Sierra Wireless 313U + Ubuntu 14.04 issue. Help!

IoT Modules MC/EM Series
1

Hello Forum,

I am having issues using an AirCard 313U and Ubuntu 14.04. If someone could review my steps below and provide some guidance it would be be super helpful. Thanks!

I recently purchased a USB LTE modem from Embedded Works along with an AT&T data plan, and I have attempted to follow the directions to get the device to work via PPP from here: [kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai ... -ip-modems](http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22869/~/can-i-use-a-netgear-aircard-modem-on-linux-machines-(direct-ip-modems))%3F#?cid=wmt_netgear_organic

When I plug the device into the computer, I can see the device when I run the lsusb from a terminal window.

...
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 1199:68a3 Sierra Wireless, Inc. MC8700 Modem
...

When I look for the modem as a network adapter via ifconfig -a I see is listed as wwan0

...
wwan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr f6:ef:da:59:01:07  
          BROADCAST NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
...

And when I execute modprobe sierra and modprobe sierra-net I see driver info.

chris@chris-Latitude-E6520:~$ modinfo sierra
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.0-66-generic/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/sierra.ko
license:        GPL
description:    USB Driver for Sierra Wireless USB modems
author:         Kevin Lloyd, Elina Pasheva, Matthew Safar, Rory Filer
srcversion:     D4556400FB61AEA3D07DCEC
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p68ABd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p6893d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6892d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p6891d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p6890d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p6880d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p685Ad*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6859d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6856d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6855d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6853d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6852d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6851d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6850d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p683Ed*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p683Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p683Cd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p683Bd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p683Ad*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6839d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6838d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6835d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6834d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6833d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6832d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6822d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6821d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6820d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6816d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6815d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6813d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6812d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6809d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6808d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6805d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6804d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6803d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p6802d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0029d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0028d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0027d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0026d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0025d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p0023d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias:          usb:v1199p0301d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0120d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0112d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0021d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0019d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0224d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0024d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0022d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0220d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0020d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0218d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0018d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v1199p0017d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v03F0p1E1Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v03F0p211Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v03F0p1B1Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp0112d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
depends:        usbserial
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.13.0-66-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
signer:         Magrathea: Glacier signing key
sig_key:        1C:A1:9C:B2:D4:52:43:6B:0D:71:F1:84:5E:5C:DC:5A:D4:4A:7D:B8
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
parm:           nmea:NMEA streaming (bool)
chris@chris-Latitude-E6520:~$ modinfo sierra-net
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.0-66-generic/kernel/drivers/net/usb/sierra_net.ko
license:        GPL
version:        v.2.0
description:    USB-to-WWAN Driver for Sierra Wireless modems
author:         Paxton Smith, Matthew Safar, Rory Filer
srcversion:     896313DAA9C61C842F37412
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0B*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0A*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in07*
alias:          usb:v1199p68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0B*
alias:          usb:v1199p68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0A*
alias:          usb:v1199p68AAd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in07*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0B*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0A*
alias:          usb:v0F3Dp68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in07*
alias:          usb:v1199p68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0B*
alias:          usb:v1199p68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in0A*
alias:          usb:v1199p68A3d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in07*
depends:        usbnet
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.13.0-66-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
signer:         Magrathea: Glacier signing key
sig_key:        1C:A1:9C:B2:D4:52:43:6B:0D:71:F1:84:5E:5C:DC:5A:D4:4A:7D:B8
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
chris@chris-Latitude-E6520:~$

To connect via PPP, I have been doing this…

sudo minicom -s

then setting up the device @ /dev/ttyUSB2

I get OK’s back when I issue AT, and when I send the modem ati5 I get device info back.

When I issue the at+cfun=0 command, the lights go off. When I issue at+cfun =1 then the PWR light on the 313U just blinks amber.


So the device seems works w/ the computer no issues, but I can’t connect to the APN that Embedded Works provided me.
When I provide the APN to the device via

at+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”APN_NAME_THAT_EMBEDDED_WORKS_SENT”

I get an OK back.
But when I send the manual connect command:

at!scact=1,1

I get “ERROR” response back.

I also get “ERROR” back when I try any ATD command.

Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated. I actually have no real background with cell modems, but I have loads of background with ethernet, Linux, and old Hayes modem commands so I believe there is just something simple I am either missing or don’t fully understand re: cell modems.

Thank you!

2

Hi
You can check the error by providing AT+CMEE=1 at the beginning. Also make sure your SIM is registered to network.
AT+CREG?
AT+CPIN?
AT+CSQ?
AT!GSTATUS?

Did you try with the same SIM in mobile phone and is working?

-Alex

3

Hi Alex: Thanks for the reply!

I actually don’t have another device that can use the large SIM card that this 313U uses.

After I set AT!CMEE=1, and then tried to connect I got

at!scact=1,1                                                                   
+CME ERROR: 30

When I looked up error # 30, I found this message means No network service. I have an AT&T iPhone that works fine, so I assume there is an LTE tower close enough.
Here is the output when I issue AT!GSTATUS?

!GSTATUS:                                                                       
Current Time:  1255             Temperature: 31                                 
Bootup Time:   1                Mode:        ONLINE                             
System mode:   LTE              PS state:    Not attached                       
LTE band:      B17              LTE bw:      10 MHz                             
LTE Rx chan:   5780             LTE Tx chan: 23780                              
EMM state:     Deregistered     Attaching                                       
EMM connection:RRC Idle                                                         
                                                                                
RSSI (dBm):    -68              Tx Power:                                       
RSRP (dBm):    -111             TAC:         0000 (0)                           
RSRQ (dB):     -20              Cell ID:     029C7D11 (43810065)                
SINR (dB):     -5.0                                                             
                                                                                
                                                                                
OK

Also, here are the responses from AT+CREG?, AT+CPIN?, and AT+CSQ?

AT+CREG?                                                                        
+CREG: 0,2                                                                      
                                                                                
OK                                                                              
AT+CPIN?                                                                        
+CPIN: READY                                                                    
                                                                                
OK                                                                              
AT+CSQ?                                                                         
+CME ERROR: 3

I pinged Embedded Works for support, but they don’t support Linux users. I am sure they would respond if there was some network/data plan setup issue, but I am at a loss as to what to ask about. Any advice would be awesome. Thanks!

4

Hi,
From your command results, you can see that the module is not attached to the network. You can check the signal strength using AT+CSQ command. Also is it the same SIM card working on your mobile ??

-Alex