MDMA - a Mobile Data Monitoring Application version 1.1.0.

2 2014/06/27
======================================================================
Before running MDMA make sure you have no other applications or dashboards
open that might be using your data device's communications port.
Many dashboard applications drop the connection when you close them;
you can use Ctrl-Alt-Del to pop up the Windows Task Manager, select the
dashboard application and click on the End Task button, and your internet
connection will remain open. When you are finished with MDMA you can close
it without dropping your connection and open your dashboard again.
Doing this will keep your data counters running. You can use your dashboard
application or MDMA to keep track of your usage, but not both. Be sure to
disconnect your internet connection from the program in which you wish to
track your usage.
Most dashboard applications use the autorun mechanism to start their dashboard
when the modem is inserted, to temporarily stop this behaviour, hold down the
Shift key down while inserting the modem. For a more permanent fix, you can
disable autorun in your registry or prevent the emulated CD-ROM from being
assigned a drive letter in Disk Management. See:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/59080?p=1552315#post1552315
Additionally, some recent dashboards also install a service that starts their
dashboard, simply disable thse services to prevent his behaviour.
Service names to look out for are 'DCservice.exe',
'Vodafone Mobile Broadband Service' and 'UI Assistant Service'.
Signal group
============
On the left is the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) in dBm, measured
between -113dBm and -51dBm.
Next Mobile Country Code (MCC) and Mobile Network Code (MNC) of the operator
to which your modem is registered.
Next is the operator's long alphanumeric name. Depending on device and
SIM card, this information might not be available.
On the right is the Radio Access Technology; GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, HSUPA
or HSD+UPA (High Speed Downlink and Uplink). It is normal for the HSxPA
indicators to only appear while data is being transmitted and while the
connection is idle, 3G or WCDMA is displayed.
Below this is a bar graph indicating the signal strength.
The next line of information is information from the current base station;
the Location Area Code, the Radio Network Controller Identifier (RNC ID),
the Cell Identifier and checkboxes indicating whether the modem is currently
registered and roaming.
Recent Huawei modems also provide SNR values but it is not clear what they
represent. Further information here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/389765?p=7437935#post7437935
I now think that these two SNR values are the RSCP and Ec/Io respectively.
Further information on signal strength (RSSI):
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/61703
Data Counters group (Huawei devices only)
=========================================
The volume of data transmitted and received in the current and last session
is shown here. You can track your total usage here as well. The totals are
stored in a file called 'usage.bin' located in the 'Common AppData' folder
on your computer (normally
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MDMA in Win2K/XP,
or C:\AppData\MDMA in Vista/Win7).
The 'Reset Session' button zeroes the current session data counters and adds
to the totals, useful if you want to measure exactly how much bandwidth a
particular operation uses. The 'Reset Total' button zeroes the totals,

you can use this when you top-up or get a new data bundle or on your contract
billing day.
Data Transfer Speed group (Huawei devices only)
===============================================
Here you can see your current upload and download speeds as well as the
highest peak recorded. There is also a 10 second moving average which shows
the average upload and download speed over the last 10 seconds. There are
reset buttons for the peaks and the averages, these do not affect the data
counters.
If avilable, the negotiated QoS is also indicated here; this can vary
according to your data plan, your modem, and even the particular base station
you are attached to.
Connection Type group
=====================
Here you can switch your connection type between GPRS/EDGE Only,
GPRS/EDGE Preferred, 3G/HSPA Only, or 3G/HSPA Preferred.
This does not reset the modem and you can do this and stay online,
provided you have coverage of the signal type you requested.
For example, you could switch from 3G/HSPA to GPRS/EDGE to capture cellular
broadcasts and then switch back to 3G/HSPA.
This function works much better on Huawei cards; some older Option and Novatel
cards or drivers sometimes require the card and/or your computer to be
restarted before you can use them again. LTE modems also have the option
of LTE Only and, LTE and 3G/HSPA Only (i.e. no GPRS/EDGE).
APN group
=========
You can view and set your default APN here, much easier than using a modem
initialization string. If your modem does not have a default APN configured,
it is automatically set to 'internet'.
USSD Commands group
===================
You can enter USSD commands here, these are commands in the form *123# that
are normally entered on your mobile phones's keypad.
Clicking on 'USSD Help' will display a brief listing of some USSD commands
offered by your operator (if available).
Sending a USSD command creates a session, some USSD services are billable,
when you are finished, click the End Session button.
USSD commands that don't require any further input automatically end the
session, in which case the End Session remains greyed out.
You can send multiple USSD commands sepeated by commas,
for example: *111#,1,6 for Vodacom pre-paid data bundle balance.
MDMA will wait for a response before sending the next command.
Cellular Broadcast Messages group
=================================
Received cellular broadcast messages such as cell info, weather reports and
base staion info are shown here.
Not all operators provide 3G cell broadcasts, you might need to switch your
evice in GPRS/EDGE Only mode to receive them.
Start/Stop Logging
==================
This function logs signal strength, connection type, LAC, Cell ID and cellular
broadcast messages to a comma-seperated-values (CSV) file.
The signal strength is recorded in its raw format, as a number from 0 to 31
or 99 for no signal. To convert this number to dBm, multiply it by 2 and

subract -113. LAC and Cell IDs are recorded in hexadecimal.

Device Info
===========
This interrogates your data device and SIM card, not all devices and SIM cards
provide all of the information.
About
=====
Some information about the program.
Reset Device
============
This instructs your device to do a full reset, you should notice that the
device disappears from your operating system and gets detected again.
Some older cards or drivers do not recover from a full reset gracefully
and require you to restart your computer before they become operational again.
Connect / Disconnect
====================
This allows you to connect and disconnect from the internet using a network
device (NDIS) or a dial-up networking (RAS) connection.
MDMA will use NDIS if available, otherwise fall back to RAS by executing
'rasphone.exe -d MDMA'. Rasphone is a command line tool for dial-up
networking which is part of your Windows installation. You must have a
dial-up networking connection named 'MDMA' otherwise you will see the
following message: 'Error 623: The system could not find the phone book entry
for this connection.'.
The behavior can be changed to that of older versions of MDMA
(1.0.0.31 and earlier) by using the /dialmode command line switch
(see command line options below).
When you are online the button changes to Disconnect which disconnects the
modem in the proper manner and reset the data counters for the current session
and adds to the totals. (Huawei devices only)
Band Config
===========
This allows you finer control of the bands used by the modem than the
Connection Type described above. Depending on your modem, you can enable and
disable individual or groups of bands, e.g. GSM 900, UMTS 2100.
This is currently available for Huawei and Sierra Wireless modems.
Band configuration of ZTE modems is currently disabled due to reports
of these modems not enabling UMTS 900 when set to default settings.
This can be enabled using a command line switch (at your own risk!).
Support
=======
Community support is available on MyBroadband forum in the following thread:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/59080
Command line options
====================
/?
displays command line help
/port:COM<x>

skip device autodetection and use the specified port

if /commandset is not specified, only 3GPP standard commands are

used
/commandset

specify which command set to use, overriding automatic detection

<command set> may be:

Standard, Huawei, Option, Novatel, Sierra, Nokia, ZTE, Icera

Longcheer or Dlink
/ussd:<mode>

specify the USSD decoding mode, overriding automatic decoding

<mode> may be:
Plain, PDU, Hybrid (send Plain/receive PDU), Packed7 or Unicode

/opsel:<mccmnc> select manual or automatic network operator selection

where <mccmnc> is the network operator's MCC/MNC for manual,
or 0 for automatic
/sessionlog

keeps a log of data used per session

/speedlog

keeps a log of signal information and transfer speeds

/diaglog

enable diagnostic logging

/hexqos

enables display of QoS values in raw hexadecimal format (debug)

/nopollcid

do not poll Cell ID (debug)

/nocbm

do not enable CBM reception (debug)

/hwunlock:<code> send 6 or 8-digit network operator unlock code (Huawei only)

/hwstorage:<x> send ^U2DIAG command to control emulated CD-ROM and Micro-SD car
d (Huawei only)
values of <x> for most devices:
0:
disable CD-ROM and Micro-SD
1:
enable CD-ROM only
255:
enable CD-ROM and Micro-SD
256:
enable Micro-SD only
/zstorage:<x>
d (ZTE only)

send +ZCDRUN command to control emulated CD-ROM and Micro-SD car

some known values of <x>:
8:
disable autorun (modem appears when plugged in)
9:
enable autorun (only CD-ROM appears when plugged in)
E:
enable download mode (CD-ROM does not appear when
plugged in)
F:
disable download mode (CD-ROM appears when plugged in)

/zband

enable band configuration window (ZTE only)

/swregion:<x>

set PRL region for band scanning (Sierra Wireless only)

some known values of <x>:
0:
All Regions
1:
Europe
2:
North America
3:
Australia
4:
Japan

/dialmode:<mode> specify the dial mode instead of using NDISDUP if available, or

a RAS connection
named MDMA, where <mode> may be:
RAS:
pop up a dialog for choosing a RAS connection
(as in MDMA 1.0.0.31 and earlier)
MDMA: only use a RAS connection named MDMA
NDISDUP: only use NDISDUP

/nopolling

do not poll the modem at all (passive mode)

/atf0init
)

send AT&F0 during initialization (as in MDMA 1.1.0.1 and earlier