I looked at the instructions written here. This should be noted as the source 1 written in brackets: [1].

"PCB marking next to the Ethernet port may be "A5-V11" or "MIFI"." Source: [1]

On my version it's marked MIFI so that's okay.

But just to be sure I'll check everything with telenet.

"One can log in to stock firmware with "admin"/"admin" via telnet" Source: [1]

I used putty.

Default login:

IP: 192.168.100.1
BoC Login: admin
Password: admin

I first noticed the shell difference. The wiki router had msh while I have ash:

On the openWRT wiki source [1]:

BusyBox v1.12.1 (2013-06-20 00:48:37 HKT) built-in shell(msh)

On my device:

BusyBox v1.12.1 (2012-08-27 10:10:44 CST) built-in shell(ash)

I've read here, that the ash shell is more complete then msh, and is also more configurable. Why then am I not able to list the system revision like on the wiki page [1] ?

System revision on wiki page router, source [1]:

> show system revision
 
  software version: 2.1.3.8
     product model: Mifi-Storage-3G
     serial number: ZJL2014XXXXX
  hardware version: 1.0
  f/w release date: Aug. 23, 2013 15:27:22

System revision on my router[1]:

# show system revision
-sh: show: not found

Maybe this command is disabled?

It also says on thee wiki [1]:
"If you want to access a full shell, here's how (thanks Whiterat):"

BoC Router> cat /proc/cmdline
Unknow command
BoC Router> runshellcmd
shell mode on
BoC Router> cat /proc/cmdline
console=ttyS1,57600n8 root=/dev/ram0

But I couldn't follow up to the instructions. Am I supposed to connect with a serial port?

# cat /proc/cmdline
console=ttyS1,57600n8 root=/dev/ram0
# runshellcmd
-sh: runshellcmd: not found
# cat /proc/cmdline
console=ttyS1,57600n8 root=/dev/ram0

So I looked at the info I could access in the browser:

The software version on my device was older (2.0.04) then on the wiki page (2.1.3.8) and was released 8 months later, but the mac address did start with 2C:67:FB.

Fuck it, I'll upload the image anyway.

It was successfully upgraded.

Next is says [1]:

"Thereafter, the router is waiting for you to log in with telnet and no password via Ethernet on IP address 192.168.1.1. To access this, set your computer's IP address to 192.168.1.2 subnet 255.255.255.0."

So I connected over cable this time.

And I couldn't connect with 192.168.1.1.

So I tried with 192.168.100.1

And to my surprise, I came to the original page I saw before ... I did not upgrade successfully.

I found a guide here.

So I tried to upgrade the software again, this time over cable. I also used internet explorer.

I still had no luck flashing it.

It's a shame. After 2 hours I still haven't flashed openWRT ...

I'll continue when I'll have more time on my hands.

Maybe I'll even have to flash the image with TFTP ... *sight*

Still looking for a cheaper module I could use though.

I've found this.

But it has an even higher price point.

I've submitted a buying request on alibaba.

I'll report when they come back at me with the prices.

Today I devoted around 3 hours to this project. I think it's a good idea to write how much time I've spent on the project .