Manual Mobile Broadband Activation Assistance (2024)

No symptom information.

IMEI Number

To manually activate, Mobile Broadband (MMB) or Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) cards you must obtain the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number for the card. Below are instructions to obtain the IMEI number with the use of the Command Prompt.

1. For Windows 10, press the Windows + X keys. Click Command Prompt (Admin) to open in Administrator mode (Figure 1, English Only).

   Command Prompt Options
   
   Figure 1
   

2. To find the device information for a device on your local system, use the following command in the Command Prompt: netsh mbn show interface
   (Figure 2, English Only)
   Press the Enter key.

   netsh mbn show interface Command.
   
   Figure 2
   

3. The device id is the IMEI number (Figure 3, English Only).

   Command Prompt Device ID.
   
   Figure 3
   

Option 1 to start the service.

• Activate the service with a Command Prompt command.
• Open Command Prompt again and type: net start wwanSvc
  Press the Enter key.

Option 2 to start the service.

• Activate the service in the Services menu.
• Open Command Prompt again and type: services.msc
  Press the Enter key.
• Find "WWAN AutoConfig" (Figure 5, English Only).

  WWAN AutoConfig Service.
  
  Figure 5
  

• Double-click the WWAN Service entry and it should open the WWAN Service general tab (Figure 6, English Only).

  WWAN Service General Tab.
  
  Figure 6
  

• Change the Startup Type to: Automatic.
• Click the Start Button.
• Once the service successfully starts, retry the "netsh mbn show interface" from the command prompt to capture the IMEI number.

Note: Without the IMEI number, the activation cannot occur. The next option (not recommended as it may introduce further complications) is to open the battery and system cover to find the IMEI number sticker.

You can now contact your carrier (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, so forth) to activate the card.

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