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Mobile data SIM problem
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Daniel James
Jun 13, 2016, 10:48:16 AM6/13/16
to
Lots of mobile comms folk here, I wonder whether any of you can help
with something that's been vexing me?
I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
LTE modem card).
I bought a Three PAYG "+12" Data SIM (12GB valid for 12 months for Ł30,
which was the lowest per-month cost I could find for lowish usage).
It's one of their "Trio" SIMs, so it's a nano within a micro within a
mini within a full-size SIM, and you push out the size you need.
I've been struggling for some time trying to make this work. I'm using
Ubuntu Mate 16.04, and the network connections are all handled by the
network manager package. There's an icon on the bar at the top of the
screen that drops down a menu with details of the wired, wireless, and
mobile connections available. I've configured the mobile data
connection for Three (APN: 3internet) and enabled mobile broadband, but
the entry for the mobile connection isn't shown.
I've learned a lot about Network Manager and Modem Manager, and their
GUI and commandline applications. I've learned that running "mmcli -m
0" gives me the status of the first modem device (the LTE modem). What
this tells me is that the modem is working, but that the status is "Sim
missing".
I tried the SIM card (with an adaptor) in an old Acer netbook that has
a 3G modem built in. It worked fine and I got online with trouble. That
netbook is running an older version of Ubuntu (12.04, with Unity) but
Network manager works in basically the same way, and it shows what I'd
expect.
So, the problem isn't the SIM card.
I was just about to set about trying to return the Thinkpad as faulty
when it occurred to me that I really ought to try a different SIM. My
phone also takes a micro-SIM, so that would fit (but getting the SIM
out of a modern-ish Xperia phone is fiddly). I popped the SIM into the
Thinkpad and powered it on and it immediately prompted me for a SIM
card PIN. Network Manager displayed the Vodafone connection and its
signal strength in the menu and, once I'd selected the appropriate APN
I could get online.
Then I remembered that I had a Giffgaff SIM in an old Samsung tablet,
and that that SIM was a dual micro-within-a-mini-SIM. I tried the Three
SIM in the tablet, and it worked, and I tried the Giffgaff SIM in the
Thinkpad and that worked.
However, the Three SIM still resolutely refuses to work in the
Thinkpad. The SIM card seems to fit the carrier as well as either the
Vodafone or Giffgaff SIMs did, and I'm pretty sure the carrier is
engaging correctly with the SIM receptacle on the motherboard (and I've
tried several times with each of the SIMs now, and it's only the Three
SIM that isn't seen).
This has me baffled. Can anyone suggest anything I haven't tried?
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
with something that's been vexing me?
I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
LTE modem card).
I bought a Three PAYG "+12" Data SIM (12GB valid for 12 months for Ł30,
which was the lowest per-month cost I could find for lowish usage).
It's one of their "Trio" SIMs, so it's a nano within a micro within a
mini within a full-size SIM, and you push out the size you need.
I've been struggling for some time trying to make this work. I'm using
Ubuntu Mate 16.04, and the network connections are all handled by the
network manager package. There's an icon on the bar at the top of the
screen that drops down a menu with details of the wired, wireless, and
mobile connections available. I've configured the mobile data
connection for Three (APN: 3internet) and enabled mobile broadband, but
the entry for the mobile connection isn't shown.
I've learned a lot about Network Manager and Modem Manager, and their
GUI and commandline applications. I've learned that running "mmcli -m
0" gives me the status of the first modem device (the LTE modem). What
this tells me is that the modem is working, but that the status is "Sim
missing".
I tried the SIM card (with an adaptor) in an old Acer netbook that has
a 3G modem built in. It worked fine and I got online with trouble. That
netbook is running an older version of Ubuntu (12.04, with Unity) but
Network manager works in basically the same way, and it shows what I'd
expect.
So, the problem isn't the SIM card.
I was just about to set about trying to return the Thinkpad as faulty
when it occurred to me that I really ought to try a different SIM. My
phone also takes a micro-SIM, so that would fit (but getting the SIM
out of a modern-ish Xperia phone is fiddly). I popped the SIM into the
Thinkpad and powered it on and it immediately prompted me for a SIM
card PIN. Network Manager displayed the Vodafone connection and its
signal strength in the menu and, once I'd selected the appropriate APN
I could get online.
Then I remembered that I had a Giffgaff SIM in an old Samsung tablet,
and that that SIM was a dual micro-within-a-mini-SIM. I tried the Three
SIM in the tablet, and it worked, and I tried the Giffgaff SIM in the
Thinkpad and that worked.
However, the Three SIM still resolutely refuses to work in the
Thinkpad. The SIM card seems to fit the carrier as well as either the
Vodafone or Giffgaff SIMs did, and I'm pretty sure the carrier is
engaging correctly with the SIM receptacle on the motherboard (and I've
tried several times with each of the SIMs now, and it's only the Three
SIM that isn't seen).
This has me baffled. Can anyone suggest anything I haven't tried?
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Roger Mills
Jun 13, 2016, 3:29:00 PM6/13/16
to
On 13/06/2016 15:48, Daniel James wrote:
> Lots of mobile comms folk here, I wonder whether any of you can help
> with something that's been vexing me?
>
> I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
> card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
> pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
> receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
> LTE modem card).
>
> I bought a Three PAYG "+12" Data SIM (12GB valid for 12 months for £30,
> Lots of mobile comms folk here, I wonder whether any of you can help
> with something that's been vexing me?
>
> I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
> card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
> pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
> receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
> LTE modem card).
>
http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/3_Mobile.html]
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.
Daniel James
Jun 13, 2016, 6:07:57 PM6/13/16
to
In article <ds8frp...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills wrote:
> Have you tried using an APN of three.co.uk rather than 3Internet? [see
> http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/3_Mobile.html]
Yes, I have. No joy.
> Have you tried using an APN of three.co.uk rather than 3Internet? [see
> http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/3_Mobile.html]
The Giffgaff SIM (and possibly the Vodafone one, I didn't think to
check) was recognized before I'd set up an APN at all. It's obviously
not possible to connect without an APN setting, but the modem recognized
the home network and reported the signal strength.
With the Three SIM the modem just reports "sim missing".
It's almost as if the contact pads on the SIM card were slightly out of
position and were not making contact properly with the receptacle --
they look OK (though the three* micro SIMs I have are from different
manufacturers and have slightly different designs of contact pad, so I
can't be certain, and I haven't got a copy of ISO 7816-3 here to check)
and they can't be far wrong as the SIM is just fine in the netbook and
the tablet ...
[* That's "three" in number, not "Three" the network.]
SO frustrating!
Thanks for the thought.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Rob Morley
Jun 13, 2016, 10:08:09 PM6/13/16
to
On Mon, 13 Jun 2016 15:48:13 +0100
Daniel James <dan...@me.invalid> wrote:
> This has me baffled. Can anyone suggest anything I haven't tried?
>
Put the Three SIM in your phone?
Daniel James <dan...@me.invalid> wrote:
> This has me baffled. Can anyone suggest anything I haven't tried?
>
chris
Jun 14, 2016, 5:22:15 AM6/14/16
to
On 13/06/2016 15:48, Daniel James wrote:
> Lots of mobile comms folk here, I wonder whether any of you can help
> with something that's been vexing me?
>
> I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
> card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
> pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
> receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
> LTE modem card).
>
> I bought a Three PAYG "+12" Data SIM (12GB valid for 12 months for £30,
> with something that's been vexing me?
>
> I've just taken delivery of a nice new Lenovo Thinkpad with a 4G data
> card in it. There's a little SIM card tray that takes a micro-SIM and
> pokes into a USB-sized hole in one side, where it engages with a
> receptacle on the motherboard (some distance away from the actual M.2
> LTE modem card).
>
with a new one?
Daniel James
Jun 14, 2016, 7:06:45 PM6/14/16
to
I can't honestly see how that would help ... but in the spirit of
scientific curiosity I gave it a try.
It was recognized at once, and received a text from Three with APN
configuration parameters.
Just for fun I tried to make a voice call (this is a data-only SIM) and
got a recorded message from Three suggesting that I could add some PAYG
credit to the card and use it for voice as well ... that is something I
hadn't appreciated would be possible, so scientific curiosity did pay a
dividend.
I measured the position of the contact pads relative to the edges of
the card, and found that they are all comfortably within spec. The
central area of the contact pad is larger on the Three SIM than on the
Vodafone or Giffgaff ones, bit not by so much as to encroach on the
areas set aside for the contact pads -- if there's a hardware mismatch
(which I'm beginning to doubt) it's due to some error in the Lenovo
receptacle.
So, I'm coming back to the idea that there may be something in the
communication between the modem driver software and this particular SIM
card that is causing the driver to fail to accept the card (and report
it as absent) ... but if so it's odd that it should be a problem in
Ubuntu 16.04 but not in Ubuntu 14.04, unless it's down to some
difference between the Huawei LTE modem in the Thinkpad and the Option
3G modem in the Acer netbook.
Still stumped.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
scientific curiosity I gave it a try.
It was recognized at once, and received a text from Three with APN
configuration parameters.
Just for fun I tried to make a voice call (this is a data-only SIM) and
got a recorded message from Three suggesting that I could add some PAYG
credit to the card and use it for voice as well ... that is something I
hadn't appreciated would be possible, so scientific curiosity did pay a
dividend.
I measured the position of the contact pads relative to the edges of
the card, and found that they are all comfortably within spec. The
central area of the contact pad is larger on the Three SIM than on the
Vodafone or Giffgaff ones, bit not by so much as to encroach on the
areas set aside for the contact pads -- if there's a hardware mismatch
(which I'm beginning to doubt) it's due to some error in the Lenovo
receptacle.
So, I'm coming back to the idea that there may be something in the
communication between the modem driver software and this particular SIM
card that is causing the driver to fail to accept the card (and report
it as absent) ... but if so it's odd that it should be a problem in
Ubuntu 16.04 but not in Ubuntu 14.04, unless it's down to some
difference between the Huawei LTE modem in the Thinkpad and the Option
3G modem in the Acer netbook.
Still stumped.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Rob Morley
Jun 14, 2016, 9:47:31 PM6/14/16
to
On Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:06:43 +0100
Daniel James <dan...@me.invalid> wrote:
> Still stumped.
Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
Daniel James <dan...@me.invalid> wrote:
> Still stumped.
Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
Daniel James
Jun 15, 2016, 10:44:31 AM6/15/16
to
In article <20160615024...@ntlworld.com>, Rob Morley wrote:
>> Still stumped.
>
> Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
Yes ... but if that was going to make it spring back into life I'd have
>> Still stumped.
>
> Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
expected that to happen after I tried the SIM in the tablet (which is a
Samsung, and is capable of making voice calls -- it's really just
another phone that happens to have a 10" screen).
I've run modem-manager in debug mode, and there I can see that the
modem card is returning an error in response to the AT command that
asks for the SIM's PIN status when I'm trying to use the Three SIM.
This is at the stage when the modem manager is trying to determine
whether it needs to ask the user for a PIN.
When I try the same thing with the Vodafone SIM I see a response
containing some numbers (which correspond to the number of retries
available for the various PINs on the card).
I'm starting to think that the problem is that the driver for the
Huawei card doesn't recognize the responses that the Three SIM gives to
the PIN status APDUs so it returns an error. I lack the wherewithal to
investigate at a lower level ... I think I'm going to report this as a
possible driver bug, and see what happens.
Thanks for your suggestions ... and for keeping me persevering!
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Someone Somewhere
Jun 15, 2016, 11:36:30 AM6/15/16
to
On 15/06/2016 15:44, Daniel James wrote:
> In article <20160615024...@ntlworld.com>, Rob Morley wrote:
>>> Still stumped.
>>
>> Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
>
> In article <20160615024...@ntlworld.com>, Rob Morley wrote:
>>> Still stumped.
>>
>> Have you tried it in the Lenovo since you put it in your phone?
>
> I've run modem-manager in debug mode, and there I can see that the
> modem card is returning an error in response to the AT command that
> asks for the SIM's PIN status when I'm trying to use the Three SIM.
> This is at the stage when the modem manager is trying to determine
> whether it needs to ask the user for a PIN.
>
> When I try the same thing with the Vodafone SIM I see a response
> containing some numbers (which correspond to the number of retries
> available for the various PINs on the card).
>
Have you tried turning on PIN requests on the card to see if that then
> modem card is returning an error in response to the AT command that
> asks for the SIM's PIN status when I'm trying to use the Three SIM.
> This is at the stage when the modem manager is trying to determine
> whether it needs to ask the user for a PIN.
>
> When I try the same thing with the Vodafone SIM I see a response
> containing some numbers (which correspond to the number of retries
> available for the various PINs on the card).
>
works?
Daniel James
Jun 17, 2016, 9:58:02 AM6/17/16
to
In article <njrslp$1odh$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, Someone Somewhere wrote:
> Have you tried turning on PIN requests on the card to see if that then
> works?
I have tried that, yes. It makes no difference at all.
> Have you tried turning on PIN requests on the card to see if that then
> works?
Thanks for the thought, though.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Daniel James
Jun 18, 2016, 9:29:20 AM6/18/16
to
In article <VA.00000b9...@me.invalid>, Daniel James wrote:
> In article <njrslp$1odh$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, Someone Somewhere wrote:
>> Have you tried turning on PIN requests on the card to see if that
>> then works?
>
> I have tried that, yes. It makes no difference at all.
To be clear:
> In article <njrslp$1odh$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, Someone Somewhere wrote:
>> Have you tried turning on PIN requests on the card to see if that
>> then works?
>
> I have tried that, yes. It makes no difference at all.
The debug trace output produced by modemmanager includes all the AT
commands sent to the modem (AT commands, in 2016, how quaint!). All the
commands that query the modem state (like ATI, which returns the modem's
identity and confirms that we're talking to a Huawei ME906s-158) work as
expected.
When modemmanager issues an "AT+CPIN?" command, which is supposed to
return the statuses of the PINs supported by the SIM card the response
from the modem is "+CME ERROR: 10", which modemmanager interprets as
"sim missing". The same result is always returned with the Three SIM,
regardless of whether it's set up to require a PIN unlock.
I have a draft copy of the AT Command Interface Specification for the
ME906s, which says that CME Error 10 means "SIM not inserted(not
supported currently. If no SIM is inserted, return SIM failure)" ...
which is slightly confusing as error 10 is certainly supported insofar
as my ME906 is returning it ... but it could be taken to mean that the
"sim missing" result us also used in the event of a SIM failure.
That's still weird, tough, as I have another laptop, a phone, and a
tablet in all of which this SIM works as expected ... and I have two
other micro-SIMs that work fine in the ME906s. With (for example) the
Vodafone SIM from my phone the response to "AT+CPIN?" is "+CPIN: READY"
followed by "OK", and modemmanager then carries on querying PIN status
with "AT^CPIN?" to find out whether a PIN presentation is required and
to get the number of available pin tries for the pins (PIN 1&2 and PUK
1&2) and so on ...
I still can't tell for certain whether the Three SIM is somehow not
communicating with the modem at all (though other SIMs have no problem),
or whether it's making some perfectly correct response that the modem
driver doesn't recognize (even though my phone and tablet and an earlier
version of modemmanager do).
Sometimes I hate technology!
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Someone Somewhere
Jun 21, 2016, 3:56:43 AM6/21/16
to
the packaging somewhere, but the usual suspects would be Gemalto,
Oberthur, Gieske and Devrient, Morpho etc, but it may well be an odd one.
Any thoughts on voltage? From vague memory there have been at least 3
different standards over the years, and I know some devices needed SIMs
that supported the higher voltages.
Daniel James
Jun 22, 2016, 8:37:31 PM6/22/16
to
In article <nkarvp$1oor$2...@gioia.aioe.org>, Someone Somewhere wrote:
> Any idea who the SIM manufacturer is?
No, I did wonder.
> Any idea who the SIM manufacturer is?
> It would normally be written on the packaging somewhere ...
You'd think, wouldn't you? No, there's nothing. Three's packaging makes
no mention of the SIM maker, and the card itself has nothing that looks
like a maker's name -- neither the full-size card nor the micro-SIM
itself.
There is a sequence of characters "GA6J100" on the SIM just below the
contact pad that just might be a model number, but it's not one I
recognize.
> the usual suspects would be Gemalto, Oberthur, Gieske and Devrient,
> Morpho etc, but it may well be an odd one.
detail GemPlus and Schlumberger had not yet merged to form GemAlto! (I
wrote a lot of code to handle GemPlus MCOS, MPCOS, and GPK family cards,
at one time).
> Any thoughts on voltage? From vague memory there have been at least
> 3 different standards over the years, and I know some devices needed
> SIMs that supported the higher voltages.
standard USIM interface, with no mention of voltages. The SIM card
receptacle is actually on the Thinkpad's motherboard and not directly
part of the modem, so possibly the supply voltage comes from the laptop
and not from the modem (it would be odd if the supply voltage didn't
match the signal voltage, though).
I'd assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the USIM spec would provide some
means for the card and the cardreader to "agree" a suitable voltage ...
I'm not sure how much the USIM spec differs from standard ISO 7816, but
ISO 7816 sets down how cards should agree protocols and baud rates and
suchlike -- if voltages vary between cards as you say I'd hope that the
interface standard says how that should be handled. Perhaps that's
hopeless optimism on my part?
In the last couple of days I've upgraded the netbook to the same version
of Ubuntu that the Thinkpad is running (though only the 32-bit version,
as the netbook has a crummy Atom Z520, which doesn't support 64 bits)
and it still accepts the Three SIM quite happily. That's using a
different modem, with a different interface (mini-PCIe, though again in
USB mode), of course, so there are still differences between the
systems.
I'd ask Three's support whether they had any experience of their "Trio"
SIMs working in a Huawei ME906s-158 modem if I thought they had anyone
technical enough to understand the question in a customer-facing role.
This is getting frustrating!
Thanks for your continued interest.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Someone Somewhere
Jun 23, 2016, 2:17:57 AM6/23/16
to
On 23/06/2016 01:37, Daniel James wrote:
>
> I'd ask Three's support whether they had any experience of their "Trio"
> SIMs working in a Huawei ME906s-158 modem if I thought they had anyone
> technical enough to understand the question in a customer-facing role.
>
I've had some positive experiences with e-mailing Three where technical
>
> I'd ask Three's support whether they had any experience of their "Trio"
> SIMs working in a Huawei ME906s-158 modem if I thought they had anyone
> technical enough to understand the question in a customer-facing role.
>
issues did seem to eventually reach the right department who responded,
but it did take a fair while...
Martin Brown
Jul 30, 2016, 3:56:47 AM7/30/16
to
On 13/06/2016 23:07, Daniel James wrote:
> In article <ds8frp...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills wrote:
>> Have you tried using an APN of three.co.uk rather than 3Internet? [see
>> http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/3_Mobile.html]
>
> Yes, I have. No joy.
>
> The Giffgaff SIM (and possibly the Vodafone one, I didn't think to
> check) was recognized before I'd set up an APN at all. It's obviously
> not possible to connect without an APN setting, but the modem recognized
> the home network and reported the signal strength.
>
> With the Three SIM the modem just reports "sim missing".
My suggestion would be to send off for one of their free 200MB/month
> In article <ds8frp...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills wrote:
>> Have you tried using an APN of three.co.uk rather than 3Internet? [see
>> http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/3_Mobile.html]
>
> Yes, I have. No joy.
>
> The Giffgaff SIM (and possibly the Vodafone one, I didn't think to
> check) was recognized before I'd set up an APN at all. It's obviously
> not possible to connect without an APN setting, but the modem recognized
> the home network and reported the signal strength.
>
> With the Three SIM the modem just reports "sim missing".
with Three if you sign up with your name SIMs and try that - just in
case you have a rogue SIM with static damage to its internals or
something. They are supposed to be pretty robust but SIM missing sounds
like it really isn't making good contact with the right pins.
>
> It's almost as if the contact pads on the SIM card were slightly out of
> position and were not making contact properly with the receptacle --
> they look OK (though the three* micro SIMs I have are from different
> manufacturers and have slightly different designs of contact pad, so I
> can't be certain, and I haven't got a copy of ISO 7816-3 here to check)
> and they can't be far wrong as the SIM is just fine in the netbook and
> the tablet ...
>
> [* That's "three" in number, not "Three" the network.]
>
> SO frustrating!
>
> Thanks for the thought.
>
--
Regards,
> It's almost as if the contact pads on the SIM card were slightly out of
> position and were not making contact properly with the receptacle --
> they look OK (though the three* micro SIMs I have are from different
> manufacturers and have slightly different designs of contact pad, so I
> can't be certain, and I haven't got a copy of ISO 7816-3 here to check)
> and they can't be far wrong as the SIM is just fine in the netbook and
> the tablet ...
>
> [* That's "three" in number, not "Three" the network.]
>
> SO frustrating!
>
> Thanks for the thought.
>
--
Martin Brown
Daniel James
Aug 3, 2016, 6:57:57 PM8/3/16
to
In article <nnhmjr$5qt$2...@gioia.aioe.org>, Martin Brown wrote:
> My suggestion would be to send off for one of their free 200MB/month
> with Three if you sign up with your name SIMs and try that - just in
> case you have a rogue SIM with static damage to its internals or
> something.
That may be worth a try ... but as the SIM works fine in the old
> My suggestion would be to send off for one of their free 200MB/month
> with Three if you sign up with your name SIMs and try that - just in
> case you have a rogue SIM with static damage to its internals or
> something.
netbook and in a tablet I doubt there's anything wrong with it. Still,
having a second SIM from the same provider would be a useful additional
data point.
My current theory is that the Three SIM is of a different make/type
from the others I've tried, and that the LTE Modem card doesn't
recognize it. This would be a firmware bug in the card, if that's
correct ... but how I'm going to get Huawei to look at a problem that
only occurs with a particular UK-issued SIM I don't know!
> They are supposed to be pretty robust but SIM missing sounds
> like it really isn't making good contact with the right pins.
spec ... and other SIMs work in the laptop.
<shrug>
This really is very vexing!
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
R. Mark Clayton
Aug 4, 2016, 4:58:44 AM8/4/16
to
On Wednesday, 3 August 2016 23:57:57 UTC+1, Daniel James wrote:
> In article <nnhmjr$5qt$2...@gioia.aioe.org>, Martin Brown wrote:
> > My suggestion would be to send off for one of their free 200MB/month
> > with Three if you sign up with your name SIMs and try that - just in
> > case you have a rogue SIM with static damage to its internals or
> > something.
>
> That may be worth a try ... but as the SIM works fine in the old
> netbook and in a tablet I doubt there's anything wrong with it. Still,
> having a second SIM from the same provider would be a useful additional
> data point.
>
> My current theory is that the Three SIM is of a different make/type
> from the others I've tried, and that the LTE Modem card doesn't
> recognize it. This would be a firmware bug in the card, if that's
> correct ... but how I'm going to get Huawei to look at a problem that
> only occurs with a particular UK-issued SIM I don't know!
Might be a band issue - check frequencies that the card uses against what Three uses.
> In article <nnhmjr$5qt$2...@gioia.aioe.org>, Martin Brown wrote:
> > My suggestion would be to send off for one of their free 200MB/month
> > with Three if you sign up with your name SIMs and try that - just in
> > case you have a rogue SIM with static damage to its internals or
> > something.
>
> That may be worth a try ... but as the SIM works fine in the old
> netbook and in a tablet I doubt there's anything wrong with it. Still,
> having a second SIM from the same provider would be a useful additional
> data point.
>
> My current theory is that the Three SIM is of a different make/type
> from the others I've tried, and that the LTE Modem card doesn't
> recognize it. This would be a firmware bug in the card, if that's
> correct ... but how I'm going to get Huawei to look at a problem that
> only occurs with a particular UK-issued SIM I don't know!
Daniel James
Aug 11, 2016, 8:31:00 AM8/11/16
to
In article <4acdc25c-3798-4bbe...@googlegroups.com>, R.
modem doesn't recognize it could reject the card ... but the card seems
pretty catholic in its tastes and surely it *ought* to ignore any band
it can't use and work with the rest ... or fall back to GPRS or
something? Could be a bug in the modem firmware, I suppose.
The modem is one of these:
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/solutions/m2m-solutions/products/tech-spec
s/me906s-158-en.htm
It's a pretty capable little device.
Three, I believe, use just Band 3 (800MHz) and Band 20 (1800MHz) for
LTE, and these are both supported by the modem.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Mark Clayton wrote:
>> My current theory is that the Three SIM is of a different make/type
>> from the others I've tried, and that the LTE Modem card doesn't
>> recognize it. This would be a firmware bug in the card, if that's
>> correct ... but how I'm going to get Huawei to look at a problem that
>> only occurs with a particular UK-issued SIM I don't know!
>
> Might be a band issue - check frequencies that the card uses against
> what Three uses.
I suppose it could be ... if the network supports something that the
>> My current theory is that the Three SIM is of a different make/type
>> from the others I've tried, and that the LTE Modem card doesn't
>> recognize it. This would be a firmware bug in the card, if that's
>> correct ... but how I'm going to get Huawei to look at a problem that
>> only occurs with a particular UK-issued SIM I don't know!
>
> Might be a band issue - check frequencies that the card uses against
> what Three uses.
modem doesn't recognize it could reject the card ... but the card seems
pretty catholic in its tastes and surely it *ought* to ignore any band
it can't use and work with the rest ... or fall back to GPRS or
something? Could be a bug in the modem firmware, I suppose.
The modem is one of these:
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/solutions/m2m-solutions/products/tech-spec
s/me906s-158-en.htm
It's a pretty capable little device.
Three, I believe, use just Band 3 (800MHz) and Band 20 (1800MHz) for
LTE, and these are both supported by the modem.
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
dwricc...@gmail.com
Jun 24, 2018, 9:40:52 AM6/24/18
to
I know this is two years after the fact, but is there any chance you were able to fix this issue? I'm running into something similar on an X270, except that all SIM cards that I've tried (nano with a micro adapter) report 'sim-missing'.
Andy Burns
Jun 24, 2018, 9:45:52 AM6/24/18
to
So you might do better if you quote the message you're replying to, as
most of us will have forgotten what it was, and it will have long ago
dropped off the news servers we use ...
most of us will have forgotten what it was, and it will have long ago
dropped off the news servers we use ...
Daniel James
Jun 24, 2018, 1:13:31 PM6/24/18
to
In article <fp9lke...@mid.individual.net>, Andy Burns wrote:
> So you might do better if you quote the message you're replying to, as
> most of us will have forgotten what it was, and it will have long ago
> dropped off the news servers we use ...
He might indeed ...
> So you might do better if you quote the message you're replying to, as
> most of us will have forgotten what it was, and it will have long ago
> dropped off the news servers we use ...
.. but I think I recognize the topic. In 2016 I bought a Thinkpad T460p
with a Huawei 4G card and couldn't get it to recognize the Three SIM
card I was trying to use. I asked about it here:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/uk.telecom.mobile/TnYH1U5g_8Q/ugbbq3bmDw
AJ
In my case it was *only* the Three SIM that wasn't recognized -- SIMs
from Vodafone and GiffGaff were recognized and worked perfectly -- so I
concluded that there was an incompatibility between the Huawei ME906S 4G
card and the SIM cards that Three are issuing.
I have since tried a different Three SIM card (standard PAYG phone SIM)
and that also failed. I have also updated the firmware in the Huawei
modem (a struggle, as the updating software only runs under Windows and
I use Ubuntu -- I had to put the original HDD back in and run Windows 10
(ugh!)).
Still no joy. My Three SIM card does, however, work in a cheapo Ericsson
3G card bought for a tenner from eBay and installed in a second-hand
X220 I bought in a Black Friday sale.
"Go Figure" as they say ...
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
Rob Morley
Jun 24, 2018, 9:41:54 PM6/24/18
to
dwricc...@gmail.com
Jun 25, 2018, 6:14:24 PM6/25/18
to
earlier thread.
A couple hours after I posted in the thread, I was able to get my
card to work. It required suspending and resuming in order to get
ModemManager to detect the card. I'm not sure why.
I was having issues with both my Project Fi SIM and my T-Mobile
SIM, and the solution worked for both cards. But unfortunately it
sounds like that's a different problem from the one you were
experiencing. I also have a Sierra card, not a Huawei one.
Thanks again, and best of luck!
Daniel James
Jun 26, 2018, 9:48:09 AM6/26/18
to
In article <1fa365a8-181e-455d...@googlegroups.com>,
That's probably crucial, here.
As you'll no doubt have seen from earlier in the thread (in June 2016)
I did try running modemmanager in debug mode, which gives a nice (and
very long) log of the interaction with the modem.
The system was issuing an "AT+CPIN?" command and the modem was replying
with "+CME ERROR: 10" which is a grossly under-documented response
message that the system interprets as "no SIM present" (but could just
as easily mean "I don't recognize this type of SIM"). I hoped upgrading
the firmware in the modem would fix this, but it didn't.
I rather wish I'd bought the (more expensive) Sierra card myself!
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
That's probably crucial, here.
As you'll no doubt have seen from earlier in the thread (in June 2016)
I did try running modemmanager in debug mode, which gives a nice (and
very long) log of the interaction with the modem.
The system was issuing an "AT+CPIN?" command and the modem was replying
with "+CME ERROR: 10" which is a grossly under-documented response
message that the system interprets as "no SIM present" (but could just
as easily mean "I don't recognize this type of SIM"). I hoped upgrading
the firmware in the modem would fix this, but it didn't.
I rather wish I'd bought the (more expensive) Sierra card myself!
--
Cheers,
Daniel.
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