AT!ENTERCND for MR1100 - Nighthawk M1

[varghesesanoj]

Trying to force Band 3 Selection on the Netgear Nighthawk m1 Router, Need the password for AT!ENTERCND to get  this done

How do i get to know the password set, currenlty running on firmware  NTGX9X50C_10.25.01.01

Tried a few passwords found on the forum but no luck 😞 

Thanks

[ErnestTheGreat · Accepted solution]

@varghesesanoj is there a reason why your MR1100 needs to be locked to B3? 

It seems like every time a new Netgear Mobile Router/Hotspot comes out there is a post about AT!ENTERCND command and customers wanting it so that they can lock the device to particular band. Am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible idea? If locking a device to particular band was a good idea there would option in the UI that would allow you to set your device to that band so it can always connect to it. 

ISPs do a lot of load balancing on their towers and networks to ensure everyone gets their fair share of bandwidth so it is best to leave the device on auto band selection to ensure that you do not have connection/performance issues and let the network and device decide the best band for you to connect to.

Let’s put it this way say you get the entercnd command and lock your device to B3 what happens when the ISP network sees that your device is not responding to its parameters/instructions to connect to their band of choice and kicks the device of the network or you forget that the device was locked to B3 and go to area that does not have B3 and can no longer connect? You end up thinking that there is issue with device and call your ISP/Netgear support they don't know that you locked device to B3 and end up spending lot of time to figure things out and end up replacing device because they think it’s bad.  It just ends up being an issue that takes up everyone’s time for no reason just because someone wanted to lock the device to particular band.

Apart from the reasons listed above you can't expect Netgear or any other manufacturer to provide the !ENTERCND command and give you unrestricted access to the device at that point they might as well hand over all the intellectual property and the complete source code right?

[JasonN]

Hi varghesesanoj,

I'm sorry but we are not allowed to provide that information for you. :]

- Jason N

[ErnestTheGreat · Accepted solution]

@varghesesanoj is there a reason why your MR1100 needs to be locked to B3? 

It seems like every time a new Netgear Mobile Router/Hotspot comes out there is a post about AT!ENTERCND command and customers wanting it so that they can lock the device to particular band. Am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible idea? If locking a device to particular band was a good idea there would option in the UI that would allow you to set your device to that band so it can always connect to it. 

ISPs do a lot of load balancing on their towers and networks to ensure everyone gets their fair share of bandwidth so it is best to leave the device on auto band selection to ensure that you do not have connection/performance issues and let the network and device decide the best band for you to connect to.

Let’s put it this way say you get the entercnd command and lock your device to B3 what happens when the ISP network sees that your device is not responding to its parameters/instructions to connect to their band of choice and kicks the device of the network or you forget that the device was locked to B3 and go to area that does not have B3 and can no longer connect? You end up thinking that there is issue with device and call your ISP/Netgear support they don't know that you locked device to B3 and end up spending lot of time to figure things out and end up replacing device because they think it’s bad.  It just ends up being an issue that takes up everyone’s time for no reason just because someone wanted to lock the device to particular band.

Apart from the reasons listed above you can't expect Netgear or any other manufacturer to provide the !ENTERCND command and give you unrestricted access to the device at that point they might as well hand over all the intellectual property and the complete source code right?

[varghesesanoj]

Hi there, 

              Yes i do undertsand that its better to leave the device on auto band selection but the reason for the requets is that my current speed on B1 is maxed out at 2 Mbps and on B3 i get a speed of upto 30Mbps and due to the auto mode slection set to LTE it keeps moving toggling between B1 & B3 now the reason i want the password is to add another option to include the B3 in the network selection mode to force the router to use B3 only. 

I'm happy to change this mode if i see a drop in the connection further hence the request. Still hoping this is a valid request.  

[JSchnee21]

The main reason people are requesting this is for fixed, rural installations in which the MR1100 is the only source of internet in their home.  Currently, the firmware in the MR1100 (for AT&T at least) does a poor job at selecting and holding onto the band which provides the best throughput.  Many users have experienced "band ping-pong" in which their device is constantly switching band and forth between bands on the same or different towers while the device is stationary in their home.  Many have tried using directional yagi antennas, signal boosters, etc. to coax the device to stay on one band.  Some have had limited success, others not so much.

There is nothing proprietary about the AT command set, it's an evolution of the same commands POTS based modems have been using for >40 years.  Qualcomm would have you believe that their specialized chipset commands are "prioprietary" too.  But just because they obfuscate and fail to publish does not make them so.  In the United States, once you buy a product, you are entitled to use and modify it however you see fit.  And you're entitled to take it apart and figure out how it works.  The only legal limitation is that you cannot offer for sale a copy of said product as that would be patent infridgement.  But Netgear is well within their rights to refuse to assist.

Netgear has still failed to offer a solution for the band ping pong problem, as well as the general firmware instability problem.  My MR1100 generally panics and locks up at least once or twice every time I use it -- despite multiple factory resets.  For example, while running on battery, in the car, etc. over the course of 4 to 8 hours, the unit will generally lock up or spontaneously rebooot at least once.  Spontaneously reboot is "preferred" because at least then the internet comes back up in a minute or so.  But usually the device locks up and I need to remove the battery to get it to restart.  This is with the unit fairly lightly loaded -- two ipads streaming shows / playing games -- my wife's laptop sending email, and perhaps one other device (usually my phone for troubleshooting.  Only 5.8GHz, 40MHz, Long. 

I will admit the MR1100 is generally faster that the Velocity 2 (ZTE) I also recently purchased.  But I've not had a single crash on the Velocity 2 -- and it is a lot smaller.  I assume it's the limited CPU power of the device.  It has an Qualcomm x12 versus the x16 that's in the MR1100, but in my area both are more that sufficient for AT&T -- as is my old iPhone 6s which is generally faster than either of them

I still really like the MR1100 -- Speed, ethernet, battery life -- I just wish it didn't crash all of the time.  I'm also highly annoyed about the whole band 14 and LAA debacle.  My unit is gen1 aka pre band 14.  And everyone is still tight lipped about LAA, despite the fact that AT&T, Samsung, and others have already launched it.

[Tomderp]

This is spot on.

[TeeJay74]

Most of reboot SW bugs are actually fixed and major SW stability bug fix official update will be released highly likely during next week for retail model MR1100-100EUS. ISP versions must get same fixes soon too, I hope.