Verizon Wireless - US will not activate these devices

mamboozo · July 1, 2018, 1:41am

Just walked out of the Corte Madera, CA Verizon store and they said they did not support this device and advised me to go to AT&T. They also tried to sell me their own OBD device: https://www.hum.com/

Told them no thanks, but definitely a little bummed.

Malte · July 2, 2018, 8:23am

Hi Mamboozo

Your issue right now is that you need to activate your sim card right?
Do you have another device that you could temporarily use to activate it? You should have received the sim card from your provider with several sim card adapters.

Like so:

If your phone needs a smaller sim card, you should be able to just push out the nano sim card from the one you received, activate it using your phone, and then afterwards insert back the sim card in the cutout, and then insert it in the autopi dongle.

Best regards
/ Malte

mamboozo · July 2, 2018, 2:47pm

Hi Malte,

The problem is that Verizon needs a serial number to activate the sim. When I gave them serial number of the Autopi, they said they could not activate a SIM based on serial number I gave them. In short, they do not sell sim’s without a device assigned to it, which is why they directed me to AT&T. So in short, Verizon doesn’t support selling “naked” sims but AT&T and T-mobile will support it. I could probably take a sim from another device, which I may try. If I do, I’ll circle back.

MT

mamboozo · July 8, 2018, 1:51pm

@Malte @Peter

Update on Verizon:

I went back to the Verizon store with my documentation from Autopi confirming that I bought a Verizon compatible Autopi dongle. This time I got a more knowledgeable (and less lazy) clerk who was helpful. The main issue is this: Verizon needs an IMEI number to issue a number to a sim. The IMEI on the Autopi will not work. We opened the case and got my dongle’s IMEI, but the system will not recognize it as a connected device.
So I got a IMEI from an iPad that had been on the account in the past and got a nano sim then bought an Nano -> Micro adapter. Verizon can only issues sim sizes to the size associated with the device, so there was no way to get a macro sim. I tried setting up the nano sim with adapter in the dongle, but it still would not get cloud connectivity.
So I put the Nano in an android phone and made sure that connectivity and data was working. I confirmed that data and connectivity was there, but it took the phone to enable the sim with Verizon. Note: To be fair, when I first put the sim in the dongle, I tried adding “Verizon” and " vzwinternet" to the settings, but it turns out Verizon does not want any information in these fields to work. So the guidance should be to leave the fields blank after confirming connectivity in another device before activating in the dongle.
I put the sim and adapter back in the dongle, connected to the dongle’s wifi and was able to confirm connectivity through local.autopi.io as well as reaching other sites while connected to the dongle’s wifi.
I am still unable to see the dongle or confirm connectivity in my.autopi.io. One thing might be causing the problem is that I had already previously registered my dongle before acquiring connectivity.

Any suggestions?

tedgenyc · July 8, 2018, 4:19pm

I’m right there with @mamboozo! Finally, locally, I have connection (one huge step forward). I added an old Verizon phone (Samsung S5 with a micro SIM) to my Verizon account as a bring your own device. When that SIM is inserted into the AutoPi, CONNECTION. Yay. Except…

Same as @mamboozo, no connection in my.autopi.io. I am using “VZINTERNET” as the APN string. I also previously registered my dongle before acquiring connectivity.

I attempted to register my dongle again but received reply that “An AutoPi dongle with that ID was not found”.

@Peter/@Malte, a point in the right direction would be much appreciated.

tedgenyc · July 8, 2018, 6:43pm

I tried shutting down the AutoPi, disconnecting, and reconnecting according to this article thinking it might reset something but to no avail. Same issue.

mamboozo · July 8, 2018, 8:45pm

@tedgenyc nice to know that I’m not crazy.

I’m hoping we can get it fixed!

tedgenyc · July 9, 2018, 1:33am

Agreed. Since it cannot be used via WiFi (upload to cloud via separate hotspot), we currently have a $300 paperweight on our hands.

I’m sure the guys will work something out for the Verizon models. Fingers crossed. This is the cost of being on the front end of something new.

Malte · July 9, 2018, 9:15am

Hi guys

We are on it.
From what i understand, you are able to connect to the internet via the hotspot right? - but it doesn’t say it’s online on my.autopi.io?

Connecting via WiFi is on our roadmap, so you will be able to get it online this way in the near future.

Best regards
/ Malte

tedgenyc · July 9, 2018, 1:34pm

Malte, that is correct.

Malte · July 11, 2018, 1:26pm

Hi Tim

Can you try to run the following command, in the local terminal while connected via the hotspot, and send me the response?

minionutil.last_errors

Thanks in advance
Malte

tedgenyc · July 11, 2018, 2:03pm

Output (Google Drive file)

Malte · July 11, 2018, 3:47pm

Got it, thanks.

It seems like the same issue as we have seen once before.
We have not yet found a solution, but we are working on it.

/ Malte

mamboozo · July 17, 2018, 1:13pm

@Malte any update on this issue? Anxious to start using it!

tedgenyc · July 21, 2018, 6:28am

@Malte, is this known issue a hardware or software issue? Since the hotspot works and successfully connects to online services such as websites, one must assume it is a software/firmware issue if the problem is on our end. If the problem is on your end, it must be an account issue.

Our end…
Is there an update we can try? Create a new SD card? Firmware update?

Your end…
Can you delete our accounts and let us recreate?

At this point, we still have a $300 paperweight AND a monthly payment to Verizon for a mobile phone service agreement without any benefits.

Anxious to just see if this will even work in my car and what capabilities it has. Still yet to even get to the playing with a dashboard stage.

You mentioned that you have seen the issue before but have not found a solution and are working on it. I’m curious to know what is causing the issue and what steps are being taken to eliminate it. I am an IT consultant and totally understand initial release issues, etc. and am very willing to participate in the troubleshooting process.

I know your plate is very full with product release and project initial stages. If there is any way I can assist with this issue resolution, please let me know.

stherien · July 21, 2018, 4:40pm

Hi,

I am getting the exact problem with my SIM card. (Error while bringing up minion for multi-master. Is master at hub01.autopi.io responding?)

I am in Canada and using Bell Mobility as network provider. Connection to the network is working but I am getting very high latency. It seems that my SIM card is configured for HSDPA+ (hsdpa-hsupa), but LTE is not enabled. When I use the SIM in a phone LTE is activated. My assumption is that qmi is having problem activating LTE and fallback to HSPA. I have taken traces with tcpdump directly on the autopi and I am seeing strange behaviour with Wireshark. I am planning to recompile an older version of qmi library and try it out.

You will find below the output of qmi.system_info command on my AutoPi.

Would you mind sharing the output of qmi.system_info for your current setup?

Thanks in advance.

qmi.system_info
[/dev/cdc-wdm0] Successfully got system info:
WCDMA service:
Status: ‘available’
True Status: ‘available’
Preferred data path: ‘no’
Domain: ‘cs-ps’
Service capability: ‘cs-ps’
Roaming status: ‘off’
Forbidden: ‘no’
Location Area Code: ‘XXXXX’
Cell ID: ‘XXXXXXXX’
MCC: ‘XXX’
MNC: ‘XXX’
HS call status: ‘(null)’
HS service: ‘hsdpa-hsupa-supported’
Primary scrambling code: ‘XXX’
Cell broadcast support: ‘off’
Call barring status (CS): ‘all-calls’
Call barring status (PS): ‘all-calls’
Cipher Domain: ‘ps’
LTE service:
Status: 'none’
True Status: ‘none’
Preferred data path: ‘no’
TD-SCDMA service:
Status: ‘none’
True Status: ‘none’
Preferred data path: ‘no’
SIM reject info: ‘available’"

Malte · July 23, 2018, 7:52am

HI @tedgenyc

Everything seems to point towards an issue with the SIM card / the provider.
We have tried to debug the issue in-house, but we have have been unable to replicate it, even with a complete SD image from stherien.

The idea that @stherien presents is currently the most viable cause, so if you could try to share the output of the qmi command, that would be really helpful.

qmi.system_info

Best regards
/ Malte

tedgenyc · July 24, 2018, 12:34am

“[/dev/cdc-wdm0] Successfully got system info:
LTE service:
Status: ‘available’
True Status: ‘none’
Preferred data path: ‘no’
Domain: ‘ps’
Service capability: ‘ps’
Roaming status: ‘off’
Forbidden: ‘no’
Cell ID: ‘xxxxxxxx’
MCC: ‘xxx’
MNC: ‘xxx’
Tracking Area Code: ‘xxxxx’
Voice support: ‘yes’
eMBMS coverage info support: ‘no’
SIM reject info: ‘available’”

mamboozo · July 27, 2018, 10:43pm

@Malte

Catching up…here’s what I am getting

Latest errors

system info

Hope that helps!

Alex · July 29, 2018, 3:53am

Just a heads up that AT&T cannot sell “naked” SIMs because they won’t work but they can use any IMEI they’re given.

Source: AT&T Employee