NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

Mariano Goluboff — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 21:56:54 GMT

+CEREG: 5,2 still means attempting to attach to the network. I would make sure that the SIM card can work on NB-IoT.

You might want to look at a Modem Trace to get more information on what is going on with the network side. See Lesson 7 of the DevAcademy:

https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/cellular-iot-fundamentals/lessons/lesson-7-cellular-fundamentals/

Mariano

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 18:13:41 GMT

After a while, i get this

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73001",9),(1,"","","73003",9)

OK

AT+CSQ:
+CSQ: 99,99

OK

AT+CEREG?:
+CEREG: 5,2

OK

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 17:43:07 GMT

Now i'm getting this

nRF9160 Basic Networking Example (nrf9160dk_nrf9160)
Modem FW Ver: mfw_nrf9160_1.3.6
IMEI: 35045791793160
SIM ICCID: 8956010000161524685
Waiting for network... %XSIM: 1

OK


AT%XSIM=1:
OK

AT+CSCON=1:
OK

AT+CFUN=0:
OK

AT+CEREG=5:
OK

AT%XSYSTEMMODE=0,1,0,0:
OK

AT+CFUN=1:
OK

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73001",9),(1,"","","73003",9)

OK

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

Mariano Goluboff — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 17:23:23 GMT

Ok, so we can look at the different outputs:

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73003",7)

Looking at the documentation for the %COPS=? command, we see that network is Cat M1 (AcT of 7), the MCC is 730 (Chile) and the MNC is 03 (Claro).

On the second post:

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73001",9),(1,"","","73003",9)

The AcT of 9 means these are NB-IoT networks. Same MCC of 730 (Chile), and MNC of 01 (Entel) and 03 (Claro).

Here is a good website to find MCC and MNC: https://mcc-mnc.com/

Then you get:

AT+CEREG?:
+CEREG: 0,2,"6210","008C3526",9

Here is the CEREG documentation. A <stat> of 2 means it's attempting to attach to that network.

What do you get if you check AT+CEREG? later? The 2 should change to something else when it's either successful or unsuccessful connecting to the network.

You might also consider sending AT+CEREG=5 before AT+CFUN=1 so that you get unsolicited notifications of network registration status changes.

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:44:41 GMT

Additionally we have this

AT+CRSM=176,12258,0,0,10:
+CRSM: 144,0,"98651000002175646851"

OK

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73001",9),(1,"","","73003",9)

OK

and this

AT+CEREG?:
+CEREG: 0,2,"6210","008C3526",9

Does it means that the nrf9160 is getting antenna's info and just need to change some network configuration?

Best regards

Francisco

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:42:08 GMT

Hi Mariano,

Yes, well, they are supposed to work with those networks, but now I'm doubt about they really use NB-IoT and Cat M1 or just Cat 1 optimized for IoT (it's something we have seen here on devices that really work as expected, like SimCom chips)

Without using +CGDCONT and +CGAUTH we are getting this

nRF9160 Basic Networking Example (nrf9160dk_nrf9160)
Modem FW Ver: mfw_nrf9160_1.3.6
IMEI: 350xxxxxxxxxx
SIM ICCID: 89560xxxxxxxxxxxx
Waiting for network... %XSIM: 1

OK


AT%XSIM=1:
OK

AT+CFUN=0:
OK

AT+CFUN=1:
OK

AT+cnum?Failed to read, err 65536
AT+cnum?:
ERROR

AT+CRSM=176,12258,0,0,10:
+CRSM: 144,0,"98651xxxxxxxxxxx"

OK

AT%COPS=?:
%COPS: (1,"","","73003",7)

OK

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

Mariano Goluboff — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 21:24:20 GMT

Hi Francisco,

You'll want to verify with Entel that the SIM card you have supports either NB-IoT or Cat M1.

In most cases, the APN is automatically set by the nrf9160, using the information from the SIM. Have you tried connecting without using +CGDCONT and +CGAUTH?

What is the output of AT%COPS=?

Mariano

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

dejans — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:24:21 GMT

Hi Francisco,

Thank you for this update.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 13:21:27 GMT

We have trying with many SIM from differents operators, the SIMs works well on cellphones too. About the CNUM and COPS we have used them with % and + and either way, it still giving error. We are trying to talk with an network operator technical to know more about the true tech used in Chile for LTE

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

dejans — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 13:23:46 GMT

Hi Francisco,

Your first error when using CNUM indicates that either MSISDN on the SIM is not available or SIM is not initialized. You can get more information in CNUM documentation. However, AT command documentation shows that you should use +CNUM, not %CNUM. The same applies for COPS command.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 18:04:24 GMT

Hi Dejan,

It's a wearable band with LTE connection.

It's the first time we see this issue, all because it's the first time we use a Nordic MCU too.

I don't know if it's this application log that you need, but using AT commands to start the modem we get this.

AT%XSIM=1:
OK

AT+CFUN=1:
OK

AT+CRSM=176,12258,0,0,10:
+CRSM: 144,0,"98651000XXXXXXXXX"

OK

AT%XSIM?:
%XSIM: 1

OK

AT+CNUMFailed to read, err 65536
AT+CNUM:
ERROR

AT+CFUN=0:
OK

AT%XSIM?:
%XSIM: 0

OK

AT%XSYSTEMMODE=1,1,0,1:
OK

AT%XBANDLOCK=0:
OK

AT+COPS=0:
OK

AT+CGDCONT=0,"IP","m2m.entel.cl":
OK

AT+CGAUTH=0,1,"entelpcs","entelpcs":
OK

AT+CFUN=1:
OK

AT+CEREG=1:
OK

AT+COPN:
OK

AT+COPS?:
+COPS: 0

OK

AT+CSQ:
+CSQ: 99,99

OK

AT+CEREG?:
+CEREG: 1,4

OK

AT%COPSFailed to read, err 65536
AT%COPS:
ERROR

Best Regards,

Francisco

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

dejans — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:23:06 GMT

Hi Francisco,

Which application do you use?

Is this newly emerged issue or you have seen this happening before?

Could you provide application log showing the problem?

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

FranciscoRH — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:34:25 GMT

Hi,

We are using Entel network operator and the SIM cards are from a M2M Entel pack, and yes, the nrf9160 should work for Chile networks

Francisco

RE: NRF9160 connection to Chilean network (sudamerica)

dejans — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 15:02:33 GMT

Hi,

Which network operator and SIM card provider do you use?

Looking at the deployment map, it looks like Chile should have LTE-M coverage.

Best regards,
Dejan