MX67c Cellular bounces on Verizon

[CLCraddock]

Community,

I am experiencing a maddening issue where around 20 of My MX67c's that are provisioned for the Verizon 4G LTE network are showing the cell signal going through a pattern of connected, disconnected, connected, disconnected. This only happens on VZW. When I provision these devices with AT&T 4G LTE, the connection remains very stable. This issue occurs regardless of cell signal strength.

here are things I have tried:

-Swapping the SIM

-Having verizon push a new "APN update" to the device

-Factory Resetting the device

-Moving the device to a new network

-Unclaiming the device, reclaiming the device and assigning the device to a fresh network.

-Working with Verizon B2B support, but they say they cant see anything beyond the device "registering", no rea time connection statistics.

-Opening tickets with Meraki, but they have not been able to provide any straight answers.

The APN in use is "vzwinternet" which is the APN we were told to use by Verizon. Going back to around March of this year, the VZW connectivity was very stable and we didn't start to notice this issue until around August timeframe. So far I have taken 6 or 7 devices that were exhibiting this issue on VZW and put them on AT&T with no problems. 

Has anyone experienced this issue? Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you. 

[DarrenOC]

Thought I’d seen a messsage that the MX67 was awaiting certification with Verizon and Meraki?

https://cloudcontrolled.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/MX67-and-MX68-Overview-and-Specifications.pdf

[NolanHerring]

From what I have been told, that has been completed @DarrenOC 

[Bruce]

As long as 'tested' is the same as 'supported' then looks like it has...

[JD1ZL]

We have also been experiencing the same issues.  As you described AT&T has not been an issue for us and in some instances Verizon is okay.  The only thing I can add is it appears to be geographic issue for us.  In some locations Verizon in the MX67C-NA works without issue but in others it continually cycles.  It will even connect long enough to establish a VPN before dropping again and the timing is very consistent with the cycles.  Signal strength is great so no issues there but even where I have a poor signal in the geographic regions that don't experience the problem I don't get VPN drops or anything similar.  Just some expected fluctuation in latency.  I have spent quite a bit of time troubleshooting with both Verizon and Meraki with the same result you described.  I have run through everything you described in troubleshooting steps as well with no luck.  Would love to know if you have made any additional progress and will be happy to share if I come across anything helpful moving forward as well.  This is critical for us as most of the locations we support do not have a good enough AT&T signal for them to be an option.  Good luck!

[CLCraddock]

JD,

After circling the wagons with VZW and Meraki we found the issue and the solution. The issue stems from a firmware bug in pre 14.53 code that has something to do with the "vzwinternet" APN. In pre 14.53 code, the APN doesnt register correctly on the Meraki backend and so Meraki support has to "repush" the APN on the backend to the affected devices. If the device was experiencing the issue before the upgrade to 14.53, then the upgrade alone WILL NOT fix the issue, Meraki will still have to manually intervene. As such, it is advised to connect the MX67c to the Meraki portal first, conduct the Firmware upgrade and only after doing that, install the SIM and get the cellular connected. We had dozens of devices affected by this issue and this solution has worked to fix all of them. Open tickets with Meraki, ask for an escalation on the issue and work with the Meraki support to get the APN "repushed" to all your devices. 

HTH.

[JD1ZL]

Thanks so much for the update.  Reaching out to Meraki with that info now.  Unfortunately we did upgrade from a previous version so likely will have to get them to assist.  Thanks again.