Modem Is Disabled? Testing Plans

[JTravisty]

Hey guys. This is my first post, so go easy if this is too newbie. So, I have been able to get my hands on a WE826-T2 with an EP06-A modem. I also have access to 2 WG1608's, one with a EM12-G and the other with a EM160r-GL. I get my data from a local reseller who was willing to give me a few plans to test out with the new equipment to figure out if they will work or not (Generous guy, we've been friends for about 13 years.)

Anyway...
On all 3 devices, I found a build of OpenWRT that has the modem manager functionality built in. I tried GoldenOrb as well as the original chinese firmware, but landed on this one. Guy has a youtube channel if you want to check him out: LTE HomeNet.

Plans I'm testing out:
100GB verizon tracfone plan - APN: tracfone.vzwentp

100GB AT&T plan - APN: vpn.accessmylan.net or alternatively hotspot.accessmylan.net (comes up Asavie Technologies on speed tests)

350GB TMobile plan - APN: fast.t-mobile.com

SO some things that have me scratching my head:

1. With the WG1608's as well as the WE826-T2, T-mobile works without issue, here at my current location, TMobile doesn't do very well performance wise. Highest speeds I've seen sitting under a tower is about 40 mbps. (Yes, I've driven these things around)

2. I've noticed on all 3 devices, that when inserting the tracfone SIM, it will read under the interface section: modem is disabled, but the router will register the phone number as well as the ICCID. It gets stuck at connecting to provider too.

3. With the WE826-T2 and the WG1608 with EM-12G I set the APN to broadband and it worked, but setting it to vpn.accessmylan.net renders the "modem is disabled" message. No luck even with the broadband APN with the WG1608 with the EP160r-GL. The hotspot.accessmylan.net worked with the WE-826 but after a reboot, stopped working and would never reconnect. Ran speedtests, surfed the web, watched videos during that time.

4. The Tmobile plan still works even when the APN is set to the TracFone APN.

5. I haven't gotten into running any AT commands yet, but I've been doing some research considering you can brick a router being not so smart.

6. I have witnessed all of these plans work with the reseller's equipment, so if the modem is being blocked by a provider, could you spoof the IMEI to match a piece of that equipment and it work?

7. Is there any catch-all guide someone could point me in the direction of?

I appreciate all of your time and energy in answering any of these probably obvious questions.

Thanks,
JTravisty