X-3000 Lock to 5G towers

I am on vodaphone Germany, and my connection sometimes flips from 5g to LTE in the middle of streaming of video chat, causing severe latency/lag. I am trying to block the LTE bands using the 'masking' feature:

I have also tried the "Lock Tower" button to lock to a 5G tower, and I get the same result. If I lock to a 5G tower, the SIM card won't register.

However, whenever I mask the LTE band, my SIM card is no longer able to register on the network. Is there a way to mask the LTE bands while allowing my SIM to register on the network?

5G NSA needs LTE to be enabled. You should enable Open LTE and 5G NSA bands.

Okay, 5G NSA is dependent on LTE(4G) for VOICE/SMS so if I block LTE it won't connect.

But the problem is DATA will often switch to LTE, resulting in terrible performance. Is there a way to lock just the DATA to 5G, while allowing for voice/sms to stay on LTE?

AT+QGMR

Can I see your module version number?

RM520NGLAAR01A07M4G_01.201.01.201

mkdir /firmware
cd /firmware
wget https://fw.gl-inet.com/download/RM520NGLAAR03A03M4G_BETA_20240521C_01.200.01.200.zip 
unzip RM520NGLAAR03A03M4G_BETA_20240521C_01.200.01.200.zip -d RM520NGLAAR03A03M4G_BETA_20240521C_01.200.01.200
QFirehose -f RM520NGLAAR03A03M4G_BETA_20240521C_01.200.01.200
reboot

try upgrade

I have successfully performed the upgrade. Is there anything else I need to do to lock DATA to 5G NSA?

Don't set it. Leave it at the default

After using the BETA firmware for about an hour, I notice that the firmware does stick to 5G NSA tower a little bit longer than the older firmware, but it will still often switch to 4G tower automatically.

Is there no way to lock just the DATA to stay on 5G?

Is the 5G signal bad?

Signal seems good. Not sure why the router will occasionally bounce from 5G -> LTE and then back again.

Here's the historical signal strength. You can see that the modem switched to LTE for about 10 minutes:

 AT+QMBNCFG="list"        --View the mbn file selected by the current sim card('+qmbncfg: "List",0,1,1,xxxxxx')
 AT+QMBNCFG="AutoSel",0   --Turned off auto select and deactivate with
 AT+QMBNCFG="Deactivate"
 AT+QMBNCFG="Select", "ROW_Commercial"
 reboot

Switch the mbn file

1 Like

Hello,
i do have a similar issue on my X-3000.
The modem switches between 5G and 4G causing loss of connection, when the signal gets bad. But it happens only while I am driving. The Spitz AX is mounted in my camper.
It happens with both SIM card ports using a german and a swiss card.

The module version is RM520NGLAAR01A06M4G_01.001.01.001

Would the proposed fix to switch the mbn file work for me, too?

Is the connection disconnected only for a moment?

Update your firmware first then if you are connected to NSA network (5G) then run these commands. Try at your own risk.

AT+QCAINFO
AT+QENG="servingcell"

QCAINFO will show the parameters of all the bands you are currently using where as QENG="servingcell" only shows the PCC or primary carrier and also NSA SCC if applicable. You then need to get the PCI and E/ARFCN of the PCC LTE band, SCC LTE band (if applicable), and NSA SCC band.

i.e.

Band 1
E/ARFCN: 150
PCI: 25

Band 3
E/ARFCN: 1350
PCI: 30

N41 NSA 5G
E/ARFCN: 528030
PCI: 645

After you collected these data. Do these steps:
Lock band which is band masking on GL inet (?):

On LTE lock to:
B1, B3

On 5G NSA lock to:
N41

Then lock the PCC frequency of the LTE band.

AT+QNWLOCK="common/4g",1,150,25

To unlock:

AT+QNWLOCK="common/4g",0

# do a reboot

This command doesn't persist upon reboots.

Here is the format of the command:

AT+QNWLOCK="common/4g",<number of cells to lock (1-10),<EARFCN>,<PCI>...<EARFCN>,<PCI>

Yes, you can lock different PCC or primary cells but it is recommendable to lock to only one band unless needed.


!!! EXPERIMENTAL !!!
You can further limit the LTE where the modem can connect by locking specific EARFCN like:

AT+QNWCFG="lte_earfcn_lock",2,150:1350

Here is the format of the command:

AT+QNWCFG="lte_earfcn_lock",<total number of frequencies to lock>,<EARFCN>:<EARFCN>

To unlock:

AT+QNWCFG="lte_earfcn_lock",0

This is only recommended to do in order to force a certain combination of LTE bands where NSA anchors to achieve a stable connection. However, this is not ideal when you are on the move or where bands constantly change. I hope that this can help!

Exactly. While driving the modem switches between band regularly and therefore the internet connection is lost for a very short time but very often. (which leads to my head unit is disconnection from the "unstable" Wifi)

I will try to update the firmware first and see if it will make any difference.
Doing experimental stuff during our vacation can result in a very low WAF (wife acceptance factor) :joy:

Just wondering, but shouldn't there be a standard way of handling these interruptions? Not sure if comparable but our mobile phnoes don't have this issues while we are on the road. They somewhat manage quite well to switch fastly between bands if a signal gets bad. At least we don't notice...

The connection should not be disconnected when switching frequency bands
Can you download the log if something goes wrong?

Yes, sure. We will continue traveling on Saturday. Let’s see if I can reproduce some disconnects.

Is there a certain log you need?
Or the usual system or kernel log?

this