MBIM mode for gl.inet UI

Technical Support for Routers 4G LTE, 5G NR, USB modems
1

Hello! Just successfully started [Dell Inc.] DW5821e Snapdragon X20 LTE modem on gl.inet beryl ax.

lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 413c:81d7 Dell Inc. DW5821e Snapdragon X20 LTE

Sadly, gl.inet UI doesn’t support it. Hasn’t even launched from QMI… anyway.

opkg install modemmanager luci-proto-modemmanager kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim libmbim mbim-utils
(not sure if last two are needed, i just used them for debug).

go to LuCi (advanced settings in gl.inet UI)

go to interfaces, add new interface - type modemmanager (which you just installed), select your modem, fill your settings (apn, user/password, etc)

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Don’t forget to go to firewall tab and assign “WAN” zone for it!

And, well, that’s it. Interface will start and connection to the internet will be working.

With Huawei E3372h-153 i was getting around 10mbps (±), with this modem in enclosure and external antennas. i’m getting 50+ with 38% signal down and 30 up. Latency seems to be lower, too.

Top USB power usage is around 0.6A (beryl ax tops after about 0.8A, causing USB port shutdown), so no external power is needed.

Hoping this info will help gl.inet to implement some sort of support of modemmanager to gl.inet UI (at least seeing cellular: online will be nice!)

1 Like
2

Found one small issue - if you unplug and plug modem again, it won’t restart connection, because, it seems, USB device path changes every time (not sure why, since port is same, but looks like xhci hub behavior)
So you need to go to UI agent, click edit, and click save so modem will be saved to config with new dev path.

3

Hey Lex, thanks for response.
I have carried out all the steps as instructed, but looks like Modem device is not identified properly (pls see screen shoots), and error existing in the Status.

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Screenshot_20230621-173049
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![16873582906972249031879802109194|281x500]
Do You have any ideas what can be wrong?
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4

do you have usb-modeswitch installed? I think it’s bundled by default in my beryl ax, but might be different for other devices?

5

try running mmcli -L in ssh and see what it outputs. If it’s “unknown modem”, it probably means it hasn’t switched to proper mode. usb-modeswitch should do that, AFAIK. I had same issues when my modem was in QMI mode (it will appear in your gl.inet ui, not in luci, as “unsupported modem”). It needs to be in MBIM, otherwise it won’t work with modemmanager.

6

Yes, it is installed.

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7

In the Gl-inet ui there is nothing.

Screenshot_20230621-181652
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Kindly advise how to run mmcli -L i ssh? I am quite raw here :slightly_smiling_face:

8

Really thanks for your information. Hope the developer will add the support for mbim mode quickly.

9

THANK YOU!
got me connected with my
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1199:9071 Sierra Wireless, Incorporated MC7455-CP
aka the modem i pulled out of a cradlepoint aer1600.
using GL-AXT1800
even though i’m connected, the non advanced gui thinks i’m not connected… which kinda sucks