EC25-EUX modems drop AlwaysOn connection every 8 hours ONLY on EE-UK

IoT Modules LTE Standard Module
1

I’m having an issue in the field with my USB EC25-EUX modems.
They are connected Always On to the EE LTE Network in the UK.
EE have an 8 hour session limit but until about 3 months ago this was not a problem and the connection recovered immediately.
EE has made some changes somewhere and now the devices are disconnected unless I do a full initialisation again.
Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a firmware fix?

2

Dear @RobLeighton,

Thank you for reaching out.

EE’s 8-hour session limit is a network-initiated PDP deactivation. When that timer hits, the module will drop data and typically report a URC (e.g. +QIURC: “pdpdeact”,). If the host retries without clearing the local PDP state, the reconnect can get “stuck” and look like it needs a full re-init.

Recommended recovery (host side) :

  1. Monitor for the PDP-deact URC (and treat it as the trigger).

  2. On trigger: close sockets / stop data, then run:

  • AT+QIDEACT=

  • wait OK, then AT+QIACT=

  • then rebuild your data session (re-open sockets / bring interface back up).

  1. If it still doesn’t reattach after a short wait: toggle RF:
  • AT+CFUN=4 → wait ~10s → AT+CFUN=1

Regarding the firmware, there isn’t a generic “EE 8-hour fix” (the timeout is carrier policy), but recovery behavior can vary by firmware, so please share your ATI output and the URC/log snippet around the 8-hour drop. With that, we can confirm whether you’re hitting PDP deact / a reject cause and advise the correct firmware branch (and whether an update is recommended).

Best Regards,
Aghelan

3

Thanks for the detailed response.
It’s worth pointing out that this is a recent issue and is not exhibited with any of the other UK Networks…?

4

Dear @RobLeighton ,

Thank you for reaching out.

We understand on this, if this is only on EE-UK and started recently, it points to an EE network-side change at the 8-hour session expiry (policy/reattach behavior), not a general module fault.

The module cannot prevent EE’s timeout; the fix is to handle the network PDP drop correctly: on the drop/URC, run AT+QIDEACT= then AT+QIACT= and rebuild the data session.

Best Regards,
Aghelan

5

Just to follow-up: these two commands (QIDEACT / QIACT) aren’t documented in my AT Commands guide
.
Current firmware is EC25EUXGAR08A17M1G_20.200.20.200

Will they work?