SIM Ordering Guide

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What is SIM Ordering

MG41/E and MG51/E supported dual SIM functionality with 2 external physical SIM card slots. However, the MG52/E has an embedded SIM (eSIM) along with the 2 external physical SIM card slots. Hence, SIM ordering is important for managing the MG with 2 or more SIM cards. With SIM ordering users can designate the SIM slots (including eSIM slot) as primary/secondary/not in use. The MG52/E can support only upto 2 active SIM cards at a time with combinations such as -

2 physical SIM cards
One physical and one eSIM
eSIM only
One physical SIM card only

SIM ordering allows users to designate the primary and secondary SIM cards for MGs, that support dual SIM functionality. If both primary and secondary SIMs fail, MG will disconnect from the dashboard and go offline. Configuring SIM ordering on the dashboard ensures the device is informed about which SIM should be active.

If the user intends to use eSIM along with 2 external physical SIM cards, then one of the slots has to be marked as primary and other can be marked secondary via the dashboard. The MG cannot support 3 SIM cards at a time.

SIM Activation

When the MG is powered on, the device will try to detect the slots in which the SIMs are inserted. In case of MG41/51 if there is no SIM inserted, the device will not connect to the dashboard.

If the MG52 is powered for the very first time without any physical SIM cards, then the eSIM automatically be activated and come online on AT&T network and this is called the eSIM bootstrap data.

Note: If the eSIM is powered anywhere outside of the US, the eSIM is deactivated and MG won’t come online via the bootstrap data.

SIM Activation with only physical SIM Cards

If during bootup there are 1 or 2 SIM cards, then the MG will try to boot up with the SIM that is selected as Primary. By default, the device is configured with SIM1 as the primary slot. However, if a SIM card is inserted into SIM slot 2 on a device with no SIM in slot 1, the device will boot up with the SIM on the SIM slot 2.

SIM Ordering can be used to change the SIM that was used during the bootup as Primary. This can be done as explained in the Enabling SIM Ordering section.

Note : We only support Dual SIM Standby, which means only one SIM can be active at any given time. Concurrent calls on both SIMs are not supported.

Activating eSIM

Please refer to this document regarding how to activate eSIM with ATT.

For MG52/52E, the eSIM slot preference can be changed to primary or secondary, once the MG comes online via a physical SIM card.

To do that, click on the PRIMARY button and change the SIM slot priority as explained in the Enabling SIM Ordering section.

SIM Failover

SIM Failover can be enabled or disabled via the dashboard.

Go to Cellular Gateways > Uplink

Click on edit as shown below.

SIM Failover works the same way the SIM Ordering is set. When the MG boots up, it always boots up with the primary SIM card as active. For the MG, SIM1 is the default primary SIM. If the primary SIM experiences a connectivity loss lasting more than a few minutes, MG will automatically switch to the secondary SIM card. For instance, if SIM 1 is designated as the primary SIM and SIM 2 as the secondary SIM, when SIM 1 loses connection, SIM 2 will take over as the active SIM. If connectivity is restored in SIM1, SIM2 will still remain active and will only switch over to SIM1 if connectivity on SIM2 is lost.

For MG52/E, if the device boots up without a physical SIM card then eSIM will be the primary SIM card. If there is no SIM in any physical SIM slot, then it will boot with eSIM, even if it isn't designated as the primary or secondary SIM. However, if a physical SIM is present in any slot, MG52/E will boot using that external SIM, regardless of its primary or secondary status. If the user intends to use the eSIM alongside a physical SIM, they must explicitly designate the eSIM as either Primary or Secondary. Otherwise, the physical SIM slot will lose network connectivity and won’t switch over to the eSIM in case of network failure.

Please refer to the screenshots below for instructions on configuring eSIM as the secondary SIM when SIM1 is set as the primary SIM

Click on NOT IN USE in eSIM to set the SIM ordering.

After opening the modal above, navigate to the Secondary tab and click on Update. This action will designate eSIM as the secondary option, as depicted below.

Enabling SIM Ordering

SIM ordering is necessary because it allows us to designate the primary and secondary SIMs. The Primary SIM typically serves as the main SIM card used for data connection and Secondary SIM is used as a backup or secondary connection in case the Primary SIM encounters connectivity issues or is unavailable.

Below is how the user configures SIM Ordering for MG41/51

Go to Cellular Gateways > Uplink