HiveCatcher Cellular

Cellular adds a managed cellular line as a metered backup uplink behind wired Ethernet, plus all HiveCatcher services (monitoring, on-demand VPN, browser terminal).

Requires a supported modem and a HiveCatcher SIM. Ethernet is still the preferred uplink; cellular is used when Ethernet doesn't reach the internet.

0.Bootstrap (minimal installs)

A minimal Debian/Ubuntu may lack curl and sudo. As root (su -):

su -
apt update && apt install -y curl sudo
usermod -aG sudo YOUR_USER
exit

1.Get a Cellular Device Code

In the dashboard, open Device Onboarding → Get a Device Code (codes are product-agnostic — choose Cellular Connect after the device activates).

2.Install

curl -fsSL https://hivecatcher.com/install/cellular.sh | \
  sudo bash -s -- --code 7QK4-M2XP

This installs ModemManager + libqmi, configures the APN (cbc135), brings up the cellular bearer, sets up WireGuard and the agent, and enrolls the device.

Debian 13 (trixie) — tested

Ubuntu — tested

Same command on both. The script detects the distro and installs the modem stack from that distro's packages.

Other Linux

See the roll-your-own guide for the modem/cellular rules.

3.Verify

mmcli -L                 # modem detected?
systemctl status hivecatcher-cellular
hivecatcher-agent status  # JSON: network + modem snapshot

The device page shows signal, operator, and cellular IP once the modem is registered.

Modems vary. The tested modem is the Sierra Wireless EM7411; others need validation (USB IDs, QMI/MBIM vs AT, quirks). Wi-Fi is not supported.

Rather use your own SIM or carrier? Cellular installs the same agent as Connect, so you can point it at your provider with the APN. See Connect with your own SIM: set the APN from the device page in your dashboard, or on the box with hivecatcher-agent modem set --apn <apn>. A line you provide is yours, and we never activate it at your carrier.

Uninstalling

You can remove HiveCatcher at any time. Tell us first so the device is released and billing stops, instead of just going silent.

1. Tell HiveCatcher

sudo hivecatcher-agent deregister

This flags the device for the operator to release. It is best-effort: if the box has no connection right now, the operator will still see it go silent and can release it.

2. Stop and disable the services

sudo systemctl disable --now hivecatcher-agent hivecatcher-cellular.service hivecatcher-cellular.timer hivecatcher-cellular-recover.service hivecatcher-cellular-recover.timer hivecatcher-uplink.service hivecatcher-uplink.timer

3. Remove the units

sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/hivecatcher-*.service \
              /etc/systemd/system/hivecatcher-*.timer
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4. Remove the files

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/hivecatcher-* /etc/hivecatcher /var/lib/hivecatcher
sudo rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/99-hivecatcher-modem.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload

The WireGuard tunnel goes away with the agent, and the cloud peer is removed when the operator releases the device. To just pause HiveCatcher for a while, do step 1 and step 2 and stop there; nothing else is required.