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I've got a Windows 8 Professional device which has got a Mobile Broadband adapter embedded and I need to be able to send AT commands to the modem, usually I'd connect to the COM port and send the commands. However the device doesn't appear to have any COM ports, instead it presents its self as a network adapter.

I'm wanting to send AT commands to change the APN of the modem and to reset the device, I've looked into the 'netsh mbn add profile' but this command always returns an error advising that the XML profile is incorrect.

Also from looking at the functions of the netsh mbn it doesn't seem to provide as much control as sending AT commands.

The modem that I'm trying to interface to is the Ericsson C5621 GW on a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2.

Is there another way to send AT commands?

Thanks

hlovdal
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Strikeforce
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1 Answers1

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I do not know this product in particular, but since I worked in Ericsson, later in ST-Ericsson with mobile phone development for over a decade it is doomed to have some of my code in it so I'll answer on a general basis.

Short version is, no unless the device exposes a serial interface over one of the external interfaces (possible interface types are RS-232, IrDA, Bluetooth, USB or CAIF), there is no way of sending AT commands to it1.

Being an embedded device in a laptop and your since you say it seems to be without serial interfaces I assume it uses CAIF (commonly used in embedded settings. It could also have be using USB with the serial interfaces disabled, but since this press release mentions that it will be available in a version with PCI interface, that is very unlikely). And thus unless the device is set up with any active VEI channels, there is no ways in for AT commands.

There might be other ways of changing the APN though.

1 We had a debug mechanism to inject AT commands onto arbitrary serial interfaces, but this itself was running on a serial interface, started by an AT command. And besides it will not be present in released products.

hlovdal
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  • Thanks for getting back to me. In the end I managed to find a firmware update which added another COM port which accepted the AT Commands. – Strikeforce Apr 22 '13 at 07:35
  • @Strikeforce For reference and information for others, it would be nice if you added a comment with the firmware revision. – hlovdal May 01 '13 at 23:15
  • This wasn't a long term solution as the next update broke it. – Strikeforce Dec 05 '13 at 17:18