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Manual Mobile Broadband Activation Assistance

Summary: This article provides information about how to obtain the mobile broadband card International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number for activation.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

No symptom information.

Cause

No cause information.

Resolution

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
    Windows 10 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.
    Windows 10 Command Line netsh mbn Command
    Figure 2
     
  3. The device id is the IMEI number (Figure 3, English Only).

    Command Prompt Device ID.
    Windows 10 Command Line Network Information, Device ID
    Figure 3
     

If the WWAN Service is disabled, a message displays in the Command Prompt (Figure 4, English Only): "Mobile Broadband Service (wwansvc) is not running."

(wwansvc) Not Running.
Windows 10 Command Line WWANSVC Not Running
Figure 4
 

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.
    Windows 10 Services Information
    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.
    Windows 10 Device Service General
    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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Affected Products

Home & Office Networking, Wireless Networking
Article Properties
Article Number: 000130127
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 14 Aug 2023
Version:  5
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