MDMA - a Mobile Data Monitoring Application version 1.1.0.

0 2012/11/22
======================================================================
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 applicati
on and click on the End Task button, and your internet connection will remain op
en. When you are finished with MDMA you can close it without dropping your conn
ection and open your dashboard again. Doing this will keep your data counters r
unning. You can use your dashboard application or MDMA to keep track of your us
age, but not both. Be sure to disconnect your internet connection from the prog
ram in which you wish to track your usage.
Most dashboard applications use the autorun mechanism to start their dashboard w
hen the modem is inserted, to temporarily stop this behaviour, hold the Shift ke
y down while inserting the modem. For a more permanent fix, you can disable aut
orun in your registry or prevent the emulated CD-ROM from being assigned a drive
letter in Disk Management.
Additionally, some recent dashboards also install a service that starts their da
shboard, simply disable thse services to prevent his behaviour. Service names t
o 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 be
tween -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 transmi
tted and while the connection is idle, 3G is displayed.
Below this is a bar graph indicating the signal strength.
The next line of information is information from the current cellular tower; the
Location Area Code, the Radio Network Controller Identifier (RNC ID), the Cell
Identifier and checkboxes indicating whhether the modem is currently registered
and roaming.
Recent Huawei modems also provide SNR values but it is not clear what they repre
sent. Further information here:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/389765?p=7437935#post7437935
Further information on signal strength (RSSI):
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/61703
Data Counters group (Huawei devices only)
=========================================
The 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 ca
lled 'usage.bin' located in the 'Common AppData' folder on your computer (normal
ly 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 see exactly how much bandwidth a particular op
eration 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 fo
r the peaks and the averages, these do not affect the data counters. The negoti
ated QoS is also indicated here; this can vary according to your data plan, your
modem and even the particular tower you are connected to.
Connection Type group
=====================
Here you can switch your connection type between GPRS/EDGE Only, GPRS/EDGE Prefe
rred, 3G Only, or 3G Preferred. This does not reset the card and you can do thi
s and stay online, provided you have coverage of the signal type you requested.
For example you could switch from 3G to GPRS/EDGE to capture cellular broadcast
s and then switch back to 3G. 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.
APN group
=========
You can view and set your default APN here, much easier than using a modem initi
alization string.
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 offer
ed 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 f
or 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 towe
r info are shown here.
Not all operators provide 3G cell broadcasts, you might need to switch your devi
ce in GPRS/EDGE Only mode to receive them.
Start/Stop Logging
==================
This function logs signal strength, connection type, LAC, Cell ID and cellular b
roadcast messages to a comma-seperated-values (CSV) file. The signal strength i
s 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. To convert it to
a percentage, multiply it by 100 and divide the result by 31. LAC and Cell IDs
are recorded in hexadecimal.
Device Info
===========
This interrogates your data device and SIM card, not all devices and SIM cards p
rovide all 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 card
s or drivers do not recover from a full reset gracefully and require you to rest
art your computer before they become operational again.
Connect / Disconnect
====================
This allows you to connect and disconnect from the internet using a dial-up netw
orking (RAS) connection. When you click Connect,
MDMA executes 'rasphone.exe -d MDMA'. Rasphone is a command line tool for dialup networking which is part of your Windows installation.
You must have a dial-up networking connection named 'MDMA' otherwise you will se
e the following message:
'Error 623: The system could not find the phone book entry for this connection.'
.
When you are online the button changes to Disconnect which disconnects the card
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 band
s, e.g. GSM 900, UMTS 2100.
This is currently available for Huawei and Sierra Wireless modems. Band configur
ation 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 the automatically d
etected command set)
<command set> may be:
Standard, Huawei, Option, Novatel, Sierra, Nokia, ZTE, Icera or
Longcheer
/ussd:<mode>
may be:

specify the USSD decoding mode, the default is automatic, <mode>

Plain, PDU, Hybrid (send Plain/receive PDU), Packed7, 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

disables Cell ID polling (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 plugge

d in)
F:

disable download mode (CD-ROM appears when plugged in)

/zband:

enable band configuration dialog (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