I have a t-Mobile hotspot that worked from day one in Mexico with no issues. I used that sim and inserted it into the UBR using default settings and the connection hangs at obtaining IP address.
The correct APN does appear “fast.t-mobile.com” automagically, but no IP ever appears.
I’m new and cannot figure out how to publish a debug report.
Hi @Brad_Sumrall . In our experience, the issue you describe is most commonly a result of a provisioning issue or a mis-match between plan (SIM) and IMEI. My first guess would be the latter. Does it work elsewhere TMO has coverage, e.g., the USA? If you phone TMO tech support what do they say? A number of recent reports also suggest that a commercial account may be needed with TMO SIMs in Peplink devices. (We have never encountered this with pre-paid --4G, 5G or M2M.) I’d phone TMO.
The T-Mobile device + sim worked fine in USA and was working fine in Mexico. Upon inserting sim into Peplink, I can no longer get an IP.
I have not called T-Mobile to swap any IMEi numbers out. Should I be doing this?
If it is a TMO SIM (not Sprint – which are pretty much gone now), you do not need to call when you change IMEIs. I would still call to inquire about the service issue, however. Let us know what they say. My strong opinion: This is a TMO/provisioning issue. Your Peplink hardware is fine.
Gratuitous comment: Many (most?) Peplink Partners also sell or otherwise have available cellular data plans. We don’t. The reason is that the cellular carriers in the USA are a total mess, particularly with regard to data plans (examples abound.)
The problem is solved! It was a provisioning issue.
I had T-Mobile home internet, not a hot spot. With T-Mobile, they are different things. A sim provisioned for home internet will not work (by default) with the Peplink, but a regular cellphone provisioned sim will work with no issues.
The had to configure me for some different unlimited plan that was not Home Internet and acted like a cell phone.
With this new sim provisioning, I am live!
Right-o! Hotspot and TMHI are completely different plans and hardware. A TMHI SIM is never portable to another device. Glad it is working now! :<)
I spoke too soon. I am getting the same error but now for an entirely different reason.
I crossed the border back into USA to hit up a T-Mobile store for some fresh sims. I booted it up in front of the tech and confirmed the same no ip error.
I happen to try my T-Mobile phone’s sim (not internet, but a different device) and it connected right away. I then returned my phone sim back while he provisioned a new sim that mimicked my phone. We tested a newly provisioned sim with the different data plan to mimic my cell phone and it fired right up. I walked out of T-Mobile with 2 sim cards that were confirmed working with the Peplink. One from the phone and the other new one. I thought for sure I had it licked and then posted my last post.
Upon returning to Mexico, neither one of my brand newly verified sims will pull an IP right now and I changed nothing. This time, it appears something in Mexico is different. My cell phone and my old Home Internet modem both work here.
I’m getting ready to throw the device into the box and drive back to USA to find a late night coffee house and see if I get 2 connections when in USA and not Mexico.
I’ll post my results.
Well, I’m afraid you’ve discovered the major frustration with dealing with USA cel carriers although I can’t say that we’ve experienced quite what you have. The Peplink hardware is solid but its utility is often greatly reduced by the behavior of the carriers.
Our general recommendation would be to deal with a local Partner, preferably one with experience in cross-border operations. Maybe someone else here has some specific recommendations?
I really hope “suck it up” is not the only solution. This issue comes about because peplink is failing to address the protocol which means they never looked at the packet to verify they are the same and I am confident Mexico teleco would throw the RFC at Pepwave.
This is typically the issue. For something like this.
There should be a roaming mode somewhere on the peplink.
I have now verified 2 active TMobile connections on the Pepwave in USA. Something it will not do in Mexico.
Does the UBR unit support port mirroring? I’d love to stick a tcpdump session on the authentication handshake. man in the middle it if I have too.
I have confirmed that I can get both T-Mobile and Telcel to work at this time but only for the pay per minute Telcel and a regular cell phone with T-Mobile.
Peplink appears to fail with Telcel home networking plans in Mexico. But the pay-per-bit works. This is frustrating because I need the residential home internet plans to function correctly.
