How to connect your Blox to LTE
A Blox equiped with the CB-02x0 module has an LTE modem mounted into the mPCIE slot. The sections below explain how to setup the connection to the network operator of a SIM card.
Pre-requisites is that you have a SIM card available and it is installed in the Blox SIM card holder.
Find LTE modem with ModemManager
Before setting up the connection, check if the LTE Modem is recognised by the Linux ModemManager.
mmcli -L
Output
/org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0 [SIMCOM INCORPORATED] SIMCOM_SIM7600E-H
The output shows that the LTE modem is recognised, mapped byt the ModemManager as modem 0. Also the brand and type of the modem is displayed. In this example is a SIM7600E-H.
Now more information and status of the modem can be requested using the ModemManager. The output of the previous command indicated that the modem was recognised as modem 0 by the ModemManager on the following path /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0`.
sudo mmcli -m 0
Output
ai-blox@tegra-ubuntu:~$ sudo mmcli -m 0
[sudo] password for ai-blox:
--------------------------------
General | dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0
| device id: 94a0c1f62c95060d1f5090d5756011433ea3c26d
--------------------------------
Hardware | manufacturer: SIMCOM INCORPORATED
| model: SIMCOM_SIM7600E-H
| revision: LE11B12SIM7600M22
| supported: gsm-umts, lte
| current: gsm-umts, lte
| equipment id: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------
System | device: /sys/devices/3610000.xhci/usb1/1-2/1-2.2
| drivers: option1
| plugin: SimTech
| primary port: ttyUSB2
| ports: ttyUSB0 (qcdm), ttyUSB2 (at), ttyUSB3 (at)
--------------------------------
Status | unlock retries: sim-pin (3), sim-pin2 (3), sim-puk (10), sim-puk2 (10)
| state: registered
| power state: on
| signal quality: 80% (recent)
--------------------------------
Modes | supported: allowed: 2g; preferred: none
| allowed: 3g; preferred: none
| allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: none
| allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 2g
| allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 3g
| allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: none
| current: allowed: any; preferred: none
--------------------------------
IP | supported: ipv4, ipv6, ipv4v6
--------------------------------
3GPP | imei: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| operator id: 20601
| operator name: Proximus
| registration: home
--------------------------------
3GPP EPS | ue mode of operation: csps-2
--------------------------------
SIM | dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SIM/0
The output shows that the LTE modem is registered on the LTE network (state: registered) of the operator (operator name: Proximus). The operator is of course linked to the used SIM card. Also displayed is the signal quality, in this case 80%. At this stage the modem is registered on the network, this does not mean it is connected to the network. The modem is recognised by the network and can connect to it. To be able to connect, a connection in the network manager needs to be created.
Creating a network connection
Before adding a new connection, a check can be done if there is already a connection available.
nmcli connection show
Outptu
ai-blox@tegra-ubuntu:~$ nmcli connection show
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE
Wired connection 1 43f7c732-05c1-3c66-b2da-4a2a0cf7ae3d ethernet eth0
docker0 87279c56-a9d9-437c-a305-469abda47fba bridge docker0
The output shows that there is not yet a ppp0 connection for a device on ttyUSB2 created. It needs to be added.
To add a new connection, the APN or Access Point Name of the LTE operator needs to be known. In the example below the APN for Proximus is internet.proximus.be. This will be different for other LTE operators.
Following arguments will be used to add the new connection
-
con-nameor name of the connection can be anything, in this example it isBloxLTE -
ifnameis the main port of the device, in this case as mentioned abovettyUSB2 -
apnor access point name, provided by the telecom operator. In this example Proximus is the operator and their apn is“internet.proximus.be”
sudo nmcli connection add type gsm con-name "BloxLTE" ifname ttyUSB2 apn "internet.proximus.be"
Output
Connection 'BloxLTE' (74c742c0-afd1-428a-82dc-b5d892dfd840) successfully added.
Once the connection successfully has been added, check the known connections
nmcli connection show
Output
ai-blox@tegra-ubuntu:~$ nmcli connection show
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE
BloxLTE 74c742c0-afd1-428a-82dc-b5d892dfd840 gsm ttyUSB2
Wired connection 1 43f7c732-05c1-3c66-b2da-4a2a0cf7ae3d ethernet eth0
docker0 87279c56-a9d9-437c-a305-469abda47fba bridge docker0
If in the output the BloxLTE color font is green, it means the connection is active and can be used.
When the connection has been added a PPP interface also has been created. This can be checked with ifconfig.
ifconfig
Output
ifconfig
docker0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 172.17.0.1 netmask 255.255.0.0 broadcast 172.17.255.255
ether 02:42:78:3b:05:9b txqueuelen 0 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.1.49 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet6 2a02:a03f:6997:a000:ed9f:df03:8d77:1299 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
inet6 fe80::5ba1:b1d4:767f:565e prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
inet6 2a02:a03f:6997:a000:68cb:eaab:37c5:9d42 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
ether 48:b0:2d:3d:f0:0e txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 2491 bytes 753339 (753.3 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 925 bytes 108284 (108.2 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
device interrupt 150 base 0x7000
eth1: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 0a:2f:50:16:9f:b1 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 1 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 232 bytes 20680 (20.6 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 232 bytes 20680 (20.6 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
ppp0: flags=4305<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,NOARP,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 100.73.125.102 netmask 255.255.255.255 destination 0.0.0.0
ppp txqueuelen 3 (Point-to-Point Protocol)
RX packets 19 bytes 981 (981.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 22 bytes 965 (965.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
rndis0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether d2:95:a0:9e:8f:6d txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
usb0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether d2:95:a0:9e:8f:6f txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
Amongst other available interfaces, also Point-to-Point ppp0 is shwon with its ap address from the LTE operator.
ppp0: flags=4305<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,NOARP,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 100.73.125.102 netmask 255.255.255.255 destination 0.0.0.0
ppp txqueuelen 3 (Point-to-Point Protocol)
To test, Google (8.8.8.8) can be pinged over the ppp0 interface.
ping -I ppp0 -c 10 8.8.8.8
ai-blox@tegra-ubuntu:~$ ping -I ppp0 -c 10 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) from 100.73.125.102 ppp0: 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=115 time=124 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=115 time=31.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=115 time=31.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=115 time=30.1 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=115 time=27.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=115 time=36.2 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=115 time=34.6 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=115 time=33.7 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=9 ttl=115 time=31.7 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=10 ttl=115 time=28.5 ms
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9014ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 27.859/41.146/124.876/28.017 ms
ai-blox@tegra-ubuntu:~$