Establishing 3G connectivity using CISCO887VAG+7-K9

[mitchen]

We have a fixed IP address 3G data SIM which we intend to use as backup for our ADSL connectivity using a CISCO887VAG+7-K9 router.  (We have previously implemented similar using the older CISCO887G-K9 router without any issues)

The problem is, we don't seem to be able to establish 3G connectivity with this new router.  Our service provider assures us that the SIM card is active (although they have seen no connection attempts from us on their RADIUS server)

The router is running IOS version 15.1(4)M4 and the following is the relevant config we have used:

!

cellular 0 gsm profile create 1 $apn chap $user $pass ipv4

!

chat-script INTERNET "" "AT!SCACT=1,1" TIMEOUT 60 "OK"

!

controller Cellular 0

!

interface Cellular0

no ip address

ip mtu 1452

ip flow ingress

ip nat outside

ip virtual-reassembly in

encapsulation slip

load-interval 60

dialer in-band

dialer pool-member 1

async mode interactive

!

!

interface Dialer1

ip address negotiated

ip access-group $acl in

ip mtu 1452

ip flow ingress

ip nat outside

ip virtual-reassembly in

encapsulation ppp

dialer pool 1

dialer idle-timeout 0

dialer string INTERNET

dialer persistent

dialer-group 1

ppp chap hostname $user

ppp chap password $pass

no cdp enable

!

!

access-list 1 permit any

!

dialer-list 1 protocol ip permit

!

!

sh cellular 0 profile
Profile password Encryption level: 7

Profile 1 = INACTIVE*
--------
PDP Type = IPv4
Access Point Name (APN) = $apn

Authentication = CHAP
Username: $user

Password: $pass

* - Default profile

Configured default profile for active SIM 0 is profile 1.

!

sh cellular 0 network

Current Service Status = Emergency Only, Service Error = None

Current Service = Invalid

Packet Service = None

Packet Session Status = Inactive

Current Roaming Status = Home

Network Selection Mode = Automatic

Country = GBR, Network = 3 UK

Mobile Country Code (MCC) = 234

Mobile Network Code (MNC) = 20

Location Area Code (LAC) = 51

Routing Area Code (RAC) = 51

Cell ID = 17581

Primary Scrambling Code = 330

PLMN Selection = Automatic

!

sh cellular 0 security
Active SIM = 0
SIM switchover attempts = 0
Card Holder Verification (CHV1) = Disabled
SIM Status = OK
SIM User Operation Required = None
Number of CHV1 Retries remaining = 3

!

Can anyone tell me what we are doing wrong and how to correct it so that we can establish connectivity?

Thanks.

[mitchen]

Hmm, so do you think this is a provider/SIM issue?  I had already contacted them (suspecting the same) but they insist that the SIM is active and there are no network issues (although they said they had seen no connection attempts from me on their RADIUS server)

[Gang Ma]

Try different radio bands

#cellular 0 gsm band ?

  auto-band           Auto Band

  gsm-all-bands       GSM all bands

  gsm-egsm-dcs        GSM EGSM/DCS Band

  wcdma-900-imt-2000  WCDMA 900/IMT 2000

  wcdma-all-bands     WCDMA All Bands

from the output

The Cell ID=0?!

It doesn't look good

My Cell ID is a non-zero value

I think your router doesn't register in any radio station sucessfully.

Current Service Status = No service, Service Error = None

Current Service = Circuit Switched

Packet Service = None

Packet Session Status = Inactive

Current Roaming Status = Home

Network Selection Mode = Automatic

Country = GBR, Network = 3 UK

Mobile Country Code (MCC) = 234

Mobile Network Code (MNC) = 20

Location Area Code (LAC) = 51

Routing Area Code (RAC) = 255

Cell ID = 0

Primary Scrambling Code = 0

PLMN Selection = Automatic

[firestormnet]

If you haven't resolved that there is a right answer. You need to use this command:

chat-script gsm "" "AT!SCACT=1,1" TIMEOUT 60 "OK"

instead of :

chat-scriptgsm "" "ATDT*99*1,1#" TIMEOUT 30 "CONNECT

[mitchen]

Sorry, I should have updated this in case anyone had similar issues - this problem turned out to be a hardware issue with the modem.  The router was replaced and a working connection was established (Although we had tried many config changes to try to resolve it, I think the original config was fine after all - it was a hardware issue rather than anything else!)

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi Mitchen

Looks like I am seeing the same issue on my new 1941W router with exactly the same symptoms.

can you please advise how did you realize that the hardware was broken/faulty? did you see any alarms or so?

I have raised a cisco TAC case but they reckon that the config looks fine so I was wondering it could be the similar issue of having a faulty hardware.

Look forward to hear back from you soon.

Regards,

Mohit

[mitchen]

Hi Mohit,  it was really just a case of process of elimination, there weren't any specific alarms or indication of hardware failure unfortunately.  Having went through every other possibility with Cisco TAC the conclusion was that the only thing left to try was replacing the hardware - after doing that, we were able to establish a successful connection. 

The only other thing I would suggest is to speak to your service provider in case there are any local issues in your geographical location (eg a cell site down) - maybe worth trying your router in another location if that's possible?

[Mohit Chauhan]

Thanks for coming back.
I am right in the heart of the city and can see proper signal coverage when you run sho cell0/1/0 network command.
Anyway did you also tried upgrading iOS image before the final hardware swap just as part of the elimination process??
I read somewhere it was some help to someone.
I am not sure if you would have the SR number of the TAC case. I have also got this issue raised with the TAC but so far have not seen much help. So I am wondering if they could use that a reference for this case.


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[mitchen]

Hi Mohit,

yes, we upgraded the IOS to the latest version - can't actually remember what that was but it made no difference anyway.  I'm not sure the SR number unfortunately as we raise the case through our partner and then they subsequently escalated it to Cisco TAC.   I know it did take several days to reach a conclusion - it wasn't that big a deal for us as we were really just testing the router for a future project at the time, it wasn't service affecting as such.

Perhaps if your issue is with a router in a production environment then you could escalate it to get a quicker response?  If there is nothing wrong with the router config then I guess it can only really be:

1) Issue with service provider (seems like you have eliminated this possibility)

2) Issue with the SIM (are you able to try the SIM in another device to confirm it definitely works?)

3) Issue with router hardware - assuming you have the antenna connected properly, the router suitably located etc then perhaps you just have a faulty router?  In which case, I guess all you can do is wait for TAC to exhaust all other possibilities and then arrange for an RMA.  I'm not sure how easy it is to speed up that process because, as I say, we weren't overly concerned with the problem at the time as the router wasn't being used in a production environment so it wasn't service affecting...

Hope you get it sorted soon though!

[Mohit Chauhan]

Well this device is not in prod but was going fairly soon as part of a project work.
Now the ISP is saying all good at their end so what I could ask them was send another sim to try cos we don't have a spare router to try with.
Lastly we could have RMA or DoA done by Cisco as it is a brand new router from the box.
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[mitchen]

I didn't have a spare router either but I was able to verify the SIM we had worked correctly by testing it in one of those 3G USB dongles - don't know if you have one of them handy that you could try it in? (or whether you'd even be able to test it on, say, your mobile phone?)

Ours was also a brand new router our of the box so, in the end, they just deemed it DoA.

[Mohit Chauhan]

This is Telstra Wan service for a client's private apn so I am not sure if we can test it on a USB dongle.
Probably I could try asking Telstra about it. But the thing is when I am seeing the good network signal and based what happened in your case I am tempted to doubt more on the modem. So basically it was just the modem card which you got replaced right??

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[mitchen]

It was the entire router that was replaced but it was suspected that the modem was the faulty part.

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi Mitchen

We finally resolved the issue. It was the ISP side. incorrect password on their end.

I moved that sim on a usb dongle and created a profile matching the router config and the ISP. Good thing was it advised me that there was an authentication issue.

Not sure why the router never gave that message on the debug and logs, it just simply kept saying

"remote host not responding" which was weird i think.

But anyway thanks for your help.

Regards,

Mohit

[Gang Ma]

debug ppp authen enabled?

[mitchen]

Good news, glad you got it sorted!


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