Issues connecting Nest cameras to Huawei router when EE sim installed

[AnderPsych]

Hi all, new here and hoping this will (1) make sense, and (2) be something that can be fixed!

I have a Huawei B525s-23a 4G router that, until recently, I was running on a sim from Three. I had all my Nest cameras attached to it, among other things. I recently joined EE as I saw better speed, and got an unlimited mobile sim (as I read elsewhere on here that you can use it in a router as long as you conform to the FUP of being under 1,000Gb per month). When connecting to that router, I do get some internet (and some strong speeds) when running speed tests, however, these speed tests often take 30-60 seconds to start before returning a ping of about 23 and then showing me good speeds between 100 and 200Mbps. 

That said, I go into my Nest app and all my cameras are offline. I put the Three sim back in and they all come back up; I put the EE sim back in and they’re offline. I tried to go through the pairing again of the cameras to the WIFI router and it fails out every time it comes to the WIFI testing stage.

Any idea what might be causing this, or what I could try to get around it? I may need to cancel my EE and live with my Three connection.

Many thanks in advance

Martin

[XRaySpeX]

Try changing the APN /

Profile of your mobile router to APN Protocol = IPv4 Only rather than IPv4/IPv6.

The FUP for unlimited data plans is now 600 GB. 

[AnderPsych]

Many thanks for coming back on this, @XRaySpeX.

Unfortunately I couldn't get that to work. I have a limited capability to change the settings and, as soon as I tried to change the APN, it all went offline completely.

Here is a screenshot showing the current settings (which were applied automatically upon inserting the EE SIM card); changing the APN from "everywhere" made it go offline.

I also found the settings online showing the username and password (eesecure and secure), so I know they were all correct.

Thanks again!

[XRaySpeX]

OK, that method's out. Your APN has no value for APN Protocol (not Profile Name).

Now try this. If your mobile router is dual band, set it to the 2.4 GHz band only.

[mikeliuk]

Hi @AnderPsych ,

As you wait for an expert opinion, I went in to edit my settings and the Netgear MR1100 suggests authentication is set to none for me.

I'm probably misinterpreting this but you could attempt blank username and password which I'm aware is contrary to online advice.

Most likely my router is just hiding the credentials but can't harm to try with empty credentials as you await further expert input. Good luck! 🤓

Edit: I'm assuming that after each change of the profile to be applied, a router reboot is carried out to ensure sane behaviour.

[AnderPsych]

Thanks for your help on this, @mikeliuk.

I tried this but, unfortunately, it was the same issue.

Worth a shot, though!

[AnderPsych]

Thanks again, @XRaySpeX.

Tried it and still not able to connect the cameras, even though I'm still online and getting the following speeds:

[mikeliuk]

Making a note that I've created two test profiles to test whether authentication credentials are required on the Netgear MR1100 and for an unknown reason, the profiles are able to connect after a router reboot both with and without credentials.

I'm aware this testing doesn't really help with the debugging of the Huawei router but this result may be useful to others and as part of future debugging.

Edit: I've also tried "IPV4V6" dual-stack on the Netgear MR1100 and that seems very broken (probably more Netgear's fault and not the fault of the service provider). Per another post, this device only supports IPv6 on the WAN and there is no IPv6 support on the LAN side. Windows 10 believed it had no connection and there were DNS issues (presumably IPv6 was favoured on the WAN but responses could not be delivered to devices on the LAN). Luckily, I could still access the router via IPv4 on the LAN to revert the test, despite Windows 10 reporting no connection and seeing no WiFI access points.

Edit2: for completeness, I'll mention that Three has multiple APNs and at least one of which provides an IPv4 address directly routable on the internet. A further test can be to insert the Three SIM and observe whether the IP assigned is a 100.x.x.x address or appears to be publicly routable. The Three APN might be three.co.uk. The APN could be switched to a CGNAT APN to test whether the Nest devices will work behind CGNAT (a search online would be easier but I cannot find the answer from such searches). Disabling IPv6 as a debugging method seems reasonably if it is unused. I have a question on these forums to check whether anyone has a valid IPv6 configuration on the LAN side. Another test would be to move the EE SIM to a mobile phone and test both the credentials and the camera functionality from there. All these suggestions are really going down the rabbit hole so I'm not really expecting anyone to take these up. Awaiting an expert opinion with experience of that device is likely to be the best option to save time.

[EssexBoyEE]

There are ongoing issues on the EE Radio Network when using IPV6 protocol, more noticeable when use LTE / 5G Routers or MiFi Devices. For this reason I would strongly advice the use of IPV4 Only on these Devices for the time being.

[AnderPsych]

Many thanks, @mikeliuk.

I'll see what I can do when I get back later. I suspect the phone will be an issue as it is a data only plan (for mobile broadband), but will see!