Nova with 3rd party SIM doesn't connect

I am trying to connect a raspberry pi 0 with the internet using a Hologram Nova, setting up a PPP connection.
It works fine with the Hologram SIM.
But I don’t seem to be able to make it work with a non-Hologram SIM. (Proximus SIM)

This is some information I found here:

  • I modified the chat script, and changed the APN to the APN the Proximus SIM shows when I insert it in my phone.
  • I’ve read some similar threads, bit haven’t found an answer to my problem

pi@rpi0w-dev:~$ cat /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/Hologram/Network/Modem/chatscripts/default-script

Chat script for modems using Hologram SIM card

See hologram.io for more information

ABORT ‘BUSY’
ABORT ‘NO CARRIER’
ABORT ‘VOICE’
ABORT ‘NO DIALTONE’
ABORT ‘NO DIAL TONE’
ABORT ‘NO ANSWER’
ABORT ‘DELAYED’
TIMEOUT 12
REPORT CONNECT

“” AT
OK ATH
OK ATZ
OK ATQ0
OK AT+CGDCONT=1,“IP”,“internet.proximus.be”
OK ATDT99**1#
CONNECT ‘’

  • sudo hologram modem operator returns the correct operator:
    Operator: Proximus
  • sudo hologram modem sim returns ICCID of the SIM
  • sudo hologram modem connect returns PPPError: Modem hangup - possibly due to an unregistered SIM

The SIM is obviously not registered with Hologram, as it is a Proximus SIM, but it is registered there, as I can use it on my phone.

Does anyone have any ideas what I should be doing?

So nobody knows how to do this?
Or can it not be done?

It should work. Can you run the command with -vv to turn on debug logging and post the result?

Thank you for your reaction, Reuben.

This is the output of the command with -vv option:

~$ sudo hologram modem connect -vv
DEBUG: checking for vid_pid: (‘12d1’, ‘1506’)
DEBUG: checking for vid_pid: (‘05c6’, ‘90b2’)
DEBUG: checking for vid_pid: (‘12d1’, ‘1001’)
DEBUG: checking for vid_pid: (‘1546’, ‘1102’)
INFO: Detected modem Nova_U201
DEBUG: checking port ttyACM0
DEBUG: [AT]
DEBUG: {AT}
DEBUG: {OK}
INFO: found working port at ttyACM0
INFO: chatscript file: /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/Hologram/Network/Modem/chatscripts/default-script
DEBUG: [ATE0]
DEBUG: {ATE0}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CMEE=2]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CPIN?]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {+CPIN: READY}
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CTZU=1]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CTZR=1]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CPMS=“ME”,“ME”,“ME”]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {+CPMS: 0,300,0,300,0,300}
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CMGF=0]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CNMI=2,1]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CREG=2]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: [AT+CGREG=2]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
INFO: Instantiated a Nova_U201 interface with device name of /dev/ttyACM0
DEBUG: [AT+UUSBCONF?]
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {+UUSBCONF: 0,“”,“0x1102”}
DEBUG: {}
DEBUG: {OK}
DEBUG: USB modem mode: 0
INFO: Connecting to cell network with timeout of 200 seconds
INFO: Checking for existing PPP sessions
Exception in thread Thread-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py”, line 810, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py”, line 763, in run
self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
File “/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/Hologram/Network/Modem/ModemMode/pppd.py”, line 109, in connectThreadedFunc
raise PPPError(‘Modem hangup - possibly due to an unregistered SIM’)
PPPError: Modem hangup - possibly due to an unregistered SIM

INFO: Failed to connect to cell network
~$

I hope this gives you more insight.
If you need additional info, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Thank you in advance for your investigation!

Hi, I forgot that the logs from the PPP service end up in syslog. Can you paste the portion of /var/log/syslog that corresponds to when you’re running the connect command? (Don’t put the whole file here, it’ll probably be huge.) One way to do this is to run tail -f /var/log/syslog in a separate window while you’re running the command and then paste all the output when the command fails.

Hi Reuben,

This is the content of the syslog while running the sudo hologram modem connectcommand.
(sorry, but it is still huge)
syslog.zip (978 Bytes)

Thanks again for looking into it. I sure hope you’ll find something useful!

Kind regards,
Christopher

I might be stumped here. It does appear that the chatscript is setting the correct APN but it’s getting kicked off when it tries to connect. You may need to reach out to SIM provider and see if they have any tips. Maybe that isn’t actually the correct APN for them. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with the Nova since it is responding to commands.

Thanks for this Reuben.

I have not been able to get in touch with someone at the provider who could further help me out.

I will do a test with some other SIMs of other providers while waitingr some reaction from their part.

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.