Internet Connection with Twilio Super SIM, Telit LE910x and Sixfab Base HAT using ECM
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Internet Connection with Twilio Super SIM, Telit LE910x and Sixfab Base HAT using ECM

For an active internet connection with the Telit LE910 series, you can use PPP, QMI, or ECM.
ECM (Ethernet Control Model) is the easiest method in order to provide an internet connection to your single-board computer such as Raspberry Pi.

LE910 Variant: The ECM mode successfully works on LE910C1 & LE910C4 variants.

This tutorial describes how to configure your module for the ECM mode on Raspberry Pi OS.

Prepare Hardware

It is important to properly setup your hardware before you get started. To setup the hardware please follow:

Getting Started with Base HAT + Telit Modules
docs.sixfab.comdocs.sixfab.com
Getting Started with Base HAT + Telit Modules

Note: Make sure the USB is connected.

Software

Control the modem driver.

lsusb

You should see: 

--> Telit Wireless Solutions

Now we are ready to start.

First, install the required app to talk with the modem such as minicom or cutecom. We are using minicom for this tutorial.

sudo apt install minicom -y

Then, open the serial communication for /dev/ttyUSB2 device and 115200 baud rate using minicom with 

minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB2 -b 115200
Welcome to minicom 2.7.1 OPTIONS: I18n Compiled on Aug 13 2017, 15:25:34. Port /dev/ttyUSB2 Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys AT OK CTRL-A Z for help | 115200 8N1 | NOR | Minicom 2.7.1 | VT102 | Offline | ttyUSB2

Approve the communication by sending AT command. You should get a response of OK.

Configure Module

Now, we can start to configure the modem for ECM mode. The response should be OK.

AT#USBCFG=4

The modem may reboot after the execution of the command. Wait for the minicom screen to be activated again.

Configure APN

For Twilio Super SIM APN is super. In this case, the command should be:

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","super"

The response should be OK.

Reboot the modem

Then reboot the modem using the following command.

AT#REBOOT

Wait for the modem to boot again. It may take 30 seconds. Once the modem reboots, minicom will be activated again.

Internet Connection

Then start the internet connection using the following command. The response should be OK. If you get ERROR please try the same command again.

AT#ECM=1,0
Note 1: When the modem reboots or the internet connection is lost for any reason, you have to run AT#ECM=1,0 command again to establish the internet connection.
Note 2: It may take a few minutes to establish the connection depending on the network.

That's all.

Test Internet Connection

Once the internet is active you should see wwan0 in your internet interface. You can use route -n or ip addr and look for wwan0 interface.

Now check the assigned IP address and test the connection.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ifconfig wwan0 wwan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 inet 192.168.225.45 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.225.255 inet6 fe80::ee84:31a0:e65d:c5c3 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20 ether f2:0a:30:b7:9c:73 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet) RX packets 391 bytes 19933 (19.4 KiB) RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 TX packets 438 bytes 30915 (30.1 KiB) TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ping -I wwan0 -c 5 sixfab.com PING sixfab.com (172.67.75.126) from 100.67.114.164 wwan0: 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 172.67.75.126 (172.67.75.126): icmp_seq=1 ttl=29 time=247 ms 64 bytes from 172.67.75.126 (172.67.75.126): icmp_seq=2 ttl=29 time=205 ms 64 bytes from 172.67.75.126 (172.67.75.126): icmp_seq=3 ttl=29 time=207 ms 64 bytes from 172.67.75.126 (172.67.75.126): icmp_seq=4 ttl=29 time=204 ms 64 bytes from 172.67.75.126 (172.67.75.126): icmp_seq=5 ttl=29 time=216 ms --- sixfab.com ping statistics --- 5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 8ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 204.050/215.839/247.004/16.201 ms

Troubleshooting

If the wwan0 interface is not visible reboot your whole system, check your SIM, antenna, module and USB.

Then check the configuration of the module.

AT#USBCFG? # Should return 4

Check the TCP context is activated.

AT#ECM? # Should return 0,1. If return is 0,0 run the AT#ECM=1,0,"","",0 command in minicom.

Check the SIM is detected by the module.

AT+CPIN? # Should return READY

Check if the module is registered to the network.

AT+CREG? # Should return 0,1 or 0,5

Check the APN is right and have an IP.

AT+CGDCONT? # Should return the APN details and IP address