Kuwfi (or zbt?) we826-t2 related questions

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

first of all, i don't understand if the device has cellular modem, or not.
it has a sim card slot, and inscription 3g/4g on it.

when i connect via ssh, i don't see anything other than /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS1, I guess the modem had to be identified as /dev/ttyUSBsomething.

when I configure GPRS/UMTS, APN via ttyS1, I see in system log that it cannot use S1, and when I configure it to use ttyS0, I think it says the device locked, and I guess from dmesg that it is used as console.

That was with the stock OEM openwrt version.
Then I downloaded the openwrt version from openwrt.org (openwrt-19.07.3-ramips-mt7620-zbt-we826-32M-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin) , and the other one (WE826-MM-3-16-19.bin) which has modem manager, and neither detected modem, neither in web ui, nor I can see the device in /dev.

So I disassembled the device today, and it looks llike this:

1707×960

I looked at some pages, where they suggest installing Sierra modem, and I see the slot (black) to install the modem is empty.

So I don't understand, if the suggustion is to install the second modem, or the device has no modem at all?

Secondly, if it has a modem, how can I know which frequencies it supports, in other words, is it for US or EU?

Thank you!

2

The modem fits in the blue PCIe slot. Though the form of the card is PCIe, that bus is not used; the connection from the CPU to the modem is USB. Or of course you can use an external USB modem. It doesn't have any modem now.

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3

thank you!

so there is no modem!

4

Thats correct, actually no modem. In case, you do not need highest speed, look at the Quectel EC25.
Works like a charm, for a reasonable price.

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5

so i'd like to buy the modem, but i am not sure which type of interface it should it have. has pci? or pcie? (i understand that actual protocol is usb)
what should i search for?
and secondly, will the software support that modem? or all modems work via generic interface - AT commands?

@reinerotto thank you for recommendation! will that fit? i found a couple of those on ebay but all, i think, have US frequencies, not suitable for EU.

6

well not exactly EU, i need some chip which will work with these frequencies: https://www.spectrummonitoring.com/frequencies/index.html#Armenia

7

There are different versions of the EC25 available. You need to check the specs from Quectel. I only use it in serial mode, although it is supposed to work with qmi, too. Having never seen stability problems in serial mode, I stick with it.