I never got an email and never got a new sim. Luckily Bix was able to get their AT&T customers up on Tuesday 1/5.

Unfortunately, I've been throttled to 0.05MBps for the last 18 hours. According to Bix's blog, a lot of other customers have been too. It's starting to get real frustrating. Bix is unsure if this throttling is going to be temporary. I guess we'll wait and see.
If T-Mobile /sprint was better in my area, I might give it another shot. I tried it when OTR swapped to T-Mobile and my speeds were in the 5 Mbps range.

After a two weeks with the new SIM from Bix, AT&T suddenly started rebooting once a day, dropping to DSL speeds when I checked in each morning. I would then reboot the modem, and was instantly back to normal broadband. I checked my Cradlepoint modem settings and somewhere along the way it got reset (probably when I inserted the new SIM) and it was no longer rebooting itself at 4am. I set it back to the auto reboot at 4am and now it works normally in the morning (fingers crossed).

Apparently several sites I visit regularly check the user's IP and make me jump through hoops to login because the IP changes everytime AT&T or I reboot. Other sites including several banks use a different security method (maybe the MAC address of the device?) and don't balk at the new IP.

Well, Bix Wireless hasn't had much luck with AT&T from what I hear. Still throttled to 0.05 Mbps. No time line or resolution in sight as Bix is waiting to hear from AT&T. I just don't know how much longer I'm willing to wait, especially as my next auto-pay approaches...

I read on their Facebook that some Bix customers are swapping to SimNet Wireless, where they have a 300gb option for $99 and an "unlimited" for $129. The guy who posted said he wasn't having any problems

I'm also considering trying NeverThrottled out. They're charging $94 for the typical 400gb with AT&T. I emailed their support to see if they were having any problems with AT&T throttling customers. I received a pretty generic response that didn't seemed to not address my question..

My question has anyone jumped over to a new AT&T provider, and how has their experience been in 2021? Don't know if I'm ready to jump over to a different provider, spend more on a new sim, and another activation charge.

I am on Never Throttled. I have only had one issue since I signed up in April where I had to replace my SIM. I was told some account stuff changed and for some reason it didn't automatically transfer over. Their customer support is horrible though. If you do have an outage, you won't get a quick response and is isn't going to be resolved fast.

Unlike JHejl10 and others reported experiences with BixWireless, I have received nearly instant response from support, and in late December 2020 got the new AT&T SIM sent to me for FREE by Priority mail. No activation fee (though the monthly fee went up to $100). Except for a few minor speed problems, which I seem to have fixed with an automated nightly reboot, its been working fine between 25-50Gbps during works hours. Apparently I have never exceeded the 400gb monthly limit, so I never got throttled or disconnected by AT&T for that reason.

I had 2 accounts with Bix on AT&T and didn't get any new sims. I would have been fine paying $100/month on their new AT&T plan. Bix sent out an email to their AT&T customers on the $85/month plan that they were being cancelled by AT&T. They apparently had no new AT&T lines either.

I quickly bought a new sim and am now with NeverThrottled. Registered on Thursday and 3 days later it still isn't activated... (Guessing it's taking longer bc its the weekend and probably have a lot of customers switching). Hoping for the best with them!

Did anyone here on Bix Wireless receive a new SIM recently and have the Firstnet Broadband APN settings? I've emailed twice and called twice where they told me they would email the instructions to me, but I can't get anything out of them..

I've moved on from 3rd party vendors. You can get an unlimited iPad account for $20, do a little "magic" to a hotspot, and get it to work straight from AT&T (or TMobile/Verizon with more expensive plans).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/imeimagic

I just signed up with Bix. Had no idea it was on the firstnet network. The service is nearly noexistent and speeds of 4 MB/s are not possible. Plus, they told me they would refund everything except the restocking fee. Not a happy camper. I had no idea they didnt actually use the same bands as AT&T. Also, T&P if our area ever needs the firstnet backup. LOL. What a POS.

I still cannot believe we have to deal with this crap in 2021. Its just a digital version of the AOL CD with 100 free minutes. :/

Stop using 3rd party providers. Get a modem that allows you to adjust the IMEI and TTL and get a phone/tablet plan from AT&T, Verizon, or TMobile directly. Changing the IMEI is NOT illegal, It is only against the "terms of services" just like most of the 3rd party vendors are not following the "terms of service".

Can you adjust the IMEI on the cradelpoint modems that we were using for OTR initially? Or does it need to be a different brand to do it?

tfunk02 said:

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Stop using 3rd party providers. Get a modem that allows you to adjust the IMEI and TTL and get a phone/tablet plan from AT&T, Verizon, or TMobile directly. Changing the IMEI is NOT illegal, It is only against the "terms of services" just like most of the 3rd party vendors are not following the "terms of service".

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So you're saying I should ignore the 12 days of Christmas email I got from OTR today?

tfunk02 said:

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Stop using 3rd party providers. Get a modem that allows you to adjust the IMEI and TTL and get a phone/tablet plan from AT&T, Verizon, or TMobile directly. Changing the IMEI is NOT illegal, It is only against the "terms of services" just like most of the 3rd party vendors are not following the "terms of service".

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So I have to buy a modem that lets me change the IMEI and then I have to pay for a tablet plan…and buy a tablet…and the man change the modem to the IMEI of the tablet?

Is that the idea? If so, which router will allow this? Not sure I want to go this route for a primary business broadband but I'm curious anyway.

I joined the Facebook page but it's a real soup sandwich in terms of finding anything easily or useful. I mm sure it's there just don't know how long it'll take to find it. I have an M1 and a Glinet router collecting dust right now.

ETA: after some light reading, yes, what I posted above is what you do. However, still confused on how to obtain the tablet IMEI. Hate to buy a whole dang tablet just for that.

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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tfunk02 said:

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Stop using 3rd party providers. Get a modem that allows you to adjust the IMEI and TTL and get a phone/tablet plan from AT&T, Verizon, or TMobile directly. Changing the IMEI is NOT illegal, It is only against the "terms of services" just like most of the 3rd party vendors are not following the "terms of service".

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So I have to buy a modem that lets me change the IMEI and then I have to pay for a tablet plan…and buy a tablet…and the man change the modem to the IMEI of the tablet?

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I believe you buy a regular phone plan, not a tablet plan, as tablet plans are often more limiting, just like hotspot plans.

tfunk indicated previously that he uses an IMEI of an old phone he doesn't use any more for this purpose.

The FB group has become too much of a soup of not much info from when I joined.

Go to the files section of that FB group and look at all of the MR1100 files. The M1 you have is the short name for MR1100. I took the M1 I had from OTR and updated it with a new IMEI and gave it to a friend. It can now do all services and looks like a cell phone, BUT it doesn't do all of the Verizon bands that are widely used (B2). If you use your M1 and an old phone or sim slot on your current that you don't use, you will not need to put any money in, just time.

With Verizon you will need the phone you are taking the IMEI from to make sure it works before you put it into the modem, but I believe with the others you just need an IMEI. You can get one generated online, but then you are getting into a grey zone ethically and maybe legally.

I went the expensive route and got a 5G modem with open source software. I set it up with the secondary IMEI of the phone I use since I don't use the 2nd sim slot.

I setup my neighbor with one that is under $200 all in and they are getting about 35 down now off of a cell booster they already had. They used an old iPhone 5 and went into Verizon to get a regular cell plan for it.

For another neighbor I got a MikroTik LHG ($90) with an EM12 Cat 12 modem ($180). It was just over $300 and now they are getting 60-70Mbps down and 20+ up on AT&T.

It all depends on how high tech you want the modem and how nice of an antenna you want/need.

Here's copy/paste from another thread...

I would get a modem and router from one of these links below. They come with a version of OpenWRT software.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/chestercr/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

https://www.ebay.com/sch/arcadian.technologies/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

https://www.ebay.com/sch/mike_ratledge/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

With the included software, you can log into the modem and set TTL and IMEI. I used the IMEI of my old phone I keep in a drawer. Once the modem is all set up you can get a regular old unlimited data plan from any of the carriers and they will see the modem as a phone. It IS against the terms of service, but it is not illegal to do.

Also, I use this antenna with a 502 mid band and low band 5G modem (no mmWave).
https://www.streakwave.com/hp-5g-lte-mimo-4x4-5m

Here's another good resource, but prices can be a bit higher here.
https://thewirelesshaven.com/

I'm going to use AT&T. Right now, with no antenna on a grandfathered unlimited plan, I'm hitting 60mb down. I need to do this with another modem for another location that has similar cell reception. I just don't know which modem to grab and not break the bank. I'll try or read up more.

Are you saying with openwrt I won't have to do anything other than log in and set it? PPE w.r.t. is what I use on my other routers for things so I'm kind of familiar with it.

Also, what 5G setup with open software did you get?

I just need an lte modem and router stand-alone.

I also have a Glinet x750c4 that is an lte modem and router. I can't find a lot of info on changing the IMEI though. That would be nicer because it's cheap and I have it. I'd be willing to test it out.

The best bang for the the buck for AT&T and no external antenna is probably using at M1100 (M1) Nighthawk. It has 4x4 mimo internal antennas and is a CAT 16 modem. I'm not a fan of their software but it's not crazy. If you use external antennas it knocks it down to 2x2 mimo unless you break it open and do some DIY upgrades.

I am more of a fan of the open sourced hardware/software. I'd go with something like this over the M1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133741001854?hash=item1f2395bc7e:g:j2QAAOSwm9Bg9JPD


I have a high end modem. It's a Quectel RM502Q-AE inside of a ZBT WG1608 router.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133746951162?hash=item1f23f083fa:g:qiQAAOSw9ftgXUMn
It is a CAT22 modem that does low and mid band 5G. I will most likely never get mmWave where I am so I didn't bother even looking into that (finding mmWave antennas are an issue). On eBay they are about $750. I was able to get mine for about $600 by going off of eBay (fees) and buying more than one. Cheapest way to get it is through Alibaba but that can take a long time to get here and then you have to build it out. Mine runs GoldenOrb which is OpenWRT based https://ofmodemsandmen.com/.

Changing the IMEI is just copy pasting some code to the router software, and changing TTL for Verizon and TMobile (AT&T doesn't need it) is as easy as clicking a few buttons or copy pasting some code to the firewall.
Here's a video on how to change the IMEI. This is a different branded software, but it's the same method.


I'm betting that being 5 miles from Kyle Field as the crow flies, I should end up with speeds as fast and latency faster than StarLink once the cell companies fill out their mid-band 5G. I am already getting low band 5G on the N5 band. It is not making speeds any better though.

My glinet x750 is openwrt so I can run an at command to change IMEI. It's a 4g lte router with quectel modem and has band 14. Maybe I should try the business elite and a 4g IMEI from my old iPhone 5.

You can always try it out first too. Change it to your current IMEI and put your cell phone sim in there. Just make sure to change it later so there aren't 2 of the same IMEI's running at the same time. I have done that with mine before.

So, I've been using an AT&T reseller service for the past several years. I've experienced some pain on and off like many of you, but it's been better than the WISP I was using. Last year, my wife switched her phone back over to the family plan from her work plan. That put us at three lines. The AT&T rep said we would actually do better with some of our plan discounts by adding a 4th line. He activated it & just gave her a SIM card. Last month during an outage (e.g. shut down), I thought... hmmm, wonder what this will do, so I put it in my hotspot. Voila... internet ready to go.

So, how do I go about figuring out what the hell I have? I logged into AT&T, it shows a phone # that I don't recognize registered as a Galaxy A51 that goes with this SIM. It has an AT&T Unlimited Elite plan attached to it. Should I just drop the reseller and go forward with this? Will I get throttled to hell at some point? Will AT&T cut me off completely?

So the hotspot is showing up as a Galaxy A51 on your AT&T account? What is the modem and where did you get it? It sounds like someone may have already changed the IMEI on your hotspot to look like a Samsung Galaxy A51. If that is the case, then you are good to go.

The Unlimited Elite plan is their top of the line plan with 4K streaming (must be enabled in your account settings) and unlimited priority data.

There is a possibility that AT&T someday decides to catch people like us and could cancel our accounts. To me, I'd just move to another service, but to others that may be a big deal. I have not heard of that happening, but that does not mean it is not going on. I have used nearly 1TB of data in a month without a peep from AT&T.

The modem is just a low budget hotspot (Netgear LB1120) that I've been using with a reseller service. When the service went out with them for a week, I swapped in this extra SIM that the AT&T store rep activated for me, and it worked immediately. Maybe the store rep assigned it to the device... I've never owned the device that shows up in my AT&T account for that SIM.

There is some talk of someone using an Unlimited Elite plan in there LB1120 and not having hotspot data used. They said they used a phone APN in the modem software. Maybe that is how yours is set up? I would check your data usage on your AT&T account to make sure it is not using hotspot data. If it is, then you will be limited to 40Gb of data. If it is not, then consider yourself lucky and keep using it.

AT&T Unlimited Elite plan is 40-50 a month. Where is everyone getting this '20 a month' plan with truly unlimited unthrottled mobile device data?

It is a tablet plan. You will need a tablet IMEI in your hotspot. I have heard of a lot of people getting cut off from the plan, but it is available. I did not get it because I want to be able to stream 4K video, and I do not believe it is possible with that plan.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/812861842850023/search/?q=AT%26T%20tablet%20plan

tfunk02 said:

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The best bang for the the buck for AT&T and no external antenna is probably using at M1100 (M1) Nighthawk. It has 4x4 mimo internal antennas and is a CAT 16 modem. I'm not a fan of their software but it's not crazy. If you use external antennas it knocks it down to 2x2 mimo unless you break it open and do some DIY upgrades.

I am more of a fan of the open sourced hardware/software. I'd go with something like this over the M1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133741001854?hash=item1f2395bc7e:g:j2QAAOSwm9Bg9JPD


I have a high end modem. It's a Quectel RM502Q-AE inside of a ZBT WG1608 router.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133746951162?hash=item1f23f083fa:g:qiQAAOSw9ftgXUMn
It is a CAT22 modem that does low and mid band 5G. I will most likely never get mmWave where I am so I didn't bother even looking into that (finding mmWave antennas are an issue). On eBay they are about $750. I was able to get mine for about $600 by going off of eBay (fees) and buying more than one. Cheapest way to get it is through Alibaba but that can take a long time to get here and then you have to build it out. Mine runs GoldenOrb which is OpenWRT based https://ofmodemsandmen.com/.

Changing the IMEI is just copy pasting some code to the router software, and changing TTL for Verizon and TMobile (AT&T doesn't need it) is as easy as clicking a few buttons or copy pasting some code to the firewall.
Here's a video on how to change the IMEI. This is a different branded software, but it's the same method.


I'm betting that being 5 miles from Kyle Field as the crow flies, I should end up with speeds as fast and latency faster than StarLink once the cell companies fill out their mid-band 5G. I am already getting low band 5G on the N5 band. It is not making speeds any better though.

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For anyone interested, I've built one of these $350 routers for $100. All parts from China. I can share all of my stuff on how to build one.

Had a sprint unlimited sim and it's now being phased out. Just bought a T-Mobile Magenta Max plan and put it in the router. T-Mobile doesn't check IMEI numbers.

Pman17 said:

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Had a sprint unlimited sim and it's now being phased out. Just bought a T-Mobile Magenta Max plan and put it in the router. T-Mobile doesn't check IMEI numbers.

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So you didn't even have to do the IMEI or TTL modification tfunk listed above?

bco2003 said:

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Pman17 said:

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Had a sprint unlimited sim and it's now being phased out. Just bought a T-Mobile Magenta Max plan and put it in the router. T-Mobile doesn't check IMEI numbers.

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So you didn't even have to do the IMEI or TTL modification tfunk listed above?

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From what I have read T-Mobile allows Quectel modems on the network without IMEI modifications, but you will still have to do TTL to 65 to avoid "hotspot" data usage. A lot of people still change the IMEI to avoid future problems if T-Mobile decides to crack down.

Getting parts from Alibaba is the cheapest way, but the wait is long and you must build/install the router software yourself (not that hard to do). The savings weren't worth it for me, but if you are not in a hurry or worried about buying from China, it is cheaper.

Yea, TTL just has to be 64 65. There's an IMEI checker on T-Mobile's site to check if the modem chip works with the network. I'm using a Sierra Wireless EM7455 modem chip.

Here's my notes.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1172Ca_7TpYOWPGYCKQiO4fSSPPQhuegK?usp=sharing

Router firmware has to be changed to WIFIX custom firmware. SIM card goes in the M.2 adapter not the slot on the side of the router.

Pman17 said:

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Yea, TTL just has to be 64. There's an IMEI checker on T-Mobile's site to check if the modem chip works with the network. I'm using a Sierra Wireless EM7455 modem chip.

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Nice to see others in here going this route and getting good results.

Normally pre/postrouting TTL should be 65 for T-Mobile, 64 for Verizon, but it can vary a bit depending on how your router handles things. Just keep checking your account to make sure there is no hotspot leakage in the first couple of weeks.

tfunk02 said:

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It is a tablet plan. You will need a tablet IMEI in your hotspot. I have heard of a lot of people getting cut off from the plan, but it is available. I did not get it because I want to be able to stream 4K video, and I do not believe it is possible with that plan.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/812861842850023/search/?q=AT%26T%20tablet%20plan

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I can get the business elite plan which runs on a priority network and no throttling. I just wanted to make sure the 85 a month was worth it before I tested out my router and got it. The business elite does require tax verification before signing up.

I believe the tablet plan is always deprioritized as well. You may never notice, but it could be a big deal depending on your tower. When I am pointing at College Station towers on game day, it's nice to know I will not be deprioritized. I am on the regular Elite plan which also has unlimited priority data.

If you plan on watching 4k remember to turn off stream saver. It's automatically turned on and took me 3 or 4 attempts to get it totally off. Fast.com will help you know if it is still on after you have turned it off.

I have my Glinet x750 IMEI changed, but comparing it to my M1, this thing is downloading 6mbps at best. My M1 is doing 60mbps at times. I can't imagine this modem is that slow. Is there something I'm missing? The lte Facebook page says it's just the modem that sucks but I don't buy that.