WE1026 thinking outside the box...

[whpijack]

Hi All,

Over in the antenna board I posted some of my challenges trying to get better speeds on my AT&T set up (old wireless home phone / internet - WHPI on grandfathered Unlimited Plus plan.) I've been struggling with it and I think it's more of a signal problem than being de-prioritized. I took the router down the road to a clearing and banged off 60mbps consistently. I bring it back home, even with a 20 foot scary pole on my roof I couldn't get more than 20mbps. 20 is great, I'd love 20, but it erodes after a bit to 2-5mbps. I have reason to believe the AT&T router is selecting a different band/tower because it THINKS it's better but it's slower. I have no way to band lock it.

Anyhow, thinking outside the box here... what can I do, AT&T is really the only viable option. Verizon & T-Mobile towers are twice or 3x the distance and if I'm struggling with AT&T I can't imagine what would happen with the others.

Concern is being booted off the AT&T unlimited plan for running a device that isn't allowed. The way I understand it, in order to keep the plan, I need to run a WHPI type device. These are in succession of oldest to newest, ZTE Z700a, ZTE MF279, NetComm IFWA-40. I have a Z700a and IFWA-40, currently running the IFWA-40.

How does AT&T know it's an allowed device? I'm assuming IMEI #. And IMEI is associated with the modem.

So I cracked open the IFWA-40 because, well, I crack everything open eventually. Inside it has a mini-PCIe modem. Doing some digging I found disassembly pics on fccid.io showing the modem is using a Qualcomm MDM9250 chip. Sierra EM7511 appears to also use the Qualcomm MDM9250.

Finally, to the point...
What are my chances of plopping the IFWA's modem inside the WE1026 router and having it work? If that's possible one would like AT&T would see it as an IFWA device but I wouldn't be dealing with a crippled interface and have access to full signal info, possibly band locking, etc? I realize this might be a no go/waste of money but for the cost of the WE1026 it might be worth the gamble.

Thoughts? I appreciate it!

[mlumb7]

I would also like to know as well since I have been having issues with my MF279 and would love to replace it with something better, but what options do I have?

[Didneywhorl]

Itd be an interesting project. The issue is you risk permanently damaging your device.

But as long as the imei of the modem matches up to your account, it doesnt matter what router hosts it. It might need a firmware flash. The em7511 is a great modem. 3xCA cat12 specs.

[Jasonteakwondo]

Any update on the matter as I am still holding strong to my unlimited plan and as of late have gotten away with sim swapping. Until last week, they are flagging my sim hard now. Gunna usb teather this weekend after setting my ttl settings via windows to 65 hopefully bypassing the 1026 funny the ole ZTE has been a godsend when I got it at the age of 18 I thought it was the most useless thing