Re: certified hardware: I've learned long ago that certified hardware is not usually required or even beneficial. Normally certified hardware is extraordinarily limiting; I get the jobs because certified hardware either doesn't exist or is so costly its not possible to use. Assembling different components together that aren't certified as a kit does work most of the time. In this case, I required a solution with a very high gain, directional antenna, as we need to pick up a cell tower over 10 miles away, mounted up high on a metal structure (grain elevator). The solution needs to have the radio at the antenna, be PoE powered, and directly mountable on a pole. The microtik dish-style LTE antennas were a perfect fit. I got one with an empty pcie slot for my own modem, so now I have a generic platform that should work.
Next: pick a modem that is DESIGNED to work with Verizon (but isn't necessarily certified by Verizon). EC25-AF is the product, and there are MANY examples online of people using this modem with Verizon successfully.
So, putting the two together should yield a solution for a problem that no other techs have managed to solve because they stick to off-the-shelf certified solutions.
So, that aside, I did more testing and I believe I figured out most of what's going on:
When any Quectel (only modems I have that have B13 support) connects through Microtok, it disconnects about 5 minutes after connecting. However, if I plug the card directly into the laptop (USB interface), it appears to work well. I finally tried configuring the microtik in passthrough mode to ethernet, and it also worked! So, it appears there's something specific to microtik's data interface to the cards (eg, when microtik is the "client" using the LTE network). I suspect it has to do with IPv4v6 support, as the only way to try and mimic that with microtik was to add two APNs, one with v4 and one with v6 support. The network did NOT like that and shut that down pretty quickly. I do not know how Microtik implemented that with the card.
So, bottom line appears to be that current (7.
version of RouterOS does not communicate to Vzw correctly for it to allow one to stay online. I strongly suspect IPv4v6 mode is the culprit. Passthrough mode works, though (although that means the RouterOS box does NOT have internet). Still, for my application, its good enough, as I have a weatherproof, high gain, directional antenna, and poe-powered device.....
--Jim