Wireless Joint

Just now getting my feet wet with my new purchase.
NEXR6GO router
Quectel EP06-A modem
SMA antenna adapter kit
4.0 amp power adapter
Will be using with outdoor dual Wilson directional array I built and installed.
Visible SIM

Awesome!

If you need any help, let us know.

I am sure I will. I think it will be delivered in time for the weekend.
Is this hard to setup on a Linux computer or should I use my Windows laptop?

dbshelton wrote: ↑Wed Aug 11, 2021 7:42 pm I am sure I will. I think it will be delivered in time for the weekend.
Is this hard to setup on a Linux computer or should I use my Windows laptop?

The router setup is done via a web interface, therefore you may use any web browser and OS of your choice.
However, Google Chrome seems to work the best, and to avoid any issues caused by caching, it's recommended to use an "Incognito/Privacy" tab by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N (in most browsers).

Got my router stuff today. Installed the antenna pigtails and modem. Got it all hooked up correctly. Logged in to the router address all kinds of stuff comes up and it is then I realize, I have no earthly idea what all this means or what I am doing. I am in WAY over my head. When do I put the sim in? Went ahead, unplugged it, plugged the Hughesnet back in. Oh well at least it has pretty green lights on the front!

To quote one of my favorite books
DONT PANIC!!

You plug the sim into the unit when powered off. There is usually a slot on one edge of the router, it will look just like an sd card slot. Push it in and it should click, again just like an sdcard would.

As far as all the gobbley gook that shows up, relax to make this work INITIALLY all you need to do is click on modem and then under that connection profile and fill in the APN field with your providers correct apn.

Click the save and apply button in the bottom right

the click on system on the left
reboot
and click the perform reboot button

That should get you online.

How to check if its working:
Once its rebooted log back into the web interface and go to modem then network status. You should see almost all the sections filled in, mostly concerned about the first 2 sections for now:
General info
and modem/sim info

If it shows your provider a phone number for your sim and imei your good. If not just report back here and we can help you troubleshoot. Be aware at least with my setup after a reboot it can take a few minutes maybe as much as 4 minutes sometimes before it changes from connecting to actually filling in my providers name.

Some of the info filled in but failed to connect. Retrying

I need to do something different since I can't mess with the router and ask questions at the same time

if its not connecting that is almost always 1 of 2 things:
Something with the SIM card... not installed right (physical issue) or not activated correctly
or
You are using an incorrect apn for your provider

Is the sim information showing up or is it all blank?

All the SIM info is there and correct
APN VSBLINTERNET

Tried the SIM in the phone just before installing in the modem and it was fine..

Did you activate the visible sim in a compatable phone first and make sure that phone had internet.
You must activate it in a phone first or it wont connect

Adm1jtg wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 9:22 pm Did you activate the visible sim in a compatable phone first and make sure that phone had internet.
You must activate it in a phone first or it wont connect

Yes, I made sure it was working with internet and calls before I installed the SIM in the router.
I guess I can remove it and try it in the phone again tonight, but it was working.

If all the sim information is showing up aka phone number and imei and the sim works properly in another device it means for some reason the visible is rejecting the sim when in your router.

Due to forum rules I cant give you the exact solution but would suggest you do some google searches on repairing restoring or refreshing IMEI on mtk devices or on the ep06.

The idea being you make your new router take on the imei of the phone you activated service with. Just understand this is not something I can officially recommend or support as its at best a grey area for legality. Also if your successful that phone will need to sit in a drawer never to be used again.

dbshelton wrote: ↑Wed Aug 11, 2021 5:27 am ..

First enter the APN in the Modem menu->Connection profile as:

vsblinternet

Make sure nothing else is there. No password, no authentication type, no username.

click the Save and Apply button at the bottom of the screen.

Then

Go to the Sytem -> system menu and sync your time with your browser and set the time zone. Click the Save and Apply button when done there.


Then...

Run these commands on the AT Command terminal under the menu: Modem->Miscellaneous
then then If that one "errors" dont worry.

Then run: then then
then

..then wait for the modem to disappear and then come back. Then reboot the router itself.

Wait for a few minutes for full boot and see what happens.

Let us know

Went ahead and put SIM back in phone just to make sure it is working. all good in phone. Put SIM back in router and still says retrying. Now I guess I will print out these instructions and see if I can do these tomorrow. Never knew anything about AT stuff.
I really had no idea there was so much to this.

Just take it a step at a time its really not as overwhelming as it seems and once its all setup it just works

Now I am totally confused. I must have zero understanding of AT commands. I type a line, hit "SEND COMMAND" it moves to the box below. Type the next line, hit "SEND COMMAND" the first line disappears and the 2nd line appears in the box. etc.
Am typing exactly with quotation marks, etc.
Nothing says "Code: Select All" Do I have to type that line too?
Is all this stuff I typed still there? I am sure some lines are wrong. How do I get rid of them and start over?

Y'all are dealing with a 64 year old kid that knows just enough to be dangerous but not enough to be useful.

Well your talking to a 54 year old kid that IS definitely dangerous.

lets try and simplify things:

go to modem then miscellanious
in the area labelled AT Command:
copy/paste the first command

AT+CGDCONT=2,"IPV4V6","vsblinternet"

and then tap the send command button

in the empty box below you should get some kind of message
like waiting for reply and then eventually ok

copy/paste each command from above, one at a time hitting send command button after each and waiting for it to say ok

That last command I believe is a reboot command so like stated the modem may disappear, then be found and connecting and then foinally connect.

I'm in!!! The modem never showed up after disappearing but after 10 minutes I cycled the power on the router anyway and it all came up. Is 70% Signal strength good or poor? What else should I look at?
Thanks guys, I could never have done it without your help!!!
I am sure there will be more questions about "Fine Tuning" the setup.

74% signal strength
Speedtest: Down 3171 mbps Up 1.97 Latency 262

Well to give you a comparison my signal strength is between 40% and 50%
download is anywhere from 13 - 30 and upload is usually about 2 - 4 with a latency of 30s to 40s
This is with dual antennas meticously aimed on the roof.

Numbers can change drastically based on time of day and weather conditions. Also things like which tower you point at and what lte band you use can also affect things pretty majorly. LTE bands also change.

if you post all the numbers (on router under modem/network status) from the signal information box as well as the lte band under cell information (including the bandwidth numbers in paren) it would give us a much clearer idea of what to tweak and or change.

Can I use the router to fine tune aiming the antenna? How would I do that?
What do all these values mean?

MCC MNC :
311 480

RNC3G/eNB ID4G/5G :
1EA41 (125505)

LAC3G/TAC4G/5G :
7D25 (32037)

Cell ID :
25 (37)

Band :
B5 (Bandwidth 10 MHz Down | 10 MHz Up)

Channel :
2559

PCI :
17

Maximum Qos :
-
Network :
LTE FDD

CSQ :
21

Signal Strength :
67%

RSSI :
-71 dBm

ECIO3G/RSRQ4G/SS_RSRQ5G :
-13 dB

RSCP3G/RSRP4G/SS_RSRP5G :
-99 dBm

SINR :
10 dB

Connection Monitoring Status :

dbshelton wrote: ↑Sat Aug 14, 2021 5:34 pm Can I use the router to fine tune aiming the antenna? How would I do that?

Assuming you have external antennas, try rotating them together in a full 360 degree circle at 45 degree increments (8 turns total), restart the router each time, wait about 5 minutes, then test the speed again. It's important to restart at every turn to rescan for the best bands. Once you find the best direction for the strongest signal and highest speed, you can mount them permanently. For easier testing you could perform the test on a top floor or attic by placing the antennas on top of a cardboard box. Here are a couple of simple speed tests you can run in any web browser without an app:

https://myip.speedtestcustom.com/
https://www.google.com/search?q=speed+t ... speed+test

Despite what those online "cell-mapping" sites might show, it's suggested to go in a full circle because you never know from which direction you can pick the best signal till you actually try it, due to antenna locations, terrain, buildings, signal propagation, bouncing, etc. Also it's best to run the tests late at night after 11pm when the network is less congested with the least amount of speed fluctuations (daytime speeds may vary greatly every minute).

Thanks. After running speed tests a few times I am getting 5.18DL 3.04UL 114Lat
Speedtest in the router software 3692Dn 1.96UL 260Lat
Not sure why this test reads so high in download

Tweaking antenna direction: 20.9DL 4.13UL 117Lat
Best 31.0 4.43 105
Anywhere from 20-30 Download

Now I am back to 5Dn and 3Up.
Is there a way to specify what band I use?

dbshelton wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 11:36 am Now I am back to 5Dn and 3Up.
Is there a way to specify what band I use?

As I mentioned earlier, it's best to run the speeds test late at night after 11pm when the network is less congested. Those will be the highest speeds you'll get from your combination of modem, carrier, plan, and location. During the daytime it will likely fluctuate based on network loading.

I'm not a big fan of band locking, because carriers can dynamically change bands between towers based on network conditions, therefore you could be locking yourself out of the best possible bands/speeds as they change throughout the day. I would recommend running several speed tests at each antenna turn adjustment using a couple of different speeds test sites like the ones I posted, because they can give you significantly different speeds based on server locations.

I do plan on testing again at off hours. Just wanted to see how things are.
I don't really plan on locking on a band. Just trying to learn all I can. This is new stuff to me. If y'all get tired of me asking dumb questions, let me know.

Keep asking, never stop.

I probably will.
I am pretty impressed with the wireless range of this thing, but will eventually need an extender to make it to the other end of the house.

Best advice I can give is use dedicated wifi access points instead of "extenders". Use a wireline ethernet adapter to place them around the house.

"Extenders" tend to cause more issues than they solve.

Sounds like a simple solution.
Is there some number that tells what signal quality is?
I don't really know what all the numbers mean.
Also, how can I tell if I am being throttled?

As far as an extender or wireless AP setup the absolute simplist way is to run an ethernet cable (in walls, in attic whatever) from your router to the farthest end of the house. Then buy a cheap regular router and configure it as a wireless AP connected to the main router via the ethernet cable.

I can go into more details if needed.

I think I may know how to do that. I will try.

Am I asking too many types of questions on the same thread? Seems like we skip over a lot.

for the cellular?

CSQ is the main number I use, but right below it is the same thing: "Signal Strength xxx%"

CSQ goes from 0 to 31 ---> 31 = 100% Signal Strength.

It's a mildly vague stat, but is simple and good enough to use.

Beyond that would be SINR.

Here is a simple guide to some of the major numbers people use: https://thewirelesshaven.com/cellular-signal-guide/

Perfect. I searched for something like that but didn't find anything earlier. Thanks.

I am getting 25 CSQ and 80% SS on B13 and usually B5 is good
When it changes automatically to other bands like 2 or 66, it all goes to crap
Speed is 5 and 2

check the bandwidth on your bands as well its is the paren after the band #. 5mhz could get overutilized fairly easily making its speed show all over the place while a 20 mhz bandwidth has much more room for traffic and could be more stable even if its weaker and slower.

Again taking my personal setup as an example:
I entioned before I am only at about 40%-50 signal strength, thats on the band I am currently using which is 66. This is a 20mhz wide band. What I didnt say earlier as you were overwhelmed was that on band 13 I was at about 80% signal strength but it was only 10mhz and the ep06 doesnt use CAA with band 13 as primary as far as i can tell.

To complicate matters even more my strongest band which wa 13 also had much poorer signal quality (ecio( it was about 15 when I used the smaller stronger band 13 and averaged more like 10 when I used the weaker and wider band 66.

Basically I am saying its NOT all about signal strength but the best combination of signal strength, signal quality, CAA combinations and bandwidth.

Oh one last thing I cannot remember if I mentioned before, when using speedtest make sure you ALWAYS test using the same server.

bandwidth usually says 10up and 10down. What does that mean? Sometimes it says CA with 2 band numbers
Pretty confusing since all of this is a moving target and my little mind is used to being black and white
How did I possibly get 20-30 up yesterday morning? I am in a very rural area and am going directly through trees for the strongest signal or any signal for that matter

No better speed test late at night. I guess that is as good as I am gonna get out here.
Throttled at 5? Guess it is time to quit worrying myself and just live with it.
I do want to thank you guys. If not for your help and answers, I wouldn't get this far.

Should I leave my router/modem on all the time or 24/7 ?? Or turn off when not using?

I always get higher in morning... like you i can see up to 30 in morning till about 10am or so but much less at lets say at 8pm - 11pm sometimes as low as 10 or so. Not sure if its weather or utilization in my area or what.

Never settle
As far as being throttled have you tried the ttl settings change?

Lastly I leave my modem running 24/7 as just to inconvenient to turn it on when I need it then have to wait 3-4 minutes for it to completely boot up. Also I use a program called locast on ,y roku devices and each time you reboot the router it CAN change the IP address which the locast app uses for geo-location. Short answer... leave it on 24/7

Change ttl settings?
No idea how or what to change to.

in the router go to network/firewall and along the top select custom ttl settings
select 64 off the dropdown box.
then of course click save and apply
This in theory should keep you from being throttled (5 meg) due to visible seeing you as a hotspot (makes you look like just a regular phone)
I believe @gscheb has a specific set of commands/lines/scripts/routes specifically for visible to help with this issue as well

Thanks, I will give it a try
That helped a little but not much.

Early this morning
5.08 Dn 4.62 Up Ping 133
CSQ 25 SS 74% on B5

Might b getting the Visible throttle.

I think if you have TTL #s set properly and your still stuck at ~5Mbps then its time to test a VPN service.

Is there one on this router?

Probably easiest to just load up a vpn on a computer that uses the router for internet. To answer your next question, Proton vpn is a FREE vpn I use to test things like this. For a long term solution I would never use a FREE vpn but for testing its fine.

I already have VPN Unlimited. Makes a big difference when I log in to it. Never thought about it.
Thanks

better then 5 now huh?

Now using ExpressVPN. 20Dn 4Up
Should I test with servers close to me or my VPN?

not really sure will leave that to others that are smarter then me.

I do know however that a vpn, even expressvpn (one of the best) will eat up anywhere from 20%-40% of your available bandwidth in overhead for encryption

all i am after is some streaming .

streaming things like netflix and the like in my expierence will work fine with as little as 10meg as they cache heavily. 10 is about my lowpoint in my setup as stated earlier I can get up to 30 but even at 10 I can typically have 2 streams going through roku's and sometimes even play a YouTube all at the same time, though I do admit youtubes quality is very hit or miss.

This is of course not 4k streaming but standard 1080p and in some cases since i watch older shows even 720p or 480i

Well that was short lived. Starts with a jump and then back to 5.
I may need to figure out how to install VPN on the router?

is it throttling when the sim is in the original phone as well?

I have never checked that

I'm no VPN expert, hopefully someone else chimes in. There is openVPN and I think Wiregard VPN clients preloaded on it.

I believe the simplest test is to use a device (phone/pc) VPN client and test using the single device to connect through the through the router using the VPN service.

Edit: I posted this without seeing there was a whole 6th page of comments

I saw Wireguard and Open VPN on the router but have no idea how to set that up and don't have any instructions. I kinda expected an owners manual with the router but just got some kinda quick setup 3 page thing.

The firmware is a branded copy of Goldenorb/Rooter. Open source firmware that is branched off of openWRT.

https://openwrt.org/

The firmware team over at ofmodemsandmen.com have a lot of info, but as they change things they don't always make tutorials.

https://www.ofmodemsandmen.com/documentation.html

Their main communication forum is a super long forum post here: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/ ... =-1#bottom


thewirelesshaven is working on more thorough tutorials right now, it will be one of the few openWRT firmware based routers with more than cursory setup manuals. There isn't a full manual that I know of, yet.

I would searh on how to setup a vpn on openwrt and see how close the instructions are to your menu layout and all. I would bet it is almost identical since its all based on openwrt to begin with

Now I connect my vpn when either Firefox or Chrome browser opens. Am I correct in saying that my vpn needs to be on the router to mask the info?

The VPN client on the router will mask all traffic, the VPN client on the pc will only mask the pc.

Didneywhorl wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:19 am The VPN client on the router will mask all traffic, the VPN client on the pc will only mask the pc.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking.
Supposedly, ExpressVPN can help me install on just about any router. When I get a little time, I will see if they can help.

ExpressVPN was unable to install this on my router. Said it couldn't be done and gave me me a refund.
What VPN should I try now?

i am not sure which ones use the openvpn standard.

I saw @gscheb say to try this in another thread:
This was for hotspot with a tethered phone but i wonder if it would help in your case as well.
I did the @gscheb so hopefully he will chime in

Put this into the firewall custom rules

#start TTL rules
iptables -t mangle -I POSTROUTING -o usb0 -j TTL --ttl-set 65
iptables -t mangle -I PREROUTING -i usb0 -j TTL --ttl-set 65
ip6tables -t mangle -A POSTROUTING -o usb0 -j HL --hl-set 65
ip6tables -t mangle -I PREROUTING -i usb0 -j HL --hl-set 65
#end TTL rules

Link to other thread:
https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=8& ... les#p15175

I have no idea what this is all about.
On another note. Is there a way to change bands on this modem? Seems like it is stuck on B2 and B5 is so much better. Just wondering how I can try others available.

https://wirelessjoint.com/viewtopic.php?t=674#p5763

Scroll down like 5 posts to the long list of commands and values for bandwidth

Like I have said in other threads locking bands for testing is great but it would be better to exclude then lock. Meaning if you dont like band 2 and like band 5 rather then lock it to band 5 i would just exclude band 2.

For testing I would try the following commands:

AT+QCFG="band",0,20000000000000000,1
This will lock to band 66 ONLY. In my case while this is by far the weakest signal of all it is also the best ecio and the best overall download speeds.

Others to try
AT+QCFG="band",0,20000000000001018,1
Bands 4,5,13 and 66

Just so you know all I am doing is using the list from the link above and adding values together in hex (aka using a hex calculator)
so
8 (band 4) + 10 (band 5) + 1000 (band 13) + 20000000000000000 (band 66)
see the pattern

you can also test and individually lock each band to get an idea of the differences and which is best but like I said your not measuring just download speed or signal strength things like ecio come into play as well and also you need to test at dfferent times of day as well. Lastly saturday and sinsunday can also be different from weekedays due to utilization aka people are home more and using the towers more in some cases.

Adm1jtg wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 7:21 am is it throttling when the sim is in the original phone as well?

Good speed in phone. No throttling

Well if phone speeds are consistently good and your throttled on router even after all the ttl "fixes" including the ones gscheb posted as firewall rules then it comes down to how "legal" of a solution you want. It IS possible to make your router mimic your phone so visible sees the router AS your phone but the specfics are not allowed to be discussed here.

Still the possibility to do it does exist and can be found with some searching. That said the process is TECHNICALLY not legal thus why we dont speak of details in here on how to do it.

Well I certainly wouldn't want to do something like that!
Is it possible to PM someone on the forum?