Strange characters in VMC inbox with Huawei E620

V

vodacom3g

Vodacom Representative
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
12,065
Reaction score
2
Location
(mostly) Plattekloof, Cape Town
Some of you have reported getting weird messages in your SMS inbox when using a Huawei E620 HSDPA card.

I've seen it on a few of your systems, but can't replicate it on my own.

If you do get these (or even if you don't) can you please post your VMC version as well as the Huawei firmware version.

My own is:

VMC: 7.00.0015 (Use Help->About on the VMC)
E620: 11.16.09.06.19 (Use Tools->Diagnostics on the VMC)
 
Same problem

Been recieving the same problem. I also reicieve cap warnings from three or more months ago. They seem to return after deleting them.

Firm ware : 11.16.09.06.19
vmc version : V6.03.0003
 
I'm getting the same SMS problem:

VMC: v6.03.0003
E620: 11.16.09.06.19

On the downloads page (http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/3g/downloads.jsp) there is only a MAC version of VMC to download under the Huawei section.

Can I just go ahead and download VMC v7 from another option (like Novatel U740), even though I have the Huawei E620?
 
I have another SMS issue. My HSDPA card is receiving really stoopid sms's at the moment. Below are some examples:

-ÖVì@ÄxO£Q
Ddì@@@@ZOòIo$@@@¿zJ(¡£@@@¡IxO£¥@@@¡NqÉ¥@@@@@?.k¥¿é@@@ÇO£rC$@@@
-
-Status report: Completed: Message delivered. Number: *c, Time:
-Status report: Completed: Message delivered. Number: 8, Time:
-Unknown SMS Message type

Most of these sms's seem to come from +000
 
@tadesca, what type of HSDPA data card do you have? - is it a Huawei?

PS: your post moved into this thread.
 
vodacom3g said:
I've seen it on a few of your systems, but can't replicate it on my own.
Click to expand...
I know that SMS messages are read from the data card in PDU (Protocol Data Unit) format. This is pretty much how they are transmitted and how they are stored in your SIM card. There's not really much that the data card does to them.

The problem comes in when the software running on your PC needs to decode the PDU, there are at least three different encoding methods (7-bit, 8-bit & 16-bit) and with each different character sets can be used, so if your PC software doesn't know how to decode a particular format you'll see garbage.

One way of trying to duplicate the problem would be to send a "Flash SMS" to your data card, you can download software to do this for most smartphones, or use a Nokia 3220, which can do this out-of-the-box. Another way would be to send an MMS to your data card, provided you have already activated MMS for the SIM in your data card.
 
ginggs said:
...
One way of trying to duplicate the problem would be to send a "Flash SMS" to your data card, you can download software to do this for most smartphones, or use a Nokia 3220, which can do this out-of-the-box. Another way would be to send an MMS to your data card, provided you have already activated MMS for the SIM in your data card.
Click to expand...
IIRC VMC does give the option of not deleting smses from the sim card, so would it not be easier to take the sim card out of the data card, and put the sim card into an ordinary cellery phone, and then check whether the received sms is also gobbledegooked when displayed on the phone...?
 
Last edited:
ic said:
@tadesca, what type of HSDPA data card do you have? - is it a Huawei?

PS: your post moved into this thread.
Click to expand...

Yes it is.

I have received other SMS's from Vodacom which have been readable/legible.
 
tadesca said:
When I download, it gave me an .iso file. What does one do with it? It is not self extracting etc.
Click to expand...
Aha, now I understand :).

Do you have a CD [or DVD] writer installed, with CD writer software like Nero? - AFAIK Windoze heXPee also has some builtin software for burning CDs. If you have a CD writer and CD burning s/w like Nero, then you can get that s/w to create a CD for you from the .iso file that you downloaded :).
 
Thanks for the help ic,

We need to clean up the download section and also put up explanations on what to do with an .iso file.

I do believe it's better to post the software as an .iso as you'll be ensured of getting all files and they can't be changed on a CD.
 
vodacom3g said:
Thanks for the help ic,

We need to clean up the download section and also put up explanations on what to do with an .iso file.

I do believe it's better to post the software as an .iso as you'll be ensured of getting all files and they can't be changed on a CD.
Click to expand...
I agree, but I do have some suggestions:
  1. Software & Firmware Update Downloads from Vodacom's websites, should be free of charge! Preferably, Vodacom should provide a dedicated ftp server for this and other software...
  2. Each file download must have a published md5sum and sha1sum so that customers can verify if a download was successful without corruption somewhere, and without unwated changes in the transmission matrix.
:)
 
If the new software does not help, maybe check the Huawei card serial number under the Dell 820 thread and swap your card for a new one.

There is a call open, for this problem, with Vodafone, as it seems these funny SMS's are generated inside the card, i.e. nothing came in from the network to trigger them.

We've found with some installations that if you delete all the strange SMS's, and then remove the data card for a while, then re-insert it, they don't re-appear, but this is one step away from Voodoo.....

Try V7 of the VMC, then try the newer card.
 
I have done the new VMC. Thanks. Will monitor to see if this changes things.
 
OK now I have a weird thing: after upgrading to version 7, my data usage page resets to 0 every time I disconnect. What do I do?
 
chief said:
I had the same problem.Switched to Huawei's generic software.No problem now.Huawei's software is more stable and the usage is much more accurate.Also if you have a mic and earpiece the software allows you to make a call from your 3g card!
http://www.huawei.com/mobileweb/en/doc/list.do?type=-1&id=305
Click to expand...

Just checking before I download the wrong 67MB file:
Which one did you install? CD2HOST01B113D01SP04C00(Normal with voice call)?

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X