WG1608 V4 + EM160R-GL not connecting to internet

[EdiCavani]

Hi guys, I just entered this world hoping that you will help me solve my problems.

I recently moved from the city to a rural place with a very poor internet signal and decided to invest money trying to improve it.

It was 4-5 months reading and searching the internet until I got to both: Wireless Joint and The Wireless Haven, so I went ahead and bought the necessary goods for my setup: WiFix 4x4 MIMO FPD Antenna - RJ, WG1608D-M v4, Quectel EM160R-GL .

I received the antenna, router and modem 20 days ago and since then I was trying to configure only the router with the modem for testing purposes, with no success at all. So now I'm totally stuck and hoping, almost praying, that you will help me with this.

The firmware that came with the router detected the sim with quite a good signal, but it did not allow it to provide internet via wifi or lan, I suppose because here we use IPV4 and that firmware only supports IPV6. So I downloaded the "openwrt-WiFiX-WG1608-GO2021-02-21-19076" and successfully flashed the router, but now it doesn't even detect my sim and I can't configure it correctly because it's more complex than my understanding.

What kind of info do you need for starting pointing me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance!

[bjames]

I would first use the update the router to the latest firmware: http://www.aturnofthenut.com/upload/WG1608-16M-GO2021-06-06.zip

I would also use the firmware recovery method to update the firmware. This always seem to work best for me.

[Didneywhorl]

I would flash the router more than once, sometimes the oddest things happen with a firmware update. Some thing it's dumb, but I have zero issues when I flash my routers 3x in a row before setting up anything.

I would remove the SIM card while flashing though.

Then once you have a stable fresh install. First thing I would do on the WG1608 is turn down the 5Ghz wifi radio output power, I burned mine up with it on full power.

Second, only set the system time and time zone, save and apply. Then set the admin password. Save and apply.

Next, I would set the carrier network APN under Modem->Connection profile-->APN
I use all lower case for APNs.
Save and apply.

Next for the modem you have I would run the following commands in exact order, under Modem->Miscellaneous->AT Command Terminal:

Code: Select all

AT+QPRTPARA=1

This ensures the modem is saving the settings changes from now on, and really doesn't need to ever be used again; in most cases.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="AutoSel",0

This turns off the APN auto select, that I don't think works very well.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="Disable"

This disables the APN auto select option that is currently already set.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="ue_usage_setting",1

This ensures the modem is VoLTE compliant, that many networks are starting to require.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="mode_pref",Auto

This ensures the modem can use 3G, 4G, etc.

then, last

Code: Select all

AT+CFUN=1,1

This hard reboots the modem

Now wait a few minutes, and power down the router.

Insert your SIM card, and power back up.

Head to the Network Status page and see if the router sees the SIM ICCID/number now.

Now you can begin troubleshooting any issues connecting.

If it still will not connect, post pictures of your Modem -> Connection profile page/settings, and the output from this AT command:

Code: Select all

AT+CGDCONT?

[EdiCavani]

I would first use the update the router to the latest firmware: http://www.aturnofthenut.com/upload/WG1608-16M-GO2021-06-06.zip

I would also use the firmware recovery method to update the firmware. This always seem to work best for me.

Hi bjames and thanks for your reply! Great! I would be updating right now.

[EdiCavani]

I would flash the router more than once, sometimes the oddest things happen with a firmware update. Some thing it's dumb, but I have zero issues when I flash my routers 3x in a row before setting up anything.

I would remove the SIM card while flashing though.

Then once you have a stable fresh install. First thing I would do on the WG1608 is turn down the 5Ghz wifi radio output power, I burned mine up with it on full power.

Second, only set the system time and time zone, save and apply. Then set the admin password. Save and apply.

Next, I would set the carrier network APN under Modem->Connection profile-->APN
I use all lower case for APNs.
Save and apply.

Next for the modem you have I would run the following commands in exact order, under Modem->Miscellaneous->AT Command Terminal:

Code: Select all

AT+QPRTPARA=1

This ensures the modem is saving the settings changes from now on, and really doesn't need to ever be used again; in most cases.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="AutoSel",0

This turns off the APN auto select, that I don't think works very well.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="Disable"

This disables the APN auto select option that is currently already set.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="ue_usage_setting",1

This ensures the modem is VoLTE compliant, that many networks are starting to require.

then

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="mode_pref",Auto

This ensures the modem can use 3G, 4G, etc.

then, last

Code: Select all

AT+CFUN=1,1

This hard reboots the modem

Now wait a few minutes, and power down the router.

Insert your SIM card, and power back up.

Head to the Network Status page and see if the router sees the SIM ICCID/number now.

Now you can begin troubleshooting any issues connecting.

If it still will not connect, post pictures of your Modem -> Connection profile page/settings, and the output from this AT command:

Code: Select all

AT+CGDCONT?

Hi Didneywhorl and thanks for all the information. I would be following your steps too and posting here my results.

[EdiCavani]

I would flash the router more than once, sometimes the oddest things happen with a firmware update. Some thing it's dumb, but I have zero issues when I flash my routers 3x in a row before setting up anything.

Done!

I would remove the SIM card while flashing though.

Done!

Then once you have a stable fresh install. First thing I would do on the WG1608 is turn down the 5Ghz wifi radio output power, I burned mine up with it on full power.

Done!

Second, only set the system time and time zone, save and apply. Then set the admin password. Save and apply.

Done!

Next, I would set the carrier network APN under Modem->Connection profile-->APN
I use all lower case for APNs.
Save and apply.

Well I am stuck at this point mainly because my APN needs more data to be completed than the one I am able to fill in the "Default Profile" from. Let me show you below:

[img]http://gyazo.com/82e73ef37ab5e284ac942cf04c50ac90[/img]

Where should I input the Name, MCC and MNC for example?

Thanks again!

[Didneywhorl]

You only need to enter the APN: antel.lte

nothing else

The other items you list are tower specific.

[EdiCavani]

You only need to enter the APN: antel.lte

nothing else

The other items you list are tower specific.

Perfect Didney, I am now with your commands. I will reply about them in the next post

[EdiCavani]

Hi again Didney! Well, your commands were close to totally succesfull in my case and now I have internet using both lan and wifi, to be honest through wifi I am seen the 5Ghz net but I am not been able to see the 2.4Ghz (how could I solve this?). So tyvm!

About each one of your commands, here were my results:

Code: Select all

AT+QPRTPARA=1

Done!

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="AutoSel",0

Done!

Code: Select all

AT+QMBNCFG="Disable"

Here I get "ERROR" as response. I tried few times but the answer was the same, what´s your thoughts on this?

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="ue_usage_setting",1

Done!

Code: Select all

AT+QNWPREFCFG="mode_pref",Auto

Done!

Code: Select all

AT+CFUN=1,1

Done!

Head to the Network Status page and see if the router sees the SIM ICCID/number now.

Yes! I get that info:

Now you can begin troubleshooting any issues connecting.

I tested yesterday and today and get internet access finally. Now I will read something here about band locking and carrier aggregation to see if I can handle on my own. In case not, may I request your help once again please?


Thanks again!

[Didneywhorl]

No sure why you don't see the wifi SSID. You may try disabling it and re-enabling it in the Network->Wireless interface

[EdiCavani]

Hi again Didney and thanks for passing. I am able to see the wifi SSID but only the 5Ghz, not the 2.4Ghz. I'll do what you recommend and let you know.

[EdiCavani]

@Didneywhorl any advice on how to band locking and carrying aggregation for my modem? Tx once again!

[Didneywhorl]

Band locking on the EM160? Simple really, via AT commands. The AT Commands manual has the info but I can skip you to the goods:

AT Command:


AT+QNWPREFCFG: "lte_band",1:2:3:4:5:7:etc:etc:etc:71

you enter the bands you want, and leave out the bands you don't want.

All bands that I know of for the EM160:

Code: Select all

AT++QNWPREFCFG: "lte_band",1:2:3:4:5:7:8:12:13:14:18:19:20:25:26:28:29:30:32:38:39:40:41:42:43:46:48:66

Carrier aggregation is a capability of the modem that is always on and is controlled by the cell tower.

[BillA]

Hi again Didney! Well, your commands were close to totally succesfull in my case and now I have internet using both lan and wifi, to be honest through wifi I am seen the 5Ghz net but I am not been able to see the 2.4Ghz (how could I solve this?). So tyvm!

WG1608 routers are quite finicky with WiFi, as Didneywhorl has suggested try disabling both WiFi 2G/5G, restart the router, then enable 5G only for testing purposes. Once 5G is working, you can enable 2G too. If that doesn't works, then reflash the router twice, first via the recovery interface, a second time via the regular user interface, and for good measure perform a factory reset too.

[EdiCavani]

Hey Bill and Didney, thanks for passing.

Here I am updating about my internet status: finally I move forward with the antenna and installed it in a 6ft pole for testing purposes (I am planning to install it definitely in a 20ft pole, btw). We in Uruguay are too far away from getting US speeds results but I am a little bit surprised about the poor dl speeds I am getting from my setup.

I been searching for a couple of months about towers in my area and to be honest, we've terrible signal but are "surrounded" by cell towers, so, I was hoping to improve it with both: a good antenna and a pretty decent modem, not the best nor the worst. I suppose there is a long way to get finally satisfied so, having past more than one week since I created this thread I am posting my speed results from the last days, for you to give me your advise and hopefully keep improving them.

06-28

a) 02:30:

06-28 0230.jpg

b) 10:30:

06-28 1030.jpg

c) 12:30:

06-28 1230.jpg

d) 15:30:

06-28 1530.jpg

e) 17:30:

06-28 1730.jpg

f) 19:00:

06-28 1900.jpg

g) 21:30:

06-28 2130.jpg

So, I don´t really know where I am standing up: in (a) modem is applying CA (7+3+1) and I am getting 15mbps dl, almost the same result from (b) only with band 28. Then in (c) dl speeds goes down to 0,9 with only band 7 which is almost the same result than (e) but here again, modem is CA (7+3+1). The worst results (0,12mbps dl) came after, at 19.00hs (f), and the modem once again doing CA (7+3+1).

Because of these frustrating results in the afternoon, I decided to hard reboot the modem and was happier because once again I get something close to 15mbps like in the morning (g), this time only through band 4.

[cagordon1985]

1) not sure, though elevation generally helps to a certain point.

2) EM160R-GL you can select bands at will. Modem will restart every time modification is saved.

3) Those bands will be available for service, the modem and tower will negotiate what band to use always.

4) Not sure, many factors. Changing over to directional antennas could make any band around you great potentially. As long as congestion isn't the issue at hand.

5) i reboot my modem / router daily on a built in feature / schedule. However I've noticed different setups reboot. Also different firmwares cause crashes.

6) More antennas

7) Different tower possibly, or roaming to another provider on same band. Also some bands use muliple frequence widths. Check out a LTE band calculator.

8) TTL helps depending on plan. Any preaid phone type plan. yes

Also BillA cool mention about WG1608 boot flash, then UI flash. I have had problems with Wifi on it, will give this a try.

[Didneywhorl]

Hey Bill and Didney, thanks for passing.
...
Excuse me about this large post.
Kindest regards!

Hey, the pictures didn't load at all, so I cant see the examples.

Make sure you upload them instead of linking to them.

See here: https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2156

You can just edit your post above instead of reposting, or you can repost if you like.

[EdiCavani]

Hey, the pictures didn't load at all, so I cant see the examples.

Make sure you upload them instead of linking to them.

See here: https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2156

You can just edit your post above instead of reposting, or you can repost if you like.

Hey Didney,

Editing my prior post only allow me to attach 6-7 files so I am continuing the thread with the next couple days after 06-28.

06-29

a) 00:30:

06-29 0030.jpg

b) 10:00:

06-29 1000.jpg

c) 10:30:

06-29 1030.jpg

d) 17:30:

06-29 1730.jpg

e) 19:00:

06-29 1900.jpg

f) 21:00:

06-29 2100.jpg

g) 23:00:

06-29 2300.jpg

h) 23:15:

06-29 2315.jpg

During this day the results were pretty similar: in (b) after rebooting the modem I get close to 15mbps dl using only B1. Half hour later (c) and using B7 the dl speed went down to something less than 3mbps. The dl speed became worst during afternoon (d) and (e), and became terribly variable during night (f) and (g). Because of this I decided to reboot again and surprisingly the modem connected to B1 and gave me better dl speeds (h).

[EdiCavani]

06-30

a) 16:00:

06-30 1600.jpg

b) 18:30:

06-30 1830.jpg

c) 22:30:

06-30 2230.jpg

Today during the morning and until early afternoon I get pretty decent dl speeds through B7 mostly (a), but when the night was coming (b), it dropped down terribly using B7 too. Once again I decided to reboot to watch a movie and the modem get connected to B1, not to B7.

With all of this data I am more confused than last week. So here is my list of doubts:

1) Would the "20ft pole" allow me to reach 20mbps in your opinion?
2) Am I freely able to lock and unlock bands?
3) How does the band locking command order works? I mean if I send "28,4,1"; will I obtain speeds from that bands with these specific order?
4) Is it definitely band 7 worst than band 28 in my situation? Does this results may be definitives?
5) Is it normal to consistently make modem reboots once/twice a day?
6) Is there a way to priorize dl over ul speeds?
7) Why sometimes I can see "Bandwidth 10Mhz down" and others "Bandwidth 20Mhz down"?
8) What about TTL? Do you guys believe setting it into a fixed value would help me?

Excuse me about this large post.
Kindest regards!

[Didneywhorl]

The number one thing Im seeing is terrible signal quality.

Your SINR is WAY bad.

Are your antennas or antenna cables near a high voltage AC power source?

Do you have multiple cell towers in the are with the same bands on them?

Something is killing your signal quality.


Second to that is the fluctuation of signal strength. Ill look back through to try and see something, but Im curious if your bouncing between multiple towers.

[Didneywhorl]

I think your jumping from a crappy tower to a yood tower, back and forth.

Lucky for you the Quectel modems can lock to specific towers and radios on those towers.

Are you using your 4x4 mimo antenna? Or just the stock spike antennas?

[EdiCavani]

Hi Didney! Thanks for been there, well, about your questions, let me learn each one of your terms as you may know I am totally new with all of this.

Your SINR is WAY bad.

Yes it´s sh**. Bad for me. Anyway to improve it?

Are your antennas or antenna cables near a high voltage AC power source?

Not really. Not at all.

Do you have multiple cell towers in the are with the same bands on them?

Yes, unreal but yes. I am attaching a real cell tower location (I found each one of them by myself because cellmapper gave me incorrect information in every case) for your reference, with the distance between my house (yellow star) and the fartest antenna.

cell-tower-location.png

How should I identified each one of them? After I get the better for me identified, how should I lock my modem to it? Is it possible?

Second to that is the fluctuation of signal strength. Ill look back through to try and see something, but Im curious if your bouncing between multiple towers.

Awesome! Thanks!

[EdiCavani]

I think your jumping from a crappy tower to a yood tower, back and forth.

F***!!!

Lucky for you the Quectel modems can lock to specific towers and radios on those towers.

Perfect! In fact I asked about it in my prior reply to yours.

Are you using your 4x4 mimo antenna? Or just the stock spike antennas?

I am using the 4x4 as The Wireless Haven recommends me few weeks ago.


So, tyvm for all the time and I'll be waiting for your next responses!

[Didneywhorl]

You may try to block the sides and back of the 4x4 MIMO antenna with some kind of grounded metal shielding. The other cell towers could be causing your issues, called cross-talk. When there are multiple cell towers nearby with the same bands on them overlapping their broadcasting it creates confusion noise to your modem.

The command to lock to a single tower is AT+QNWLOCK. Look it up on this forum and you should get the idea behind it. I actually do not have a ton of experience, yet, with it.

[EdiCavani]

Hey Didney, and thanks again for your prompt reply!

What about been throttled?

Would you, in my situation, giving a try to set a TTL value?

[Didneywhorl]

TTL may be something to try for sure, especially if they track hotspot usage. The standard value is usually 65, but yours may be different there.

[EdiCavani]

TTL may be something to try for sure, especially if they track hotspot usage. The standard value is usually 65, but yours may be different there.

May I request your help on this? What command should I use and how?
ty!

[Didneywhorl]

Place this text in the Custom Rules tab of the Network->Firewall menu screen.

# This file is interpreted as shell script.
# Put your custom iptables rules here, they will
# be executed with each firewall (re-)start.

# Internal uci firewall chains are flushed and recreated on reload, so
# put custom rules into the root chains e.g. INPUT or FORWARD or into the
# special user chains, e.g. input_wan_rule or postrouting_lan_rule.

#Change the TTL Value below to whatever TTL value is desired:
TTL=64
HL=65

#The Interface if generally not changed from wwan0
INTERFACE=wwan0

#The # acts to comment out (ignore) a line. Remove the # from the next four lines to activate the TTL:

#IPV6 HL Rules
ip6tables -t mangle -I POSTROUTING -o $INTERFACE -j HL --hl-set $HL
ip6tables -t mangle -I PREROUTING -i $INTERFACE -j HL --hl-set $HL

#IPV4 TTL Rules
iptables -t mangle -I POSTROUTING -o $INTERFACE -j TTL --ttl-set $TTL
iptables -t mangle -I PREROUTING -i $INTERFACE -j TTL --ttl-set $TTL

Then click the save button at the bottom of the screen (Some versions have a "Reset Firewall" button instead)

[BillA]

You may try to block the sides and back of the 4x4 MIMO antenna with some kind of grounded metal shielding. The other cell towers could be causing your issues, called cross-talk. When there are multiple cell towers nearby with the same bands on them overlapping their broadcasting it creates confusion noise to your modem.

The command to lock to a single tower is AT+QNWLOCK. Look it up on this forum and you should get the idea behind it. I actually do not have a ton of experience, yet, with it.

Ahh the old "tin-hat" trick. lol

I've been using a large aluminum cookie/baking pan to deflect "bad" tower signals, like the one below which can be picked up at just about any grocery store or Walmart.
https://www.amazon.com/DOBI-15-Pack-Bak ... B073HDMHS7
Also placing one under the router can improve its ground plane, enhancing the signal further.

[farberm]

I am working with the WG1608v2 and EM160. I am using it as a backup system so it does not get stressed very much. I can get 4CA (Bands, 2, 14, 30,66). I get speeds of >100 most of the time.

I have set reboot to every day at 1 am.

I am using GoldenOrg 21.02 - GO 2021-11-25

Firmware: Quectel. EM160R-GL
Revision: EM160RGLAUR02A03M4G

What I notice is that every couple of days...the modern is stuck trying to connect.... I am not sure why it has disconnected. The modem temperature is near over 38C, so I doubt it is a heat issue. I am using POE and as far as I can tell it is not a power issue because the modem is not being used 99% of the time.

Reboot the router does not allow the modem to reconnect....

The only was to get the modem to reconnect is to Use "System Stop" , then power cycle the router. Then it will reconnect.

Can anyone help or suggest an automated solution so I do not have to manage this issue when it occurs (i.e - can I do this with the daily reboot command???)

[Didneywhorl]

Maybe try the custom ping test that tests webpage loading, then select the reboot modem option, which should use the command AT+CFUN=1,1 which is the same as power cycling the modem.

[farberm]

Sorry for the noob question, but how do I ping a webpade instead... do I enter a url instead if ip address...

https://duckduckgo.com instead of 8.8.8.8??

A

[Didneywhorl]

Sorry for the noob question, but how do I ping a webpade instead... do I enter a url instead if ip address...

https://duckduckgo.com instead of 8.8.8.8??

A

Yep...

Screenshot 2022-01-18 154947.png

[farberm]

I am still in need of some help with my WG1608v4 and EM160R-GL. I am running "09" firmware witht he latest Rooter version GOWG1608-2022-03-23. I am using a 4A power supply. I am still getting Can't open /dev/ttyUSB2 AT command errors and disconnection/removal of the modem and then tries to reconnect....

Is this possibly a firmware issue? If so.... what firmware are you guys using? The EM160 is in MBIM mode. I have put an EM20 in the same router with no issues but it runs in QMI mode.

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated...

[Didneywhorl]

Flash the modem to the A07 BETA version. Shouldn't be the issue, but :shrug:

Odd for sure.