ISP only allowing approved CAT6 LTE equipment

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Good day

We have a wireless ISP with decent LTE offerings that I’m considering, but there’s a catch. They only allow approved hardware on their network.
I don’t believe they whitelist the devices based on their IMEI since I have successfully used approved hardware from other vendors on their network.

I saw that they have recently approved the Chateau LTE12 for use on their network but would like to know what are the chances of me being able to use my SXT LTE6 since it’s also a CAT6 LTE modem from Mikrotik?

Not sure if this is correct but from what I have seen it seems that the Chateau LTE12 is using a Quectel radio whilst the SXT LTE6 is using a R11e-LTE6.

Any advice or insight here would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

2

Not really answering, but …

IMEI number is composed of several parts, only a part of it is specific to actual device, the rest is same for device model. So when MNO whitelists device model, it’s checking left 8 digits (of 15-digit number). If you get hold of device with same leading 8 digits (from any source), it should still be fine.

An observation: my Samsung smart phone with dual SIM card option has quite different “most significant” 8 digits for both SIM slots, the “least significant” 6 digits are the same (those are serial numer part of IMEI) and the last digit is again different (because it’s check digit).

3

Why not simply try or ask them ?
What could be the consequences ?

4

I have and this was their answer:

We can only allow devices which have been network approved from a quality and reliability perspective. We have identified a range of devices which specifically suite a Fixed LTE offer.
BILLION: BiPAC 8206 AZ | HUAWEI: 5G CPE PRO 2, B2368 (-22, -57, -66), B525S (-23A,65A, -95A), B535-932, B612 (-233, -533), B612S (-25D, -51D, -52D), B618S (-22D, -65D, -66D), B818-263 | MIKROTIK: Chateu LTE12 | TP-LINK: Archer MR600 (EU) 2.0 | VIDA: CPE4000-PLUS, CPE4000-PRO | ZTE: 5G CPE MC801A, MF286 (A, C, C1, D, R) | ZYXEL: LTE7460, LTE7480-M804

Unfortunately that doesn’t help me.
The Chateu LTE12 is not going to fare well being stuck out on the roof on a pole.

5

Personally I don’t see why SXT LTE6 is considered being inferior quality or less reliable then Chateau.
I would still try :laughing:

6

This looks promising https://www.reddit.com/r/mikrotik/comments/soa182/r11elte6_custom_identity/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Would seem you can take the IMEI of a device known to work and clone it. Probably not a good idea to try register them both on the network at the same time 9f course.

7

THAT far I would not go. That’s intentional tampering.

Just trying the device if it works or not is a lot less intrusive.

8

When an NMO restricts the connection using IMEI, it almost always depends on business agreements with certain equipment providers and not because of technical reasons.

My advice is to change/imitate (or copy) the IMEI from an approved supplier or get another NMO. I’ve dunit several times without any problems.

9

Thanks for the advice.

I just happen to have an approved ZTE device that has been inappropriately touched by lightning on-hand. How would I go about copying it’s IMEI to the R11e-LTE6 card?

10

You’d need to know the IMEI of the deceased device and then follow that link I posted. There are AT commands to be run.

11

Thanks, I’ll try those commands and see what happens.

12

The IMEI is usually located on the device itself or sometimes behind the battery on small 4G modems, on the SIM card slot, in the subscription agreement or the receipt.

How to change IMEI: http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/how-to-change-sxt-lte-imei/127509/1 Here is another one: https://gist.github.com/Anime4000/e9213bd4eaef502e4675d736c564fb5c