Hi
I have a problem with usb lte modem. My MIkrotik is hex S 2025. Short list of my requirements:
- LTE connection
- Failover mechanism
- No NAT - pure modem, I have dynamic IP on my end (I bought this option, I checked and it works)
- Preferably configured (APN profile) from Router OS - router will be placed with limited physical access.
- SMS capability (preferably with /tool sms, but /tool fetch is also acceptable)
With little knowledge I had back then I went with ZTE MF833N:
- LTE connection established (as lte interface)
- I wrote failover mechanism - script in DHCP Client and 2 netwatches (one for detecting Main WAN failure and switching to LTE or going back to Main WAN, second to detect LTE failure in case it is switched on) - scripts are not complete, I want to send sms and maybe some MQTT in the future, but basic up/down detection works, so it is only matter of adding sms and mqtt script
- Here the fun begins: ZTE MF833N have it’s own NAT so I always see 192.168.0.168 (or 169). I need to have my dynamic IP as my IP Route - I need server in my network so “internal” NAT in USB LTE is a no go.
- I did not managed to input APN profile from RouterOS - I cannot do it when LTE stick act as network card (I think it is RNDIS)
- In ZTE MF833N SMS can be send with ZTE’s web interface - I can use /tool fetch, but I prefer /tool sms
So after initial success and later failures I started digging and also prompting ChatGPT (it is very useful for RouterOS - I find RouterOS documentation very unreadable and information that I need are hard to find for me) I found E3372 huawei modems and their submodels “h” and “s”. They are not available (apart from China - they are Huawei so chinese, but as you probably know there is a bunch of counterfreight chinese equipment (counterfreight of original chinese equipment)). I found in some pawn shop new E3372s-153 (with factory seal, from original Polish distribution - that’s not a problem I’m Polish so language was not a barrier 
). Bought it and then thing started to get messy. Apparently most (not all) h versions are HiLink and some s versions are also HiLink - mine was unfortunately HiLink. But both versions can be flashed with different FW to be accessible as plain modem. Unfortunately most tutorials have broken links. I cannot get it to work in RouterOS. Sometimes RouterOS sees only usb1 port, max what I got was:
- RouterOS:
- /tool sms works
- I can send AT commands
- I can list available ports and set ports with AT Commands
- PPP client visible (I did not check if it connects - my bad, but it I think that is the evidence of E3372s-153 having PPP available - so slower, I want NCM/NDIS so lte interface)
- Windows (with some legacy drivers, memory integrity turned off and legacy Huawei FW for connecting to E3372s-153) I could get it to work in NDIS/NCM mode - I even had in my Windows tray where network icon is signal bars (so exactly what I need from RouterOS perspective, in ZTE MF833N I had it as network card so standard wired connection icon). This is related to FW that I flash, some FW version has only RAS/PPP, but I found FW that has NCMNDIS and it actually works on Windows.
So it looks like my E3372s-153 have NCM/NDIS capability, but RouterOS does not sees it. ChatGPT was very useful up to some point where it started hallucinating no matter what I prompted (for example FW versions that do not exists, wrong commands and steps).
Does anyone have E3372s-153, or anyone had similar issue. Does anyone have E3372h-153 - will it have what I want (LTE Interface, SMS, Modem Mode (so called “Stick Mode”)). Do you have any devices that would work in my case? I found Peripherals - RouterOS - MikroTik Documentation not very useful, however E3372s is not listed there but E3372h is - description is very laconic for me. It’s a long list from which I cannot extract what I want. I can get used E3372h-153 from local distributors or E3372h-153 from China hoping it will be recognized (there are many branded E3372h which people can’t get to work).
What about R11e-LTE6 with USB adapter?
.