Quectel EC25‑E / EG25‑G Mini PCIe 4G modems supported

[(MARLOO)]

Hi,

I'm running:

OPNsense: 26.7.5‑amd64

FreeBSD: 15.1‑RELEASE‑p3

on a Topton/CWWK‑style N100/N5105 firewall mini‑PC with:

1× Mini PCIe slot for WiFi/3G/4G (USB protocol)

1× onboard SIM slot

I want to add a 4G/LTE Mini PCIe modem as a secondary WAN (failover).

I've been following this issue about Quectel modems breaking after 24.7 and the related GitHub thread:

Forum: "LTE Modem Failure after Upgrade 24.1 to 24.7"
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=41751.0

GitHub: "LTE Modem Failure after Upgrade 24.1 to 24.7"
https://github.com/opnsense/src/issues/214

Given that context, are the following modems supported on OPNsense 26.7.5 / FreeBSD 15.1?

Quectel EC25‑E Mini PCIe

Quectel EG25‑G Mini PCIe

If not, which Mini PCIe 4G/LTE modem is currently known to work reliably with this OPNsense version?

Thanks in advance for any info.

[nero355]

Have a look at https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/how-tos/cellular.html#configuring-cellular-modems and see if they are listed there :)

[(MARLOO)]

Hi,

Thanks for the pointer to the docs.

Yes, both modems are supported on OPNsense 26.7.5 / FreeBSD 15.1.

The FreeBSD u3g driver (used by OPNsense for 3G/4G modems in PPP mode) explicitly lists Quectel EC25 (including EC25-E/EC25-A) and related models (EM05, EG91, EG25-G) as supported devices. 


From what I understand, the issue there is a regression in PPP behavior after 24.7, not a lack of hardware support: the EC25 is still listed in the FreeBSD u3g driver, but some users saw dial-up failures or needed extra AT commands/init strings.

Other users with Quectel EC25/EG25-G on OPNsense 24.7+ reported:

PPP dial-up failing after upgrade (worked on 24.1, broken on 24.7/25.x). 

Chat script errors in logs:

CHAT: The modem is not responding to "AT" at MomCmd: labeell.

CHAT: line 358: label "MomIdentGeneriicc" not found (typos in internal script). 

Reconnection loops:

Link: reconnection attempt 148 in 3 seconds

LCP: Down event, MODEM: chat script failed. [github.com]

PPP interface never gets IP/gateway:

ROUTING: refusing to set interface route on addressless opt1(ppp1). [github.com]


Common workarounds:

Add custom init string in PPP device (e.g. &F&C1&D2E0S0=0${temp}). [github.com]

Manually patch /usr/local/opnsense/scripts/interfaces/mpd.script to fix label typos (lost on each update). [github.com]

Some switched to an external 4G/5G router instead of internal modem. [github.com]
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My question is specifically about the current stack:

OPNsense 26.7.5‑amd64

FreeBSD 15.1‑RELEASE‑p3

On this version, has anyone successfully run:

Quectel EC25‑E Mini PCIe

Quectel EG25‑G Mini PCIe

as a secondary WAN (failover) without major issues? Or have the PPP problems persisted into 26.7?