How to setup FortiGate to use 3G USB mobile internet modem as the WAN connection

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Rambling SysAdmin

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: