Topic: Connect to WU via 3G failing since july 19th

[jwreynoldson]

My PWS, which uses a 3G connection to the net and an Arduino controller, suddenly stopped reporting to WU on July 19th (Australian). I had originally presumed it was a winter battery issue, but phone usage logs showed it had been vainly trying to send reports.  I tracked this down to an issue: it was unable to connect to the weather underground server port 80. It normally does this by first sending a AT+CHTTPACT="weather station.wunderground.com",80 sequence to the 3G device.  This normally completes correctly, but now for some reason fails with an undocumented error code (232).

It's not a hardware fault, as the spare controller module and 3G connection adapter shows the same behaviour.  The unit works fine sending the same connection request to the PWS weather server and others.

I have a PWS attached via wifi (esp8266) rather than 3g on my roof, and that talks happily to the same WU server/port.  (Doesn't use AT commands).

Is anyone aware of any change WU might have made in that timeframe that might have broken connections by some hardware platforms, in particular 3g connected.  And solutions?

Thanks, John

[wicher]

My PWS, which uses a 3G connection to the net and an Arduino controller, suddenly stopped reporting to WU on July 19th (Australian).

There are more and more reports about the impossibility of sending data to WU from 19/20 July. The cause is unknown.
 Read this thread https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=41679.0 about disabling TLS 1.1 by WU

  wicher

[jwreynoldson]

The posts you reference are back in March or so.   Yes, I see the reference to TLS, but I'm at a loss as to what that implies or what in my 3G setup I can tweak.  I certainly haven't changed things, and the statement I use to connect works fine with other web sites.  Maybe there's a change in the WU server that now locks out the specific default form of request my 3G card sends with a CHTTPACT command, or maybe it's got something to do with the carrier (I can test that and will).

[jwreynoldson]

UPDATE:
I have tracked down the issue to a domain name server problem.
If I use the raw IP address (obtained elsewhere) of  "weatherstation.wunderground.com" or "rtupdate.wunderground.com"  to report to all works well.  But any attempt to use the domain name fails to resolve it, so it looks like something has changed in the DNS my carrier uses by default.  It works fine looking up "wunderground.com".  I have to presume it's not supporting the extra qualification.
Sadly the simple 3G module I have doesn't support alternate name server configuration, so unless the DNS makes a change I'm screwed, or must use the IP address and risk it changing.
Or contact the carrier and hope for some assistance....

[galfert]

It might not be your carrier DNS issue. It could be that the WS6006 has its own internal DNS hard coded. I've heard from other WS6006 users that are having the same issue, one of them in South Africa. I would contact Ecowitt and let them know that perhaps the WS6006 needs a firmware update to address this issue.

[jwreynoldson]

Unfortunately I'm not using a WS6006. I have a homebrew Arduino based controller connected to the 3G phone network using a SIM5216a device.  I can use a direct serial terminal to do diagnostics on the device and attempt to query the DNS functions.  Any attempt to resolve the IP address if the reporting URL fails.  It works fine with other URLs. Something appears to have broken with resolution of Fully Qualified host names.  I thought I could maybe point at an alternate DNS server, but sadly the SIM 5216 lacks that functionality. Sad.

The device began failing in situ after working for years. No changes were made at my end. The backup station I keep as a spare exhibits the same problem.

[jwreynoldson]

PS, I have sent ecowitt a msg to see if any of their users have a similar issue, the reply may help me....

[galfert]

Oh okay. Sorry I read the thread too quickly and for some reason I thought I you had a WS6006.

[jwreynoldson]

Ecowitt got back to me, but all they said was that they had a firmware update for their own device that might help.... They seem to not have read my preamble that said I didn't have one!

SIMCOM also have replied asking for more info.

My backup strategy is to replace the 3g controller with a wifi version which I've built and tested on the bench, but thanks to our current lockdown I can't go and install it at present. . The issue with wifi is having to change config if they change wifi passwords, which will require a site visit (or some coaching of golf club staff).

The original plan was to be independent of the local infrastructure (the station is atop the roof of the golf clubhouse). 3G is being discontinued here in a couple of years, so a hardware change was inevitable; it's just a bit premature.