US GSM Carrier SIM Compatibility Question

My friend purchased a WR44-L300-NE1-XH v2 on eBay and it has Novatel E371 LTE (AT&T) hardware, he has got it to successfully work on the AT&T network. Since it has dual SIM slots, my question is will other GSM SIM’s like T-Mobile work on this device?

Thank You,

Brien

I think the limiting factor here is the Bands / frequencies that are (and aren’t) supported on the E371 module.

I found this on the E371 spec sheet:

Technology/Bands
LTE AWS, 700 MHz (B17) (with MIMO)
HSPA+/UMTS 850/AWS/1900/2100 MHz
GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Elsewhere, I found information that says T-Mobile uses Bands 2, 4, and 12 for 4G LTE. This tells me that 4G LTE via T-Mobile is not possible with this module (with this Digi product), because only Band 17 is supported, which I believe is the main band for AT&T 4G LTE.

So, unless I’m missing something, that information alone limits you from using 4G LTE via T-Mobile.

The same question/logic would apply to 3G. From the quick research I did, these are the supported 3G bands (well, frequencies) for T-Mobile:

1700 MHz, 1900 MHz, and 2100 MHz.

So maybe 3G would work in certain areas(?).

At any rate, this Digi device is definitely marketed and intended for use with AT&T only, and likely only supported when used with AT&T (just so you know).

If you have a working T-Mobile SIM card, you could certainly try it. Just be sure to use the proper APN for that SIM.

Sorry I don’t have a definitive answer. This isn’t something I’ve tested before. I hope this information helps still, if even somewhat.

E371 will support T-Mobile on 1700/2100 4G LTE, using apn fast.t-mobile.com