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atuxnull
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LTE quota management & signal

Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:30 pm

I am running Mikrotik with a USB 4G stick to provide data to a remote site. Everything works fine.
i would like to know the signal strength of the LTE connection and see it somewhere nicely in the Winbox.
Also, i would like to get an idea of the quota. LTE is volume based in the contract that i have and i would like to get an idea of how much i got spend, shut it down and switch on on a schedule and stuff like that.
Is there a solution for that?
 
accarda
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Wed Apr 21, 2021 1:35 pm

For the quota manager you can work with scripting to create some that suites your needs.
I think there is also some basic example in the wiki page if you search for.
 
atuxnull
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:08 pm

i do not have a clue what to do with the scripting.
 
accarda
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:44 pm

Time ago there was a similar request for managing data quota.

Here you can find several info and a different version of script (one that I posted about mine) that you can have a look:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=87565&p=854148#p854148

The problem with scripting is that there is not an universal solution for everyone, as each person has different needs and prospective to manage each thing.
That script was mainly used for interfaces which do not loose their traffic value upon interface reset; however using for example the LTE router, such interface gets those data lost after you enable/disable the interface.
So in that case a different version is needed to account for the fact that data is lost after interface reset.
 
atuxnull
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Mon Aug 30, 2021 9:31 am

Someone that could help me with the LTE signal please? Where could i get the info from?
 
sindy
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:19 am

What does /interface lte info [find] show (you may want to obfuscate the actual values, just the value names in the left column are important)? It depends on the modem model what information RouterOS can obtain and display.
 
atuxnull
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:21 am

@sindy thanks a lot for the reply, but it is a USB 4G stick, so there is nothing in
/interface LTE
Anyway that i could see the signal of the 4G, please?
 
sindy
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Wed Sep 01, 2021 11:01 am

but it is a USB 4G stick, so there is nothing in
/interface LTE
Anyway that i could see the signal of the 4G, please?
It's actually not "but". Various USB modems emulate various peripherals, let's call them "serial modem" and "ethernet interface", although there are actually sub-categories. And the mini-PCIe modem cards use USB for communication internally as well. So the difference is not "USB or internal" but "serial or ethernet". Some modems support both; in such case RouterOS chooses the Ethernet mode unless you tell it not to do so by setting ignore-directip-modem to yes as described here.

If the connection as such works and the /interface lte branch of the configuration is empty, it means that your USB stick emulates a serial modem, hence it appears under /interface ppp-client. Can you confirm that?

If so, you need a manual for AT commands for your USB stick, and send these AT commands using the proper sub-channel - see the /interface ppp-client at-chat command. Many AT commands are the same across vendors, but nothing is guaranteed.

You are interested in RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR parameters.
 
atuxnull
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Fri Feb 25, 2022 1:04 pm

not sure how to send these commands to the modem and what to expect. Yes it is a ppp-client.
 
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Amm0
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Fri Feb 25, 2022 10:43 pm

not sure how to send these commands to the modem and what to expect. Yes it is a ppp-client.
This is actually a pretty complex topic. At a high level, if you using V6, I'd count yourself luck the PPP work without doing much. But if you can (e.g. not production), you might want to try v7.2rc4, support for LTE modem was greatly expanded.

A good judge if V7 MAY help is you connect the hotspot via USB cable to Windows 10 & if Windows 10 showed the signal strength in the taskbar for the hotspot. RouterOS V7 stands a good chance of getting you the signal data, since V7 can use the same protocol as Windows 10 (MBIM). While V6 only support the "ethernet" or "ppp" methods (but not newer MBIM). Since Windows is pretty popular I'm told, most hotspots do support MBIM, thus have a good shot of working under V7. If so, your modem MAY show up under /interface/lte after a V7 upgrade with the signal.

For LTE you want to use V7 BUT it still NEW and potentially buggy compared with stable V6. So if LTE signal is important, or potentially higher speed connection (PPP is limited to 25Mb/s even if the LTE interface could do much more) - maybe worth a short. Otherwise, you can Google your hotspot model with word "ModemManager", since RouterOS would be very similar to Linux's LTE support.
 
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Amm0
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Re: LTE quota management & signal

Fri Feb 25, 2022 10:51 pm

Mikrotik has a list of modem here – worth checking out – https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/Peripherals
but they do note there:
Not all modems are listed. Localized and locked units may have compatibility issues. All modems using MBIM driver should work by default on RouterOS v7.
and they don't seem to update the list very often, but commands/support TYPICALLY are MOSTLY similar by the maker of the modem.

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