I’m facing an issue with my SIM7000E where explicitly setting the operator with AT+COPS=4,2,<code> causes AT+CGATT=1 to respond with +CME ERROR: no network service anywhere from 1 to 20 times before finally connecting.
The network code in this case is 65510 for MTN (South Africa). The only reason I’m even explicitly setting the operator is because without it, AT+CGATT=1 always fails. In the US, my SIM7000A attaches to the network just fine without setting the preferred operator. Is this a common issue for certain regions or operators? Below is a readout of the network attach failing, then succeeding. RSSI (not shown here) is decent, in the -85dB area.
+CPIN: READY
SMS Ready
ATE1
OK
AT+CFUN=1
OK
AT+CMEE=2
OK
AT+CGMI
SIMCOM_Ltd
OK
AT+CGMM
SIMCOM_SIM7000E
OK
AT+CGSN
865234031879736
OK
AT+CGMR
Revision:1351B08SIM7000E
OK
AT+CREG=1
OK
AT+CPIN?
+CPIN: READY
OK
AT+CIPSTATUS
OK
STATE: IP INITIAL
AT+CGACT=0
OK
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","hologram"
OK
AT+COPS=4,2,"65510" <---- explicitly choose MTN operator
OK
AT+CGATT=0
OK
AT+CGATT=1
+CME ERROR: no network service <---- fails to attach to network
AT+CIPSTATUS
OK
STATE: IP INITIAL
AT+CGACT=0
OK
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","hologram"
OK
AT+COPS?
+COPS: 0,2,"65510",3
OK
AT+CIPSTATUS
OK
STATE: IP INITIAL
AT+CGACT=0
OK
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","hologram"
OK
AT+COPS=4,2,"65510" <---- explicitly choose MTN operator
OK
AT+CGATT=0
OK
AT+CGATT=1 <---- successfully attached to network
OK