Manual:Interface/LTE

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Applies to RouterOS: v6+,v5.12+

Summary

Package: system

Support for Direct-IP mode type cards only. (QMI Support may be possible in future)

To enable access via a PPP interface instead of a LTE Interface, change direct IP mode with /port firmware set ignore-directip-modem=yes command and a reboot. Note that using PPP emulation mode you will not get the same max speeds as using the native lte interface.

LTE Client

Sub-menu: /interface lte

Properties

Property Description
add-default-route (yes | no; Default: no) Whether to add default route to forward all traffic over the LTE interface.
allow-roaming (yes | no; Default: no) Enable data roaming for connecting to other countries data-providers. Note all LTE modems support this feature
authentication (pap | chap; Default: ) Allowed protocol to use for authentication
apn (string; Default: "") Service Provider's Access Point Name
band (; Default: "") Frequency band used in communication LTE Bands and bandwidths
comment (string; Default: "") Descriptive name of an item
default-route-distance (integer; Default: 1) Since v6.2, sets distance value applied to auto created default route, if add-default-route is also selected
disabled (yes | no; Default: yes) Whether interface is disabled or not. By default it is disabled.
mac-address (MAC; Default: "") Media Access Control number of an interface.
modem-init (string; Default: "") Modem init string
mtu (integer; Default: 1500) Maximum Transmission Unit. Max packet size that LTE interface will be able to send without packet fragmentation.
name (string; Default: "") Descriptive name of the interface.
network-mode (3g | auto | gsm | lte; Default: auto) Select/force mode LTE interface is to operate with
password (string; Default: "") Password used for authentication.
pin (string; Default: "") SIM Card's PIN code.
user (string; Default: "") User name used for authentication.

Scanner

It is possible to scan LTE interfaces with /interface lte scan command

Available read only properties:

Property Description
duration (integer) Duration of scan in seconds
freeze-frame-interval () time between data printout
number (integer) Interface number

User Info command

It is possible to send special "info" command to LTE interface with /interface lte info command.

Properties (Up to 6.40)

Property Description
user-command (string; Default: "") send a command to LTE card to extract useful information, e.g. with AT commands
user-command-only (yes | no; Default: )

User at-chat command

It is possible to send user defined "at-chat" command to LTE interface with /interface lte at-chat command. 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT*mrd_imei\?"                         
  output: *MRD_IMEI:356159060388208

OK

You can also use "at-chat" function in scripts and assign command output to variable. 

[admin@MikroTik] > :global "lte_command" [/interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT*mrd_imei\?" as-value ] 
[admin@MikroTik] > :put $"lte_command"
output=*MRD_IMEI:356159060388208

OK

Quick setup example

Set correct parameters on LTE client interface (provided by network provider): 

/interface lte
set [ find ] apn=phoneprovider.net authentication=chap name=lte1 network-mode=auto password=web user=web

Add a DHCP Client to LTE Interface just created: 

/ip dhcp-client
add default-route-distance=1 disabled=no interface=lte1

If required, add NAT Masquerade for LTE Interface to get internet: 

/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat out-interface=lte1

After interface is added, you can use "info" command to see what parameters client acquired (parameters returned depends on LTE hardware device): 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte info lte1 once 
status: call in progress
pin-status: no password required
functionality: full
manufacturer: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
model: ME909u-521
revision: 12.631.07.01.00
current-operator: vodafone ES
current-cellid: 44436007
access-technology: Evolved 3G (LTE)
signal-strengh: -79 dBm
frame-error-rate: n/a
earfcn: n/a
imei: 860461024123456
imsi: 234012555034981
uicc: n/a
rssi: -79dBm
rsrp: -109dBm
rsrq: -13dB
sinr: -1dB
[admin@MikroTik] >

Passthrough

Starting from RouterOS v6.41 some LTE interfaces support LTE Passthrough feature where the IP configuration is applied directly to the client device. In this case modem firmware is responsible for the IP configuration and router is used only to configure modem settings - APN, Network Technologies and IP-Type. In this configuration the router will not get IP configuration from the modem. The LTE Passthrough modem can pass both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses if that is supported by modem. Some modems support multiple APN where you can pass the traffic from each APN to a specific router interface.

Passthrough will only work for one host. Router will automatically detect MAC address of the first received packet and use it for the Passthrough. If there are multiple hosts on the network it is possible to lock the Passthrough to a specific MAC. Note, that it will not be possible to connect to the LTE router via public lte ip address or from the host which is used by the passthrough. It is suggested to create additional connection from the LTE router to the host for configuration purposes. For example vlan interface between the LTE router and host.

To enable the Passthrough a new entry is required or the default entry should be changed in the '/interface lte apn' menu

Examples.

To configure the Passthrough on ether1: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add apn=apn1 passthrough-interface=ether1
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte set lte1 apn-profiles=apn1

To configure the Passthrough on ether1 host 00:0C:42:03:06:AB: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add apn=apn1 passthrough-interface=ether1 passthrough-mac=00:0C:42:03:06:AB
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte set lte1 apn-profiles=apn1

To configure multiple APNs on ether1 and ether2: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add apn=apn1 passthrough-interface=ether1
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add apn=apn2 passthrough-interface=ether2
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte set lte1 apn-profiles=apn1,apn2

To configure multiple APNs with the same APN for different interfaces: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add name=interface1 apn=apn1
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte apn add name=interface2 apn=apn1 passthrough-interface=ether1
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte set lte1 apn-profiles=interface1
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte set lte2 apn-profiles=interface2

Tips and Tricks

This paragraph contains information for additional features and usage cases.

Find device location using Cell information

On devices using R11e-LTE card (wAP LTE kit) some extra information is provided under info command (from 6.41rc61) 

   current-operator: 24701
                lac: 40
     current-cellid: 2514442
Property Description
current-cellid (integer; Default: ) Contains MCC and MNC. For example: current-operator: 24701 breaks to: MCC=247 MNC=01
lac (integer; Default: ) location area code (LAC)
current-cellid (integer; Default: ) Station identification number

Values can be used to find location in databases: Cell Id Finder

Using Cell lock

Troubleshooting

Enable LTE logging: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /system logging add topics=lte

Check for errors in log: 

[admin@MikroTik] > /log print

11:08:59 lte,async lte1: sent AT+CPIN? 
11:08:59 lte,async lte1: rcvd +CME ERROR: 10

search for CME error description online,

in this case: CME error 10 - SIM not inserted

Locking band on Huawei and other modems

To lock band for Huawei modems /interface lte set lte1 band="" option can't be used.

It is possible to use AT commands to lock to desired band manually.

To check all supported bands run at-chat command: 

[admin@MikroTik] /interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT^SYSCFGEX=\?"

output: ^SYSCFGEX: ("00","03","02","01","99"),((2000004e80380,"GSM850/GSM900/GSM1800/GSM1900/WCDMA BCI/WCDMA BCII/WCDMA BCV/WCDMA BCVIII"),
(3fffffff,"All Bands")),(0-2),(0-4),((800d7,"LTE BC1/LTE BC2/LTE 
BC3/LTE BC5/LTE BC7/LTE BC8/LTE BC20"),(7fffffffffffffff,"All Bands")) 
OK

Example to lock to LTE band 7, 

[admin@MikroTik] /interface lte set lte1 modem-init="AT^SYSCFGEX=\"03\",3FFFFFFF,2,4,40,,

Change last part 40 to desired band specified hexadecimal value where: 

4 LTE BC3
40 LTE BC7
80000 LTE BC20
7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF  All bands
etc

All band HEX values and AT commands can be found in Huawei AT Command Interface Specification guide

Check if band is locked: 

[admin@MikroTik] /interface lte at-chat lte1 input="AT^SYSCFGEX\?"

output: ^SYSCFGEX: "03",3FFFFFFF,0,2,40
OK

For more information check modem manufacturers AT command reference manuals.

mPCIe modems with RB9xx series devices

For mPCIe modems to work in RB9xx series devices it is required to set the USB type to mPCIe, this can be done using the following command: 

/system routerboard usb set type=mini-PCIe

In case your modem is not being recognized after a soft reboot, then you might need to add a delay before the USB port is being initialized. This can be done using the following command: 

/system routerboard settings set init-delay=5s

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