Hi, I live in Italy and in the last 2 months I have been able to get the RM551E-GL modem (M2 interface with 2.5G ethernet adapter, dual SIM, USBC) working well by getting to aggregate 4 LTE bands (b1,b3,b7,b20) and 2 5G bands (n38+n78) at the same time getting 1150 mb/s in dl and 130 in ul. In Italy my provider wind3 has introduced CA in 5G between different blocks of N78 and N38. But the RM551E-GL modem does not aggregate the different N78 and N38 blocks. I would expect that in 5G NSA could aggregate N38+N38+N78+N78, but this does not happen … what can it depend on? is there a software patch I can apply to the firmware?
I use the latest firmware available, which is RM551EGL00AAR01A01M8G.
Dear @gpedulla73
RM551EGL00AAR01A01M8G is the latest firmware.
For CA combination, it depends on the ue capability of module and the base station deployment.
Many thank’s Silvia.
The base station can aggregate four carrier in 5G NSA.
So the problem is in the ue equipmente and in my case is RM551E-GL modem.
My RM551E-GL it’s not able to aggregate double n78 and double n38 (N38+N38+N78+N78), but is an X75 based modem with 4CA capability in 5G SA and NSA.
There is some patch to solve this issue?
Dear @gpedulla73
Sorry about this, it didn’t support this combination(N38+N38+N78+N78).
Thank’s Silvia. What kind of combinations you support?
Do you have a list, please?
Dear @gpedulla73
Sorry about this, I can’t share the list directly.
Do you have any other combinations which interested in? I can help you to check.
Thank’s Silvia.
I am testing RM551 in Italy where there is currently only 5G NR NSA, that is, through dual RF_ENDC connectivity.
I noticed that it aggregates LTE bands very well with 1 or at most 2 5G bands. As if the RM551 can at most aggregate 2 carriers (2CA max).
In Italy there are the following bands (various phone operators):
n1,n3,n7,n38,n78,n257.
The best efficiency band is n78 which can be aggregated into inter-band n78+n78 both contiguous and noncontiguous.
I therefore would like to get at least 4CA as many have achieved in the US using RM551.
For example:
n78+n38
n78+n38
n78+n78+n38
n78+n78+n40
n78+n78+n41
Would that be possible?
@gpedulla73 n78+n78 carrier aggregation is irrelevant in italy for the operator who has n38 because the spectrum has been unified to 80MHz n78 in the Zefiro area; elsewhere you have only 60MHz. The best you can do with the current deployment, only for non-ZTE 5G deployments (Ericsson only) is some 4G combination + n38 + n78.
The best you can do is n78 (40MHz) + n78 (40MHz) + n38(20MHz) only in Bolzano and Val D’Aosta
Alessandro, do you know which is the best quectel 5G module to aggregate bands in Italy, I live in Aosta but, with RM520N-GL I’m just aggregating following bans:
+QCAINFO: “PCC”,400,50,“LTE BAND 1”,1,201,-85,-9,-60,17
+QCAINFO: “SCC”,2900,50,“LTE BAND 7”,1,20,-89,-11,-69,7,0,-,-
+QCAINFO: “SCC”,3350,100,“LTE BAND 7”,1,20,-88,-11,-68,9,0,-,-
+QCAINFO: “SCC”,1500,50,“LTE BAND 3”,1,201,-77,-14,-53,0,0,-,-
+QCAINFO: “SCC”,1650,100,“LTE BAND 3”,1,201,-77,-15,-52,0,0,-,-
Speedtest is about 150MB/s
thanks
Thank’s Alessandro and how you got 3CA with RM551E-GL? RM551E-GL seems (at the moment) to work only in 2CC both NSA. To get better CA performance (3CC or 4CC) you need to implement some changes but i don’t know how …
If you need send me something please send to my email Kamhir_Ozir@hotmail.com
Many thank’s for your support.
There’s no way to get 3CA in NSA because it violates the specifications. Max aggregation (for 5G) is 2CA. X75 can do 4CA (for 5G-SA). That’s not available in Italy and it won’t be anytime soon, unfortunately.
@giorez I suggest to wait for the N78 band to be added or change provider. According to the docs, the RM520N-GL can aggregate 7+7+3+3 + n78. I would disable B1 if your BTS has 5G and see if it aggregates N78. Otherwise, leave it as is and wait
@Alessandro thanks a lot for your tip. I’ll try as soon I get back the module from repairing.
Thank you Alexander. In the official specification of the RM551E-GL it is stated 5CA and it is not mentioned that it is referred only to 5G SA.
Where did you read that in NSA mode the RM551E-GL supports only 2CA? Could you pass me the link or the document that mentions this?
I will turn this site over to you in the meantime:
and then I attach RM551E-GL technical specifications.
Also look here for RM551E-GL specs: it is stated 5CA.
The best way is to ask quectel about RM551E-GL_CA_EN-DC_Features.xlsx file, or dump the log for Qualcomm messages 0xB826 or 0xB0CD. The datasheet doesn’t describe accurately what the modem can do