n "AT+CUSD=1,\"$ussd_pdu\",15\r\n" > /dev/cdc-wdm0
   # wait up to 10 seconds for the answer
   sleeptime=10
   while [ $(cat ./USSDresult.txt | grep -c "+CUSD: 0,") -le 0 ] && [ $sleeptime -ge 1 ]
   do
       sleep 1
       sleeptime=$(($sleeptime - 1))
   done
   killall cat
   # here could add an 'if' statement in case 10sec waited and answer still not catched
   REPLY=$(cat ./USSDresult.txt | sed -e 's@+CUSD: 0,"@@g;s@",15@@g;s@",72@@g' | tr -d '\r\n')
   REPLY=$(decodeUCS2 "$REPLY")
   echo -n "$REPLY"
   rm ./USSDresult.txt
}

=> sendUSSDcatchANSWER.sh

Various sources:

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