API cmd.carrier.select and config.wan.connection succeed but does not switch carrier on BYO eSIM A (firmware 8.5.2)

General
1

Hi all,

I’m building a personal app for my MAX BR1 Pro 5G (firmware 8.5.2) and one of the functions is to switch carriers on the BYO eSIM A

Manual carrier selection works perfectly in the web UI (Cellular → Carrier Selection → Manual Select → pick carrier → Save and Close).

However, the same change via API returns stat: “ok” but the active carrier never actually switches. No connection drop occurs and the Peplink UI continues showing the old carrier.

I have tried two approaches:

  1. The documented endpoint: POST /api/cmd.carrier.select with payload containing connId: 2 and selectedCarrier: { mcc, mnc, pcs, name }
  2. The full config update that the UI itself sends: POST /cgi-bin/MANGA/api.cgi with func: “config.wan.connection”, instantActive: true, and the complete eSim1.carrierSelection block

Both calls succeed, but the router does not apply the new carrier.

Has anyone successfully changed the active carrier via API on a BYO eSIM A profile in firmware 8.5.x? Is there a missing cmd.config.apply, a reconnect step, or a special requirement for eSIM profiles that isn’t documented?

Any working examples or hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your assistance and guidance,

Mark

2

Upgrade to 8.5.3 or later , we have done this.

1 Like
3

Thank you Jonathan! I’ll grab an update in the morning and give it a shot.

4

I’m now on 8.5.4 build 6264.

Here is the payload I’m passing with cmd.carrier.select:
{
“connId”: 2,
“simId”: X, // 1 or 2 for physical SIMs ? (3 or 4 “simID invalid”)
“selectedCarrier”: {
“mcc”: “310”,
“mnc”: “410”,
“pcs”: 1,
“name”: “AT&T”
}
}

If I do not pass a simID or use a letter, I receive :code: 999, message: ‘Unsupported SIM card type’

What simID are you passing for a BYO eSIM and are you using the cmd.carrier.select endpoint?

Very much appreciated,

Mark

5

I had to go back and dig thru my code, it’s been a min.
We did not use cmd.carrier.select to identify a BYO eSIM by simId.

In the 8.5.2 API doc, POST /api/cmd.carrier.select only documents simId values 1 or 2, which lines up with the simId invalid result you saw when trying 3 or 4:

What worked on my side was treating the BYO eSIM slots through POST /api/config.wan.connection instead. On the devices I tested, BYO A showed up as eSim1 and BYO B as eSim2 in the cellular config payloads. I do not see eSim1 / eSim2 explicitly documented in that PDF, so that mapping came from inspecting live payloads rather than from the published enum list. Note I didn’t test setting this, without an actual populated esim profile.

For example, to force BYO A active, I used the cellular scheme update path and enabled only eSim1:

{ "instantActive": true, "action": "update", "list": [ { "id": 2, "cellular": { "scheme": { "type": "custom", "detail": { "1": { "enable": false }, "2": { "enable": false }, "remoteSim": { "enable": false }, "fusionSim": { "enable": false }, "speedfusionConnect5gLte": { "enable": false }, "eSim1": { "enable": true }, "eSim2": { "enable": false } } } } } ] }

So short version:

  • cmd.carrier.select: documented simId is only 1 or 2
  • BYO A / BYO B: on my unit these appeared as eSim1 / eSim2
  • To switch the active BYO eSIM, I used POST /api/config.wan.connection, not cmd.carrier.select
1 Like
6

That was it! Thank you very much for taking time to help me. I owe you a minimum of a cup of coffee.

2 Likes