I was setting up a FortiGate device today to use a 3G modem as an Internet connection instead of a standard WAN interface so here is a little tutorial how to do it.

I was using:

• FortiGate 50B device with FortiOS v4.0,build0320,110419 (MR2 Patch 6)
• Huawei Mobile Connect E169 HSDPA USB stick with a SIM card for a Vodafone Mobile Connect services

CONFIGURATION STEPS:

• connect the modem in the USB port on the FortiGate device and enable the modem with the following command:

  config system modem
      set status enable
  end

• Detect the custom vendor and product ID of the USB modem with the following command:

  diagnose sys modem wireless-id

  you should get something like this:
  vendor: 0x12d1, product: 0×1003, registered: yes

  0x12d1 is the vendor ID for the Huawei, and 0×1003 is the product ID for Huawei E169, for Huawei E367a the product ID should be 0×1446 and for Huawei E367b 0×1506

• Configure your modem interface with the following commands:

  config system modem
      set status enable
      set pin-init "at+cpin=YOUR_SIM_CARD_PIN#"
      set auto-dial enable
      set wireless-custom-vendor-id 0x12d1 (HUAWEI ID)
      set wireless-custom-product-id 0x1003 (E169 ID)
      set phone1 "*99***1#"(VODAFONE NUMBER)
      set extra-init1 "at+cgdcont=1,"ip","data.vip.hr(YOUR APN)""
  end

• Dial the modem with:

  execute modem dial

If you are using the web interface of your FortiGate device, when you enable the modem interface you will get Modem option under System > Network section on the left side menu. You can set up some of the options, like phone or Extra Initialization String there too. Also you can condial or hang-up your 3g connection from there too.

These are the pages I referenced when I was setting up my modem connection:

• http://anarosnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/08/fortinet-3g-redundacy.html
• http://support.maxtec.co.za/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/73
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/86341063/The-Fortigate-and-the-3G-Modem