uConsole 4G - via USB dongles
A little while back - okay, nearly a year ago:
https://tonyisageek.blogspot.com/2024/01/meconsole-weconsole-uconsole.html
I decided to purchase a uConsole device. I selected to have a 4G internal adapter inside, but for the love of god, I tried everything to get the b*s*d thing to work, I even changed the internal firmware - maybe it was the fact I was using giffgaff? I don't know. Anyway, I then got some "bluepoints" (some people will know what that means!) and well, I then cashed them in for a £50 Amazon card.
Next thing you know, I have 2 x 4G USB dongles coming my way :-D
Why two, Tony? Well, y'know, I either break one, I take one apart, I destroy one or one never does what it says, yadeyadaya...
After having such fun getting the UGV Rover working the past few days, I finally got around to having a go with setting up the 4G USB dongles.
Both devices came with 02 sim cards from sims4home.co.uk with a discount code - I actually use this in my campervan, works a treat & I cannot fault it, however it is £32.50 per month, which is kinda steep, BUT, it is unlimited data & I do spend a LOT of time in the campervan & I do use the 4G / wifi for everything when in the van. I'll shop around, maybe next year to see if I can get an annual SIM that is cheaper / better deal.
White one: this is a generic one, minimum fuss, although it does have these 2 dodgy fitting antennas that are meant to clip onto the side, they are not very good - they flop everywhere & fall off, a lot! maybe I'll solder them on at some point?
Grey one: well, this is a Vodafone one, so I was a little cautious in using it.
I have a giffgaff SIM card, £6 for 8GB a month (or is it the other way around?) - as this is going to be used irregularly, I don't mind this, it's a nice to have, rather than essential. I was also thinking that I could use the 4G dongle for my laptop too, just incase I was out & about and not near the campervan or a free wifi (I tend to not use these though, for obvious reasons - especially what I used to do with these lol )
To start off with, I connected both devices to the uConsole, this was interesting.
The [White one] was detected as an eth1 device, connected & got an IP address allocated. However, I couldn't figure out to configure the APN details.
The [Grey one] was detected as a usb0 device, connected & got an IP address allocated. Again, couldn't figure out how to configure.
At the point of thinking I'd just bought 2 more pieces of eWaste, So, I plugged in the [White one] into my UBuntu laptop.
To my surprise, a notification popped up & when clicked on, it opened a web page with an IP:
http://192.168.8.1
It auto-logged in & then promptly told me that it could not connect to the internet. However, that was due to the default APN being set to O2. I added the giffgaff APN details, saved & set as default.
I was then informed that an update was available for the device - it downloaded this and then chose to reboot the device - however, this did prove that the APN details were good & the device had connected to the 4G and worked! sweet. One of the antennas dropped off :-)
I then plugged in the [Grey one] - this didn't pop up any notifications, however, I noted that it connected as a USB drive. Ah, ha! I see a Linux directory (I always attempt to state, "directory" and not folder - as that is a Microsoft marketing / branding description and not what it is, it is a directory - think about the command that you type: "cd" - for "change...." think about it.... it's not "change folder" is it :-D )
I see a tar.gz file, I copied it to my Downloads directory, un-tarred it and then as it says, "sudo ./install.sh" - wasn't too keen on this, but, y'know.
It installed something and a link on the Desktop, opening this up in a Firefox allowed me to see the details, oh, it looked like I didn't need to add the giffgaff APN details. I think it has picked this up from the setup for the [White one]?
Anyway, on my laptop, this seemed to drop on & off with the 4G signal strength. hmmm...
I unplugged the devices & decided to plug them into the uConsole.
Well, what can I say?! They both worked a treat! They both worked fine!
As shown above, the [White one] let me connect to 192.168.8.1 & I could set it up just like I did on the laptop - that's good to know & it JUST WORKED! (well, it did now!)
I did the same USB file install with the [Grey one], however, I couldn't open the web-page, but I didn't need to - it just connected! As you can see below:
As you notice, I've got the USB dongles plugged into an external adapter - the only reason for this is because if I've got the USB-C charge cable plugged in, the USB sticks cannot fit in at the same time, that's one of the only / main grumble I have with the uConsole design, but it is minor.
This has now made me happy. I finally have 4G working, which opens up using this device a LOT more. I'll be using it for a lot more thing during 2025.
Now... what to do with the [White one]? maybe I strip the casing off it & I find a way to fit it inside & add a better antenna? Hmm.... that could be a very viable option for getting the soldering iron out.
I still have the uConsole 4G adapter that is basically a USB device, I could solder extra wires onto the bottom of it OR I could solder extension wires onto that internal USB connector on the side and fit a super tiny hub? Now you know why they say this thing is "hackable" :-D
Right, now is about the right time to have a little bit of an R&D exercise & find out more about this little wonder: WAMI
watch the video below. One hell of a device. in todays world, there is no way you can "hide" if you're doing something noteworthly dodgy. ie. this isn't going to be of interest to track a 2-bit criminal, but maybe of interest for a big time arms-dealer or a cartel of some sort
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