EE SIM in Mikrotik 4g lte

[pipebanfan]

I live in a rural area so I bought a Mikrotik 4g LTE antenna. 

I had a 4g SIM with 100gb for £35 that worked great for 2 years. That contract ended so I got a new we sim, 120gb for £20. Brought it home, popped it in, worked fine. 

A couple of weeks later it stopped working in the LTE antenna. 

Tried new antenna SIM in my phone & it worked fine. Put my phone SIM in antenna & antenna worked fine. Switched them back & antenna SIM wouldn't work in antenna. 

Went to ee shop & they gave me a new SIM. Came home, popped it in antenna, worked fine for a couple of weeks but has stopped working again. 

Guy in the shop mentioned something about ee rebooting something every month that may have knocked it off. 

Anyone else experiencing problems with new ee sims in Mikrotik antenna? 

[EssexBoyEE]

When you say Antenna, I assume you mean the Router ?, If so Login to the Router and check or redo the APN Settings for the EE Network.

[pipebanfan]

APN setting says 'everywhere'

I dont understand how one EE sim works but the other one doesn't.

Could the newer 5g ready sim cards be causing an issue?

[mikeliuk]

Hi @pipebanfan ,

From the information provided here, the issue seems to follow the Mikrotik device so one play may be to purchase a cheap 4G LTE router to see if the problem disappears.

If the Mikrotik device is still commercially supported, it may be useful to ask the manufacturer if there is a known issue and a known fix (perhaps as simple as a firmware update). Mikrotik community support forums may have useful information if such forums exist. Good luck!

[EssexBoyEE]

All new Sims for 5G are backwards compatible, it's not the SIM that's 5G, it's the SIM communicating with your Account / Network / Device that Authenticates the 5G.

Is your Phone SIM also EE?

What is the Model number of the Router and where did it come from?

[EssexBoyEE]

@mikeliuk why are you telling the OP to go out and buy a Cheap LTE Router at this stage before anyone has had a chance to try and help with the OPs current issue.

[pipebanfan]

Yes my phone sim is EE.

Mikrotik LHG 4G kit
LHG 4G/LTE High gain 21dBi CPE for very remote areas, LTE modem for bands 3, 7, 20, 31, 41n, 42 and 43

product code: RBLHGR&R11e-4G

Bought it on eBay, came from Poland

[EssexBoyEE]

So this is one of those POE External Routers rather than being Antenna Coax Cable fed, whilst I'm very familiar POE LTE External Routers, mainly Huawei and ZTE, I have no knowledge of Mikrotik or played with or tested one.

The first thing that jumps out to me is the 21dbi Antenna Gain and that it's a CAT4 Only Router, hmm, it's actually extremely difficult to get 21dbi gain without out it being very very directional, meaning the Antenna needs to be pointing exactly where it needs to be, or maybe the The Gain is just a Manufacture marketing claim?

How did you Install and set this up, how did you derive your EE Mast Area  Locations etc.

What's the Signal and speed like on your phone compared to the Router etc.

If you login to the Router what info can it give you on Cell ID / eNBiD and Signals RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI and SINR.

[mikeliuk]

Hi @pipebanfan ,

I had a feeling it might be this Mikrotik device when you described it as an antenna! I've still got it in my Amazon wishlist from the time I had signal problems but I think I judged it was too bulky and inconvenient for my requirements.

If your SIM works in your phone, I feel this device might be overkill. I'm quite happy for you to continue debugging within this device but it's worth bearing in mind that you've said you've even switched the SIM itself so it really sounds like the problem is following the Mikrotik device and nothing else. Good luck with your debugging!

[EssexBoyEE]

Going back to the SIM swapping, difficult one, could be that the Router just needs a Hard Reboot after each SIM insertion, or the Antenna Direction is between Masts and is handing off which is proving difficult, or your pointing the Antenna at an Reflective Signal from somewhere, but would still be useful to gather Cell ID and Signals.