The stating “time as well as tide wait on no man” is normally utilized as a verbal begin the pants, a tip that often an chance need to be seized swiftly before it passes by. however it can likewise be interpreted as a alerting about the perpetual march of time as well as exactly how it effects the world around us. in that case, we would do well to add cellular innovation to the listing of proverbial things that wait on no one. Do you requirement 5G? No. Do you want it? most likely not. however it’s here, so be a great consumer as well as dump all your 4G hardware in the name of technical progress.
This line of logic may describe exactly how the Verizon-branded Netgear AC791L 4G “Jetpack” hotspot you see here, in spite of being in best working order, discovered itself in the trash. The onset of 5G need to have been especially quick for the previous owner, considering that they didn’t even bother to wipe their configuration info from the device. In the name of journalistic integrity I won’t divulge the previous owner’s identity; however I will state that their endearing option of WPA2 key, iluvphysics, makes for a great in shape with our publication.
A quick inspect of eBay shows these devices, as well as ones like it, are in ample supply. At the time of this writing, there were a lot more than 1,500 auctions matching the browse term “Verizon jetpack”, with a lot of of them going for between $20 as well as $50 USD. We like affordable as well as quickly obtainable gadgets that can be hacked, however is there anything inside one of these hotspots that we can really use? Let’s discover out.
A neat Package
As far as very first impressions go, the Verizon Jetpack definitely doesn’t disappoint. The handheld system has a extremely pleasing heft to it, as well as the front as well as back surfaces have a somewhat rubberized surface similar to a Thinkpad’s lid. I particularly like the two little moving doors on the bottom of the system that conceal the outside antenna ports. While a devoted “Back” button would make navigating the individual interface a bit a lot more streamlined, the capacitive touch buttons on the front work well, as well as the screen is rather nice.
Opening up the gadget we can clearly why it’s so heavy: the large 4,340 mAh lithium ion battery evaluates in at 87 grams, compared to 75 g for the hotspot itself. This may seem like an extreme amount of power, even of what amounts to a 4G modem paired with a basic wireless router, however the handbook describes that the Jetpack can double as a USB battery bank. though the lack of a female USB Type-A on the system indicates you’d requirement to bring a bit USB on the go (OTG) adapter to fee other gadgets.
Under the Hood
Ten T4 screws hold the back panel of the Jetpack on, as well as while they did get adorable as well as put a sticker over one of them to rat out the owner must they attempt to check out their own hardware, there was no issue getting the system open. With the direction mobile electronics have taken in the last few years, I was somewhat anxious the whole thing would have been glued together.
With the rear off, we get a great look at the double conformal antennas that curve around the edges of the device. These are linked to the PCB with some resilient tabs, which in turn are directly linked to the outside antenna ports. compared to what passes for a cellular antenna in a contemporary ultra-slim smartphone, the Jetpack uses a quite excellent variety of choices in the reception department. Of course, being a 4G hotspot, the capability to pull in a solid LTE signal is quite critical.
The PCB itself just pops ideal out of the frame, as well as beyond the spring contacts for the antennas, its only physical connection to the rest of the system is the connector that goes to the front LCD as well as button assembly. It’s definitely not unusual that all the elements on the board have been covered up with RF shields, as it’s something we’ve seen in other gadgets with cellular connectivity, however I was delighted to discover they weren’t soldered down at least. With a bit cautious prying, we can get a great look at the cornucopia of ICs within.
Built For Purpose
Oftentimes when we fracture open a device like this, we’re able to discover some familiar chips inside. Whether it’s a Z80 or an STM32, these widely known elements supply a concrete link between the hacking neighborhood as well as the consumer hardware world. Not just ideologically, however practically, as determining the MCU at the heart of a gadget is the very first step towards coming up with your own replacement firmware for it.
I’d like to tell you that some typical piece of silicon was hiding under one of those RF shields, as well as that running your own code on the hardware is just a matter of figuring out the appropriate OpenOCD settings. however unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Power administration
LiPo charger
WiFi/BT Controller
LTE Radio
Instead we’ve got a whole mess of small ICs, a lot of of which are unsurprisingly from Qualcomm as well as clearly meant for mobile phones. The WTR3925 is a cellular transceiver, vintage 2013 or so, as well as the MDM9630 is an LTE modem. The QCA6174 appears to be accountable for the WiFi as well as Bluetooth interfaces of the Jetpack, as well as the RF7459 is a CDMA amplifier. The SMB1356 is the fee controller for the battery, while the PMD9635 is a power administration IC which obviously was likewise utilized in some variations of the iphone 6. I wasn’t able to ID the big chip, identified GP1639, however my assumption is that’s the SoC that’s pulling everything together.
While I was able to discover fundamental descriptions of a lot of of the Qualcomm chips inside the Jetpack, really getting a full datasheet on any type of of these elements is one more story entirely. The circumstance is a bit similar to the time I attempted to research study a few of the elements in the VeriFone MX 925CTLS repayment terminal, however wasn’t able to discover much a lot more than vague descriptions as well as stock levels online. It seems like the people working on these state-of-the-art telecommunications gadgets are in a relatively tight-knit club, as well as hackers like us aren’t invited.
Putting it to (Re)Use
While impossible isn’t a word we like to utilize around these parts, the possibilities of getting your own code running on the Jetpack doesn’t look great. There’s a great deal of secrecy surrounding the hardware that goes into contemporary phones, as well as even though these chips are far from the cutting edge in 2021, public info about them isn’t precisely forthcoming. It’s likewise a quite risk-free bet that any type of effort to reverse engineer the SoC will ultimately run into some insidious safety countermeasures.
So is the Verizon AC791L Jetpack a dead-end? perhaps not. While the interior dimensions aren’t extremely forgiving, I might definitely see the primary board of this gadget replaced with a custom-made PCB bring an ESP8266 or ESP32. Tapped into the Jetpack’s antennas as well as ample battery, you’d have a excellent platform for mobile WiFi hacking as well as experimentation. For that matter, it would be an remarkably discreet gadget for penetration testing. It may not be worth paying ~$30 USD for one of these things just to utilize its battery as well as enclosure, however if you occur to discover one in the trash like I did, you may have a great wintertime job on your hands.