MikroTik's 4G based routers all have the ability to lock the primary band by specifying an EARFCN and PCI to lock to with an AT command.  This is the carrier/band the modem uses for uploading.  When the modem aggregates carriers across multiple bands, it generally uploads on the primary carrier band and receives only on the aggregated carriers.  For example, if the modem connects with band 20 as the primary band and bands 1 and 3 as the CA bands, it will receive data on all 3 bands simultaneously, but upload on band 20 only.   One exception is with upload carrier aggregation.

The band the modem chooses as the upload band can have a big impact on the upload speed.  For example, a 5MHz band only has 1/4 the upload capacity of a 20MHz band, assuming equal contention and signal strength/quality on both bands. 

When the user is a very long distance from the cell tower such as over 35km, the modem may not be able to synchronise with the upload carrier of high frequency bands over 1700MHz.  When this happens the modem gets stuck at the RACH stage trying to connect on band 1, 3, etc, but connects fine on the lower frequency bands such as 20 or 28.  While the modem can usually aggregate the higher frequency bands fine for additional download speed, the network may try handing the modem's primary band over to a high frequency band, causing the connection to cycle down/up.  In the case of 4G-only Qualcomm modems including the higher end 4G Snapdragon X24, they get stuck endlessly trying to connect on whichever high frequency band the network handed over to. 

With Quectel based MikroTik modems such as the LTE12 and LTE18 based models, the primary band can be locked by locking to a specified EARFCN and PCI using the following terminal command:

/interface lte at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",1,EARFCN,PCI"

The list of bands and carriers (EARCN and PCI numbers) can be obtained by running the cell-monitor command:

/interface lte cell-monitor lte1

The cell lock lasts until the next power cycle, such as a reboot.  The cell lock can also be removed with the following command:

/interface lte at-chat lte1 input="at+qnwlock=\"common/4g\",0"

With the MikroTik Chateau 5G, the cell lock command not only locks the primary carrier, it also locks aggregated carriers.  If additional earfcn/carrier parameters are not specified, the modem will try locking the aggregated carriers on different EARFCNs to the same PCI number as the primary PCI number.  This can cause the modem to endlessly switch between aggregated carriers, severely degrading the download performance. 

Having experimented with varies ways of trying to lock the primary band on the MikroTik Chateau 5G, including a very buggy undocumented EARFCN lock AT command, the most effective method I found so far is by temporarily locking the modem to the single desired band whenever it switches primary band.  The AT command for locking bands does not cause the connection to drop, unlike changing the selection in the Winbox LTE configuration.  The following script automates this by monitoring the primary band twice a second and locking to the single desired band as soon as the primary band changes.  Once the modem is back on the desired primary band, it re-enables the rest of the bands to allow carrier aggregation again.

1. In Winbox, go into System -> Scripts.
   
2. Click the '+' icon.
   
3. In the "Name:" field, give it a name like "bandlock".
   
4. Copy and paste the script in the white area below, then click 'OK'.
   

Hey guys, Just checking my NetMonster app and it for most of the time says that 5G NSA is disabled. Is there any way to keep it active to get better speeds?

Also, is there a way to see the 5G NSA frequency on a Samsung S24 Ultra, with the app?

Hi

First time poster here so apologies if this has been asked and answered. I have a retirement home in Ireland and currently using a 3 Ireland topup when I'm home in a 4G router. At present, 3 UK are currently doing business unlimited data sims quite cheaply with no fair use restrictions in Ireland and I wondered if I took out a 3 UK contract and poor one of those sims in my 5G router in Ireland, would it work in the same way as a 3 Ireland SIM or would it be throttled in any way.

Many Thanks.

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hopefully some has a simple answer for our problem , i am trying to match my setup in Scotland withe same at my mums house in the poor part of howth . we are using gomo .(and will not be using more than the 120geg alowance) we are using a gli gl-x300 router the peed is amazing. but we are regulary 5 to 6 times a day getting disconnected stating pin locked. i a using the correct pin. and using data.mymeteor.ie any help would be much appreciated

good morning i am trying to set my mums internet up in howth the poor ( the fixted line barley gets 3 meg) part. we are getting connected , speed is well amazing , but we are  getting disconnected , it states pin locked. i am using the corect pin, and alternating between data.mymeteteor.ie and gomo.myeirmobile.ie. is their anything else i can do. i am using similar setup in the wet part of Scotland but i dont need a pin . any help would be wounderfull,. i am a nurse my knowledge is limited

3 5G SA spotted! Has anyone else seen SA yet?

   

Hello,

I live in rural Lithuania and am about 2,5 km away from the next Tower. Tower is on a Hill above the tree Line. 

Here you can see what it looks like on Cellmapper. 
Router: HUAWEI B528-23a 
Antenna: Rantelon Nelli 0727

My property seems to be right on the Edge of Band 3 Connectivity. 
Sometimes my router is on Band 20, sometimes on Band 3. It jumps between 4G and 4G+ as well. 

The above configuration works well for download speed. Getting 20MB/s as max speed. Regardless of what Band I am connected to. Speed drops to 10MB/s sometimes but that’s due to congestion i suppose. 

What puzzles me is the upload speed as it is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes I get around 2,5MB/s and then again it struggles to get 0.5MB/s

I tried different providers and the cheapest one offer only Band 20 but regardless of Router/Antenna is seem to get above 2MB/s consistently. 

That led me to believe if I lock Upload to Band 20 it should yield consistent results on my main provider as well but that is not the case. 

If I walk towards the tower I can see the Upload speed increasing and stabilizing. 

Attached are 2 LTE-H 1 Hour Windows from the same day. Router connected to Antenna I did not move it. 
Shows Band 20 and Band 3. Posting Speedtest Results from the same Timeframe as well. 

There is another Screengrab showing the UL Speed increasing when I walk 1km towards the tower. Until I have a line of sight. Can’t get better speeds closer to the tower which gives me hope as I seem to be reasonably close. 

In order to place the antenna I walked around the property and tried different heights. 
It was outside on the side of the roof for 3 Month. Recently placed it inside the Attic a bit higher and pressed up to an old window. Didn’t make a difference but inside into more accessible for testing. 
It’s directed towards the Tower. Rotated it in slight increments to see which direction is best. Tried mounting it on a pole to see if adding 2m of height and changes anything but it did not have an impact. 

Currently I am using two HUAWEI B528-23a. One with said Antenna and the best provider. Another one without Antenna as speed didn’t change much even if I connect the antenna.

I connect both via Ethernet to my MacBook and use Speedify to bond the Connections. Download gets worse but upload is at 3-5MB/s

Trying to understand if the UL Speed issue is congestion and there is nothing I can do. 
Or if it’s worth trying another Antenna/Router or maybe trying to boost Band 3 with a Satellite Dish. 

Thank you for reading and your attention. If you need more info I can provide it or run different tests if needed.

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Hello all,

New to this forum, trying to figure out a new 5G modem gateway which suits my needs.

• Live in a low signal area, with preference to use 5G only (better data plans)
  
• Have used Oppo T1a 5G CPE in the past for some time, it would latch on to n28 with SINR between -5 to 5 and RSRP of -110 to -95
  
• Whenever it would connect to n78, the speed and latency was decent enough
  
• Now looking for router with band locking to n78 and (if possible) cell locking features
  

• Suncomm SE06
  
• ZLT X28 (Max? / V Pro?)
  
• Zyxel NR5103EV2 + 2 small indoor antennas
  
• ZTE MC888 Ultra
  

Anyone notice issues with Three's band 1 in the past month give or take?  Wereby ive a few sites setup in mutiple locations around South of Ireland where db would have been -90 would now be well over -100's and forcing to switch to band 3? TIA... Are there new bands i should be on the hunt for now instead?

Review

Xiaomi 5G CPE Pro modem/router

Model: CB0401V2

Current price: €230 + shipping. Ebay.

18 June 2024

https://www.mi.com/global/product/xiaomi-5g-cpe-pro/

Apart from a few vague reviews on Amazon, there is very little information available about the Xiaomi CPE 5G Pro on the usual forums. I decided to post my own review here. Hopefully, this will be of use to anyone who is thinking about buying one of these 5G routers.

   

Appearance and design
The Xiaomi CPE 5G Pro (hereafter referred to simply as the Xiaomi) is a tower-style device. It has a plain and simple appearance. To me, it looks like a miniature pedal bin. At around 1400g, it feels quite heavy compared to similar models from other brands. The base has a large diameter of 118mm, so it should be less prone to tipping over. As I bought the unit from a German eBay seller, it came supplied with a European two-pin power plug, so a UK to EU adapter is required.

There are a few indicator LEDs on the front for 5G, 4G, Wi-Fi and system status. Thankfully, there are no bling features like ‘ambiance’ lights around the base. On the rear of the unit, you will find the power button, a small hole for the reset button, a covered SIM card slot, two 1Gb Ethernet ports and the 12V DC input socket. Notably absent from this model are: a telephone socket, USB socket and external aerial connectors.

Features
The Xiaomi has a fairly typical list of features for a 4G/5G modem/router. The specs claim the unit has fast Wi-Fi 6 support. I wasn’t able to take full advantage of this because none of the devices on my home network support Wi-Fi 6. The unit has NFC to allow easy ‘one-touch’ connection for Android phones. Either of the two LAN connectors on the back of the unit can be configured as a WAN connection. If I understand correctly, this means the 4G/5G modem can be used as a backup for your fibre or cable connection. The default setting in the web based configuration is: “Wired network preferred, mobile network backup”. The modem also has a bridge mode for direct connection to a PC or another Wi-Fi router. This would be useful if you want to to place the Xiaomi in an optimum location like an attic window or outside in a waterproof enclosure. 

Specifications
I’m not going to copy and paste the full spec sheet here. The Xiaomi is based on a Qualcomm chip, probably the SD X62. It supports 5G NSA,SA . 4G LTE support is DL Cat19 / UL Cat18.

Performance
In the few days I have been using the Xiaomi, it has been stable, reliable and very fast. I live in a City location and the nearest 5G mast is around 700 metres away. I have previously used the Eir GH Telcom branded 5G CPE Pro 3 and a TP-Link 4G MR600 from this location. Download speeds with the Eir unit generally range from 500-800Mbps. Even the humble 4G MR600 manages 150Mbps or more.

I have a Vodafone unlimited data SIM in the Xiaomi router at the moment. Performance has been fast and remarkably consistent, even at peak times or in the early hours of the morning. 5G download speeds have ranged from 550-900Mbps, upload speeds have generally been over 100Mbps. At the quietest times of day, some tests on fast.com showed download speed over 900Mbps, which is close to the maximum for the 1Gb Ethernet connection between the router and my 12 year old PC.

5G signal stats:
Service provider:vodafone IE
Connection type:5G NSA
Frequency band:B1+B7+B3+B28+n78
Data roaming:Roaming disabled
RSRP:-74.1dBm
RSRQ:-7.9dB
SNR:25.0dB

5G speed test
   

Setting the Xiaomi to 4G-only mode shows it performs very well as a 4G LTE modem. In this mode, I see download speeds of more than 300Mbps and upload over 50Mbps.

4G signal stats:
Service provider:vodafone IE
Connection type:4G
Frequency band:B1+B7+B3+B28+B20
Data roaming:Roaming disabled
RSRP:-76.7dBm
RSRQ:-10.1dB
SNR:24.0dB

It seems the Xiaomi web interface only reports 4G signal stats. You can find detailed stats for each 4G and 5G band hidden in the system log messages. You will need to dig deep to find them. Be very specific with your search queries: “rsrp_5g”, “snr_5g”, "n78(TDD 3500)" etc....

4G speed test
   

Power consumption
The unit takes around 7-8W from the mains supply. There have been a few transient peaks up to around 12W. These probably coincide with big downloads or intense Wi-Fi activity. The long -term average is around 7W, about the same as the Huawei CPE Pro3.

Heat dissipation is just enough to keep the top cover slightly warm, but never hot. As far as I can tell, there is no cooling fan in the Xiaomi. Perhaps this explains the unusually heavy weight of the unit. Passive cooling requires a bigger heatsink.

Wi-Fi
The Xiaomi router is close to an upstairs window with a reasonably good path in the direction of the nearest 5G masts. Wi-Fi range on 2.4GHz is more than adequate to cover all rooms in the house and the front and rear gardens. As you would expect, 5GHz coverage is not quite as good, but still provides adequate coverage throughout the house. We don’t have any Wi-Fi 6 devices in the house. My own OPPO Reno 8 Lite phone could only manage a miserly 326 down, 345 up on 5GHz Wi-Fi. A Samsung A34 did much better at 703 down, 667 up. The test server was OpenSpeedTest running on a local PC with a 1Gb Ethernet connection to the Xiaomi router. 

Wi-Fi test on 5GHz with Samsung A34 phone
   


Configuration
Default Wi-Fi and Management passwords are printed on the bottom of the unit.
On my first visit to the Xiaomi configuration page, I was prompted to set a new Management (admin) password. A new firmware update dated March 2024 was available. I allowed this to install before proceeding.
Like most network routers, the CPE 5G Pro has a web-based configuration system. The options are fairly basic. I don’t see any obvious way of locking to specific bands or masts. It is possible to select between “5G preferred” or “4G only” in the mobile network settings. This could be useful if 5G coverage is poor in your area. There are separate settings tabs for Wi-Fi, Network, Security, NAT, LAN, System and Additional. There is a basic SMS message utility provided. I haven’t played with this yet, but I have received a few text messages. Data usage monitoring isn’t available by default, but it can be enabled in the Additional settings tab. I haven’t found it particularly useful. Reported usage is much higher than on the My Vodafone web page . While there is very little information about the system or connected clients, there is a nice feature in the System settings tab for saving system logs. This alow you to download a compressed tarball containing a large number of system logs. Detailed information about each network interface, system uptime, ouput from ps, top and other utilities. Anything you need to know is probably in there, although it might take a while to find it. SSH or Telnet is not available. I did find this in one of the configuration files:

telnet_en=0
ssh_en=0
uart_en=0

so, it may be possible to enable these features, but only if you know how.


It seems the Xiaomi MiWiFi system is based on OpenWRT and the Luci web interface. I found several references to Luci and OpenWRT in the system logs. The CPE 5G Pro is not on the OpenWRT list of supported devices yet. Hopefully, this may change in future.

Conclusion
Overall, I’m happy with the Xiaomi modem/router. It fits my requirements very well. It is as fast as, or even slightly faster than the Eir / GH Telcom / Huawei 5G CPE Pro 3 that it replaces. So far, it has not crashed or shown any signs of instability. I will post updates here if any problems arise.