OrangePi 4G-IOT can't connect to T-Mobile?

dan · Published in 2018-5-23 03:42:13

Hey, has anyone gotten their OrangePi 4G-IOT to connect to a US Carrier? I've tried using it with T-Mobile, I can see the network (along with Verizon and usually Sprint), APN is set correctly (to fast.t-mobile.com), but when I attempt to manually register it with the network in Android 6, the OrangePi attemtps to register for a few minutes, then fails gving an error telling me to try again later. I've got a 2nd OrangePi 4G-IOT I'll try here shortly, just to ensure its not an issue specific to this one.

Also, its quite odd that the 4G-IOT isn't seeing AT&T LTE or HSPA+, no clue whats up with that...

jonsmirl · Published in 2018-5-23 04:20:28

Edited by jonsmirl at 2018-5-23 04:29

I don't expect Verizon to work unless you play with the IMEI. Verizon is supposed to be keeping a database and only allow devices with approved IMEIs to connect. I do expect AT&T to work since they are the loosest about letting devices connect. But, the IOT-4G does not have support for all of AT&T's LTE bands. So you may be in an area that is using an unsupported AT&T band (likely a B5 area). I don't have any experience with T-Mobile. Do note that the IMEI loaded is 12345678. T-Mobile may recognize that as being an invalid IMEI. Might be worth trying to change it to something that is valid. I have an AT&T SIM here, I should get around to checking it out sooner or later.

OrangePI people are in the process of getting real IMEIs for their cellular devices.

dan · Published in 2018-5-23 05:41:59

Edited by dan at 2018-5-23 09:28

Hmm, any pointers on how to change the IMEI? I bet its invalid (bad check digit or similar), so I'd like to correct that.

Wrt Verizon, back when activating devices on their network was part of my job, we'd just use the IMEI of an approved device if we had a compatible phone/piece of hardware (eg: Nexus 5 or an LTE modem) that Verizon wouldn't accept the IMEI of. Seemed to work just fine back then. I'll see if I can't acquire an AT&T SIM and give that a go, isn't AT&T's Band 17 coverage significant? IIRC I also have band 2/4 coverage from 'em where I'm located.

Edit: Got the MTK Engineering Mode app, and under Band Mode only LTE bands 1/3/7/20/38/40/41 are enabled, with the other bands all being greyed out (cant check 'em off and enable them). I also see that its got the correct phone number assigned to my SIM from T-Mobile, but alas its not connected to the network! I even checked to make sure we have 2G here with my phone, and T-Mobile is broadcasting a strong PCS1900 signal and a weaker DCS1800 signal, the former of which I was able to pull 120 to 130Kbps on. Wish I could get any cellular connectivity on this board, I even amended the IMEI to a tablet's IMEI so it would be likelier to get onto cellular.

Other Bands Enabled
GSM: EGSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900/GSM850
UMTS: WCDMA-IMT-2000

Also, it seems this board isn't picking up any GSM networks...

jonsmirl · Published in 2018-5-23 11:36:21

T-Mobile is on bands 2/4/5/12/66/71 how does that jive with the engineering app? B2 or B4 must be working to access T-Mobile.
Maybe you are not on a LTE connection to T-Mobile? Looks like only 2G works if not on LTE.

It is supposed to support these bands:
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900
WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B8
TD-CDMA
CDMA2000
FDD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B7/B17/B20
TDD-LTE: B38/40/41B

dan · Published in 2018-5-23 16:45:22

T-Mobile is on bands 2/4/5/12/66/71 how does that jive with the engineering app? B2 or B4 must be working to access T-Mobile.

The Engineering app shows me the following:
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 - Non-functional, supposedly present
WCDMA:       B1/B2/B4/B5/B8 -Missing 3 of these bands
TD-CDMA - Missing
CDMA2000 - Missing
FDD-LTE:       B1/B2/B3/B4/B7/B17/B20 - Missing B2/B4/B17, but yet I still see T-Mobile and Verizon LTE...
TDD-LTE:       B38/40/41B - All present, and I see Sprint (B41)

Maybe you are not on a LTE connection to T-Mobile? Looks like only 2G works if not on LTE.

I'm not able to connect to T-Mobile FYI, can't even force it to connect to 2G. When I try, no networks are listed when manually scanning on Android. Tried on two different OrangePi 4G-IOTs, one with Android 6 & another with Android 8.1

jonsmirl · Published in 2018-5-24 03:45:13

I have checked mine too. You can get into the engineering mode by dialing *#*#3646633#*#*

What is undetermined is if the hardware for B2/B4/B17 is present and the firmware is programmed wrong, or if the B2/B4/B17 hardware is missing and these board are never going to work in America. The schematic does not show hardware for B2/B4/B17. And I'm not going to unsolder the shields in order to look.

The supported bands displayed in engineering mode make this a China only device unless things can be fixed.

dan · Published in 2018-5-24 04:29:16

Have you tried your board on any networks?

jonsmirl · Published in 2018-5-24 11:48:47

dan replied at 2018-5-24 04:29
Have you tried your board on any networks?

I have AT&T SIM in it and it can't connect. But... my 4G reception is lousy at this location and my cell phone also has trouble (0-1 bar).
3G works ok at this location but it doesn't seem to see any 3G towers.

I would not draw any conclusions from this until I moved it to a location with better cell service. I will be able to do that in about two weeks. Or maybe I can figure out some way to get it outdoors with a better 4G signal, but not clear how to power it since it needs the power from the barrel connector. I might have a USB to barrel connector cable around here somewhere and a power bank. But then how do I see anything without a screen?

It was able to read the AT&T SIM and pull all of the APN info from it.

Also, the CPU reads as a MT6737M. I don't have a specific manual for the MT6737M but it does appear to have h.264 encoding support. The original MT6737 did not have h.264 encoding support.

The Nokia 1 uses the MT6737M and supports US bands.
https://www.kimovil.com/en/where-to-buy-nokia-1
It is about $110 and just recently went on sale.

Random guy on Ebay has two left...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Sea ... tphone/263686031856
I just ordered one to check it out. It is portable so I can take it outdoors. Plus it has screen and camera.

dan · Published in 2018-5-24 14:32:30

It was able to read the AT&T SIM and pull all of the APN info from it.

Same, both OrangePis pulled IMSI/IMS Reg info (A SIP uri with the SIM's phone number, for VoLTE), but no joy on connecting to a network or registering with the IMS server.

jonsmirl · Published in 2018-5-24 20:26:00

I have been talking with the owner of OrangePi. There is a problem with the hardware.
Note that the product description has been changed:
http://www.orangepi.org/Orange%20Pi%204G-IOT/