EM12: working with Verizon bands

[minthral]

I have the following Verizon LTE bands available from the same tower:

B13 (700 Mhz): best signal at -60 db - worst latency 80-120ms, worst speed up to 10 mbit
B5 (850 Mhz): good signal at -85 db - better latency 40-60ms, better speed up to 35 mbit
B4 / B66 (2200 Mhz): worst signal at -95 db - best latency 35-45ms, best speed up to 65 mbit

My EM12 (latest firmware 20) in a goldenorb router is automatically selecting B5 and then aggregating it with B4 when more throughput is required. This works reasonably well, however I'm trying to figure our how to control which bands are used. Specifically, I want it to primarily use B66 which is the best or I want it to prioritize B4/66 and then aggregate it with B5.

I can reboot it and it sometimes picks B66. CA shows 66 + 66, which I noticed happens with download+upload at same time. Some time later it goes back to B5+B4. Haven't seen it switch back to B66 and can't consistently reboot to get it back to B66.

EM12 can do 3x carrier aggregation, but there are only certain combinations. Can't do B13 + B4/66 + B5, so basically for me only 2 bands will be aggregated. The combinations are:

B4+B5
B4+B13
B5+B66
B13+B66
B66+B66

The other catch is you don't really want to use B13 as its slower. The higher latency of B13 doesn't mix well with lower latency of B66. In short you're best off with just B4+B5 or B66.

I found instructions on Quectel forums:
https://forums.quectel.com/t/eg12-and-f ... ure/4619/5

Here are commands:
https://www.quectel.com/UploadImage/Dow ... l_V1.0.pdf

However I can't figure out how to do a similar 'network scan' to see all bands/signal strength to input the details (copy paste from Quectel forums):

[admin@Chateau] interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\?" wait=yes
output: +QNWLOCK: "common/4g",<num of cells>,[[<freq>,<pci>],...]
OK

Disable Cell Lock:

interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",0"

Query:

interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\""

1x CellLock:

interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",1,1675,64"

2x CellLock’s:

interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",2,1675,64,1675,70"

3x CellLock’s:

interface/lte/at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",3,1675,64,1675,70,3350,64"[/size][/size][/size][/size]

[Didneywhorl]

What they are doing there is locking to specific cell radios on their tower. This allows you to force the radio to use only very specific radios on one tower. This way, if you can figure out your absolute best radios (Info from AT+QENG="servingcell" and "neighborcell") you can use QNWLOCK to force the modem to use ONLY those particular tower radios. I've never done it, but it should be possible. Only with Quectels so far too.

[tvecell]

Have you tried AT+QCFG="band" ? See page 36 of the AT commands manual you linked to. That works great for my EP06 to exclude band 2, which it likes but has lots of congestion.

[gscheb]

Hello all,
Using EM12 with visible (Verizon), know where to find down load carrier aggregation bands for it. My issue where to find what bands it will combine for upload?
Having to block allot of bands to avoid a bad slow tower completely is what I am doing.
And upload for someone working from home is important.

[Heifer624]

Pretty sure CA doesn't work on upload from what I've read elsewhere. Just on download.

[Didneywhorl]

Hello all,
Using EM12 with visible (Verizon), know where to find down load carrier aggregation bands for it. My issue where to find what bands it will combine for upload?
Having to block allot of bands to avoid a bad slow tower completely is what I am doing.
And upload for someone working from home is important.

I think UL CA is kinda new, honestly. I only know of the Sierra EM7411 confirmed doing it

[52electrons]

Can someone help me exclude B13 on either the EM12g or EM20g? B13 has 95-100% signal and B66 only has 70%. However for some reason it won't do carrier aggregation between B13 and B66. It tries B13 and B4 but it usually ends up dropping B4 and keeps going back and forth. I want it to exclude B13 since it's the slowest. I know it can't aggregate B4 and B66, but perhaps it will try B66+B66 if I kill off B13? I'm not smart when it comes to coding so I need some AT command help.

I usually get 30mbps on B13, and 65mbps on B66, even though B66 has less signal. That will also change once my 4x4MIMO antenna is up in a couple weeks.

[gscheb]

Can someone help me exclude B13 on either the EM12g or EM20g? B13 has 95-100% signal and B66 only has 70%. However for some reason it won't do carrier aggregation between B13 and B66. It tries B13 and B4 but it usually ends up dropping B4 and keeps going back and forth. I want it to exclude B13 since it's the slowest. I know it can't aggregate B4 and B66, but perhaps it will try B66+B66 if I kill off B13? I'm not smart when it comes to coding so I need some AT command help.

I usually get 30mbps on B13, and 65mbps on B66, even though B66 has less signal. That will also change once my 4x4MIMO antenna is up in a couple weeks.

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=943#p6105

[52electrons]

Awesome!

[Adm1jtg]

What they are doing there is locking to specific cell radios on their tower. This allows you to force the radio to use only very specific radios on one tower. This way, if you can figure out your absolute best radios (Info from AT+QENG="servingcell" and "neighborcell") you can use QNWLOCK to force the modem to use ONLY those particular tower radios. I've never done it, but it should be possible. Only with Quectels so far too.

Did you ever use this command or can you give an exact syntax the quectel link is down but iI have the following information I just cant translate it into an actual command:

AT+QNWLOCK=?
+QNWLOCK: "common/4g",<num of cells>,[[<freq>,<pci>],...]
+QNWLOCK: "common/lte"[,<action>[,<EARFCN>,<PCI>[,<status>]]]

Like OP I am trying to lock the primary band but allow CAA to use whatever band it wants. See how that goes and further restrict if needed. Currently all I can do is lock to 66 exclusively and let it CA to 66 only which work ok but thinking this command if it works might be better and a little more flexible of a solution.

Perfect setup would be to lock the primary band to 66 and let CA use 66,5 or 13 but I dont think 2 will CAA to 66 anyway. Might eventually need to restrict the CA as well to exclude either 5 or 13 depending on results I get. No need to restrict tower id at all as there is only 1 tower I can receive signal from.