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LB1120 T-Mobile can only get 3G not LTE

mrrost
Aspirant

LB1120 T-Mobile can only get 3G not LTE

I have a Netgear LTE Modem LB1120 and am using it with Ting (T-Mobile MVNO).  The modem successfully connects but only at 3G (HSDPA) speeds, and it also disconnects very often (every few seconds). When it is connected, I am able to browse the internet and ping websites as expected.

 

The SIM card successfully connects to T-Mobile Band 4 LTE on a Moto E device, so SIM card shouldn't be the problem.

 

Netgear settings show it correctly recognizes T-Mobile network and is using fast.t-mobile.com as APN, which is the correct APN for LTE. I have also used the SIM card with a Huawai  E397u-53 USB modem, and it has successfully connected to LTE with that.

 

I have tried placing modem outside, where signal is slightly better, with no luck.

 

I see the modem can have an antenna hooked up, but haven't purchased one yet because I am not sure yet if connection strength is the underlying issue.

 

Any thoughts?

Message 1 of 3

Accepted Solutions
stevesw
NETGEAR Expert

Re: LB1120 T-Mobile can only get 3G not LTE

Hi,

 

I am not sure of the exact cause of your problem but the symptoms you describe typically happen if the APN used allows data sessions on 3G but not LTE.

 

In this scenario, the modem first camps on 3G network and a data session gets setup successfully.

Due to sufficient LTE network coverage being available, the device reselects to the LTE network where it gets rejected when trying to setup an LTE data session.

Devices then re-camps on 3G where the data session setup again works and the cycle repeats.

 

From the Ting website, the data APN should be 'wholesale'.

https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205428698-GSM-Android-APN-Settings

 

I appreciate that you state you have tested by using the TMO APN on other devices, but I would reconfirm with the Ting APN just to be sure the APN value is not the root cause.

 

Steve

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Message 2 of 3

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stevesw
NETGEAR Expert

Re: LB1120 T-Mobile can only get 3G not LTE

Hi,

 

I am not sure of the exact cause of your problem but the symptoms you describe typically happen if the APN used allows data sessions on 3G but not LTE.

 

In this scenario, the modem first camps on 3G network and a data session gets setup successfully.

Due to sufficient LTE network coverage being available, the device reselects to the LTE network where it gets rejected when trying to setup an LTE data session.

Devices then re-camps on 3G where the data session setup again works and the cycle repeats.

 

From the Ting website, the data APN should be 'wholesale'.

https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205428698-GSM-Android-APN-Settings

 

I appreciate that you state you have tested by using the TMO APN on other devices, but I would reconfirm with the Ting APN just to be sure the APN value is not the root cause.

 

Steve

Message 2 of 3
mrrost
Aspirant

Re: LB1120 T-Mobile can only get 3G not LTE

Hi stevesw, changing APN to 'wholesale' solved the problem. It shows as LTE Band 12 and I get LTE speeds. I can't thank you enough!!

 

What is weird (like you noticed) is that I was able to connect this Ting SIM to LTE with the Cricket USB modem (Huawei E397u-53). Cricket didn't let me specify an APN or view the APN it uses, but it did show it as connected to LTE and diagnostics show Network name is T-Mobile.

 

I also had tested the Ting SIM and Cricket modem on a pfsense router build. I am certain I used the default fast.t-mobile.com as the APN there, and didn't run into problems. Although it didn't say it was running LTE, the connection was stable and speeds were like LTE.

 

So strange!

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