Hello Dragino users,
Does anybody know, what kind of LTE-stick can be used with the LIG16?
imho it should be possible to connect the LIG16 to the internet by using a LTE USB-stick.
Since you can augment and even ultimately replace the OpenWRT install on that box, probably almost anything that would work with a provider in your location, possibly at the cost of needing a powered hub to support its power draw.
However you will likely have to do some custom work to get a chatscript that works with your particular modem and provider SIM, and depending on the modem interface you may need more than just CDC/ACM kernel drivers installed and loaded. Some USB stick form factor devices also require usb modeswitch (program or equivalent command injection) to change them from their initial default of a storage device serving up Windows software, to actually being a modem.
In my personal experience it’s good to have a connectivity watdchdog damon on the gateway that can not only redial the modem at need but at an extreme controls a silicon power switch that can force power cycle the modem - rebooting the Linux is not the same as rebooting the modem(!) and some issues the later can fix will survive reboot of the hosting Linux. This can be controlled by either a GPIO or the port power control outputs on most USB ICs (though most off the shelf hubs don’t provide the switch chips for the those outputs to control)
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There is a rather new firmware from Dragino: Dragino Download Server ./downloads/LoRa_Gateway/LIG16/Firmware/USB-Dongle_firmware/Hilink.mode--build-v5.4.1637564264-20211122-1459/
I tried to get this firmware running with a Huawei E3372h-320 LTE-stick. The stick seems to be recognised but is not installed as a network-device.
Using this stick with a TP-LINK WR 902AC Travel Router showed a similar behaviour. I found a Beta-Firmware for this router, now the stick works as LTE-modem for the router.
The router is connected to the LIG16 by a network-cable and online now.
Maybe Dragino will issue an USB-Dongle-firmware that works in future.
If you study how that particular modem is being operated on the router, you can probably port that implementation to the gateway.
Given all the different ways USB LTE modems on the market work, it’s unlikely a gateway manufacturer is going to be able to support all of the details of all of them as out-of-the-box plug-and-play.
So first start with identifying what if any modem modeswitching is needed, then the type of interface being used, and then what scripting is being used to bring up the connection with your particular provider.