Motivations
asterisk-chan-dongle let you use Huawei 3G dongles to place phone calls
via Asterisk, unfortunately it handle SMS very poorly, it is complicated to
setup and it is quite unstable.
This project aim to automate the compilation/installation/configuration
of asterisk-chan-dongle alongside fixing bugs and providing many new features.
Features:
- PIN/PUK codes management:
No need to disable LOCK anymore, list connected dongle that need to be
unlocked, provide a PIN or PUK, if the unlocking was successful the module
will save the code for the SIM so you don’t have to provide it again. - Multipart SMS:
Reliably Send and receive multipart SMS, fix all encoding problems. - SMS status report:
Confirm that SMS have been successfully delivered. - SIM phonebook:
Read and write contacts in SIM storage. - Auto configuration of devices:
No need to configure devices in dongle.conf anymore,
when a supported device is connected it is automatically detected
by the module and instantiated for you.
July 2022 update
Reported working on Rapberry PI 4 with Ubuntu 18.04. (Installed using this guide)
February 2022 update
tty0tty update,
chan-dongle-extended have been reported working with:
kernel version 5.13.0-28-generic
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 21.10
Release: 21.10
Codename: impish
Please report if it breaks things with older linux Kernel.
December 2021 update
Recommended debian versions: Stretch (9) or Buster (10).
It can work with newer versin as well, I haven’t tested. Any report will be much apreciated at: joseph.garrone.gj@gmail.com
If you chose to go with Buster or newer, you need to install python 2 manually before running the installer.
We recommend using Debian Buster 10.11.0 (it uses Kernel 4.19.0-18) because it’s tested working with the Linux Kernel it ships with. Other minor version variant might (or may not) have problems related with kernel header not having an available package. Installing Linux Kerner header by hand is a pain.
You can also use Ubuntu, every Ubuntu version have a corresponding Debian version.
This means that:
- Debian 9 Streatch <-> Ubuntu 17.10 artful, 17.04 zesty, 16.10 yakkety or 16.04 xenial
- Debian 10 Buster <-> Ubuntu 19.10 eoan, 19.04 disco, 18.10 cosmic, 18.04 bionic
You must also run theses command before running the installer:
sudo su
apt-get update
apt-get install curl
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python get-pip.py
pip install virtualenv==20.4.7
Installing
System requirements:
- Debian/Raspbian jessie or newer
To install simply run this command:
wget -nc -q -O - garronej.github.io/chan-dongle-extended-pages/install.sh | sudo bash
This program act as a system service to stop the service run:
sudo systemctl stop chan_dongle
To uninstall chan-dongle-extended run:
sudo dongle_uninstaller run
Logfile:
tail -f /usr/share/dongle/working_directory/log
Behavior on unrecoverable dongle crash.
The service will do what it can to recover from dongle error
however sometimes the modems just crash and need to be
unplugged/reconnected. This can be a big issue if you do not have
physical access to the device.
The only option in this case is to allow chan-dongle-extended to reboot
the host when a dongle is unrecoverable crashed.
To grant the permission edit /usr/share/dongle/working_directory/install_options.json
{
"allow_host_reboot_on_dongle_unrecoverable_crash": true
}
API
The service come bundled with a CLI tool dongle
Once unlocked you can see that the modem is handled by asterisk-chan-dongle
A npm module is available to interface the service programmatically with Node.js: garronej/chan-dongle-extended-client
Handling multi parts SMS via the dialplan.
In this example we reply “OK, got you! 👌” to any message we receive
NOTE: All channel variable set in both reassembled-sms and sms-status-report extensions: DONGLENAME, DONGLEPROVIDER, DONGLEIMEI, DONGLEIMSI, DONGLENUMBER
[from-dongle]
;In this example we reply to the sender with the same content
exten = reassembled-sms,1,NoOp(reassembled-sms)
same = n,NoOp(SMS_NUMBER=${SMS_NUMBER})
same = n,NoOp(SMS_DATE=${SMS_DATE})
same = n,NoOp(BASE64_DECODE(SMS_BASE64)=${BASE64_DECODE(${SMS_BASE64})})
same = n,Set(SEND_TIME=${SHELL(dongle send --imei ${DONGLEIMEI} --number ${SMS_NUMBER} --text-base64 ${BASE64_ENCODE(OK, got you! 👌)})})
;Or just use System instead of SHELL system if you don't care about the status report
;same = n,System(dongle send -i ${DONGLEIMEI} -n ${SMS_NUMBER} -T ${BASE64_ENCODE(OK, got you! 👌)})
same = n,Hangup()
;Check that the message have been received
exten = sms-status-report,1,NoOp(sms-status-report)
same = n,NoOp(STATUS_REPORT_DISCHARGE_TIME=${STATUS_REPORT_DISCHARGE_TIME})
same = n,NoOp(STATUS_REPORT_IS_DELIVERED=${STATUS_REPORT_IS_DELIVERED})
same = n,NoOp(STATUS_REPORT_ID=${STATUS_REPORT_SEND_TIME})
same = n,NoOp(STATUS_REPORT_STATUS=${STATUS_REPORT_STATUS})
same = n,Hangup()
- Asterisk log:
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:1] NoOp("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "reassembled-sms") in new stack
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:2] NoOp("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "SMS_NUMBER=+33636786385") in new stack
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:3] NoOp("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "SMS_DATE=2017-05-14T17:37:45.000Z") in new stack
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:4] NoOp("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "BASE64_DECODE(SMS_BASE64)=Un mal qui répand la terreur,
-- Mal que le Ciel en sa fureur
-- Inventa pour punir les crimes de la terre,
-- La Peste (puisqu’il faut l’appeler par son nom),
-- Capable d’enrichir en un jour l’Achéron,
-- Faisait aux Animaux la guerre.
-- Ils ne mouraient pas tous, mais tous étaient frappés :
-- On n’en voyait point d’occupés
-- À chercher le soutien d’une mourante vie ;
-- Nul mets n’excitait leur envie ;
-- Ni Loups ni Renards n’épiaient
-- La douce et l’innocente proie ;
-- Les Tourterelles se fuyaient :
-- Plus d’amour, partant plus de joie.
-- Le Lion tint conseil, et dit : « Mes chers amis,
-- Je crois que le Ciel a permis
-- Pour nos péchés cette infortune.
-- Que le plus coupable de nous
-- Se sacrifie aux traits du céleste courroux ;
-- Peut-être il obtiendra la guérison commune.") in new stack
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:5] Set("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "MESSAGE_ID=1494783564908
-- ") in new stack
-- Executing [reassembled-sms@from-dongle:6] Hangup("Local/init-reassembled-sms@from-dongle-0000001b;2", "") in new stack
... Then when "OK, got you! 👌" received :
-- Goto (from-dongle,sms-status-report,1)
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:1] NoOp("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "sms-status-report") in new stack
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:2] NoOp("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "STATUS_REPORT_DISCHARGE_TIME=2017-05-14T17:39:27.000Z") in new stack
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:3] NoOp("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "STATUS_REPORT_IS_DELIVERED=true") in new stack
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:4] NoOp("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "STATUS_REPORT_ID=1494783564908") in new stack
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:5] NoOp("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "STATUS_REPORT_STATUS=COMPLETED_RECEIVED") in new stack
-- Executing [sms-status-report@from-dongle:6] Hangup("Local/init-sms-status-report@from-dongle-0001c;2", "") in new stack
Note: SMS_BASE64 truncate message of more than 1024 byte, this is an expected behavior, it is to avoid asterisk buffer overflow. You can use the SMS_TEXT_SPLIT_COUNT=n and SMS_BASE64_PART_0..n-1 variables to retrieve very long SMS. In order to reassemble the message you must base64 decode the concatenation of all SMS_BASE64_PART_X.
Asterisk Configuration for good quality phone calls
Report bugs
Any feedback highly appreciated. Feel free to open an issue or start a discution on the repo of the project.
Need some compatible GSM Dongle?
I have a stock that I can sell. Contact me at: joseph.garrone@protonmail.com