3G/4G & LTE Base HAT Can't get to work with EC-25A and T-mobile (USA)

Raspberry Pi Network HATs 3G/4G&LTE Base HAT
1

Hello, my order with Base HAT + EC-25A modem arrived today and I followed the QMI tutorial exactly taking my time, but I cannot get it to work. I’m using a T-mobile prepaid mobile internet SIM and the card has been active in a previous device (Reolink Go camera) and worked with no issue.

The two LTE antennas are hooked up correctly. I’m using two of these antennas here: https://sixfab.com/product/lte-antenna-sma-high-gain-71mm/

Using Raspberry Pi 3 with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Latest January 11th release).

T-mobile APN is: fast.t-mobile.com

When I ping 8.8.8.8, I get 100% packet loss even though it sends the packets, but it doesn’t receive them.

If I type: ‘ifconfig wwan0’ it mentions I do have an IP address for inet, netmask, and destination.

If I type: ‘sudo systemctl status qmi_reconnect.service’ it returns: wwan0: deconfigured.

Also, the AT command of ‘AT+CPIN?’ returns READY.

AT+CSQ returns 17,99

At this point I don’t know what to do. Thought it would just work.

If you can help solve this that would be greatly appreciated @ensar . :slight_smile:

2

So, why does the T-mobile website tell me this EC25-A modem is incompatible when I enter my IMEI when the store said it was compatible? I bought it based on the Sixfab store’s product description. :frowning:

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3

Hi @TX_diy,

The Quectel EC25-A is T-Mobile certified.
https://www.quectel.com/infocenter/news/494.htm
The link you have checked might be for Phone IMEI check.
What are the output of the following AT commands?

AT+CPIN?
AT+QGMR
AT+CPAS
AT+CFUN?
AT+COPS?
AT+QCFG="band"
AT+QCFG="nwscanseq"
AT+QCFG="nwscanmode"
AT+QCFG="iotopmode"
AT+CREG?
AT+CSQ
AT+QCSQ
AT+QNWINFO
AT+CGATT?
AT+QCFG="usbnet"

As you said you are facing issues with QMI,
Could you please share the output of sudo ./quectel-CM -s [YOUR_APN]?
Make sure you are using the right APN.

Thanks.

4

Hi @ensar, as noted in my previous post the APN is correct ‘fast.t-mobile.com’ which is listed on this webpage: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/not-sold-by-t-mobile/byod-t-mobile-data-and-apn-settings If you see something else that sticks out that needs added to the config, please let me know.

Give me a bit to go through the AT commands, for some reason it is impossible to exit the minicom.

sudo ./quectel-CM -s returns the following:

[02-02_06:30:32:904] Quectel_QConnectManager_Linux_V1.6.0.12
[02-02_06:30:32:907] Find /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1.2 idVendor=0x2c7c idProduct=0x125, bus=0x001, dev=0x005
[02-02_06:30:32:908] Auto find qmichannel = /dev/cdc-wdm0
[02-02_06:30:32:908] Auto find usbnet_adapter = wwan0
[02-02_06:30:32:908] netcard driver = qmi_wwan, driver version = 22-Aug-2005
[02-02_06:30:32:908] ioctl(0x89f3, qmap_settings) failed: Operation not supported, rc=-1
[02-02_06:30:32:909] Modem works in QMI mode
[02-02_06:30:32:920] /proc/508/fd/7 -> /dev/cdc-wdm0
[02-02_06:30:32:920] /proc/508/exe -> /home/pi/files/quectel-CM/quectel-CM
[02-02_06:30:34:923] cdc_wdm_fd = 7
[02-02_06:30:35:025] Get clientWDS = 20
[02-02_06:30:35:059] Get clientDMS = 1
[02-02_06:30:35:093] Get clientNAS = 4
[02-02_06:30:35:127] Get clientUIM = 2
[02-02_06:30:35:161] Get clientWDA = 1
[02-02_06:30:35:195] requestBaseBandVersion EC25AFAR05A06M4G
[02-02_06:30:35:332] requestGetSIMStatus SIMStatus: SIM_READY
[02-02_06:30:35:332] requestSetProfile[1] ///0
[02-02_06:30:35:400] requestGetProfile[1] ///0
[02-02_06:30:35:434] requestRegistrationState2 MCC: 310, MNC: 260, PS: Attached, DataCap: LTE
[02-02_06:30:35:467] requestQueryDataCall IPv4ConnectionStatus: DISCONNECTED
[02-02_06:30:35:468] ifconfig wwan0 down
[02-02_06:30:35:482] ifconfig wwan0 0.0.0.0
[02-02_06:30:35:886] requestSetupDataCall WdsConnectionIPv4Handle: 0x87108da0
[02-02_06:30:35:991] ifconfig wwan0 up
[02-02_06:30:36:003] busybox udhcpc -f -n -q -t 5 -i wwan0
[02-02_06:30:44:212] requestDeactivateDefaultPDP WdsConnectionIPv4Handle
[02-02_06:30:44:344] ifconfig wwan0 down
[02-02_06:30:44:358] ifconfig wwan0 0.0.0.0
[02-02_06:30:44:515] QmiWwanThread exit
[02-02_06:30:44:516] qmi_main exit
5

Here is the output of the AT commands @ensar . (Revised with proper txt instead of pic now)

AT+CPIN?

+CPIN: READY

OK
AT+QGMR

EC25AFAR05A06M4G_01.001.01.001

OK
AT+CPAS

+CPAS: 0

OK
AT+CFUN?

+CFUN: 1

OK
AT+COPS?

+COPS: 0,0,"T-Mobile",7

OK
AT+QCFG="band"

+QCFG: "band",0x260,0x80a,0x0

OK
AT+QCFG="nwscanseq"

+QCFG: "nwscanseq",0403010502

OK
AT+QCFG="nwscanmode"

+QCFG: "nwscanmode",0

OK
AT+QCFG="iotopmode"

ERROR
AT+CREG?

+CREG: 0,1

OK
AT+CSQ

+CSQ: 14,99

OK
AT+QCSQ

+QCSQ: "LTE",86,-118,83,-17

OK
AT+QNWINFO

+QNWINFO: "FDD LTE","310260","LTE BAND 4",2350

OK
AT+CGATT?

+CGATT: 1

OK
AT+QCFG="usbnet"

+QCFG: "usbnet",0

OK
6

I’ve been trying to get this to work all day with no success. Please help.

Edit: the libqmi tutorial didn’t work either on a fresh install on the SD card, yielded the same AT command results as my previous post.

Confirmed again that the SIM card was able to download and upload data on my iPhone.

7

It looks like you forgot to add APN to the command. The right command for you is: sudo ./quectel-CM -s fast.t-mobile.com

Also, check the APN your module is trying to use, with the command: AT+CGDCONT?

8

Actually I didn’t forget, because I followed the tutorial with the auto reconnect service and have my APN set correctly. Here is the output of AT+CGDCONT?

AT+CGDCONT?

+CGDCONT: 1,"IP","fast.t-mobile.com","0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0

+CGDCONT: 2,"IPV4V6","ims","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0

+CGDCONT: 3,"IPV4V6","sos","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,1

+CGDCONT: 4,"IPV4V6","tmus","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0

+CGDCONT: 5,"IPV4V6","H2g2","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0

OK
9

I finally got this to work by calling T mobile and having them manually add the IMEI on their end for whatever reason…