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? 

[pipebanfan]

I swapped sims in the past and never had to do anything, they just worked. The Antenna direction has never moved since it was installed. 

What i cant make sense of is that the two new ee sims I put in the router both initallty worked for 2/3 weeks (without having to even access router settings) then they just stopped working. 

Guy in EE shop mentioned something about them rebooting their service once a month & this could be knocking the sims out. 

I tried resetting the router & the new sims wouldn't work but my phone sim works just fine everytime i try it. It is probably a fault with the router, I reached out to mikrotik but no reply as yet. I just dont want the hassle of having to go to EE every month and asking for a new sim. 

[Schockwave]

@pipebanfan , if both sims work in your phone, then there is nothing wrong with the SIM cards, and it does not matter whether you are in a 5G or 4G area, as has been mentioned they are backward compatible and will work, so I would suggest that it is the antenna, and possibly, because it originally came from Poland, that could be the cause of the problem, unless someone else has another suggestion.

[pipebanfan]

You are probably right, the sims are fine. Its just weird to me that the two new sims have crashed in the mikrotik after working for 2/3 weeks but the older ee sims have never gave any bother. Hope Mikrotik have some answers.

[EssexBoyEE]

It's very unlikely to be a SIM related issue, the reason I asked for Signal and Cell Location is to try and rule out whether your sitting on a Coverage border, working across two Masts in different locations with an Directional Aerial or possibly have other Mechanical or Electrical issue.

One of the problems with Outdoor POE Routers is it's open to the elements, the SIM and the Ethernet Cable is situated within the Router, Outside possibly on a Mast, Pole, Wall Bracket etc, so every time you want to change the SIM you are technically disturbing the Setup or Direction.

With regard to the Outside Elements, the Router needs to be extremely well made to prevent Heat, Dust, Water or Condensation ingress, the weekest link is normally the SIM card Slot and the POE Cable Connection, without knowing the Router how are these protected? If it simply plugs in behind a plastic flap then it's not offering much protection over time compared to a good Rubber Sealed IP Rated protection.

Could it just be that swapping the Sims is just coincidental and is highlighting another issue with the SIM Slot Tray or POE Power Connection to the Router or Ethernet Cable performance again through the connecter plug and socket point.

How long has it been since the Device was Installed.

[pipebanfan]

The device was installed about a year ago & is in my roofspace so the outside elements are not a factor. Everything worked well for 10 months with the last ee sim I had. My contract ran out so I got a new contract & ee sent me a new sim. It worked well for about 3 weeks then the LTE light on the mikrotik just went out. I got a replacement sim which again worked for about 3 weeks but has stopped working (no lte light). 

[EssexBoyEE]

I can't make any comment on how it's performing inside your Roof space without knowing your Signal Info and which Mast(s) your connected to when it working and the same Info when it's not.

All I can do is make suggestions plus some other points that could be related to Outdoor LTE Routers.

[pipebanfan]

It was performing great for months & still does when i put my ee phone sim in it. It performed great for 3 weeks then just stopped working with the last 2 sims i got from ee. that is all i know.  

[Schockwave]

@pipebanfan Unless there was a problem with your SIM card, there was no need to discard the original SIM card, as they would still have worked. EE sometimes send out SIM cards to replace  the old ones, just in case there is a problem. Not sure why you are having problems after putting in a new replacement SIM card.

[mikeliuk]

Hi @pipebanfan ,

Apologies if you've already said, I wanted to ask a sanity check question whether the SIM which no longer works in the Mikrotik can work when moved into the mobile?

I got a replacement sim which again worked for about 3 weeks but has stopped working (no lte light).

Did the old SIM which stopped working in the Mikrotik work in your mobile?

There's a question which we don't want to know the answer to and that is whether if you leave your phone SIM long enough in the Mikrotik whether that SIM will also stop working in all devices.

[pipebanfan]

The sim that stopped working in the Mikrotik does work in my phone.