This is a disappointment for me, as I use T-Mobile in the US - and it seems that without band 12 I am SOL with my Librem 5 regarding baseband.
Is that the case? Shall we start a thread for T-Mobile users to work out this problem?
Band 12 is supported . I read the baseband list and went to check my local tower on cellmapper and confirmed my tower was supported and it was 12
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Apparently, their new modem BroadMobi for US has it all. At first, I thought it was coming short, because Purism posted just one serial number. Luckily there are different variants I didn’t think of
I must have been unclear perhaps - and to clarify:
I know that T-Mobile supports Band 12 (which is 700Mhz) and my current h/w uses Band 12 and it works very well.
My disappointment is/was derived from the fact that it appears that the final hardware for LIbrem is the gemalto PLS8 - and when I looked that up, the US version says it supports only:
LTE (17,5,4,2); 3G (5,4,2); 2G Quad Band
And I interpreted that as no Band 12 on PLS8 - thus no Band 12 on Librem 5 (unless I get my own baseband radio to put in it).
Does that make sense?
[FYI I started another topic on this to start a new conversation with current info here: How to Use Librem 5 with T-Mobile?
Yes. It’s a Chinese company ( Gemalto is German). Purism just announced it today as an alternative modem.
So, they will have 2 to offer before it ships. Each will have different variants , depending on the region.
Check it out here
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Well ok , I dont know what the hell I was reading . Looks like I wont have LTE because my tower near my house is 12 …
man now I have to buy a modem on top of the 650 ?
No, if you desire so, you ask to get the Broadmobi instead. Just wait for Purism to explain the process.
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Ok , so purism is aware of the issue and what will post here or should I be checking emails?
Just patiently wait for Purism to explain the process.
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What about this modem ? Would this work ? https://www.sierrawireless.com/products-and-solutions/embedded-solutions/products/em7455/
And it seems to be registered with US carriers too
50 bucks on amazon and made in vietnam
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The Quectel EM06 would have been my preferred modem choice but I guess some off brand Chinese junk will have to do for now. The Quectel EM06 would carry the US certifications assuming they finish development.
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As much as Gemalto can sub for Gemalto (PLS8-E or US), one cannot mix Gemalto and Broadmi. Former is MBIM and latter (Broadmi) is QMI. The use of Gmobi is required for the first and needs removal for wwan to be enabled and functional for QMI Qualcomm service function.
MBIM is general modem used and QMI is neweer standard, the two incompatible to load to one system. See: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wan/wwan/ltedonglehttps://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wan/wwan/ltedongle
soooo how are both an option then?
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Not sure if you understood what I said. They will offer one of these 2 to be shipped with - not both.
And I also don’t understand what do you mean by “incompatible”. Are you talking about having them work - installed at the same time ?
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Two different libraries (incompatible to load to one system) for talking to WWAN modems and devices on Debian Linux:
- Mobile Broadband Interface Model (MBIM) specification from Microsoft = libmbim-glib4/libmbim-proxy
- Qualcomm MSM Interface (QMI) protocol = libqmi-glib5/libqmi-proxy
Meaning you do not need to have both of them installed, as I understood above intention, but certainly appropriate ones that belong to either Gemalto or BroadMobi modem. It is quite simple and useful (good to know) remark from @MJKPJ1050.
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Of course Makes sense. I don’t think that anyone here was implying or trying to have 2 of these modems used at the same time.
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I did not make myself clear, for which I am sorry.
If only a single modem is utilized, it may be reasonable to know that a simple hardware swap may be insufficient should the Librem 5 owner seek to go from a MBIM to a QMI modem or to make the change in the opposite direction. Without altering the software of the Linux subsystem, the modem will be inoperable. Merely adding wwam to the system is insufficient as the modem address system previously used, mgobi, needs removal for QMI and the opposite for the alternative direction.
More problematic, jockeying between 2 M.2cards is likely to be easy only if MBIM to MBIM or QMI to QMI as all sorts of software defaults may be problematic with frequent interchange of software systems for competing standards is required for alternating modem standard selection in operation.
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Please don’t confuse people. It is pretty standard for Linux to include drivers for basically all supported hardware. The appropriate driver, and with it the protocol used by the device, is selected automatically.
Should there be any additional per device settings, somebody will think of a way to save them per device.
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Yes, thank you. But even if this issue is for some of us self-explanatory we could still have people here that are coming from Microsoft Windows world and try to understand how this works within Linux. Anyway, I like to be self-confused but not ignorant to other people concerns (within this community).
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