FiPy, NB-IoT, 1nce/ Telekom.de germany: fails, no band 8 support?

florianrdt

@cts Have you sent in your FiPy back and did you get it to work now?

I'm trying to work with GPy and 1NCE.

Dom

Just tried today to connect via 1nce with (updated) GPy Band 8 -> no attachment possible :( anyone got it working?

robert-hh

@dom With the November modem firmware NB1-40343 and a 1nce card my devices get connected. Band=8, EARFCN=3740, Python firmware 1.20.0.rc7.
The first attach took like forever, like 10 minutes, but then it was OK. It takes like 10 seconds after a colde boot to attach. Still way worse than a SIM7020 modem I have, which attaches in less than a second, after is had the initial attach once.

tvetter1976

Do I really have to send all my divices back to Pycom, if I like to use band 8? Robert are you living in Germany? Have you experience with the network coverage of (1nce) NB-iot? I will maybe buy some cards from Telefonica, because they also support roaming for the Vodafone and the Telekom network in addition to the Telefonica network.

robert-hh

@tvetter1976 From what I learned from the discussion, the device have to be returned to Pycom. Whether they are upgraded or replaced, I cannot tell.
And yes, I live in Germany, but never tried to use the device outside my home. That is still on my list. I could try to get information about the coverage.

bqpd

@robert-hh

Hi, am also trying to get a 1nce SIM card running here in germany.
I tried the "normal" way as the pycom documentation suggests:

from network import LTE
lte = LTE()
lte.attach(band=8, apn="iot.1nce.net")

but even after 15 minutes i couldn't get any result.
I also tried to connect via AT commands

lte.send_at_cmd('AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","iot.1nce.net"')
lte.send_at_cmd('AT+CFUN=1')
lte.send_at_cmd('AT+COPS=1,2,"26201",9')

and the "custom" commands like lte.send_at_cmd("AT!=\"RRC::addscanfreq band=8 dl-earfcn=3740\"")

So far neither of the approaches did work for me.
Could you please describe what exactly you did to get a working connection?

Thanks a lot!

robert-hh

@bqpd That is a short script which works:

#
from network import LTE
import time

lte = LTE()
lte.attach(band=8, apn="iot.1nce.net")
while not lte.isattached():
    time.sleep(0.5)
    print(".", end="")

print("\nAttached!")

print(lte.send_at_cmd("AT+CSQ"))

lte.connect()       # start a data session and obtain an IP address
while not lte.isconnected():
    time.sleep(0.5)
    print("-", end="")

print("Connected!")

The value returned by AT+CSQ is 25,99, which indicated a good reception. As antenna I use a quarter-wavelength 868 MHz antenna, which I tested to work well enough up to the LTE band 8 frequency. The Pycom Lora antenna should be fine too.

bqpd

@robert-hh Thanks a lot! I will test it soon. Maybe i should also try it in a larger city to minimize the risk of net availability issues.

Andy_N.

@robert-hh
today i was able to try this script. I updatetd the firmware to MicroPython 1.20.0.rc1 and the sequans firmware updatetd with "upgdiff_33080-to-40343.dup" on my GPy successfully.
I inserted the 1nce SIM and tried your script with connected pycom LTE-antenna via Atom shell in Munich.

Unfortunately i wasnt able to attach... i tried several times, each for 45 min but nothing happend.

Any idea what can be wrong? What else i can try?

Thanks

robert-hh

@andy_n I do not recall if you have a FiPy module refurbished by PyCom for BAND=8 support. If not, the software may accept the setting, but it will simply not work. You can query the list of supported bands with:
from network import LTE

lte = LTE()
lte.send_at_command('at!="RRC:showcaps"')

It should return something like:

== CAPS config =============================
  .Lock UE on SRV band    : false
  .MFBI support           : true
  .TM8 TDD support        : false
============================================
== CAPS ====================================
  . access stratum: R13
  . catM          : 1
  . nb-IoT        : 1
-- EUTRA bands --
  . supported     : 28/20/13/12/8/5/4/3
  . board         : 3/4/5/8/12/13/20/28
  . admin         : 
  . pending admin : 
-- EUTRA carriers --
  . admin         : 
  . pending admin : 
============================================
OK

Joop Susan

@robert-hh Showcaps does not work for me.

>>> from network import LTE
>>> lte = LTE()
>>> lte.send_at_cmd('at!="RRC:showcaps"')
'\r\nNo permission to use the RRC private debug CLI\r\n\r\nOK\r\n'
>>>

I also have the problem that I can't connect on band 8 on an upgraded GPy.

What other way is there to see if the firmware supports band 8?

See: T-Mobile NB-IoT in the Netherlands?

Joop Susan

Found solution for showcaps rejection from another thread.

>>> from network import LTE
>>> lte = LTE()
>>> print(lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="RRC:setDbgPerm full"'))
OK
>>> print(lte.send_at_cmd('at!="RRC:showcaps"'))
== CAPS config =============================
  .Lock UE on SRV band    : false
  .MFBI support           : true
  .TM8 TDD support        : false
============================================
== CAPS ====================================
  . access stratum: R13
  . catM          : 1
  . nb-IoT        : 1
-- EUTRA bands --
  . supported     : 28/20/13/12/4/3
  . board         : 3/4/12/13/20/28
  . admin         : 
  . pending admin : 
-- EUTRA carriers --
  . admin         : 
  . pending admin : 
============================================
OK
>>>

So this means that this one needs to be RMA'ed?

robert-hh

@joop-susan Yes.

tvetter1976

I am lucky to have:


>>> print(lte.send_at_cmd('at!="RRC:showcaps"'))

== CAPS config =============================
  .Lock UE on SRV band    : false
  .MFBI support           : true
  .TM8 TDD support        : false
============================================
== CAPS ====================================
  . access stratum: R13
  . catM          : 1
  . nb-IoT        : 1
-- EUTRA bands --
  . supported     : 28/20/13/12/8/5/4/3
  . board         : 3/4/5/8/12/13/20/28
  . admin         :
  . pending admin :
-- EUTRA carriers --
  . admin         :
  . pending admin :
============================================```

And I can confirm that it works without any SimCard inserted!

Andy_N.

@joop-susan
here the same problem, but your code worked.

>>> from network import LTE
>>> lte = LTE()
>>> print(lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="RRC:setDbgPerm full"'))
OK
>>>  print(lte.send_at_cmd('at!="RRC:showcaps"'))
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
IndentationError: unexpected indent
>>> print(lte.send_at_cmd('at!="RRC:showcaps"'))

== CAPS config =============================
  .Lock UE on SRV band    : false
  .MFBI support           : true
  .TM8 TDD support        : false
============================================
== CAPS ====================================
  . access stratum: R13
  . catM          : 1
  . nb-IoT        : 1
-- EUTRA bands --
  . supported     : 28/20/13/12/4/3
  . board         : 3/4/12/13/20/28
  . admin         :
  . pending admin :
-- EUTRA carriers --
  . admin         :
  . pending admin :
============================================

OK

ok so there is no band 8 in the supported line...
i also need to send the boards back to geht upgraded ones...
Thanks a lot!

tvetter1976

@robert-hh
Can you give an example how to send data using 1nce sim card?

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FiPy, NB-IoT, 1nce/ Telekom.de germany: fails, no band 8 support?

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