LM960 for TMO B71

[ktukker]

UPDATE: the Telit LM960 does not appear to be a good choice for T-Mobile because of IMEI list control. read further down this thread for details.

Hello,

I am working on a project for rural access and after basic testing TMO, ATT and VZN, TMO appears to have a decent signal with a MOFI4500-CAT4. Current speeds 10Mbps/4Mbps

The TMO tower serves also B71 ;

I was thinking about building a unit that has a LM960A18.

Two questions
* would this be a sensible investment to get better speeds ? Either by using MIMO or CarrIer aggregation on the LM960?
* any suggestions on where to reliably source the LM960?


Thanks!

[ktukker]

Following up - reading on another forum/thread that the device won't register on T-Mobile network as T-Mobile has an IMEI block on the LM960 and Nighthawk devices.

Anyone any experience with this (positive or negative)

[gscheb]

Following up - reading on another forum/thread that the device won't register on T-Mobile network as T-Mobile has an IMEI block on the LM960 and Nighthawk devices.
Anyone any experience with this (positive or negative)

Hello,
Can you please past that link of this so I can read about it?

[shoulin333]

I can confirm T-Mobile stoped working on my Nighthawk mr1100 in about Feb. Tried multiple active sims, and no different. It will only connect at 3g speed, no LTE. not sure if they blacklisted my mr1100 specifically or all of them. I assumed it was just mine but maybe it was all of them as they did not also block my sim.

I moved it over to a EM7511 and it works great. I put a verizon sim in my mr1100 (AT&T Unlocked) and it works awesome there.

The EM7511 does not support band 71, but in general if you can get a good band 66 signal that will give better speeds than 71. 71 isn't real fast but does go much further. If you can't get band 66 I would get something that is known to work with TMO on band 71.

[gscheb]

I put a verizon sim in my mr1100 (AT&T Unlocked) and it works awesome there.

What kind of verizon sim was it? Was it one of those unlimited prepaid Jetpack plans by verizon?

[shoulin333]

Grandfathered business data plan from a large ebay seller. Not cheap $185 per month, but it is tier 1 and 800GB per month.

[ktukker]

Hello,
Can you please past that link of this so I can read about it?

It was a facebook conversation about a LM960 for sale

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wireles ... 2815101833

[RockyinNM]

What kind of verizon sim was it? Was it one of those unlimited prepaid Jetpack plans by verizon?

I just wanted to share my Verizon sim experience with you, I have done so in other posts--

This worked out to be the cheapest way for me, I have 4 lines on my post paid account--2 are phones--2 are tablets. I got a (2 tablet) promotion,(of course the unlimited plan) plus military discount, and the 2 tablets cost me about $17.55-(for 2)-I then took the older tablet that I removed the sim card from into the shop, and run it on WiFi Sirius app for music--or look something up!
That sim I run in my 826/7455, with a TTL setting of (117)---

I made sure the tablet was up and running as a tablet, on the Verizon site--(listed) as a tablet, with it's assigned ph number.
I have tried prepaid, lots of stuff, this worked for me--and cheap, about $8.57 @ month---NO throttling, they say MAY SLOW, after 15 gigs, in times of heavy congestion.
your mileage may vary--Rocky

[Yipzy]

Are the other two providers' speeds really bad compare to T-Mobile? You should've used a phone to test for more accurate results or if you are still able to since the phone will have a better modem and CA combos to test.

I just want to chime in on RockyinNM's post.

I just wanted to share my Verizon sim experience with you, I have done so in other posts--

This worked out to be the cheapest way for me, I have 4 lines on my post paid account--2 are phones--2 are tablets. I got a (2 tablet) promotion,(of course the unlimited plan) plus military discount, and the 2 tablets cost me about $17.55-(for 2)-I then took the older tablet that I removed the sim card from into the shop, and run it on WiFi Sirius app for music--or look something up!
That sim I run in my 826/7455, with a TTL setting of (117)---

I made sure the tablet was up and running as a tablet, on the Verizon site--(listed) as a tablet, with it's assigned ph number.
I have tried prepaid, lots of stuff, this worked for me--and cheap, about $8.57 @ month---NO throttling, they say MAY SLOW, after 15 gigs, in times of heavy congestion.
your mileage may vary--Rocky

Are you sure it displays your line as the iPad device and not a blank picture with unknown device? Mine does that because Verizon doesn't recognize my LM960A18 and it costs $8.58 for me, just one more cent. Regardless, Verizon doesn't check against IMEI mismatch like T-Mobile for now. If you have Verizon postpaid, this is the best and cheapest option ever if your tower isn't congested with streaming @ 1080p video quality too. Use a private proxy or VPN if you want to watch 4k. I had used 1.2TB a few months ago. No problem. I'm getting 1000mbps fiber next week so the LTE ride has been fun.

[Didneywhorl]

...I'm getting 1000mbps fiber next week so the LTE ride has been fun.

Oh the glory! I too am getting Gbps fiber in just a few weeks! But I'm staying in the game

[Yipzy]

Oh the glory! I too am getting Gbps fiber in just a few weeks! But I'm staying in the game

I'll probably come back for 5G when it's actually in my area and price for modems are more affordable.

[BV2020]

I can confirm, the LM960 will not work with T-mobile post paid phone nor tablet plans.

[gscheb]

I can confirm, the LM960 will not work with T-mobile post paid phone nor tablet plans.

Thanks, was really considering getting one for post pay T-Mobile for the band 71 usage.

[ktukker]

From another comment in the Facebook group for "Mobile Internet Equipment deals"

The LM960 will not operate on consumer or business voice and tablet provisioned T-Mobile lines due to IMEI list control.
It requires an IoT data bucket line or a connected device provisioned unlimited line for T-Mo. Great radio for Calyx or other EBS resellers, dedicated broadband lines like the AT&T connected car plan, IoT Business and HotSpot lines, VZW pUDP, gUDP and LTE Home Internet.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wireles ... 8898240558

[BillA]

When logged into your Verizon account, you can try updating the device imei by entering a spare Verizon phone's imei (make sure it's clean, not lost/stolen or being used on another line), or call customer service and ask them to update it. Make sure the sim card is NOT inserted into the router or the phone, otherwise they will see it in the network. If you're lucky the phone's imei will be stuck and won't auto-update once you insert the sim into the router (they may ask to insert it into the phone once it has been changed). Another solution is to USB or WiFi tether a phone to an OpenWRT router which always works, as described here. > https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?p=10303#p10303

[toddw]

I posted in another thread on this, but its related here as well, details as follows...

I have tested both the Telit LM960 and LM960A18. The regular 960 worked fine on Tmo and ATT, got 4xCA on both carriers. My issue with the 960 was no band 71. Hence, getting the LM960A18....

Works fine on ATT, though I got info this modem will throttle after 100GB of use on ATT. I haven't run into it yet as I run both ATT and TMO into a load balanced Ubiquiti USG and typically don't trip limits with combined SIMs.

However, you asked about pitfalls or bear traps. I found one working with their technical support last night. The LM960A18 is certified on T-Mobile for data only plans. T-mobile will block registration on this modem unless its on a data plan, and will not register on a unlimited phone plan.

I have access to all T-mobile plans and will validate this in the upcoming week.

I am taking an alternate route, I have a Sierra MC7411 on order. It supports ATT Band 14 (which I'm after) and Tmobile Band 71 which I need. This modem supports 3xCA and can be had at the same price as the 7455. It should arrive today and I expect to be tooling on it this evening and tomorrow once I'm done with in the field.