SparkFun LTE CAT M1/NB-IoT Shield - SARA-R4 - Using a no-Hologram SIM card

Wireless & IoT Cellular
1

Hi all,

I own a [SparkFun LTE CAT M1/NB-IoT Shield - SARA-R4 and I am following the [LTE Cat M1/NB-IoT Shield Hookup Guide.

This hookup guide is very helpful, but only for using a Hologram card.

I tried to connect my phone’s SIM card to the shield, but when running the provided “network registration” code, the shield cannot even read the card !!

My questions are:

  • can I use the shield when another operator’s SIM card is attached ?

any help would be appreciated

regards

2

My first post was a little messy and also did not provide any logs, so in order to make things clear :

My test’s using non-Hologram SIM card include Q and Cosmote card (those are operators in my area Greece).

In both cases I run 00_Register_Operator sketch with no success (I must say that the shield was configured before with Hologram SIM and Vodafone operator as mentioned in [Not detecting all operators in Greece). Also during all tests I sometimes pressed RESET button in case of a need, with no success.

APN strings I used are “myq” and “internet” as I found in my mobile phone and in [apn.how also.

Serial monitor results are :

Initializing the LTE Shield...
...this may take ~25 seconds if the shield is off.
...it may take ~5 seconds if it just turned on.
LTE Shield connected!

Setting mobile-network operator
Set mobile network operator to Default

Setting APN...
Error setting APN. Try cycling power to the shield/Arduino.

When uncommenting SparkFun_LTE_Shield_Arduino_Library’s Serial.Print lines, debug log are :

Initializing the LTE Shield...
...this may take ~25 seconds if the shield is off.
...it may take ~5 seconds if it just turned on.
Command: E0
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: +IPR=9600
Response: 
Command: 
Response: 
Command: E0
Response: 
Command: +UGPIOC=16,2
Response: 
Command: +UGPIOC=23,3
Response: 
Command: +CMGF=1
Response: 
Command: +CTZU=1
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=0
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=1
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=2
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=3
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=4
Response: 
Command: +USOCL=5
Response: 
LTE Shield connected!

Command: +COPS?
Response: 
Setting mobile-network operator
Command: +UMNOPROF?
Response: 
Set mobile network operator to Default

Setting APN...
Command: +CGDCONT=1,"IP","myq"
Response: 
Error setting APN. Try cycling power to the shield/Arduino.

the only difference in my tests here is APN’s name for those two SIM cards

I must say that in the sketch I edited the MOBILE_NETWORK_STRINGS array to :

const String MOBILE_NETWORK_STRINGS[] = {"Default", "Vodafone", "Cosmote Mobile", "WIND"};

because those are the operators in my area and not Verizon etc.

So my main questions are:

1- can I use the shield when another operator’s SIM card is attached ?

2- if so, how should I configure the MOBILE_NETWORK_OPERATOR ? Just operator’s name in MOBILE_NETWORK_STRINGS array as I did in my tests ?

3- how do I provide a pin number ? (not such a thing in Hologram SIM and so in the provided code)

4- has anyone achieved such a setup ? If so, can they provide some sample code here in the forum ?

any help is appreciated

thanks in advance](Cosmote - Greece APN settings - APN.how)](SparkFun LTE CAT M1/NB-IoT Shield - SARA-R4 - Not detecting all operators in Greece - SparkFun Electronics Forum)