Scroll down for The Magic Settings. You don’t need to read any of this

I've started really putting Ye Olde Panasonic Toughbook to use lately, including some heavy lifting such as e-reading (sarcasm). I figured why not take advantage of its cellular modem and get a $10/mo. data line on it

0% chance I'm going to sign another contract or pay top-tier cell provider prices, so as usual for projects I went with choose-your-own-carrier MVNO US Mobile. I happened to choose AT&T to round things out, already having Verizon and T-Mobile dual eSIMs on my phone. But the damn thing would absolutely not activate. So I'm going to share the trial-and-error settings I landed on here, in the hopes that the search engines will index this and it will end up saving at least one other cheapskate some grief

I was hesitant to reach out to support after reading a Reddit thread about a user getting blacklisted for using a "PC" with US Mobile. But I like them am using a tablet, which is supported by their Terms of Service. So don't let them give you s*** for that! They were of no help to me, though. They told me they only really support getting setup on iOS and Android, so my solo trial-and-error began, and ultimately led me here:

The Magic Settings

These need to match exactly. Think of them like a username and password. Any field you don't see below needs to be left blank/default:

  • Profile name: US Mobile
  • APN: ERESELLER
  • Apply this profile: leave this checked

Nothing will tell you this, but you'll probably have to restart Windows for the changes to work. Even turning cellular off/on, or disabling/re-enabling the cellular modem didn't do it for me

On Windows 11, you input these at Start → Settings → Network & internet → Cellular → Mobile operator settings → Add APN

Why?

Hi, former cellphone sales guy here. That was a long time ago, but even then we had Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs. They're reselling top-tier carriers' (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) lower priority data connections. As such, my device connected to AT&T but AT&T knew something wasn't right about that. The settings above told AT&T cellular authentication system "oh and I'm connecting as a client of this one reseller"

Are you using an MVNO? If you don't pay AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile directly, yes you are:

List of mobile virtual network operators in the United States - Wikipedia
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Goodbye for now 👋