Have a MAX BR1Mk2 with an AT&T SIM on one of the tablet plans. So far in the location I’m using it I have only seen LTE and not LTE-A on the WAN connection status. I suspect it’s just my location as I don’t get the best signal here. Can the SIM or data plan I have affect the availability of LTE-A?
I have never seen a SIM or Data Plan than restricts an LTE connection so that LTE-A can not be used. I have seen a data plan when roaming restricted to 3G on the host network even when 4G was available.
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Thanks, that leads to another question. Now I’m in an area with great signal strength. I’m getting between 25-30MBS speeds but the BR1mk2 is showing LTE not LTE-A . Should it display LTE-A on the dashboard?
Hello @ebourlet,
The LTE-A will only show when your carrier/ISP has suitably equipped cellular/mobile tower(s) within working range of the antennas connected to your router.
For example, when connected to Band 28 (700Mhz) with the correct antenna solution working at 100/50 (100Mbps down & 50Mbps up) at over 40km away from the tower you can not tune to any other carriers signals. The lack of other signals at this distance is due that they are above 1800Mhz, at these higher frequencies the signal does not propagate the distance required.
This image shows two devices, lets call them modems for this explanation. If the modem on the left can only tune into the blue ISP signal from the tower, then it will only show LTE. If the modem in the middle tunes into both the green and the red signals (as they are from the same ISP) then it will show LTE-A.
(courtesy of ZDNet One gigabit 4G: The coming of LTE Advanced | ZDNET)
You will only ever see LTE on the modem when due to carrier availability it can only tune to a single frequency band.
Happy to Help,
Marcus 
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As Marcus says - only if the operator has an LTE-A enabled tower nearby.
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As you’re on AT&T you won’t need to worry about this, Sprint does have two different SIM cards for LTE and LTE-A.
You may be running into an issue using a SIM card for a tablet in a router. Usually cellular providers can detect the SIM is being used in a device that it shouldn’t be used in and will apply limits (lower data caps, limit to 3G connections only, throttling of data when you still have data left or an unlimited data plan).
If you’re getting an LTE-A connection with another device (phone or tablet) in that same location AT&T may be limiting the SIM’s connection.
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Thanks for all the replies.
Is there a way to find out if AT&T offers LTE-A in a specific area?
You will have to contact AT&T to check for sure.
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My AT&T Tablet Plan sim stopped connecting in my Max Transit Duo on the 16th of September. Does anyone know what might be going on? How do I diagnose this problem and how do I tell if it’s AT&T auditing IMEIs? Thanks.
you are using a tablet plan, that is the problem. why bump a thread from a year ago?
Do you contact AT&T to check on this ? Like @mystery mentioned, this can be the tablet plan issue that Carrier may do some enforcement on it.
Why do you post as if you’re in charge? If you don’t like what you see, just scroll on by.
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