Technical Note : Configuring a wireless 3G modem

• FortiGate-60B
• FortiWiFi-60B

The 60B series of Fortinet firewalls offers a connectivity option that can provide greater flexibility in providing access to Internet resources in remote areas, or areas where broadband Internet access may not available.

For a list of supported and tested cards, see the Knowledge Base article FortiGate-60B PC card support.

FortiOS supports only one plugged 3G modem at the same time.

Configuring the modem card

PCMCIA/PC Card 3G wireless access is configured using the web-based manager.

To configure the modem

1. Go to System> Network> Modem.
2. Select Enable modem.
3. Select PCMCIA modem.
4. Select to use the PCMCIA modem as the primary connection, (standalone) or as a failover to your normal, wired connection, (redundant).
5. Select either 'Auto-Dial' or 'Dial on Demand' to manage how the FortiGate unit uses this connection.

Configuring your wireless account

To configure the wireless account

1. In the configuration section, for the Dialup Account 1, enter the account details provided to you by your 3G access provider.
2. Enter the telephone number.
   
   This can vary depending on the provider. Sprint and Verizon use #777, AT&T and T-Mobile use *99# as phone numbers. Verify this with your cellular provider.
3. If a security pin is required, enter enter in the Extra Initialization String field in the following format:
     at+cpin=5555
   where 5555 is the pin provided to you by your ISP. Verify with your ISP if this is a required configuration step.

    

4. Select Apply.

Create firewall policies and VPN configuration using this modem interface, just as you would any physical interface.

Note: As of MR5, management access, DDNS and Virtual IPs are not available to PCMCIA mode interface. These features will be available in MR6.

Configuring this interface via the CLI

config system modem
    set status enable
    set modem-dev pcmcia-wireless
    set mode standalone
    set redial none
    set phone1 "*99#"
    set username1 "testuser"
    set passwd1 *****
    set extra-init1 "pin-init \"at+cpin=5555\""
    set altmode disable
end