Raspberry Pi as GPRS to LAN tunnel

Question

I have an option of a very cheap internet service over GPRS/EDGE (much cheaper than any other option here, with a reasonable quality). The true problem is that the provider supports only MS Windows.

My current plan is to:

1. Install Windows into a Oracle Virtual Box.
2. Run the GPRS USB modem from there.
3. Tunnel the connection to the LAN port of the Pi and to my home WiFi router.

The choice of Raspberry Pi for this is due to its extremly low power consumption.

The question is: Are there any steps in this plan that would not work? I'm especially not sure about the possiblity to install and run Windows in the Virtual Box on this device, since it is not a Win-compatible device itself.

Answer 1

Many mobile phone modems work directly in Linux. I suggest trying to get yours running directly instead of under an emulated Windows. Virtual Box cannot run x86-Windows on a Pi (since it does virtualization, not full emulation). Qemu should be able to emulate a PC with windows even on the Pi. Anyway, this is likely to be slow and troublesome.

What is the make and model of your USB modem? Maybe it is supported under Linux, even if your provider does not explicitly say so. Otherwise, you could get a supported USB modem, and move your SIM card to it.

I use my Pi as a WiFi-and-LAN to GSM router (details here), with a Huawei E173 modem. To connect to the internet with the GSM modem, I use the great Sakis3G script. The official website of Sakis seems gone, but there is a local copy of the script in the post.