Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:37 am
This has been the case for a long while with Verizon in US. Not sure they submit any of there devices to Verizon's Open Development certification – at least not I've heard. And annoying.
It's actually Band 13 (700Mhz) that requires certification. But it's more than paperwork, each devices requires testing by a Verizon-approved lab for each device they sell – ironically under the auspice of "open access" mandated by FCC grant for the band. While the Quectel modem are approved for Verizon, each device (and its antenna design) has to be tested individually, and after certification the device maker (e.g. Mikrotik) has to regularly report the IMEIs of devices shipped to Verizon. If the IMEI isn't in the database, Verizon won't activate (& Verizon reps tell me some "E911 not supported" comes up, but the underlying issue the device isn't certified by them).
Swapping SIMs from another device, or activating using "valid" IMEI, seem to work – they haven't disconnected any at least but risky and impossible to use Verizon at scale. I do hope Mikrotik starts doing the "paperwork" here. Although I wish they didn't use Quectel modems, that seems like it will be problematic at some point in US market at some point (see Huawei, ZTE).