Community discussions

MikroTik App
 
Frozer
newbie
Topic Author
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:14 pm
Contact:

Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:41 am

Hi everyone!

Was " happy" the owner of the board RB912 and modem Huawei EM820W.

First tried to run the modem onboard RB912 with Router OS v5.26. The modem does not running up. Then changed the type of USB to MiniPCIe (in ROS v5.26 this can only be done via the command line), but appeared usb1 port shown as inactive and therefore modem cannot run.

After upgrading to ROS v6.6 modem was found out, great speed , great stability as it seemed initially, but after a few hours became a modem hang up. Sometimes it helps to restart ROS by the script, sometimes helps only a full power off for a few seconds.

Recently discovered that the modem hangs up immediately at the moment when built-in WiFi module heavily loaded (or may be loaded CPU).

I thought that this may be due to interference from radio transmitter and tried to put the antenna far from router and lower transmitter power to a minimum, but it did not lead to positive results. Then I connected the USB modem Huawei E1820 instead MiniPCIe (with RB411 it worked very stable), but the above bug repeated itself in this case with RB912 board.

Then I found in the compatibility list that I need to keep info channel open. Added a script that runs every 10 seconds and takes info channel oppen but no any positive results.

Then added a script that disables power USB (MiniPCIe) for 10 sec. but this does not always help. Rebooting does not always help too. I generally inclined to think that when the modem hangs up then hangs not only it - sometimes stops working even planner and stops running scripts.

Also I tried to configure the modem that it worked only as a modem (no additional features) and only in the 3G (HSPA) mode - also no positive result.

I have several boards RB912 and modems Huawei EM820W, all symptoms are present on different hardware. I am very upset and I doubt that the developers do not ignore me and other users with similar problems.

So I want to ask if they have someone to set up a positive experience with a particular model of MiniPCIe modem with RB912 board? It is desirable that it was a fast modem (with support for HSPA +).
 
mcluki
just joined
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:54 pm

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:57 am

Hi there!

Same for me. I was very happy after buying the Huawei 820 card + RB411U because it worked immediately and gave great speed - but same like you, the card seems to hang after making big down- und uploads.

I couldn't manage to make it stable BUT at least 100% reliable with this steps:

1) make sure signal strength is good (mine was at -93dB and crashed at every single download; improved it to -81 with antennas, now it's hardly ever crashing)

2) use the ppp-keepalive thing (/interface ppp-client info ppp-out1). Otherwise it will not even reach 24h of uptime ;-)

3) the hard part:
I have 3 (!) scripts on my router periodically checking if the modem is still connected and to deal with the different situations when it's not.
  • a (first) script disables the ppp-connection and kills the keepalive-thing (in order to make the info channel free for sending AT commands)
  • it starts a second script in background which is only there to monitor if the first script is still running or producing errors
  • and starts a third script in the background which sends "AT+CFUN=1,1" to the modem (this triggers an internal reset in the modem)
  • the script waits and checks if the router is online again. sometimes the script itself hangs! This is detected by the second script which is forcing a reboot in case
  • if the router is not online after the modem reset, it additionally reboots the device. after this (reset + reboot) it will be online for sure!
Since if have the combination of all this scripts running, I never had to power cycle it. Sometimes (on heavy load) it still locks up, but max. 2 minutes later it is back online.

I'm not sure how I can provbide my solution. Would a complete backup of my router help? Or just the script files?
 
yossigo
just joined
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:50 am

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:01 pm

I'm using the same setup and it seems to work fine (with few glitches now and then due to the HSPA network, which I experience with other hardware as well).

A few notes:
- I use the following modem init string: AT^SYSCFG=14,2,3FFFFFFF,0,2
This locks the modem on 3G/UMTS with no roaming and seems to avoid lockups due to network glitches.
- To keep channel 2 busy, I set up a LED configuration with type 'modem signal' on the 'user led'. This makes the use of custom scripts unnecessary.

Rarely the modem does need a power cycle but as I mentioned I experienced this with other Huawei modems on other routers. BTW the firmware reported is "11.810.09.demo_A01.00", I haven't been able to find a reliable/official source for firmware upgrades to this modem.
 
Frozer
newbie
Topic Author
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:14 pm
Contact:

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:04 am

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to do experiments. By the way, I think is not necessary to add an initialization string, just run once and modem remember the settings of 3G mode.

And I recently tested the Huawei E392 USB modem (it can work apart from anything else in LTE networks), I liked how it works. No hang-ups, fast speed, and does not require any scripts or even anything. Modem even not listed at compatibility list with Router OS, but works fine. Now thinking about how to choose a similar MiniPCIe.
 
mcluki
just joined
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:54 pm

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:21 am

A few notes:
- I use the following modem init string: AT^SYSCFG=14,2,3FFFFFFF,0,2
Thanks you very much for this information! I think my modem doesn't really "lock up" on huge downloads but just change to EDGE, because signal strength is bad. As far as I remember my provider is doing national roaming to provide EDGE so I guess my modem is still connected but can't download anything as the connecting changes to roaming.

So with forcing the modem to stay on UMTS and maybe additionally allowing roaming I could make it even more reliable!

As you seem to be the "at command expert" - can you tell me if I can query te modem for the frequency it is using? I'm not sure on which frequency the UMTS cell in my region is on but I want to buy an optimized antenna...
http://download-c.huawei.com/download/d ... adId=14254

Thanks in advance!

mcluki
 
mcluki
just joined
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:54 pm

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:51 pm

BTW the firmware reported is "11.810.09.demo_A01.00", I haven't been able to find a reliable/official source for firmware upgrades to this modem.
Mine reports as "11.810.10.03.00". But also no idea where to get a newer release :-(

Here I found a download for my version: https://techship.se/downloads/em820w-fi ... 810100300/
 
marcin21
Member Candidate
Member Candidate
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 4:50 pm

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:18 pm

check this topic. Maybe You find some interesting clue there.

http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=77045

I'd very similar problems as Yours. after few minutes/heavy load it wasn't possible to use both cards simultanously.

best regards
 
yossigo
just joined
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:50 am

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:33 am

I don't think there is a way to query current band, but maybe it's possible to enable all unsolicited messages, manually re-register and wait for an ^ACTIVEBAND message.

The full AT command set documentation for the EM820W can be found here:
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/solutions ... 20w-en.htm

By the way, in my experience it's always better off without roaming. I prefer to get a decent antenna set up so signal level is decent and lock the modem as much as possible (i.e. 3G only, no roaming, etc.).
 
nachollv
just joined
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:35 am

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Sat May 24, 2014 1:39 pm

Hello
i had the same problem with a RB 912 and SierraWireless. The board stopped responding when the wlan was enabled.

The solution came with a Ericsson miniPCI-e 3G modem and USB 2.0 very important!!
 
uldis
MikroTik Support
MikroTik Support
Posts: 3446
Joined: Mon May 31, 2004 2:55 pm

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Mon May 26, 2014 1:23 pm

Hello
i had the same problem with a RB 912 and SierraWireless. The board stopped responding when the wlan was enabled.

The solution came with a Ericsson miniPCI-e 3G modem and USB 2.0 very important!!
Please upgrade the RouterOS to v6.13 and BIOS to v3.14 and then check again.
 
Frozer
newbie
Topic Author
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:14 pm
Contact:

Re: Is there a stable working Mini-PCIe 3G modem with RB912?

Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:01 pm

Nowtime replaced all modems with Sierra MC7710. Quite expensive, but work flawlessly. No PPP-client (with DIP mode works as LTE interface) and in all ranges (2G / 3G / 4G, including LTE2600). Highly recommend. Of the minuses - it is now impossible to send and read SMS, as it was possible with the PPP modem.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], lurker888, pe1chl and 21 guests