I recently had a 3rd party AT&T plan in my MAX Transit Duo but the plan was canceled due to ‘excessive domestic roaming’ smh. I believe it was from being at campgrounds on the northern Cali coast, where reception and coverage are pretty slim but were working. So I’ve been on the hunt for new plans.
I have been able to add a data only plan with Verizon onto my current phone plan (150gb for $80; $100 if you don’t have existing plan/account). However, I am looking for a little more monthly data and some redundancy in carriers.
I went to an AT&T store. They asked me to call tech support to determine if my device is compatible. After a handful of calls, they said no. They seem to have pivoted to only offering specific devices that they sell - Netgear Nighthawk. The LTE and 5G Nighthawks were both on backorder, the latter for 2+ months I think, but either way I don’t want to connect another device to my Duo.
So I contacted T-Mobile. First think I ask is about compatibility and provide my Duo’s IMEI. The sales rep ‘confirms’ it is compatible, so I sign up for the 50GB/$50 account (they have 100GB/$50 for 5G devices, but this is what was available for non-5G, supposedly). I get my SIM in the mail 2 days later, but it just stays in ‘Obtaining IP Address’ status. Tried all the normal toggles and reboots, and talked to tech support, who again was able to see my IMEI as compatible (comes up as Sierra). Went in to a physical store and they swapped the SIM, but it stayed stuck in "Obtaining IP’. They also wanted to give me their own 5G device, the T-Mobile Gateway.
I see this is a growing issue on some other threads, but not with many solutions (at least that I can understand clearly; I don’t have a business for a business account). Is my Duo just going to be a 1-carrier device hanging by a thread until it’s a $1000 paperweight? Or are there still some practical and straightforward solutions for non-Verizon carrier?
Hi @J_Stenz. Your device should work well with TMO. The issue you present is most often (not always) fixed by setting the APN manually. Try “fast.t-mobile.com” and see if that works.
The reason the IMEI is associated with “Sierra” is that is likely the manufacturer of the modem in the router. That’s OK.
I’ll also mention that we have a number of Peplink routers, as well as the new 5G Adapter, running on these plans with AT&T – Data Only, Hotspot & Tablet Data Plans | AT&T Prepaid. In each case the activation was painless.
ATT Prepaid & Cricket no longer work on Max Transit Duos after the 3G sunsetting (or at the very least work sporadically if you’ve manage to evade a blacklist) and IMEIs show up as incompatible - I spent some time looking into this as we were affected on the road. ATT Business plan works great, but that’s not an option. You could roll the dice with a third party reseller or try the $20 tablet plan w/ iPad IMEI social hack, though that’s also potentially unstable.
The 100GB TMO plan is working great on mine - might be a config issue on your side? You should be able to use the 5G plan on an LTE device, unless I’m just grandfathered into mine at this point.
I have the T-Mobile 100gb for $50 plan and it works great in my max transit pro. I also have 2 of the ATT 100gb prepaid that work great. I have a 3rd party ATT and T-Mobile unlimited plans that also both work great in my dual modem router. Now that being said I have only had my Transit for a week now and have not ran a ton of data through any single sim. Still doing a bunch of testing.
@Nick_Karpen glad ATT prepaid works for you - our cricket prepaid plan had been working for over a year when it was deactivated right after we autopaid and all new plans were incompatible with it. They even charged us a $5 reactivation fee that did nothing, and will only give us store credit back.
ATT prepaid was incompatible with our IMEIs when we checked after that happened, though you and someone else here were able to activate (the other person couldn’t for days then was randomly successful) so it seems hit and miss with what batch of modems you have perhaps (or newer models just haven’t been added in to the blacklist yet?). Could be worth just getting one and trying it even if it shows up as incompatible I suppose.
Hey all looking for some help! Just got the email my AT&T unlimited plan is being canceled via Bluebird/Envision, so I’m looking for a new cellular plan. Currently paying $160/month and using just under 300GB a month on the Pepwave Max BR1. Any tips on where I can find a comparable plan?
I checked out the AT&T prepaid options, all seem to be in the 100GB range. MobileMustHave has a few other options but they are all just not enough data or throttled.
Until then, using a T-mobile 100GB card on Sim B and tethering the Verizon phone to my laptop when that runs out. Maybe time for Starlink? Thanks in advance!
My ATT prepaid SIM was picked up in store less than a month ago. I had a minor issue where they actually activated the $60/month unlimited phone plan instead. This does not work and the plan had to be fixed/swapped to the hotspot data plan.
I can confirm that this does work, as I am currently using as much of that bandwidth right now as possible as it expires in 3 days for my outbound connections.
States it also works with 5G, but I haven’t swapped the SIM into one of those devices yet to test it. Additionally, my SIM card is blue/white and says 5G on it. My other postpaid ATT SIM’s are all the original yellow/white ones, if that makes any difference.
FYI- This plan was also originally mentioned by @Rick-DC, in the original reply to the poster that the prepaid ATT plan was working for them with multiple devices.
I am literally running that plan right now through a SIM injector to waste like 50GBs in 2 days. I have tested this plan on a TST DUO Pro-E, 310X, HD2 with no problems, and still have a TST DUO, and BR1 Pro 5G to test it in. Have not had any problems with the first 3 devices.
Rather than commenting negatively or what your assumptions might be for incompatible, will you actually take the time to test these issues before commenting?
I am attaching some examples to show that the $55/100gb prepaid plan does work for LTE/LTE-A, have not tested 5G devices yet.
I’ll go to an ATT store and pick up a SIM today. I didn’t realize that the prepaid SIM from Walmart was different from the in store purchased SIMs. Greatly appreciate you taking the time to post this info.
Once I get the SIM and test it out, I’ll post the results here.
That may or may not work - our IMEI’s were said to be incompatible by an ATT rep (regardless of SIM), and someone else here had a SIM from ATT that wouldn’t activate for days then finally did for some reason. Our previously working Cricket SIM (a company owned by ATT) was suddenly incompatible with all plans.
It seems like they’re trying to block peplink products on their consumer plans, using the 3G sunsetting as an excuse, but aren’t doing it consistently.
I purchased 2 prepaid SIMS in store. The SIMS were activated in store using a random Hotspot IMEI. I’ve installed one SIM in the Peplink Duo router and it connected right away. I’ll start using this SIM over the next week and post back here if there are any issues.
On a side note, the MobileMustHave ATT SIM that was supposed to stop working on 4/28 continues to work as of 5/1. This is why I only installed 1 of the prepaid SIMS. Once the MMH SIM stops working I’ll install the second prepaid SIM as well.
To recap; I bought 2 SIMS at an ATT store. Prepaid 100GB/mo for $55 each.
I installed SIM 1. It worked fine. Then, I was at a hotel for 3 nights. When I returned the SIM no longer works. It will obtain an IP. It will connect. But, it will fail when verifying connection.
I then installed SIM 2. It also works. However, it will very likely stop working at any time.
I called ATT. They told me that my device was “stolen”. Then, they said the device was blacklisted because it has been reported stolen. Most likely the person I was talking to just didn’t know that ATT blacklisted the device. It was not reported stolen.
I’ll report back in a couple days or as soon as the 2nd prepaid SIM stops working.
In summary; ATT prepaid SIMS are a no go. As others have mentioned, ATT must know my device IMEI and is terminating service for my Max Transit Duo.
At this point I don’t see any direct ATT plans that will work. Does anyone have a reseller recommendation? My experience so far with resellers has been not great, but I don’t know how else to get ATT service for a Max Transit Duo.
You could apply for a TIN from the IRS and then say you’re a sole proprietor using it for when you have to work offsite and try and get on the business wireless broadband account. They shouldn’t ask too many questions as the sales reps want their commission.
It’s been working great for us since being bumped off their consumer plans (note my partner has a proper LLC so it was straightforward for us, but anyone can apply for a TIN afaik). I wouldn’t try and stream audio or video even behind a VPN just in case that traffic pattern raises a flag somewhere, but there’s more knowledgeable people than me on that subject.
I do have a business so maybe I’ll go that route. Maybe I’ll give that a try.
I submitted a ticket to Peplink, but that appears to be a dead end. They referred me to the company I bought my device from, mobile must have (MMH). MMH is eager to help, but after I explained that this is not a config issue, I have not heard back.
So, I’m left with a hotspot I bought from walmart which is able to at least somewhat use the prepaid ATT service. Less than ideal. It does not have external antennas and I can’t select the band that works best at each location.
The search for reliable ATT service while using a Max Transit Duo continues…
If you have a business, just get the wireless broadband plan! 300GB at standard priority capped at 12 or 25mbps with some high priority data on demand is way cheaper and better than buying multiple SIMS of their prepaid plan unless you really just want to stream entertainment with it. Pop on PepVPN or something (which is a legit use case for a business) for a bit of insulation from traffic management.
I haven’t had great luck with MMH support - it took them 3 weeks get me a speedfusion license key after buying Pepcare and I had to repeatedly push back that it was “just working” and look up the information myself and quote documentation at them. I pretty much solve all my own tickets.
