Questions about using an Unlocked LTE Mobile Hotspot on Rogers

[Wayne]

I bought an unlocked Sierra 754s mobile LTE hotspot on Amazon. This device is sold in the US by AT&T as the Elevate 4G and by Rogers as the LTE rocket mobile hotspot. My device has an AT&T logo on it and the web based admin software has AT&T all over it. (This was discussed in this thread: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=151152)

I had this product shipped to an address in the US and I used it with an AT&T microSIM (non-LTE) that I had already authorized while it was in my iPad - I needed to use an adapter as this device takes regular size SIMs. I was able to use the device without problems while in the US as the account that I set up on the SIM card while it was in my iPad worked fine in the Sierra device.

I am now back in Canada and wondering how to use the device. When I keep the AT&T microSIM card in the device it won't connect to a network even if I activate data roaming. No big problem there since I didn't really plan to use it that way and the AT&T prepaid data account probably doesn't allow roaming.

When I put in the SIM from my Rogers Blackberry in the device and activate roaming then I can use the device for internet access but it thinks it is roaming. Presumably this is because it is an AT&T device on a Rogers network.

When I put the Rogers microSIM from my iPad in the device I get an error saying "Phone not allowed MM#6".

Here are my questions:

1. Is it a problem that the device thinks it is roaming with a Rogers SIM while in Canada? Since it is a Rogers SIM on a Rogers network the data usage should just be counting towards my regular data plan, correct? I won't get a ridiculous bill from Rogers, will I?
2. Why do I get the Phone not allowed error with my Rogers iPad microSIM? I found a post elsewhere that says that SIMs with a prefix of 893027204010 are bad - does this make sense? (and that is the prefix of my SIM) Is the SIM locked (is that even possible)?
3. If I go to Rogers and buy an LTE SIM card how can I be sure that I won't get the same "phone not allowed error"?
4. If I get a Rogers LTE SIM then how do you sign up for a data plan? When trying to browse the web through the device will it just force me to a Rogers page to sign up for a data plan, not unlike when you try to use your browser at a hotel or at other places with wifi hotspots that require logins?
5. Similary if I buy an AT&T LTE SIM how will I sign up for a data plan?
6. While in the UK what is the best way to use this device? They don't have LTE in the UK yet but it should work with HSPA+ but who's SIM should I get? I have used a 3 microSIM in my iPad on previous trips. Should I use 3? Vodaphone? Orange?

[Wayne]

Update - I tried one other micro SIM - the one from my wife's iPhone 4. At first it looks as if everything is good on the 754S as it says Roaming on Rogers. But I can't get access to the internet from my connected devices so there isn't actually a good connection to the outside world. Strange unless Rogers somehow disables data access for devices other than iPhones - note that this SIM card aslo starts with the "bad" prefix.

But I definitely did get access when I was using my BB SIM card.

[JamesK]

Have you tried calling Rogers for assistance?

[Wayne]

Not yet as I find Rogers's CSRs to be marginally useful when you are dealing with straightforward questions and almost useless when you are dealing with something out of the ordinary like this. I would bet that their response to these questions will be "buy a Sierra 754s from Rogers".

[tim85251]

I've done something like this before... I live in Phoenix and travel often enough to Mexico that I keep a Telcel SIM active. The fact that it connects to Rogers and says "roaming" confirms that your device is unlocked and it'll probably always say that. You just have to create a WAN data profile for the Rogers APN. As for LTE, couldn't speak to that as Telcel doesn't run it anywhere yet.

Point your web browser at the hotspot's default website - att.elevate is the URL.

Login to the hotspot with the password of attadmin

Under advanced settings, click WAN. Then click setup. Click add/edit profiles.

In the pulldown menu that pops up (it'll be labeled AT&T Mobile) choose new.

Put in whatever name for the new profile - but make sure the APN name matches the service provisioned on your Rogers SIM you have now. (At this point you're just testing that it works on HSPA.) I'm not sure if you need to authenticate to whatever Rogers APN - authentication type will likely be PAP and whatever username and password, but you'll have to determine that independently.

Don't delete the AT&T mobile profile if you intend to ever use the device in the US... it'll just hang out in memory. Once you save your new Robbers, er, Rogers profile, select it on the tab you just came from and close that box.

Power the hotspot off - you can do it from the web interface - and then turn it back on with a Rogers SIM. If all goes well you should have an internet connection although the device will still show that it's "Roaming."

So with the concept proved with a SIM and service you already have (it'll likely be no faster than HSPA since that's not provisioned on the SIM from your phones, I think) you then have to talk a Rogers store into selling you an LTE plan on a SIM - or something like that.

You may or may not need to edit your Rogers APN profile on the hotspot after you get an LTE sim to make it match the APN they expect you to connect on.

[TorontoColin]

As long as you are using a Rogers SIM on the Rogers network, you shouldn't be charged for roaming. However, you should make sure that you are using the right APN for your plan. My guess is, as mentioned above, you need to configure the APNs for Rogers on the MiFi. As it was an AT&T device, it would only have the APNs for roaming on Rogers.

The best and most reliable way to get a data plan is either through the Rogers (or whatever other provider) website, or by calling a rep. AFAIK, Rogers doesn't offer LTE on day/week passes at the moment, only on monthly plans. I imagine LTE requires a special APN, as well as the SIM. Bell is the same way, though Telus has said they will allow current plans on LTE. I don't know how AT&T does it.

The best way to make sure that an LTE SIM will work is by making sure your current SIM works. Otherwise, it will be a gamble.

All UK HSPA providers should work fine. Just pick the one that offers the best balance of cost and coverage for your trip.

[gh4507]

I am trying to do the same with AT&T and either Bell or Rogers using an iPad microSIM in a ZTE MF62.

After much googling and experimentation, i finally discovered that, for the AT&T iPad (pay as you go) SIM to work in my ZTE mobile hotspot, the APN needs to be simply "broadband" (no quotes, no user, no password). wap.cingular, isp.cingular, ispda.cingular, internet, and several others recommended by googling simply did not work.

Has anyone determined the valid APN for Bell or Rogers in Canada. Again, this would for an active iPad-only SIM in an unlocked mobile hotspot.

Thanks.

[sgarsena]

I just went through the process of unlocking an ATT aircard 754S to use on Rogers network.
One thing you will need to do is buy a LTE Sim card. When I called Rogers they didn't say that I needed this but you do. After trying several things I concluded that this was necessary. Then you need to call Rogers if you have an existing plan (I had a plan for a rocket stick) and had them activate the new Sim card.
You also need to go into the the hotspot'[s default web site as indicated by tim8251 and change the APN to ltemobile.apn (No need for a username and password)
I got the APN from the Rogers web site.

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by sgarsena

One thing you will need to do is buy a LTE Sim card. When I called Rogers they didn't say that I needed this but you do. After trying several things I concluded that this was necessary. Then you need to call Rogers if you have an existing plan (I had a plan for a rocket stick) and had them activate the new Sim card.

I have bought a Rogers LTE SIM but I have not yet got it activated. I haven't got around to calling Rogers but I am even wondering what plans they have available on a PAYGO basis for a device like this? Do you know what plans are available?

Can you tell them that you just want an iPad plan? They seem to be pretty flexible and you can cancel whenever you want.

[Wayne]

OK, here is something really weird. I decided to try a Telus SIM card from a Huawei E587 in my Sierra 754S. Upon booting up it said "Updating firmware". That took about 5 minutes and when it was done I was able to get connected to the Telus network, although I had horrible speeds.

Why would it update firmware if I put in a new SIM, and where was it getting the data file to update the firmware? From the SIM card? Very strange.

But the firmware is different as the build date is 03/07/12 and I bought my 754S in February.

Very strange - by the way the Web UI still shows as being AT&T.


There is new firmware available from this page: http://www.sierrawireless.com/en/sit...levate_4G.aspx

Does anyone know if updating the firmware will relock an unlocked device.

[TorontoColin]

It was probably uploading a new APN, possibly from the SIM card. Updating the firmware doesn't re-lock phones, but I can't be certain about MiFis

[Wayne]

It didn't seem to have new APNs, in fact the custom profiles that I had created (which store the APNs) disappeared after the firmware update. So I re-added a Rogers APN and created a new APN for Telus. I was able to get service on both Telus (using the SIM from the Huawei MiFi) and Rogers, using the SIM from my Blackberry, but the download speeds were crappy even though I appeared to be on HSPA+ networks on both providers.

[leucis]

I recently bought an unlocked Sierra 754S off of eBay. As others have reported, this one is also AT&T branded, but it is in fact unlocked. Today I bought a Telus SIM card with a data plan and popped it in the device, and with a bit of fiddling it now works.

The first stumbling block was being unable to access the device as an admin. Thanks very much to the person who said it's "attadmin" because that did the trick (it was NOT "swiadmin" which is what it says in Sierra's instruction manual). Then adding a new APN was required, which thankfully was available from Telus' website. It's isp.telus.com if anyone is interested. Thanks again to this forum for pointing me in the right direction on that one; I had no knowledge of APNs and didn't realize that was causing the device to not connect.

As seems to be the case with others, it does say that I'm "roaming on Telus". But that of course is nonsense because it's a Telus SIM. I'm assuming it just says that because it's an AT&T branded device and it's programmed to say roaming for anything not AT&T.

Thanks again to you folks, I was very happy to find the info I needed in this thread. I hope I'm as successful when I travel to other countries in the coming months and try out some more SIMs in this device.

[fayg]

I have also purchased this device online. I tried the APN for bell and it does not work. It still searches for the network. I did originally get a "bell roaming" message and then it disappears. I took the sim card from our Netgear hub. Anyone else have any suggestions as to getting this thing working.