Can the MBP WiFI access point be switched off when connected to a Huawei E3531 3G USB dongle?

[DouglasW]

I hope to run my Davis Vantage Vue/MBP station off solar/battery power over the winter and connecting to the internet via a 3G modem.

None of the recommended Huawei E160, Huawei E161, Huawei manufactured K3765 USB dongles were available in the UK so I bought a Huawei 3G/21 Mbps Unlocked E3531 High Speed USB Portable Dongle Modem for £21, which seemed a low enough price to take the risk of it not working.

So far it has worked faultlessly with my MBP when transmitting data to Windfinder from a fringe 3G reception area. It was very easy to set up as meteobridge recognised it as a USB Router: Huawei modem.

The only issue I have with it is that when connected, it causes the MBP to "act as access point with SSID "MBPRO-Cxxxxxxxxx", whether WLAN AP: is checked or not. I have tried rebooting the MBP both when powered and when powered down first and checking and unchecking the WLAN AP: box. This is a pity as the activated MBP WiFi brings the average power consumption of the MBP/USB dongle up to 2.9W.

Does anyone know if it is possible to disable WiFi access with this particular USB dongle?

Thank you.

Douglas

[DouglasW]

I managed to fix this WiFi AP problem by doing a factory reset of the MBP red. This has cut the power consumption of the MBP Red/Huawei E3531 to 2.6W (62.4Whrs/day) when reporting every 5 minutes to Windfinder.com. A 100W solar panel connected to an 80Ahr gel battery should be able to keep the combination powered up through the depths of a Scottish winter. The E3531 is now working perfectly with the MBP Red.

Douglas