Cannot see RV50X in AirVantage

AirLink Routers AirLink routers
1

I have an RV50X and am using a prepaid AT&T SIM card and no matter what I do, I cannot get the AirLink to connect to the internet in order to see it in AirVantage. After speaking on the phone with Sierra Wireless support, they told me that it is because I need an apn from AT&T. AT&T swears that the apn doesn’t matter. I have tried broadband, phone, and dozens of other apns I have found across multiple forums both relevant, and not relevant to this application. I was finally able to get on the phone with a knowledgeable AT&T technical support representative who found that the IMEI number of the SIM card and the IMEI of the RV50X did not match. He told me that was the issue and I would need to get a new SIM card because the IMEI the SIM is tied to cannot be changed. When I took it into the store, the in-store manager told me it could be changed and updated the IMEI on the account to match the IMEI on the RV50X. No change. The RV50X network light just blinks red and amber no matter what I try. Sierra Wireless support said I am getting the red and amber light because the radio firmware needs to be updated, which makes sense because that’s what I saw in the hardware manual but I cannot do that because the ATT firmware for my radio module is not available on source.sierrawireless.com (he told me they only show certain active ones). He said that it’s simple to update it from the AirVantage website once the device checks in, and now I’m stuck in an infinite loop.

As you can probably tell, I don’t know a lot about this stuff but I am at my wits end with AT&T support so I’m hoping I can get some help here.
Is it because I bought the SIM directly from AT&T?
The SIM is on a prepaid data-only plan, which I have seen may be an issue for sms and am working to get sms added but haven’t seen anything about not being able to connect to the internet, could the data-only be the issue?
Should I just get a different SIM card?
Is the apn the problem? If so, does anyone have any suggestions?

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Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

2

Hi @laron.griffith,

Welcome to our community!

Based on the image you provided, the RV50X is currently using the MC7430 radio module firmware designed for the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. Therefore, when using an AT&T SIM card, the device is unable to connect to the internet.
Please consider using a different SIM card or opting for a different RV50X model, such as the RV50X with the MC7455 radio module firmware designed for AT&T.

Thanks,

3

Thanks for the reply @jerdung! I feel like a real dummy for not coming to this conclusion sooner and in hindsight, I’m really kind of surprised at how much digging I had to do to finally find something that pointed me in that direction. Then again, maybe common sense would have served me better when I kept seeing posts about how easy these devices were to use with US-based carriers lol.
Either way, I learned a lot through all my digging, so not a total loss. We got the correct module in a couple days ago and it really was as easy as I had seen after that.
I do have a follow-up question though. I activated the SIM card and set up the online AT&T account through my phone so therefore, the IMEI number on the account is my phone’s IMEI. I called AT&T customer support and asked them to update the IMEI on the account so I could access it in AirVantage but they told me that if they updated it, there was a chance that the sms portion of the plan would be shut off leaving me with a data-only SIM. Is this true? Has anyone else had this happen? I haven’t seen anyone report anything like that in forums anywhere but I was too scared to have them change it after already struggling as much as I had.

Thanks!

4

Hi @laron.griffith,

If you are using an AT&T SIM card, it’s best to refer to AT&T’s support for the most accurate information regarding your data plan.

Thanks,

5

Thank you for your feedback!