This article is not intended to have too much details to configure Cisco 881G with PCEX-3G-HSPA. This article is, however, just a post to remind myself what I did to make it work.
I’ve got a chance to configure few of this toys and I thought it would be beneficial to post it here since I had a trouble finding documentation myself.
For start, for those who doesn’t know what a PCEX-3G-HSPA card is, it is like a PCI Express card/module that fits for your Mac. This is completely different than HWIC-3G-HSPA module.
I can’t find what should be the appropriate firmware for PCEX-3G-HSPA but it comes with version F1_2_3_15AP and it seems working quite well. Cisco website leads to a “blank” webpage when I tried to click the “Download Software” from this page Cisco 880 3G Integrated Services Router
Below is the picture of the PCEX-3G-HSPA just in case you want to know how is it look like ’cause I can’t found any of this picture myself so I decided to put one.
One thing I notice when putting this card into Cisco 881G is quite hard. Just need a bit of push and make sure you don’t brake the edge plate on the router.
For Cisco 880 series, we need to use IOS 12.4(22)YB1 to fully utilize HSPA support.
You need is a Simcard from your provider, in this case my provider is Telstra, and to register this Simcard with username, password, and Access Point Name (APN).
What’s going to happen is, Telstra will bind this username and password to a particular APN and assign an IP for it. It really depends on what’s your deal with Telstra.
Telstra might ask the mobile number and use this for authentication support along with username and password.
Once you confirm that Telstra have made the change required then you can start confguring with these informations.
1. Create Profile.
You need to assign these username, password, and APN to the card. Note, use this command on privileged EXEC mode.
For example, given your details below
- username is
john@doe.com - password is
johnpassword - APN is
APN.telstra - Authentication is
PAP
then your profile should be
cellular 0 gsm profile create 4 APN.telstra pap john@doe.com johnpassword
From the profile you’ve just created, you can review it using command
router# sh cellular 0 profile Profile Information ==================== Profile 4 = ACTIVE -------- PDP Type = IPv4 PDP address = 192.168.1.1 Access Point Name (APN) = APN.telstra Authentication = PAP Username: john@doe.com, Password: johnpassword * - Default profile
2. Define ATDT command
The profile you’ve created will be called when dialer is initiated using ATDT command. Number 4 in this command reflects to the profile number you’ve just created.
chat-script INTERNET "" "ATDT*98*4#" TIMEOUT 30 CONNECT
3. Configure the line interface.
Once you’re done with the chat-script, you will need to call it from line interface. This is actually the one I was struggling with to find which interface cellular 0 binds to. Apparently, from Cisco documentation for 860 and 880, it will always be line 3.
line 3 exec-timeout 0 0 script dialer INTERNET modem InOut no exec transport input all
4. Configure Dialer interface.
This is just common Dialer interface with ip address negotiated as we will getting an IP from Telstra. Match the encapsulation with the profile and also the chat-script. You might need to create necessary dialer-list to match the interesting packets.
interface Dialer1 ip address negotiated ip virtual-reassembly encapsulation ppp dialer pool 1 dialer idle-timeout 0 dialer string INTERNET dialer persistent dialer-group 1 no cdp enable
5. Configure Cellular interface
Now, since you’ve got everything ready, configuring Cellular interface is pretty much straightforward.
interface Cellular0 no ip address ip virtual-reassembly encapsulation ppp load-interval 60 dialer in-band dialer pool-member 1 dialer-group 1 async mode interactive
show command
Just in case you need it for troubleshooting, here are the show commands to use.
- show cellular 0 network
- show cellular 0 hardware
- show cellular 0 connection
- show cellular 0 radio
- show cellular 0 profile
- show cellular 0 security
- show cellular 0 all
Rather than reloading the router to restart the module, you can actually using CLI to reset or reboot the module.
router(config)# service internal router(config)# exit router# test cellular 0 modem-power-cycle ! for rebooting router# test cellular 0 modem-reset ! for resetting
Further reading
Cisco 860 and Cisco 880 Series Integrated Services Routers Software Configuration Guide
Cisco 880 Series Integrated Services Routers
3G Features for Cisco 880 Series Integrated Services Routers
A Network Engineer’s Notes on Telstra’s NextG 3G Network
Initial configuration of a 881G router Cellular interface
Update on August 6, 2009
I’ve been having issues using Cisco 881G with PCEX-3G-HSPA. Telstra recommends to use WCDMA 850 instead of using AUTO or WCDMA 1200.
Update on 13 September 2010
3G Mobile Broadband for Branch Office – By Lars Thoren
Setting up the Band to lock in to WCDMA 850 is quite easy until I have a problem to use AT commands. I know that I needed to do a reverse telnet to it based on the Cellular line (see below) TTY.
ROUTER#sh line
Tty Typ Tx/Rx A Modem Roty AccO AccI Uses Noise Overruns Int
* 0 CTY - - - - - 2 0 0/0 -
1 AUX 0/0 - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
* 3 TTY - inout - - - 3 0 0/0 Ce0
4 ??? - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
6 VTY - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
7 VTY - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
8 VTY - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
9 VTY - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
10 VTY - - - - - 0 0 0/0 -
Line(s) not in async mode -or- with no hardware support:
2, 5
However, I didn’t know why I couldn’t get the session.
ROUTER#telnet 100.100.100.100 2003 Trying 100.100.100.100, 2003 ... % Connection refused by remote host
Apparently, I need to forcely clear the line then quickly try telnet to it
ROUTER#clear line 3 [confirm] [OK] ROUTER#telnet 100.100.100.100 2003 Trying 100.100.100.100, 2003 ... Open
Ok, great. Now I got the session. Let see what the Bands are available
at!band=? Index, Name 00, All bands 01, WCDMA 2100 02, N/A (Defaults to All) 03, GSM 900/1800 04, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 05, GSM ALL 06, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 07, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 08, WCDMA ALL 09, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0A, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0B, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0C, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0D, N/A (Defaults to ALL)
Mmm, that’s weird. I tought I supposed to see WCDMA 850 somewhere but I didn’t!
Again, Telstra recommends to have this AT lines inserted.
AT!ENTERCND="A710" OK AT!SLEEP=1 OK AT!NVOEM=GMSCLASS,0C OK AT!NVOEM=EMSCLASS,0C OK AT!CUSTOM="MEPCODE",1 OK AT!CUSTOM="MEPLOCK",0 OK AT!NVPLMN=505,01 OK AT!CUSTOM="PRLREGION",03 OK AT!GBAND=0000000004000380 OK AT!RESET OK 000068: *Aug 10 13:48:24.491 AEST: %CISCO800-2-MODEM_REMOVAL_DETECTED: Cellular0 modem is now REMOVED 000069: *Aug 10 13:48:24.491 AEST: %CISCO800-2-CELLULAR_INTERFACE_NOT_SHUTDOWN: WARNING: Cellular0 interface should be shutdown before removing modem. Reload Required to reset interface 000070: *Aug 10 13:48:24.491 AEST: %CELLWAN-2-MODEM_DOWN: Cellular0 modem is DOWN 000071: *Aug 10 13:48:25.059 AEST: %CISCO800-2-MODEM_INSERTED_DETECTED: Cellular0 modem is now INSERTED +PACSP1 000072: *Aug 10 13:48:44.887 AEST: %CELLWAN-2-MODEM_UP: Cellular0 modem is now UP
OK, now let’s see what we got.
at!band=? Index, Name 00, All bands 01, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 02, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 03, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 04, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 05, GSM ALL 06, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 07, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 08, WCDMA ALL 09, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0A, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0B, N/A (Defaults to ALL) 0C, WCDMA 850 GSM 900/1800 0D, WCDMA 850
I can now have the option 0D, WCDMA 850
at!band=0d OK AT!BAND? 0D, WCDMA 850 AT!RESET
Let’s get out of AT mode using CRTL+SHIFT+6 x and check on the IOS level.
ROUTER#sh cell 0 radio
Current Band = WCDMA 850, Channel Number = 4436
Current RSSI(RSCP) = -98 dBm
Band Selected = WCDMA V 850
Number of nearby cells = 1
Cell 1
Primary Scrambling Code = 0x18E
RSCP = -96 dBm, ECIO = -8 dBm
NOTE. If you can’t get it showing Band Selected = WCDMA V 850 try to do the AT!BAND=0D command and AT!RESET several times.
That’s all folks!
David Sudjiman 
i have cisco cellular interface.(hwic 3gsm).i installed a gprs activated sim card and i configure all things.the problem is Cellular0/1/0 is up (spoofing), line protocol is up (spoofing).this is the out put from # show interface cell 0/1/0
Hi,
I tried this tips, but it didn’t work for me. After erasing nvram: and doing everything, the router does nothing.. it doesn’t dial 😦
Hi Juan and Mohammed,
In interface Cellular0 there is a “dialer-group 1” command. Have you created the ACL to match the interesting traffic like “dialer-list 1 protocol ip permit”?
Once you created this, to test it to dial out, you need to ping to external IP to make dialer kicks-in.
Hi !
I got problem with interface “Cellullar 0”. Both – status and protocol are down. I’ve loaded working config but cant get working connection via HSPA modem. I’ve unlocked sim card. Modem’s “3G” diode is blinking.
Thx for help in advance.
Hey can any of you , let me know if this card can be used with Laptop as a 3g modem for accessing internet if yes, where do i get the software/drivers for enabling the same.
Hi David,
I added 850mhz and it worked successfully, thanks for that. Can you advise where you read “Telstra recommends to use WCDMA 850 instead of using AUTO or WCDMA 1200”.
Thanks!
Hi PJ, You could read the notes from Telstra on the further reading section.
Does the 881G provide wireless access out of the box or is that an extra? I have 1 here and when using the Cisco CP application I get “no wireless interface installed on this router”
The CISCO881G-A-K9 is the sku for North America, however, the modem that comes with this bundle is PCEX-3G-HSPA-A, which is an AT&T only modem and will not work with Canadian carriers, is there a way to adjust the modem to work with other carriers ?
Hi. Hope you read this, I have a problem with this router, i have a 3G conecction and its configured as primary wan and its persistent, but it drops in certain time, can I configure this connection so it can “redial” when it detects the drop? thanks in advance.
I have a Cisco 881G router with an AT&T 3G card….it says:
Profile Information
====================
Profile 1 = INACTIVE*
——–
PDP Type = IPv4
Access Point Name (APN) = internettrial
Authentication = CHAP
Username: trial094@INTERNETTRIAL, Password: xxxxxxxxxxxx
How do I activate the profile? marc.simmons@orlandohealth.com
How do you know which tecnology do you connect to the APN? (UMTS, GPRS,etc)
I didn´t found a command to show the connection mode…
Can you help?
Hi David
I have the same setup as yours except my SIM card is a post paid account that doesn’t require authentication.
Do you know how to configure the profile for the above SIM?
What I am getting is:
Profile Information
====================
Profile 1 = INACTIVE*
——–
PDP Type = IPv4
Access Point Name (APN) = telstra.internet
Authentication = None
Username: , Password:
* – Default profile
Thank you.
Hi,
I have big problems with such routers ( I have 24 ). I use them to for communication of ATM devices.
The problem is that the router hangs if there is some changes in GSM provider network and it needs hardware restart.
Also when I make experiments, I found that the router cannot boot if you remove the antena cable.
I tryed everything update modem firmware, tryed different IOS version, upgade also rommon monitor, but no success.
If you can help
Hi… this is my setup and working properly.
My date:
Dial: *99#
APN: bam.isp.com
Username: isptest.com
Password: isppassword.com
chat-script gsm “” “atdt*99*1#” TIMEOUT 30 “CONNECT”
“Defines dialer string ‘gsm’. ‘atdt*99*1#’ command causes the cellular modem to dial out using profile 1 (profiles are created using ‘cellular 0 gsm profile”
Next:
interface Cellular0
ip address negotiated
ip nat outside
no ip virtual-reassembly in
encapsulation ppp
dialer in-band
dialer idle-timeout 0
dialer string gsm
dialer string cingular
dialer-group 1
async mode interactive
ppp authentication pap callin
ppp chap hostname ispusername
ppp chap password 0 isppassword
ppp chap refuse
ppp pap sent-username internet password 0 internet
ppp ipcp dns request
!
interface Vlan1
description ::: LAN :::
ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.248
ip nat inside
ip virtual-reassembly in
ip tcp adjust-mss 1452
ip nat inside source list 23 interface Cellular0 overload
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 Cellular0 permanent
line 3
exec-timeout 0 0
script dialer gsm
login
modem InOut
no exec
speed 237000
why line 3?
Run command “show line 3”
Router_3G#show line
Tty Typ Tx/Rx A Modem Roty AccO AccI Uses Noise Overruns Int
* 0 CTY – – – – – 0 0 0/0 –
1 AUX 0/0 – – – – – 0 0 0/0 –
A 3 TTY – inout – – – 7 0 0/0 Ce0
8 VTY – – – – 23 9 0 0/0 –
9 VTY – – – – 23 1 0 0/0 –
10 VTY – – – – 23 1 0 0/0 –
11 VTY – – – – 23 1 0 0/0 –
12 VTY – – – – 23 0 0 0/0 –
Line(s) not in async mode -or- with no hardware support:
2, 4-7
Router_3G#
line 3 is associated with interface cellular 0
Router_3G#show cellular 0 profile
Profile 1 = ACTIVE*
——–
PDP Type = IPv4
PDP address = 186.120.15.95
Access Point Name (APN) = bam.isp.com
Authentication = PAP
Username: isptest.com, Password: isppassword
* – Default profile
Router_3G#
GREAT!!!
Hi,
Do you know by any chance how can I reset all settings of Cellular0? I noticed that startup-config does not store the gsm profile, band, PIN, or whatever related to Cell0 network. It stores only Cellular0 settings as interface. If I erase startup, I get the same cell0 profile, security settings, and so on.
Guys,
Need your urgnet help ….
My Sim is activated for very short time,but most of the time its always INACTIVE,here is the configuration:
************************************
!
!
multilink bundle-name authenticated
chat-script modem “” “AT+IPR=9600” timeout 5 ok “at&w” timeout 5 ok
chat-script voda “” “AT” TIMEOUT 5 OK “ATE0V1″ TIMEOUT 5 OK AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”mashreqbank.vodafone.net” TIMEOUT 5 OK “ATS0=0” TIMEOUT 5 OK “AT+CGATT=1” TIMEOUT 5 OK “ATD*99***1#” TIMEOUT 10 CONNECT
chat-script ping ping 10.222.246.169
!
!
interface Tunnel1
ip address 55.55.55.2 255.255.255.252
ip mtu 1476
tunnel source 10.222.13.1
tunnel destination 10.222.246.169
!
!
interface Cellular0/0/0
ip address 10.222.13.1 255.255.255.0
encapsulation ppp
dialer in-band
dialer string gsm
dialer-group 1
dialer idle-timeout 0
async mode interactive
ppp authentication chap pap callin
ppp chap hostname gsm
ppp chap password 0 1234
ppp ipcp dns request
!
ip route 10.222.246.169 255.255.255.255 Cellular0/0/0
!
!
ip sla 10
icmp-echo 55.55.55.1 source-ip 55.55.55.2
ip sla schedule 10 life forever start-time now
access-list 1 permit any
dialer-list 1 protocol ip list 1
!
!
control-plane
line 0/0/0
exec-timeout 0 0
script startup modem
script dialer voda
script reset ping
script activation voda
modem InOut
no exec
*****************************
Tried pinging and debug ppp packet and debug ppp nego,nothing changed/displayed,what are your thoughts?
@MOH If it doesn’t get to the PPP session, you can also confirm this via debug line command, you might need to re-seat the module or sim or check with your ISP.