Swap Dell laptop integral WWAN from BT data only Sim to EE voice and data Sim

[Neil171]

Hi,

At the insistence of BT's sales team, I accepted their offer to swap my  reliable mobile cellular broadband connection for my Dell Latitude rugged 7404 laptop, with integral Dell Sierra  EM7455  WWAN data modem capable of supporting UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA+ and 4G / LTE, with integral SIM slot, to their replacement EE unlimited SIM only service, as part of my B-Band package 'upgrade'.

I received the new EE SIM, and my number was successfully ported from BT to EE, but have since been unable to receive any cellular broadband service whatsoever, this Windows 10 laptop only showing the EE SIM was activated, but only able to receive 'EDGE', and was unable to connect with EE's DNS, despite EE's 150 No.support staff asserting  all including the APN settings appeared  to be configured OK, but offering no further help as it was deemed a '3rd party equipment issue'.

Obviously, as the BT data only SIM service had worked faultlessly prior to the swap, the fault must be due to the swap to an EE unlimited SIM, so can anyone thread some light on how to resolve the problem.

The new EE (4G /5G?) SIM works OK in a phone but not my Laptop? My Wifi and GPS services are unaffected due to their use of separate cards within this DELL Laptop. This laptop or its WWAN card is not 5G cellular, or indeed Windows 11 compatible.

Has anyone experienced the same issue and had it resolved without having to utilize an external cellular Wifi dongle?

N.

[Peter_W]

Good Afternoon @Neil171 

Welcome to the EE Community!

This is a tough one, as everything you've mentioned here would imply it's a setting out of place somewhere between the SIM and your laptop that's not quite right. 

Otherwise this SIM wouldn't work with your phone. 

Have you tried any other network SIMs with the laptop bar your previous BT one to see if these work?
Peter

[Neil171]

Peter_W,

Thanks for the reply, I am yet to try an alternative SIM to that originally provided by BT or my problematic EE replacement.

In the first instance I am awaiting delivery of a used EE Kite E5878s-32 4G / LTE Mobile Broadband Wi-Fi Hotspot Router, as a stop-gap, but I guess it is no great advantage to the alternative (which worked) of tethering the laptop to my phone which also uses an  allegedly identical EE SIM, but both these options defeat the advantage of using a inbuilt SIM especially in my DELL rugged splash-proof laptop for marine plotter use.

I will  also be buying a cheap pay-as-u-go data-only SIM just to check if another networks SIM will work.

All i can think is in some way there may be a small but important difference between how the 'old' BT 'data only' SIM which worked without issue, to the way the replacement  EE 'voice & data' SIM was recognized (or not)  by the integral DELL SIERRA made WWAN card. Unfortunately the old BT SIM is now  in effect blocked, so no test migration back to BT mobile is possible.

I find it strange why the BT (a MVNO which used EE's 4G infrastructure) SIM worked but the EE one does not, given that both allegedly used the same physical network - or did it??

Unfortunately, there appears to be no way the force the DELL WWAN card to change from 2.5G EDGE to 4G by  my Windows 10 software, and 3G  appears is no longer an available fallback option with the EE network, although it was an option with BT's 'old' mobile service - maybe this is the difference, hence the problem?

N.