ZTE MF286D 4G modem problem

I'm a newbie to OpenWrt and had successfully converted a Three branded MD286D to OpenWrt using X8 connector.

Firmware version: OpenWrt 23.05.5

Problem is getting 4G modem to work with EE network which was working fine in ZTE firmware.

I installed luci-proto-qmi package through LuCI and created a new interface.

System log:
Tue Oct 1 09:42:27 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wwanLTE' is setting up now
Tue Oct 1 09:42:27 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): Waiting for SIM initialization
Tue Oct 1 09:42:31 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): Failed to parse message data
Tue Oct 1 09:42:32 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): PIN verification is disabled
Tue Oct 1 09:42:33 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): Device does not support 802.3 mode. Informing driver of raw-ip only for wwan0 ..
Tue Oct 1 09:42:33 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): Waiting for network registration
Tue Oct 1 09:42:34 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): Starting network wwanLTE
Tue Oct 1 09:54:27 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wwanLTE (2733): qmi_parse_wds_start_network_response: Invalid TLV length in message, tlv=0x01, len=1

SSH to the Router
root@OpenWrt:~# uqmi -d /dev/cdc-wdm0 --get-data-status
"disconnected"

root@OpenWrt:~# uqmi -d /dev/cdc-wdm0 --get-signal-info
^C"Failed to connect to service"

uqmi -d /dev/cdc-wdm0 --get-serving-system
^C"Failed to connect to service"

The above command always hanged and I have to Ctrl-C to break it then returning Failed to connect to service.

AT+CGDCONT?
+CGDCONT: 1,"IP","everywhere","0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0
+CGDCONT: 2,"IPV6","ims","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0
+CGDCONT: 3,"IPV6","sos","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,1
+CGDCONT: 4,"IP","3internet","0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0

ATI
Manufacturer: ZTE CORPORATION
Model: MF286DMODULE
Revision: BD_MF286DMODULEV1.0.0B07
SVN: 01
IMEI: 86xxxxxxxxxxxx
+GCAP: +CGSM

Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Your APN is "everywhere"?

Maybe thats an EE thing, in the US the APN is reminiscent of the carrier's name.

See Unable to get Quectel EC25-E to connect in QMI mode - #21 by AndrewZ

I recommend upgrading the modem firmware to Nordic B12.

Can this be done directly on openwrt? I have been reading a lot of posts and looks like ZTE framework is the way to go but I did not save the backup of the stock firmware properly and have lost it :frowning: Is there a way to go back to stock or?

Yes and no. See ZTE MF286D can't get connection over LTE - #45 by AndrewZ