GPS adventures with a MiFi 2352
So I got a MiFi 2352 from Vodafone, which at 40€/mo unlimited data at up to 7.2Mbps seemed like a good deal, but it actually sucks where I am right now, getting at best, during the night, 300kbps. But I digress.
The MiFi is sold by Vodafone factory-unlocked, which is also like a good deal as there is no penalty for contract cancellation – naturally, it came with firmware version 5.15, which is ancient, and suffers from many drawbacks, one of which is poor HSUPA support. The one that caught my eye however was that the MiFi comes with a built-in GPS, which in theory provides positioning data to devices such as the WiFi-only iPad.
Googling a bit resulted in this post by MPX Systems, sellers of various 3G data devices, and who also provide an excellent support service via Twitter, without asking questions about the origin of your device – they’re honestly out to help, which is really welcome. My next purchase may well be from their online shop – but I digress (again).
Having found the latest firmware release, 5.26.2, I pinched my nose and dove into the upgrade process, which was not without trouble. Here are the steps to upgrade your own MiFi. Before you start, note that upgrading the firmware in a virtual machine is NOT recommended. In my case, I tried this on a Windows 7 VM under VMWare in Mac OS, and it failed at various steps. Once in native Bootcamp running XP, everything went fine.
1. Find the v5.26.2 firmware updater
You’ll need to search. You can also try to ask @mpxsys.
2. Find the Novatel USB native drivers
See step 1.
3. Remove any connection manager that came with your device, eg. Vodafone’s Mobile Connect
It helps to reboot after you do this to make sure you’ve cleared things out. Unplug your MiFi before rebooting.
4. Install the Novatel USB drivers
5. Plug in your MiFi using the USB cable, and let the drivers for the various services install
6. Run the firmware updater, this will take up to 20 minutes to complete while it upgrades the firmware and settings. Do not unplug your MiFi!
7. Once the updater finishes, the modem will be re-installed with extra devices – you will see the “New hardware found” balloon popup a few times
8. Install Novatel’s MobiLink 3
See step 1. I recommend you go directly for the Windows version, the Mac OS version seems to be very unstable, in beta, or both.
9. In the pop-down menu, choose “GPS”:
10. In the window that appears, click ‘Start GPS’
Here it is shown with the GPS started and with a location acquired.
Under ‘Settings’ you can find a combo box that sometimes shows ‘Standalone’ as the mode, although I’m not sure on what does this depend.
11. Done!
You should now have a serial port with NMEA data at 9600bps, 8N1, such as:
$PSTIS,*61
$GPGSV,4,1,16,03,82,344,31,07,08,289,27,21,11,063,27,22,56,090,25*74
$GPGSV,4,2,16,18,31,052,25,19,51,307,25,16,36,180,22,06,75,084,21*7C
$GPGSV,4,3,16,08,05,322,21,24,78,000,19,11,03,261,,14,01,130,*75
$GPGSV,4,4,16,15,,,,32,,,,31,,,,30,,,*7A
$GPGGA,202902.2,XXXX.557392,N,00XXX.863631,E,1,09,1.1,23.0,M,50.0,M,,*69
$GPVTG,259.5,T,260.8,M,0.0,N,0.0,K,A*24
$GPRMC,202902.2,A,XXX.557392,N,00XXX.863631,E,0.0,,040810,,,A*45
$GPGSA,A,3,03,06,07,08,16,18,19,21,22,,,,1.6,1.1,1.2*39
which are enough for any navigation app to function.
TODO:
- Figure out how to enable GPS over WiFi. In theory, the MiFi implements a CGI method to get the current location, although on mine it is not enabled.
- Fully test if the GPS remains active throughout shutdowns and soft resets (battery removal).
Hi, I’ve got my MiFi 2352 with firmware version 5.15 too. I’ve got constant problems with device overheating ending with hangs-up or battery loading problems. Did you have this kind of problems before firmware upgrading? If so, did the upgrade make things better? Sorry for my poor english and for writing not exactly on subject.
Regards
Kuba
Kuba,
I didn’t have overheating problems, the MiFi heats up quite a bit in any case. The firmware update does show improvements on speed, and stopped random shutdowns that I was experiencing – plus it got rid of the awful Vodafone-branded UI.
Hello Mike,
I updated MiFi to version 5.26, everything seems to work fine except the GPS. I would like to perform the upgrade again but first I want to ask you some questions:
1 – (point 2) where I find the native Novatel USB drivers?
Which version of mobilink3 do you use? where can I download it?
2 – (Item
3 – (point 10) in my case GPS status shows the serial port number used (but any data about GPS position), why in the picture you posted there is no serial port number?
4 – (point 11) How can I check GPS data from the serial port?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Graziano
Graziano,
On your points 1&2, you will need to search and/or ask around, @mpxsys on Twitter are very helpful.
Regarding #3, Mobilink installs a virtual serial port that you can use to read the NMEA data. Same happens on Mac OS, you get a tty that you can read NMEA data from. As for why yours shows the serial port number, I have no idea
On #4, open Terminal and connect to the COM port at 9600bps, you should see the data.
Hello, Mugen Power just released the Extended Battery for for Novatel MiFi 2200, 2352 and 2372.
it should be last over 10 hours use with 1 charge!
http://mugen.hk/mugen-power-3300mah-extended-battery-for-for-novatel-wireless-mifi-2352-and-2372.html
http://mugen.hk/mugen-power-3600mah-extended-battery-for-for-novatel-verizon-wireless-mifi-2200.html
and if you visit their page on facebook, you can find a discount code:
http://www.facebook.com/MugenPowerBatteries
Any luck with the Gps over Wifi?? I’m wondering if there is a way to use the Vodafone Mifi 2352 gps function with my ipod… Any suggestions?
Hi all,
I’ve upgraded my 2352 and all seems to be well when using it as a USB modem.
However when I try to use it as a WiFi hotspot, it won’t let me create any new profiles and so I can’t use the new roaming SIM that I just got.
It only has an option to edit an existing profile, and even there, any edit doesn’t “stick” and reverts back to the original state.
Can anyone shed any light on this please?
John
Apparently you can get GPS from your device with this url. doesn’t work for me though
http://192.168.1.1/getlastfix.cgi?type=TEXT