Internet connection over Huawei E8372 (T-Mobile) USB modem

Difficulty level:  Intermediate 

Goal

Configure an Accelerated 63xx-series router to use the Huawei E8372 modem for Internet connectivity.

This setup requires a WiFi-enabled 63xx-series router from Accelerated with a USB port.  The current available models that provide these features are listed below:

  • 6350-SR
  • 6330-MX

Setup

Before configuring the 63xx-series router, perform the following setup:

  1. Note the WiFi SSID and passphrase printed on the E8372 modem.
  2. Connect the E8372 to the USB port of the 63xx-series router.
  3. Power on the 63xx-series router.

Next, make the following configuration changes on the 63xx-series router to provision the device to connect to the E8372's WiFi network and use it as a WiFi-as-WAN internet connection.

  1. Deselect Enable central management and click Save.  This is required in order to locally display the full range of configuration options.  This can be re-enabled later once the 63xx-series router is online, be please ensure you make the same config changes mentioned below on the devices configuration profile in aView.  Here is a link detailing how users configure a device in aView.
  2. Under Network -> WiFi -> Channel, select the channel used by the E8372 modem's SSID.   Note that if you only are establishing one WiFi as WAN connection, and disable any AP-mode SSIDs under the Accelerated device's Network -> WiFi -> Access points config options, you do not need to specify a specific wireless channel, and can instead leave this Channel option set to Automatic.
  3. Under Network -> WiFi -> Client mode connections, create a new entry named huawei.  The name can be different if desired.
  4. Under the new client mode connection entry, enter in the SSID and authentication credentials for the SSID of the E8372 modem.

Next, under Network -> Interfaces, create a new entry named WiFiasWAN.

  1. Set the Zone for the new interface to External.
  2. Set the Device for the new interface to WLAN Client: huawei
  3. Under IPv4, set the Interface type to DHCP address. 
    1. NOTE:  This will trigger the 63xx-series router to obtain a DHCP connection to the E8372 modem's SSID network.
  4. Optional:  Set the Metric to 0 to make this the primary WAN interface.  Doing so will make both the WAN Ethernet and cellular modem (if used) backup WAN connections.
  5. Click Save.

After applying these changes to the 63xx-series router, it will authenticate to the E8372's SSID and use the WiFi connection for Internet access.

If you need to make any configuration changes to the Huawei E8372 modem, the suggested method is to connect to the E8372 modem's SSID with a laptop, and access the web UI of the modem.  Resources for accessing and configuring the E8372 modem can be found in the links below.

http://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobile-broadband/e8372/ 

https://images.wirelessdealer.ca/images/phones/userguide3967.pdf

Please note that with the above setup, the 63xx-series router is treating this E8372 connection as a WiFi-as-WAN connection, and not a direct cellular connection.  This means that the 63xx-series router will not display any cellular-related details about the E8372 (e.g. signal strength, network type, etc.).  To find this information, a user would have to access the web UI of the E8372 modem itself.