TP-Link 4G routers not seeing Smarty SIMs?
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About a year ago I bought a TP-Link Archer MR600 4G router and ordered a Smartly (3) unlimited data SIM, put it in the router, it 'just worked' and all has been well ever since.
I recently leant the combo to our daughter and all was well with her, sufficiently to cancel her ADSL BB service.
She recently ordered her own Smarty unlimited Data SIM, activated it, swapped it for mine and according to the router admin page, 'no SIM card found'. She factory reset the router etc, no improvement. If she puts my Data SIM back in, the SIM is recognised immediately again and all works as it should.
She happens to also have my spare Huawei 4G router and put her new SIM in that and it went online immediately, suggesting the SIM can be seen (by that router) and is activated.
There seem to be quite a few people having issue with Smarty SIMs and TP-Link routers so has something changed re the type of SIM Smarty are supplying and is there an issue with TP-Link routers seeing them for some reason please?
So, in case it helps anyone else etc ... I picked up a bunch of new SIMs from a range of providers and put them in my MR600. All of them were 'seen' by the router and a couple even brought the Internet connection up.
I re-tried the 2 Smarty SIMs (at the bottom of the pic) and neither my origonal unlimited Data not a new one were seen (Ignore the hairs etc).
I then cleaned both the Smarty SIMS and put one in and it was then seen! I then tried the other one and that too was seen and went online, confirming it was my origonal Data SIM. ;-)
So it seems that maybe some combination of events (like accidentaly trying the SIM in upsidedown) or there being something 'different' about the Smarty SIMS (it seems there are a few people seeing this issue with Smarty SIMs in TP-Link routers).
Zooming in on the Smarty SIMs on the pre-cleaned picture:
It looks like they were quite grooved / scratched by the SIM socket connections but not so when cleaned and polished, suggesting it might be some form of contamination that is affecting the electrical connectivity?
I wondered if it could be ink from the writing on the back of the SIM, if you put the SIM in upside down?
Obviously it's still very early days but I thought I'd share what I seem to have observed so far. ;-)
I picked up another brand new Smarty SIM today and installed it in my MR-600 Router.
It's also not seen:
The log file (on Debug) shows:
2018-10-01 00:00:37 [5] 4G: init LTE module, set flowstat [enableDataLimit 0, enablePaymentDay 0, paymentDay 1, limitation 0, warningPercent 90]
2018-10-01 00:00:37 [5] 4G: LTE Module: profile num [1], default profile [1], active profile [0]
2018-10-01 00:00:37 [5] 4G: DM: profile num [1], default profile [1], active profile [0]
2018-10-01 00:00:38 [5] System: Enable IPv4 SPI Firewall
2018-10-01 00:00:38 [5] System: Enable IPv6 SPI Firewall
2018-10-01 00:01:16 [6] 4G: WARN: Network selecting failed, mostly rejected.
2018-10-01 00:13:52 [6] System: Device(00:22:FA:64:DB:8A) joins in 2.4G Wlan
2018-10-01 00:13:52 [5] DHCPD: Recv REQUEST from 00:22:FA:64:DB:8A
2018-10-01 00:13:52 [5] DHCPD: Send ACK to 192.168.1.100
2018-10-01 00:14:41 [6] System: User(Mac:00:22:FA:64:DB:8A;IP:192.168.1.100) logs in.
Is there anything else I can add that might help?
So, in case it helps anyone else etc ... I picked up a bunch of new SIMs from a range of providers and put them in my MR600. All of them were 'seen' by the router and a couple even brought the Internet connection up.
I re-tried the 2 Smarty SIMs (at the bottom of the pic) and neither my origonal unlimited Data not a new one were seen (Ignore the hairs etc).
I then cleaned both the Smarty SIMS and put one in and it was then seen! I then tried the other one and that too was seen and went online, confirming it was my origonal Data SIM. ;-)
So it seems that maybe some combination of events (like accidentaly trying the SIM in upsidedown) or there being something 'different' about the Smarty SIMS (it seems there are a few people seeing this issue with Smarty SIMs in TP-Link routers).
Zooming in on the Smarty SIMs on the pre-cleaned picture:
It looks like they were quite grooved / scratched by the SIM socket connections but not so when cleaned and polished, suggesting it might be some form of contamination that is affecting the electrical connectivity?
I wondered if it could be ink from the writing on the back of the SIM, if you put the SIM in upside down?
Obviously it's still very early days but I thought I'd share what I seem to have observed so far. ;-)
Yes, I'm happy we seem to have it working but I'm still not sure I'm happy about the 'why'?
I agree that it doesn't seem that any paint or ink markings have been removed by the SIM socket holder from putting the SIMs in upside down but I'm then confused what the marks were on the SIM contacts and how they could be polished off?
I mean, if they were physical scratches, I'm not sure they would have polished off so easily and if not scratches, what were they and why would removing them make such a marked difference (not working / working)?
Being an electronics tech all my life I'm aware that you don't need much contamination in a connector to stop things working and it's likely to only need one out of the 6 to not connect for the SIM to not be read?
I might see if I can make up a SIM card sized (or longer) cleaning strip so that I can also easily clean the inside of the SIM socket.
Daughter has borrowed my MR600 again but this time with her own unlimited data Smarty SIM (even though the SIM is brand new, only worked (ever) after I've cleaned / polished it?) because the MR600 worked much better than the Huawei 4G router I also leant her.
Once she is happy the Smarty SIM <> MR600 are stable, she will probably order her own MR600. ;-)