Configuring WWAN access

In the interests of completeness this tutorial explains the creation of a new profile.

The item Profile disabled switches this mobile profile off. This option is useful if you wish to create a profile template only and complete the mobile setup at a later time.

The APN (access point name) is specific to each mobile phone provider. You will usually find this information in the documentation provided with your mobile phone contract.

The PDP context describes the support of the address spaces which the backbone of the corresponding cellular network provider offers for connections from the cellular network to the Internet. This can be either IPv4 or IPv6 alone, or can include support for both address spaces (dual stack). Clients that want to use the corresponding cellular network provider must support at least one of the specified address spaces.

Automatic

The cellular modem automatically logs into the mobile network that it last used successfully. If the device fails to login, the mobile interface automatically logs in to the home network (HPLMN) stored on the SIM card.

If the cellular modem is also unable to login to the home network stored on the SIM card, a PLMN list of preferred roaming partners on the SIM card is processed in sequence with attempted logins. The mobile interface then connects to the first available cellular network, regardless of the signal quality.

If none of the above networks is available, one of the available PLMN networks with a "good" signal quality is selected at random: Failing this, the PLMN networks with a sufficient signal quality are processed, in the descending order of signal quality.

As soon as the login process succeeds, the network will be used. There is no change of network unless a loss of connection occurs. The provider can however trigger a change of the cell and the access mode, if it considers this to be appropriate.

Manual

The cellular modem connects to the mobile phone network specified under Network name only.

Note: Manual mobile network selection is especially suitable when the device is in stationary operation and you wish to prevent it from connecting to another undesirable or more expensive mobile phone network.

Important: If the manually set mobile network is not available, no connection will be established because the cellular modem only ever logs in to the manually specified network.

With the setting Manual and the field Network name empty, following a scan, the CLI command do /Status/Modem-Mobile/Scan-Networks -senters the best network found into the field Network Name.

Semi automatic

With this method, the cellular modem initially logs in to the mobile network that is entered into the field Network Name. If the device fails to login, the cellular modem logs on to the home network (HPLMN) stored on the SIM card.

If the HPLMN is not available, then a method analogous to automatic network selection is used, whereby the device attempts to connect to the "operator controlled PLMN selector" (roaming partner), a randomly chosen good network, or the best weak network (in that order).

By quality

Using a scan manually initiated in LANmonitor or from the command line, the cellular modem searches for all available cellular networks and logs into the one with the best signal quality. If this login process fails, the cellular interface uses the semi-automatic network selection.

CLI commands

do /Status/Modem-Mobile/Scan-Networks -s -f

This command initially disconnects any existing cellular WAN connection, it then performs an extended scan and the best network is selected and stored to the configuration.

This command is available in combination with semi-automatic and manual network selection. The stored network is also valid after restarting the device (cold/warm boot) until “Scan-Networks -s / -e” is executed, for all modes except automatic. The results of the scan can be viewed under Status > Modem-Mobile > Network-List.

do /Status/Modem-Mobile/Scan-Networks -e -f

This command initially disconnects any existing cellular WAN connection and it then performs an extended scan. The parameter -e ensures that the best network found is used, but it is not entered into the configuration. However, the entry is made in the status tree.

do /Status/Modem-Mobile/Scan-Networks -s

This command performs a network scan only when the WWAN connection is inactive.

Note:

A manual scan can be performed on a regular basis and automatically by making an entry in the cron table on the R&S®NC router. Enter the command

do /Status/Modem-Mobile/Scan-Networks -s -f

into the configuration dialog.

The combination of the extended network scan (do scan-networks -e) and quality-based network selection ({Select} Quality) uses the Network-List table. In addition, registration and connection errors (for example, ICMP poll timeouts) are logged and taken into account.

Please note that the -s parameter must not be used in Quality mode, as it switches the selection to "Manual", thereby overriding automatic quality optimization.

LANmonitor

In LANmonitor, you perform the scans mentioned above by right-clicking with the mouse on the Network list and selecting the desired operation from the context menu. The scanning method Disconnect and use best network is the most effective.

Automatic

Automatic selection of transmission mode

LTE(4G)+UMTS(3G)

Combined LTE-UMTS operation

LTE(4G)+GPRS(2G)

Combined LTE-GPRS operation

LTE(4G)

LTE operation only

UMTS(3G)+GPRS(2G)

Combined UMTS-GPRS operation

UMTS(3G)

UMTS operation only

GPRS(2G)

GPRS operation only

If the value is set to 0, the mobile interface in the corresponding direction is considered to be unlimited and the QoS mechanisms will not take effect.

All

All frequency bands are enabled.

2100 MHz (B1)

2.1GHz band is enabled.

1800 MHz (B3)

1.8GHz band is enabled.

2600 MHz (B7)

2.6GHz band is enabled.

900 MHz (B8)

900MHz band is enabled.

800 MHz (B20)

800MHz band is enabled.

Enter a value in seconds to find a balance between the costs arising from idle time those of connection establishment, for example 300. A value of 0 causes the device to stay connected until it is broken and terminated. With a value of 9999 the device automatically reconnects every time.