nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 14:49:01 GMT

[quote user="Skorostetskyi"]In this case I have a slightly different question: does NordicSemiconductor have partners (like iBasis that has a proven quality) who can provide eSims?[/quote]

This is more a question for your Regional Sales Manager. If you do not know how to contact your RSM, you can send me a private message with your location and I will share the contact details.

You can also find some information on our webpage:

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Nordic-Partners/Solution-Partners

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT/Cellular-Connectivity-Partners?lang=en#infotabs

[quote user="Skorostetskyi"]does not use the Network of Truphone.[/quote]

There are different possible architectures for LTE when it comes to roaming, and it is possible that the data doesn't go through Truphone's core network.

But, depending on where in the network the problem is, it might not help to change network provider, as if the problem is e.g. in the base station, and the device still connects to the same base station, it will probably experience the same issue.

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 23:38:21 GMT

Hey Didrik,

thank you for the such a detailed dive into the problem.
Yes, I have contacted Truphone. Their response:

The MQTT typically uses the data network, such as Wi-Fi or mobile data, to transmit messages between devices, does not use the Network of Truphone.

Durant the timestamp provided by the customer we see the device attached and had usage.

We do not see any major failure on the network.

However, Network Congestion or Signal Strength can provoke this issue. Unfortunately, we cannot control coverage availability.

I did not expect to get more from them 😅

In this case I have a slightly different question: does NordicSemiconductor have partners (like iBasis that has a proven quality) who can provide eSims?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 16:35:47 GMT

Hi, and sorry for the late reply.

I've looked over the trace, and I cannot really see anything wrong from the modem's point of view.

While in idle, the device is receiving pages from the network, so it seems to be in the correct state. However, most of the time, there are no pages for the device. When it does receive a page addressed at the device, it wakes up as it should.

To begin with in the trace, everything looks okay. The device is woken twice by an incoming message, which it responds to. Then, there are two ping requests from the device, which the broker replies to. At the same time as the second ping request, it also receives another message from the broker, but I don't know if that one was sent earlier or if the timing simply was this close.

After that follows a long period where the device sends 7 ping requests, but only get an TCP ACK back, no ping reply from the broker. Then, a few seconds after the last ping request, the device receives a paging from the network, indicating that it has incoming data. When it has re-established it's connection to the base station, it receives the 7 missing ping responses, along with 8 MQTT messages. After that, the connection seems to be back to normal.

To me, it seems like that the network or broker has buffered the downlink data to the device.

Have you tried to contact Truphone, and asked if they have any insight into what could be wrong?

What state does their core network think the device is in when it is "unresponsive"?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:07:06 GMT

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../7230.trace_2D00_2023_2D00_08_2D00_17T21_2D00_50_2D00_03.572Z.mtrace.zip

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 06:09:19 GMT

Is it a joke? I included modem trace twice.

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:47:18 GMT

Are you able to capture a modem trace from the device, so that I can see what state the modem is in when you try to reach the device?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 14:15:49 GMT

Didrik Rokhaug

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 14:15:14 GMT

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../1200.trace_2D00_2023_2D00_08_2D00_17T21_2D00_50_2D00_03.572Z.mtrace

Didrik Rokhaug

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:39:56 GMT

No, I don't see any files attached to your previous replies, nor the ticket as a whole.

Could you try to add it again?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 06:38:00 GMT

It's in my previous post. Can you see it?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 13:22:12 GMT

Do you have any logs from the device?

A modem trace would also be very helpful.

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 08:18:34 GMT

Any updates Didrik Rokhaug ?

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 22:17:23 GMT

Trace: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../trace_2D00_2023_2D00_08_2D00_17T21_2D00_50_2D00_03.572Z.mtrace
Screenshot:
As you can see, there is a set of messages from MQTT. DK was able to get all the messages but it took 7 minutes. However, you can also see other messages delivered within 4 seconds.
During sending those 9 messages DK was periodically switching between idle and connected.

So my confusion is exactly about it - sometimes it takes too much time to be delivered.

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:57:45 GMT

Do you have any logs from the device?

A modem trace would also be very helpful.

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Skorostetskyi — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:12:00 GMT

In short, I have nRF9160 DK and 3 sim cards (one from iBasis, 2 from Truphone).
iBasis and one Truephone work perfectly.
Using the second Truphone sim card makes nrf9160 unavailable to reliably receive messages from my MQTT server. " unavailable to reliably receive" means:
- can't get a message at all OR
- receive messages in 2-6 minutes after sending
And usually this behavior starts after it prints `RRC mode: Idle` in logs.

The problem is that one of my sim cards does not work reliably (probably after PSM experiments).

I expect the DK to instantly receive messages from MQTT server using the second Truephone sim cart (as it currently does with one from iBasis and one from Truphone)

RE: nRF9160 Message Delivery Issue with Truphone eSIM (probably due to PSM)

Didrik Rokhaug — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:46:55 GMT

Hi,

I am not sure if I understand what your problem actually is. Could you clarify?

What behaviour do you see, and what behaviour do you expect?

Can you share a log from the device?

As long as the active time is -1 (disabled, 1110000), you do not have PSM.

Best regards,

Didrik