Inside Telstra 5G Modem - Arcadyan AW1000

[@soppingclam]

For anyone interested in unlocking their modem. It is very simple now. You may be a Telstra customer but it could be geosyncronised to a tower, thus moving it then makes it basically useless. Or 1.5mbit/s max. Or you may want to unlock it to use another sim card from any other carrier. Knowing the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) is 50501 for Telstra and Optus is 50502 you can just change this in the modem. So, while the APN Mobile status 5G Technology Operator (PLMN) it is set as 50501 if change the 50501 with an asterix/wildcard '*' you can use any carrier. Just change the following line: arc_usb_dongle_lock_plmn=50501 to arc_usb_dongle_lock_plmn=*

[@moisty254]

Do you know how to lock a Huawei B818 263 with Optus 4g+ Sim to a specific cell tower? Mine keeps bouncing from one to another and my speeds range from 25Mbits to 200

[@JusTine-eq6wm]

Do you know to openline i saw some modem using openwrt firmware

[@Dudelydogg]

Hi, I have the same modem as the guy in this video, where do I change the setting you mentioned to unlock the modem? I can't see it anywhere in the settings?

[@soppingclam]

@@Dudelydogg hey, sorry Tel$tra are suing me for breaching and providing specific details about this on Whirlpool. Court next month. Unreal

[@OriginalKije]

Great video. Couple of quick notes if you're interested. The multiple matched antenna are for steerable beam forming, they're nearly all active all the time. The unused antenna ports are becuase this hardwre is based on a stock design we customise for our market and its easier to leave them there than remove them. GPS is for clock. Serial is for debugging and by all means take a look but you're not going to find anything there on a device running production firmware.

[@AronBezzina]

I did endup setting up serial debug. was able to get root after that and play around a bit. forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9qr1j570

[@BillAnt]

The antennas placed around the unit is not so much to cover the front and back of the home, it works just fine regardless of tower position. Its main purpose is physical separation to reduce feedback and interference.

[@gmsol]

@@BillAnt don't forget that antenna placement and orientation in modern multi antenna devices is actually important. both the hardware and internal radio mcu firmware for these is beam forming (delaying one or more signals from one or more antennas) so spacing and orientation is very important. one pair will often be transmit and the other receive or all will do both providing the optimal physical conditions for very low power signals that need constructive interference to pop out of the noise floor and be amplified or in the case of transmit constructive interference to provide the highest possible signal amplitude despite all the other sources of noise. to increase effectiveness and especially with mobile devices with low power both polarization and triangulating connections is necessary. each device connected is positioned in space using phase delays to create a new optimal triangulation phase match which provides constructive interference per devices time division multiplex slot/s so the phase angle of the signal is per connection not just the access points clock. all clients are expected to synchronize to this both in time and space with polarization and delays used to provide constructive interference. some devices have GPS time and location awareness which helps to aid this more then significantly even with low 1 meter resolution but mostly so isp's can track their branded devices but also allows devices to determine the correct rough phase angles when dealing with many devices. new radio technology such as mobile and wifi communications actually follows technology based on phased array radar and communications as well as synthetic aperture radar and moving single antennas since mm/cm waves are very sensitive to phase shift and even from holding a phone. the more antennas phase shifted/delayed the more constructive interference can be used to increase signal to noise ratio, lower transmit power requirements, deal with polarization issues. other benefits are wider bandwidths making jamming and interference hard of not impossible without overwhelming radio sources designed to attach the bandwidth base frequency but a clever programmer and radio enthusiast can also overcome these by simply "phase shifting and randomizing via cryptography" the base or center frequency for the carrier wave making all jamming signals equivalent to all other noise a normal radio would have to overcome. the more channels a base frequency has in its spectrum the more effective this anti-jamming aspect becomes.

[@BillAnt]

​@@gmsol - TL;DR but yeah I didn't want get too technical and explain about phase shift, multi-path mitigation, etc.

[@thedolphin5428]

Brilliant opening line!

[@SJS764]

Hi Aron thanks for your excellent KZbin post on the AW1000 box especially pulling the cover off. I think that the internal antenna array provides a system where the unit can operate effectively as you mentioned that the 5G signal is very directional. In general RF terms the higher the frequency short they wavelength so the physical size of the elements of the antenna. You could remove some of the antenna connectors and see what happens to signal strengths of the 5G signal and also the WiFi and then pin point what exactly each antenna does. Maybe a trip to the nearest 5G base station with a 12v battery and remove all of the coax connectors and then connect one at a time and monitor the results. I’m very interested in your project as I’m considering doing the same as I’m close to a Telstra 5G tower 3 - 4 meters.

[@simonstringfield3285]

I'd actually expect that the smaller the antenna board, the higher the frequency as antenna physical size depends on the wavelength of the signal and higher frequency signals have a smaller wavelength, thus need a smaller antenna to transmit/receiver. I'd also assume that some of the LTE/5G antennas are designed with a range of frequencies in mind to cover multiple 4G/5G bands each. The exception might be the smaller one on the back. This may be designed specifically for 3500MHz (known as 5GNR band n78) which is probably the highest cellular frequency this device supports. This is the "main" 5G band Australian carriers use, so they might have a dedicated antenna for it to maximise the gain of the modem for that frequency. It might also explain why it's on the back - typcially if the device were positioned near a window, you'd have the LEDs facing into the home meaning the back of the modme would be pointing directly out the window and hopefully towards a mobile tower to maximise the signal that antenna receives. Do the antenna PCBs have any numbers/markings on them (apart from the "antenna ID number")? These might indicate bands/frequencies those antennas are designed for.

[@AronBezzina]

I Think you are right, in my testing the larger antennas did appear to be the 4G signal and the medium antennas did appear to be the 5G, the little one didn't appear to do anything when disconnected but saying its specifically for the 3.5GHz makes sense. There were no markings on the antennas that gave me any indication of freq.

[@paskoh]

Looking forward to seeing how the external antennas will work out and what you end up using. Cheers

[@nsw3000]

Fantastic video... great to take a look inside and to hear your initial thoughts..

[@arsenalove]

Found out from RF store, Antenna ports at the back of AW1000 are connected to 4G modem . So connecting external antenna wont improve the 5g . Not sure if ports can be rewired to 5g Modems. Cheers

[@AronBezzina]

It really appears to me that one antenna jack is 5g and one is 4g You can technically add more jacks.

[@sun.5334]

How is the heat of this machine? Will the Internet speed drop due to heat?

[@nightswitch57]

you could absolutly do that but the real problem is if the modem can provide enough power to those bigger antenas. may be worth getting an osciloscope readout on the anetnnas to figure out the frequencies

[@ahmadsyakirin.ibrahimazmi]

so any update? part 2?

[@digisuboob]

This works well with external 5g antenna i put on my roof for telstra 5g home internet. I went from 45 down inside to 330 down with the external antenna

[@sun.5334]

May I ask which 5G antenna you are using?

[@Isshin007]

Do you just plug the external antennas and it will do its thing? or there are some settings or things you need to do?

[@IdAnisa-z3k]

hi Aron, great video, can you help me bro how can i connect to the serial to usb to my computer? I need to flash firmware because mine got bricked

[@garrymcgaw4745]

So did mine bro so I got my girlfriend to go to Telstra and open a 5GWiFi account same as mine and said she has just moved in to her new address (where we live) and wants internet. BOOM!, so now I'm going to dick around inside the old brick and try a few hacks.... South Australia. 🤫.

[@mysteryunknown3825]

Hi Aron, great video much appreciated. Have you been able to confirm the SMA connectors. I need to position my modem under the internal stairs where there is no 5G signal. The modem will be relying on the signal from the external antenna that will be installed. It would be good to have confirmation that 5G will work on the external antenna before I spend considerable money to have the 2x2 mimo antenna and cable installed.

[@MaDcUnT]

Hey mate how did you end up installing the external antenna? I thinking about going down that route as well.

[@mysteryunknown3825]

No external antenna has been installed@@MaDcUnT

[@soppingclam]

If interested, I have added a few lines to the firmware to allow access to the new GUI I uploaded to the modem. It can now detect all towers in range, test them for speed and download an e-sim for that tower and carrier of your choosing. (uses the testers PLMN and even 466 for Taiwan appears to work). Furthermore, it is unrestricted thus I need a fan on the heatsink in the modem when downloading above 3000mbit/s.. Which is close to the max speed of my older SSDs

[@EnricoTurco-xy7jk]

Why would you open it up for? Is it broken? All I need to know is how do I get the voip setup and can it be set up from different company other than Telstra

[@arsenalove]

Thanks for the detailed video mate. I am 688m away from Telstra pole and getting 500+ Down and 40 Up most of the time . Pings are around 20ms. If I use an external Antenna , will that manke any difference ? & would you be able to recommend any? ta

[@AronBezzina]

I am not too sure however I don’t really think you will get much better. Plug ur modem into a 12v battery and take it for a drive, do tests at different places Around the tower to see if the tower can even do any better. I think the best speed I ever got doing this was in the 700s

[@garrymcgaw4745]

WOW! mate the best mine got was 360 down 15up with a Ping of 25 😡.@@AronBezzina

[@ao27893]

Makes me wonder why they would parallel external with internal. Generally if you do that you’ll throw the swr off with 2 antennas connected. Maybe you’d have better luck getting 2 tuned patch or yagi antennas pointing direct at the tower and disconnect the 2 that share the internal with external.

[@soppingclam]

Or know how to remove the geolock via another method

[@soppingclam]

Did you end up working anything out about this modem? what direction should modem face to get best signak.. external antennas which port works best.. any USB unlocker files can put on a usb and plug it in modem to unlock stuff? or anything? :P I have moved again, and just took it back out the box. Yet not much is going on with it. dang thing

[@soppingclam]

Curious, are you still using this modem? Dont suppose you know how to decrypt the backup cfg file?

[@francmald9359]

Good day sir, im waiting for your update or next video for your output

[@justing8979]

I believe Telstra can geolock these devices. I wonder is there is any GPS antennae in there? or are they relying on the tower location/s the signal is feed from. I am trying to get around the geolock, to be able to move it around multiple sites. If anyone has any tips on this please share.

[@AronBezzina]

I have not seen gps antenna. It would be based on cell tower. GPS would be useless as the modem is inside. I have been able to move mine around, so far with no issues. Tested it in my house, at each end of town, in the next town, down the highway it’s always worked 100% with no lock. Maybe I got lucky with how I ordered mine that maybe mine is lock free When I ordered mine I got it as a business not personal. I put in an address that could get the service and then I copied the url of the button that was no longer greyed out. Then I opened a different browser and pasted the url in. I got through the whole signup process and it did not have a service address tagged to it. I then got an email saying my account needed additional info (the service address) the email had a link to a form to fill out. I did that and the modem arrived and has seemingly been region free the whole time.

[@GetFluxed]

@@AronBezzina Ninja!

[@atanhifi]

Got a Telstra Arcadyan AW1000 on 03-Jun-2024 but only to discover it has firmware version 0.06.01r, hardware version: XCI35AX44Z-TA through the Telstra webgui on the device. I could not find the "backup/restore" option as suggested by your "Method 2 - Backup File" as mentioned in whirlpool archive 9qr1j570, so there is no easy way for me to root it. If running on this firmware version, and before I open up the device and to buy an uart usb to ttl adapter and some probe clip using your "Method 1 - UART" way, do you know if Telstra still have not has this root access patched? Thanks.

[@TurboEncabulat0r]

Just the video I was looking for! Did you end up getting better speeds with an antenna attached?

[@ignisGladius]

Where can i buy this?

[@chrisadams862]

What was the outcome ? Did you get external antenna working ?

[@mikeharris4349]

awesum review, is the a way to isolate the 5 ghz to allow a connection for my nest cameras which allow only a 2.4ghz connection , cheers for any help

[@AronBezzina]

The modem does band steering. So the nest should still see the ssid and connect. It just won’t be pushed up to the 5ghz. Tho in the unlikely chance this doesn’t work u can seperate the SSIDs to a 2.4 and a 5

[@tugboat8475]

How do these 5g units do a firmware update thanks

[@TeenSpunk]

I'm wondering if it's easy to open the heatsink to change the thermal paste/pads, anyone? Thank you.

[@bravolatavera3647]

does the ehternet ports is Gigabit?

[@yizhoufeng230]

Is that any possible to crack the geo-block of the 5G modem? I have been made an order before I see your video, it's too late to change to the non-address order even I just found the way as same as you did. Hopefully it works after I receive the modem tomorrow, and thanks for your nice video!

[@AronBezzina]

I dont know if you can crack the geoblock, I assume its at Telstra's end, all I know is mine doesn't appear to have any geo restriction

[@yizhoufeng230]

@@AronBezzina Thanks mate, thanks for your reply, I just try your way to apply another order and as you said they sent me a form which need to fill my home address, and I did put my real address on the form, not sure if it works or not, coz my real address is not support with the 5G.. Hope I am doing the right thing as you did, cheers!

[@bigfrang4501]

should I add an external antenna outside for the 5g I'm about 900 metres from the tower

[@AronBezzina]

My gut feeling is with Mimo antennas you would get an improvement, however I don’t really know. If you can afford to buy an antenna to test it I would be interested in hearing your results. My ultimate goal, when I can afford it, is to get a 4x4 mimo antenna and connect it to the 2 sockets on the back + 2 more inside (2x 5g, 2x4g)

[@katiekumcgil]

hi aron both the sma terminals are 4g and 5g ,for optimal set up you use 2 antennas offest

[@katiekumcgil]

you can now get 2 external antennas that cover 4 and 5g but need to connect both

[@michaelduncan7547]

@@katiekumcgil Any suggestions on model/brand for said antenna's?

[@jasontudehope4668]

My neighbours keep asking me to fix their wifi all lights are green except the mobile light is blue for average signal strength I thought it'd be working but when I connect their pc it says connected, no internet access anyone have any solution?

[@GetFluxed]

Hey mate, great work. Have you done more antenna testing with this unit?

[@AronBezzina]

The testing I did was after I recorded the video but before I uploaded it, my findings are in the description.

[@luckyduck146]

I received this a few days and I am curious can you buy an external antenna to increase stability ???

[@AronBezzina]

Yes you can buy ext antennas. Either a 2x2 mimo or a 4x4 mimo if you are ok with opening the modem, unplugging the antennas and adding screw on terminals for the other 2 cables from the 4x4 mimo antenna

[@ftosam]

Is there any way to do port forwarding on this modem? I've got one and for the life of me cant figure it out

[@AronBezzina]

sort of... issue is its a 5G service so it has a double NAT. google CGNAT for more. basically you don't get an external IP address so u cant fwd. however you do get an external IPv6 address. so if you know how to work with IPv6 u can use that. tho this modem appears to block that also so the way around that is to hack the modem and use openwrt commands to do port fwds. The route I took in the end was to use this modem to get internet access, connect it to my main router (pfsense), pay for a VPS and setup a VPN between my local pfsense box and the one i built in the cloud. I then use the cloud IP address to fwd ports over my VPN back to my local pfsense box.

[@andrewburrell4695]

@@AronBezzina Hi, great to see an analysis of the internal bits of the modem. Did you setup your workaround because you wanted to do port forwarding to enable the xbox to allow multigaming etc? This is what I am trying to setup, currently Xbox reports NAT moderate, Upnp - none and tests say 100% packet loss

[@AronBezzina]

@@andrewburrell4695 I need port fwd to get access to my server, not for gaming. I don’t think there is much that can be done for gaming.

[@andrewburrell4695]

@@AronBezzina thanks mate

[@nathanbarton3458]

@@AronBezzina I have this as well, but Telstra gave me a static IPv4 when I asked for it, of course this isn't much use without port forwarding/dmz etc... have you worked out how to do this?

[@mak2o1989]

Works in Italy?

[@judet8290]

Please do one of the Telstra smart modem gen 3

[@AronBezzina]

I don’t have a gen 3 smart modem, sorry

[@AronBezzina]

@Joe Shabidu thanks for the offer, if that day comes I would love to take a look at one. With ur gen 2 did you get the technicolor one or the Arcadyan one? The technicolor unit is really nice and it hackable to unlock features etc.

[@hanamichisakuragi9891]

can openwrt,passwal ssr+?

[@projectasyrafdanial1769]

Yes

[@糖糖-o6j]

amazing;-) i have much stocks to wholesale;-)

[@sleekbook]

whoa so easy to diasmble. Ant 1 : H + V Ant 2 : H + V

[@conorjones93]

5g and this modem is absolutely terrible for gaming, my nat type is never open and 100% packets loss I can't even join party chats on xbox live it just endlessly connects then doesn't even though they said it was faster then nbn...... look who's going back to nbn......

[@ARMAKUNI01]

Same problem with me. The only other option I have is Telstra Velocity for Fibre to the House but after a week of trying to contact them and being on hold for hours on end, I was never actually able to even speak with anyone. I'll wait until the area receives the pending fibre upgrades and choose a different ISP. I prefer lower speeds on something more stable. I did find one fix though for the Xbox. If I log into the modem settings via a web browser and disable IPv6, it takes the settings back to normal and I can join or host Xbox live parties. For some reason, IPv6 on the Telstra 5G modem does not play well with my Xbox Series S.

[@conorjones93]

@@ARMAKUNI01 okay I will disable the IPv6 and give that a try.

[@soppingclam]

​@conorjones93 did it work? Because before I moved location and it stopped working because it is geolocked (boo) I had awesome experiences with gaming

[@allenrussell4011]

😁 Pᵣₒmₒˢᵐ