Good morning,
I am using a MikroTik ATL 5G R16 device with a Fastweb SIM as my main home internet connection.
The device is connected to all my home devices and, until last week, it had always worked correctly. The connection was stable and reached very good speeds, around 600 Mbps download.
However, for the last few days, the connection no longer registers correctly on the network. In the MikroTik log, I see the following messages:
lte1 mbim: register state: searching, nwe: no suitable cells in location area
lte1 mbim: packet service: detached data class: 0, nwe: no suitable cells in location area
lte1 mbim: packet service: detached data class: 0, nwe: location area not allowed
lte1 mbim: register state: denied, gsm operator: 22208, Fastweb, nwe: location area not allowed
Image error:
https://ibb.co/p62hTsLh
Settings LTE interface:
https://ibb.co/0jnN3h2z
The device seems to detect the Fastweb network with GSM operator 22208, but the registration is rejected with the error “location area not allowed”.
Considering that it was working regularly until last week, with excellent performance, I would like to understand whether the issue could be related to:
- changes on the Fastweb network/cell side;
- the cell no longer being authorized for this SIM or this type of access;
- a temporary network issue in my area;
- a configuration change between LTE, 5G NSA, or 5G SA;
- LTE/NR bands that are now being rejected by the network;
- a roaming issue or access through another operator’s infrastructure;
- the need to manually force only specific LTE/NR bands.
I would also like to understand whether the “location area not allowed” message can be caused by a specific band or cell, even if the signal is detected by the device.
From Cell Monitor, I can see available 5G cells, but in some cases the information shown does not seem fully consistent between 5G and 4G. Could this be 5G NSA with LTE anchoring?
My goal is to restore a stable configuration, because this connection is used as the main internet connection for my home.
Available information:
I would also like to add some additional tests I performed with the NR band configuration.
If I manually enable only n1 and n48, the MikroTik does not show the “location area not allowed” error. However, it does not connect to 5G NR either. In this case, the device falls back to LTE, usually on band B3 or B20.
If I manually enable only n38, the error appears immediately:
lte1 mbim: register state: denied, gsm operator: 22208, Fastweb, nwe: location area not allowed
If I do not manually select any of the three NR bands, the same error appears immediately as well.
This is the part I do not fully understand. It looks like the device may be trying to register on n38 first, which seems to be the band causing the rejection. Is it possible that the ATL 5G R16 is prioritizing n38 and immediately failing with “location area not allowed”, without trying the other available NR bands such as n1 or n48?
Shouldn’t the modem automatically try another available NR band if registration on n38 fails? Or is the band/cell selection entirely controlled by the network and not by the MikroTik device?
My goal is to understand whether I can force a stable configuration that avoids n38 and uses only the bands that do not trigger the registration error.
Thank you in advance for your support.