Friday 2 November 2012

QuesCom GSM Gateways

I've just completed my 2nd deployment of a QuesCom GSM gateway & they're painful to use, so here's a couple of tips for those of you with the misfortune to also have to deal with one these.

Firmware Updates
To update the firmware you'll need:
  • A USB to serial adapter
  • An Ethernet cable
  • TFTPD
  • PuTTY
  • QuesCom firmware (getting this requires a support contract with QuesCom)
Now for the process:
  1. Connect your PC's NIC to the QuesCom using the Ethernet cable, then using the serial cable that came with the QuesCom, connect to the console port on the QuesCom (this is the bottom serial port).
  2. Run TFTPD, configure the DHCP server function on it & also enable PXE compatibility (otherwise you'll get errors), now restart TFTPD for the changes to take effect.
  3. Run PuTTY & connect to the serial port using 19200bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit & no flow control.
  4. Power on the QuesCom & interrupt booting by pressing CTRL + E, then type OK when it says to.
  5. Select 1, wait for it to get a DHCP lease. Alternatively you can manually configure an IP address if DHCP fails.
  6. Input the IP address of your PC running TFTPD, default gateway & file name of the firmware (this is case sensitive).
  7. Wait for the firmware to finish downloading, then select 0 to boot with the new firmware.

Caller ID
The QuesCom GSM gateways default to restricting the caller ID on all outbound calls, regardless of what caller ID you present via H323 or SIP. This is undesirable as many people won't answer the phone to withheld numbers. Unfortunately you can't disable this behaviour from the web based GUI, you have to Telnet to the QuesCom and enter the following commands:
  1. config
  2. root gateway
  3. cd isdn
  4. cd Adapter.x (x=0,1 or 2; if you only have GSM cards in the slots, use 0)
  5. set HideIdentification=0;0;0;0; (this assumes you have 4 SIM card model)
  6. exit
Don't forget to save & reboot, otherwise the changes won't take effect.