I have 8 sites in the Dallas Metroplex.
The routers are Pepwave BR1 Mini running the latest firmware and they all have good quality external antennas. Routers are set to reboot everyday at 6AM.
Signal strength is always strong.
These routers have been online for about 2 1/2 years.
Originally we used Verizon, then ATT FirstNet and now we are back to Verizon.
SIMs have always been provisioned with Static IP’s with appropriate APN and MTU size as directed by the carrier.
The routers work for awhile, (never consistent or have a pattern of “Up/Down” status).
Then the router’s get into a state where there is “no SIM detected”
The “fix” is to just reboot the router and they always come back online for awhile.
Went through the extensive Layer 1 troubleshooting: swapped antennas, cable, routers, SIM’s, reseat SIM’s - to no avail…always the same issue.
All are on constant AC power. There is other equipment in these enclosures and they are not affected - have no issues with this equipment.
Had carrier “Re-provision” the SIM’s (Both ATT and FirstNet) - still have the issue.
Have sent diagnostic reports to Pepwave - never any issues detected.
Have 14 other CradlePoint IBR-600’s in roughly the same area - no issues (they are newer) and they are on the same carrier - Verizon. 5 of the 8 are up and running no issues.
So…Had a meeting last week with Verizon and one of the Verizon reps said there might be an issue with Pepwave. No details as to what that was supposed to mean, but that bothers me because we deploy 1000’s of these.
Not a fan of going down the “esoteric” path to find a problem, because usually it’s a simple problem not a complicated one.
Also not a fan of Verzion saying there is a potential Pepwave issue with no explanation.
If this is a model issue we are using I can swap these routers with the newer Pepwave we use; but…I need to know!
Hi, just curious if these are the regular MAX-BR1 Mini or the MAX-BR1 MIni “Core” model with no Wifi or GPS. I’ve had a lot SIM missing or the entire cellular modem missing issues with the Core model.
I’ve created tickets for some after trying different SIMs, SIM slots, and carriers and didn’t make any difference. Eventually support using remote assistance would get the SIM back being detected but then after reinstalling in the field had the same issue again of not being detected. We did over a 1000 of the full size MAX-BR1 both 3G and LTE and think maybe had one or two that were bad and that was new out of the box issues. We’ve seen a lot of failures in the field with the Mini and especially the Mini Core models. We usually purchase 100 at a time and seems like maybe there might have been a couple bad batches. Really wish there were more tools for the end user to troubleshoot. Especially the “bricked” ones that are stuck on a red status light and won’t boot. I’d think there would be a utility to re-flash when unbootable which I’ve had happen quite a few times after a firmware update both done locally or pushed from InControl.
Straight off the back of the router…don’t think it was the “core” model, but I always track these by the Product Code…
Model: MX BR1 Mini LTE
Product Code: Max-BR1-Mini-LTE-US-T
We have switched to the: Max-BR1-Mini-LTE-US-US-T-PRM (CAT7, Band 14)
This issue is insidious with little to no help from PepWave…“diagnostic report does not show us anything.” And of course the carriers don’t help much either!
I have issues with Cradle Point too doing the same thing so I have doubts its a hardware issue, but “no device detected” leads me to believe it might be a hardware issue? Who Knows! What do I know!
When rebooted they work fine for awhile…In this case Verizon has been more stable then ATT.
Bad thing is all the Cradle Point IBR-600’s in the same area are running just fine…