EG12 and CA failed after 5 minutes or more on dynamic aggregation

Sebastiii · June 10, 2020, 8:12am

Hello,

I’m owning Mikrotik Chateau LTE12 based on EG12 and with firmware A06.

We have encountered an issue with french local operators, where CA is enabled only on specific load.

When IP session is UP, the modem detect all CA available (here 3CA on my side for B3/B7/B28).

But after a while and it seems very quickly (5 minutes) but sometimes it’s later 1 hour, the aggregation failed to work, it stays only on PCC and no more SCC1 and SCC2.

The only way/workaround to restore it is to reactivate the IP session (disable/enable).

It’s like the modem EG12 goes in kind on standby for CA but is never reactivated while load is back (data download).

Is there a way to force CA to be able to awake by a specific command or something else ?

I suppose Mikrotik has contacted you about this ?

Thank you in advance,
Regards,
Sebastiii

Jeffrey · June 11, 2020, 4:48am

Dear Sebastiii,
Thanks for your inquiry in Quectel forum。
There no method to force enable CA, it’s auto base on data capability. Suggest you capture a log and send to support@quectel.com to get technical support from our local FAE .

Sebastiii · June 11, 2020, 7:44am

Dear Jeffrey,
Ok, will grab log to send to support email.

Sebastiii · June 11, 2020, 1:42pm

I have just send a syslog output log
3CA was working sporadically, I have done some internet load to trigger CA and sometimes it wasn’t working but after a while yes. This is really weird.
Thanks.

SiB · June 11, 2020, 10:57pm

Hello, I must ask bcs with EG12-EA we have situation when with CellLock or without it we see by first ~3minutes 3CA connected, but one is not active but configure.
After ~3minutes he disappears and we not see that cell even in a “neighbourcell” results.

How activate that scc ??

Photo from at commands book and screenshot of #QCAINFO who describe our problem. Follow yellow marks.

Jeffrey · June 12, 2020, 5:14am

Dear SIB:
The state of the CA is mainly determined by the network situation. For your problem, need check the log to dig out the reason, we suggest to grab the log of more than 6 minutes and send it to our local engineers( support@quectel.com), who will fully support this problem. Thank you

Sebastiii · June 12, 2020, 7:55am

Hi Jeffrey,
In my syslog send to support, you should see like SiB describe too, it happens the same here.
Thanks.

|Jun 12 09:56:30|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QNETINFO="cmr"|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Jun 12 09:56:30|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QNETINFO: "cmr",12,22,2,0|
|Jun 12 09:56:33|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QENG="servingcell"|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QENG: "servingcell","NOCONN","LTE","FDD",208,15,63F2A3E,187,3350,7,5,5,E78,-83,-12,-50,21,0,70,-|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QCAINFO|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "pcc",3350,100,"LTE BAND 7",1,187,-83,-12,-50,22|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "scc",1675,75,"LTE BAND 3",1,187,-81,-9,-64,0|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd DL|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QNETINFO="cmr"|
|Jun 12 09:56:34|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QNETINFO: "cmr",13,21,2,0|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QENG="servingcell"|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QENG: "servingcell","NOCONN","LTE","FDD",208,15,63F2A3E,187,3350,7,5,5,E78,-83,-12,-51,21,0,70,-|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QCAINFO|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "pcc",3350,100,"LTE BAND 7",1,187,-83,-13,-51,21|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "scc",1675,75,"LTE BAND 3",1,187,-81,-7,-66,0|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd DL|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QNETINFO="cmr"|
|Jun 12 09:56:37|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QNETINFO: "cmr",14,12,2,1|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QENG="servingcell"|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QENG: "servingcell","NOCONN","LTE","FDD",208,15,63F2A3E,187,3350,7,5,5,E78,-84,-7,-57,24,0,-32768,-|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QCAINFO|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "pcc",3350,100,"LTE BAND 7",1,187,-84,-7,-57,24|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QCAINFO: "scc",1675,75,"LTE BAND 3",1,187,-81,-14,-58,0|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd DL|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|sent AT+QNETINFO="cmr"|
|Jun 12 09:56:40|lte,async,raw|||lte1|rcvd +QNETINFO: "cmr",15,1,1,1|

We can see here, that B28 is missing and B3 not activated while performing big ISO download

Jeffrey · June 12, 2020, 8:35am

hi Sebastiii,
Thank you for your hard work.
We have received your email. Our professional engineer analyzing it now. He will give feedback to you as soon as possible, thank you very much.

Sebastiii · June 12, 2020, 8:41am

Hey Jeffrey, thanks for your information and hoping that something can be found about it
Ofc, I can supply more logs if needed.

Jeffrey · June 12, 2020, 12:08pm

Dear Sebastiii
Thank you very much.

Sebastiii · June 13, 2020, 9:21am

Hi Jeffrey,

Can explain how to setup a proper config to use :

2 externals antenna along with 2 antennas connected to MIMOs
or
2 externals antenna along with 2 internal antennas

The goal is to be able to use EG12 to use 4 antennas at the same times.

I wasn’t able to have such config working.

Is there any AT command to look signal level for each antenna port ?
Is there any AT command to set up antenna like we wanted (all together) ?

Thanks
Regards.

Jeffrey · June 14, 2020, 6:36am

Hi Sebastiii,
Thanks for your inquiry
You can query signal level for each antenna by AT+QRSRP, Please refer to the following description, But sorry for the other question, in fact, there no AT command to set up antenna, it’s dynamic adjustment by Qualcomm system.
Thanks

Sebastiii · June 14, 2020, 10:11am

Thanks
Ok then it give me -140 for MIMO1 and MIMO2.

On Mikrotik, we can select internal and external / MAIN / DIV, so they use hardware along software to permit signal to goes where they want but for MIMO, this is really strange.

Hmmm, you wrote Qualcomm instead of Quectel ?

Can you link to the PDF related to your screenshot please ?

Sebastiii · June 14, 2020, 8:09pm

Back on original topic (will open a new one for signal issue thanks )

Quectel, please do and check that recovery/return of ca after few minutes on your side.

My current signals are -81db (for B7 and better for lower bands and after 3-5minutes my CA disconnects and never return even if I download bit ftp/torrent file".

At old EP06-A any speedtest do comeback scc, this EG12 have CA only in first minutes of if I do massive traffic from start… but if I pause and wait 5m then he never return
This is main problem and he is like a bug.

Thanks.

Jeffrey · June 15, 2020, 3:39am

Dear Sebastiii,
Thanks you
The device seems some went wrong and it’s really strange. OK , all of your request, our local engineer will verify and analyze it, then feedback to you by email, if you have any question, you can send mail to support@quectel.com too. this will be more efficient. Thanks a lot.
In addition, You maybe get some information from below picture for Qualcomm’s mechanism.
Anyway, we will fully support your problem until solve it, thank you .

Sean · June 23, 2020, 8:53pm

I also have a CA issue with the EG12-EA when using Cell Lock. On the MikroTik Chateau LTE12 (based on EG12-EA), I run the following AT command to lock on cellid 127, earfcn 6300:

at+qnwlock=“common/4g”,1,6300,127

When the modem is set to band 20 only, the link is stable without CA. However, when I select bands 20, 1 and 3 to allow CA, the LTE link starts flapping down and up as shown in this MikroTik LOG snip:

11:59:13 interface,info lte1 link down
11:59:13 interface,info lte1 link up
12:00:58 interface,info lte1 link down
12:00:58 interface,info lte1 link up
12:01:13 interface,info lte1 link down
12:01:13 interface,info lte1 link up
12:01:43 interface,info lte1 link down
12:01:43 interface,info lte1 link up
12:01:58 interface,info lte1 link down
12:01:58 interface,info lte1 link up
12:02:13 interface,info lte1 link down
12:02:13 interface,info lte1 link up
12:02:29 interface,info lte1 link down
12:02:29 interface,info lte1 link up
12:03:28 interface,info lte1 link down
12:03:28 interface,info lte1 link up

I am about 53km (33 miles) from the cell with clear line of sight. Due to the propagation distance, I can only connect to band 20 for the primary band and bands 1 and 3 for receive CA only.

Without cell lock, the modem does not connect unless I choose band 20 only. I think it endlessly tries connecting on band 1 or 3 until I enable cell lock on cellid 127, earfcn 6300. CA works during the time the link is up (>100Mbps throughput), however, each time the link flaps down/up, it interrupts TCP connections, e.g. downloads, video calling, etc. freeze.

The following is the modem debug LOG during one of the link interruptions:

19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: sent AT+QENG=“servingcell”
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QENG: “servingcell”,“NOCONN”,“LTE”,“FDD”,272,05,CA407,127,6300,20,3,3,A34A,-99,-16,-66,8,255,140,-
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: sent AT+QCAINFO
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QCAINFO: “pcc”,6300,50,“LTE BAND 20”,1,127,-99,-16,-65,8
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QCAINFO: “scc”,1700,100,“LTE BAND 3”,1,115,-101,-12,-81,0
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd DL
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QCAINFO: “scc”,525,75,“LTE BAND 1”,1,115,-110,-10,-90,0
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd DL
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: sent AT+QRSRP
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QRSRP: -100,-98,-140,-140
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: sent AT+QNETINFO=“cmr”
19:18:28 lte,async,raw lte1: rcvd +QNETINFO: “cmr”,9,12,1,2
19:18:28 lte,async,event lte1: +CGEV: NW DETACH
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw lte1 mbim: wdm <<< recv #0
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 07000080 48000000 00000000 01000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 00000000 a289cc33 bcbb8b4f b6b0133e
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw c2aae6df 0a000000 1c000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 01000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 00000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: service: connect, command: packet service, notify
19:18:28 lte,packet lte1 mbim: status data:
19:18:28 lte,packet 00000000 01000000 00000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,packet 00000000 00000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: packet service: attaching nwe: 0 class: 0
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: state 16=>14
19:18:28 lte,account lte1 session: 90s 7358/7482 bytes 96/101 packets
19:18:28 interface,info lte1 link down
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw lte1 mbim: wdm <<< recv #0
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 07000080 48000000 00000000 01000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 00000000 a289cc33 bcbb8b4f b6b0133e
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw c2aae6df 0a000000 1c000000 00000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 02000000 20000000 00e1f505 00000000
19:18:28 lte,packet,raw 0046c323 00000000
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: service: connect, command: packet service, notify
19:18:28 lte,packet lte1 mbim: status data:
19:18:28 lte,packet 00000000 02000000 20000000 00e1f505
19:18:28 lte,packet 00000000 0046c323 00000000
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: packet service: attached nwe: 0 class: 32
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: state 14=>15
19:18:28 lte,debug lte1 mbim: state 15=>16
19:18:28 interface,info lte1 link up

The following is MikroTik’s cell-monitor report at the time:

Columns: PHY-CELLID, BAND, EARFCN, RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, AGE
PHY BAN EARF RSRP RSRQ RSSI AG
0 B3 1700 8s
6 B3 1275 -116dBm -20dB -87dBm 5s
6 B3 1700 -106dBm -17dB -81dBm 2s
67 B20 6300 -105dBm -20dB -73dBm 2s
115 B1 525 -114dBm -10dB -95dBm 2s
115 B3 1275 -99dBm -10dB -81dBm 5s
115 B3 1700 -98dBm -10dB -80dBm 2s
117 B1 525 -120dBm -16dB -95dBm 2s
117 B3 1275 -104dBm -14dB -81dBm 5s
117 B3 1700 -103dBm -15dB -80dBm 2s
127 B20 6300 -97dBm -13dB -67dBm 2s
195 B20 6300 -101dBm -19dB -73dBm 2s
231 B20 6300 -104dBm -20dB -73dBm 2s
344 B20 6300 -105dBm -20dB -73dBm 2s

My best guess is that the modem sees the strong cellid 115 on earfcn 1700 or 1275 and starts a hand-over, dropping the link before returning back to cell 127 earfcn 6300 that it’s supposed to be cell locked to.

Jeffrey · June 24, 2020, 1:31pm

Dear Sean
Thanks for your inquiry in Quectel forum.
The module can’t support CA with Band 20 only.
For your program, We maybe need to check the bottom level log of the module, whether you can provide the whole process log, if ok, please send the log to support@quectel.com, thank you very much.

Sean · June 24, 2020, 6:36pm

Thanks for the reply, I will collect a log over 10 minutes and send an e-mail.

Basically the problem is when I use cell lock (cellid 127, earfcn 6300), it keeps dropping the link about a minute after it enables CA. It is like the above issue, but in my case it keeps disconnecting the primary cell (pcc), breaking active file transfers.

Sebastiii · June 25, 2020, 9:19am

Hello Sean,
Hope you will get an answer, for now on, I didn’t have reply from support !
And the bug is always here.

Jeffrey · June 25, 2020, 2:21pm

Dear Sebastiii, Sean
Thank you for your feedback. It seems that there are suspected problems. Our engineer have been focusing on analyzing this problem.Just a moment please.
Of cause, if you have any query, you can contact our technician via “support email” directly and get quick support, thank you very much .