Huwaei E8231s 3G dongle unwanted data usage

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davef2

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#259977 4-Nov-2019 12:10

I use one of these dongles on a RaspberryPi. Once a day for about 1 minute I connect to the dongle, send about 100Kb of data and then disconnect.

However, at random times when NOT connected, I lose big chunks of data. For example over a 10minute, 500MB has disappeared. The Warehouse can not tell me where is goes.

I did quite a bit of searching hoping that I could change the WiFi Key on the dongle with no luck. Lots of information re changing WiFi user and WiFi passwords.

I did some reading about firewalls, but as the device is not even connected to the Pi at the time I wouldn't expect that to make any difference.

I also read somewhere that Huawei do not update the firmware on the device unless requested. This appears to be correct as there is a selection on the device's webpage for doing this ... and it is up to date.

Could anyone suggest where to investigate next?

Thanks heaps,

Dave

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#2348085 4-Nov-2019 13:28

Are the data sessions rounded up?

davef2

12 posts

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#2348089 4-Nov-2019 13:36

To the nearest 10Kb

davef2

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#2348156 4-Nov-2019 15:28

Oops, 10KB not 10Kb

davef2

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#2348191 4-Nov-2019 16:59

OK, after several more attempts I managed to change the WiFi password. There appears to be nothing special about the "WiFi Key" label as stated on the dongle. Changing the "WiFi Shared key" in their Windows application and now I have my very own secret password.

Nobody knew the WiFi password as it came on the dongle, except me ... so it will be interesting to see if anything goes wrong.

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#2348192 4-Nov-2019 17:10

Keep us updated

Rickles

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#2348412 5-Nov-2019 10:31

@davef2 … that seems odd behaviour. I have used a number of Huawei range 3G dongles here in NZ (various telco SIMs), and overseas with laptops, and in all instances the software app shows accurate data usage.

What telco, and what type of SIM card service, viz. is it pure data or combination telephone and data?

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davef2

12 posts

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#2348520 5-Nov-2019 16:43

The Warehouse and data only. I really only need about 1-2MB/month, but it has been handy having 500MB/month while I sort this problem out! I am not concerned about the accuracy of my data usage. It goes for many weeks at say 50KB/day then there is the odd 10-100MB hiccup.

I have since realised that although I rarely use Win7 on my netbook and it is suppose to ask me if I want to connect to one of the dongles, that it might have gone on the internet without me being aware. If it does I am always asked if I wanted to update Win7 but maybe somethings happen in the background. I have crippled both Win7 and Ubuntu from trying to connect to this devices ... period.

Also, I got rid of apt-daily-timer and apt-daily-upgrade on the RaspberryPies but hadn't done that on Ubuntu which I normally use on the netbook. I thought I had control of when it updated.

I will know within a week or two if I have been successful.

Thanks, it is good know it is likely to be a problem at my end.

davef2

12 posts

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#2358504 21-Nov-2019 10:47

As suggested ... reporting back.

The changes I made to Ubuntu running on the netbook regarding unattended upgrades, changing the passwords on the dongles and then finally deleting those connections on the netbook (edit connections ... delete) seems to have got things under my control.

Dave