mmcli(1)

📦

version 1.25.95_git20260527 · 3 versions

1.25.95_git20260527 · alpine 3.24, arch rolling, debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking (latest)
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, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ mmcli 🎀 Control and monitor the ModemManager ✨

User Commands, section 1 💖

✨ NAME ✨

mmcli - Control and monitor the ModemManager 📱

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

mmcli [OPTION...]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so ModemManager is a DBus-powered Linux daemon 🧚 and it gives you one unified, high level API for talking to (mobile broadband) modems. it acts as a standard RIL (Radio Interface Layer) 📡 and different connection managers, like NetworkManager, can use it. the built-in plugin architecture is the real iconic part: ModemManager talks to really different kinds of modems through really different kinds of ports ✨. on top of the standard AT serial ports, it also supports Qualcomm-based QCDM and QMI ports 💜.

🦋 HELP OPTIONS 🦋

-h, --help — shows you a summary of the options, sorted by group 📋
--help-all — shows every group and every option 👀
--help-manager — shows the manager specific options 👑
--help-common — shows the common options 🫶. these are used for defining the device an option operates on, like modems, bearers, SIMs, SMS's, etc.
--help-modem — shows the modem specific options 📱
--help-3gpp — shows the 3GPP specific options 🌈
--help-cdma — shows the CDMA specific options 🍓
--help-simple — shows the simple options 🎀. these are your go-to for getting connected or disconnected and understanding the state of things super fast, without stressing about the details ✨
--help-location — shows the location or positioning specific options 📍
--help-messaging — shows the messaging specific options 💬. see also --help-sms, which is related 🫶
--help-cell-broadcast — shows the cell broadcast specific options. is related. 🙈
--help-time — shows the time specific options ⏰
--help-firmware — shows the firmware specific options 🔧
--help-oma — shows the OMA specific options 🧚
--help-sim — shows the SIM card specific options 💳
--help-bearer — shows the bearer specific options 🦋
--help-sms — shows the SMS specific options 💌. see also --help-messaging, which is related 💜

👑 MANAGER OPTIONS 👑

-B, --get-daemon-version — asks for the version of the ModemManager daemon that's currently running 🔥
-G, --set-logging=[ERR|WARN|INFO|DEBUG] — sets the logging level in the ModemManager daemon 📝. if you want the debugging info, go with DEBUG. every level above DEBUG gives you less detail, and honestly in most cases ERR (for displaying errors) has the messages that matter most 🙈

the default mode is ERR 💅.

-L, --list-modems — lists the available modems 📋
-M, --monitor-modems — lists the available modems and keeps watch for modems being added or removed 👀
-S, --scan-modems — scans for any potential new modems 🔍. this is only useful when you're expecting pure RS232 modems, since the kernel doesn't notify about those automatically 🥲
-I, --inhibit-device=[UID] — inhibits a specific device so ModemManager won't use it 🚫. the UID you give should be the value of the Device property exposed by a given modem. that's equal to the ID_MM_PHYSDEV_UID if one is set, or otherwise equal to the full device sysfs path 🧠.

⚠️ this command won't exit right away, because that would quietly remove the inhibition. you have to stop the mmcli process by hitting Ctrl+C to un-inhibit the device 💀.

when a device is inhibited this way, ModemManager will disable the modem (which stops any ongoing connection) and won't use it again until it's uninhibited 😭.

--report-kernel-event=['KEY1=VALUE1,KEY2=VALUE2,...'] — manually reports kernel events, instead of relying on udev 🔌. this is handy if the daemon is running with --no-auto-scan, or if the system was built without udev support 🛠️.

the supported KEYs are:

'action' — the action to report, one of 'add' or 'remove'. this one is required ❗
'subsystem' — the subsystem of the specific port being reported, e.g. 'tty' (for serial ports), 'net' (for network interfaces), or 'usbmisc' (for cdc-wdm ports) 🎀
'name' — the name of the port being reported, e.g. 'ttyACM0', 'wwan0' or 'cdc-wdm0' 🦋
'uid' — the specific UID of the device, equivalent to the ID_MM_PHYSDEV_UID udev tag 💖. all ports reported with the same 'UID' value are treated as part of the same device, which can be useful for modems with multiple platform TTYs 🫶

--report-kernel-event-auto-scan — when built with udev support but the daemon is running with --no-auto-scan, this lets you automatically report kernel events based on udev 🤖

this command won't exit right away either 🙈. you have to stop the mmcli process by hitting Ctrl+C to stop monitoring for new events ✋.

🫧 COMMON OPTIONS 🫧

all of the options below take a PATH or INDEX argument 🎯. if you don't give an action, you get the default information about the modem, bearer, etc. instead ✨.

the PATH and INDEX get created automatically when the modem is plugged in 🔌. you can find them with mmcli -L, which gives you something like this (for modems only):

Found 1 modems:
  /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/4

in this case, the INDEX is 4 and the PATH is the entire string above 💅.

for bearers, SIMs and SMS, the PATH is slightly different 👀. the Modem part gets swapped out for the object name in use, like Bearer. for example:

/org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Bearer/4

-m, --modem=[PATH|INDEX] — specifies a modem 📱
-b, --bearer=[PATH|INDEX] — specifies a bearer 🦋
-i, --sim=[PATH|INDEX] — specifies a SIM card 💳
-s, --sms=[PATH|INDEX] — specifies an SMS 💌

📱 MODEM OPTIONS 📱

all of the modem options below use the --modem or -m switch to pick which modem to act on 🎀.

some operations need a MODE 🌈. a MODE can be any combination of the modes the modem actually supports. in the perfect case, these are possible:

'2G' — 2G technologies, e.g. EDGE, CDMA1x 📶
'3G' — 3G technologies, e.g. HSPA, EV-DO 📶
'4G' — 4G technologies, e.g. LTE 🚀
'ANY' — for all supported modes 🌟
-w, --monitor-state — keeps an eye on the state of a given modem 👀
-e, --enable — enables a given modem ⚡. this powers up the antenna, starts the automatic registration process, and generally gets the modem ready to be connected 💖
-d, --disable — disables a given modem 😴. this disconnects any existing connection(s) for the modem and puts it into a low power mode 🔋
-r, --reset — resets the modem to the settings it had when it was power cycled 🔄
--factory-reset=CODE — resets the modem to its original factory default settings 🏭

the CODE you provide is vendor specific 🧾. without the correct vendor code, this operation is unlikely to succeed 🙃. this isn't a common user action, so maybe don't go poking at it just for fun 💀.

--command=COMMAND — sends an AT COMMAND to the given modem 📟. for example, COMMAND could be 'AT+GMM' to probe for phone model information 🔍. this operation is only available when ModemManager is run in debug mode 🛠️.
--create-bearer=['KEY1=VALUE1,KEY2=VALUE2,...'] — creates a new packet data bearer for a given modem 🌐. the KEYs and some VALUEs are listed below:
- 'apn' — the Access Point Name. required in 3GPP 📡
- 'ip-type' — the addressing type 🧭. given as a MMBearerIpFamily value (e.g. 'ipv4', 'ipv6', 'ipv4v6'). optional in 3GPP and CDMA
- 'allowed-auth' — the authentication method to use 🔐. given as a MMBearerAllowedAuth value (e.g. 'none|pap|chap|mschap|mschapv2|eap'). optional in 3GPP
- 'user' — the user name (if any) the network requires 🙋. optional in 3GPP
- 'password' — the password (if any) the network requires 🤫. optional in 3GPP
- 'allow-roaming' — a flag for whether the connection is allowed while roaming 🧳, given as a boolean value (i.e 'yes' or 'no'). optional in 3GPP
- 'rm-protocol' — the protocol of the Rm interface 🔗, given as a MMModemCdmaRmProtocol value (e.g. 'async', 'packet-relay', 'packet-network-ppp', 'packet-network-slip', 'stu-iii'). optional in CDMA
- 'number' — the telephone number to dial ☎️. required in POTS
--delete-bearer=[PATH|INDEX] — deletes a bearer from a given modem 🗑️
--set-allowed-modes=[MODE1|MODE2|...] — sets the allowed modes for a given modem 🎚️. for the possible modes, check the top of this section 👆
--set-preferred-mode=MODE — sets the preferred MODE for the given modem 🌟. the MODE must be one of the allowed modes you set with --set-allowed-modes. the possible MODE arguments are detailed at the top of this section 💅
--set-current-bands=[BAND1|BAND2|...] — sets the bands the modem should use 📻. these are frequency ranges. there are quite a few supported bands, and listing them all here would be extremely long, so for the details check out the MMModemBand documentation 📚

an example would be: 'egsm|dcs|pcs|g850', which selects all the GSM frequency bands 🌍.

--set-primary-sim-slot=[SLOT] — requests a switch to the primary SIM slot 🔁

the given SLOT must be a valid slot number in the [1,N] range, where N is the number of SIM slots available in the system 🎰.

--inhibit — inhibits a specific modem so ModemManager won't use it 🚫. this is completely equivalent to --inhibit-device, with one difference: the modem has to be managed by the daemon at the time the inhibition is requested 🧐.

⚠️ this command won't exit right away, because that would quietly remove the inhibition. you have to stop the mmcli process by hitting Ctrl+C to un-inhibit the device 💀.

when a device is inhibited this way, ModemManager will disable the modem (which stops any ongoing connection) and won't use it again until it's uninhibited 😭.

✨ 3GPP OPTIONS ✨

okay so 3GPP stands for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, which is basically a squad of telecom associations working together 🤝 these options are for devices that speak 3GPP 📱

you can also control USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) sessions with these, which is giving secret-code vibes 🕵️‍♀️

every 3GPP option below uses --modem or -m to pick which modem it's acting on 🎀

--3gpp-scan — scans for available 3GPP networks 🔍
--3gpp-register-home — asks a given modem to register on its home network 🏠

this registers with the default network(s) the modem specifies, bestie 💅

--3gpp-register-in-operator=MCCMNC — asks a given modem to register on the network of the operator with the given MCCMNC (Mobile Country Code, Mobile Network Code) 🌍 this code is used for GSM/LTE, CDMA, iDEN, TETRA and UMTS public land mobile networks and some satellite mobile networks. the ITU-T Recommendation E.212 is the one that defines mobile country codes, so that's where to look if you're curious 🤓
--3gpp-ussd-status — checks the status of ANY ongoing USSD session 👀
--3gpp-ussd-initiate=COMMAND — asks the given modem to start a USSD session with COMMAND 📞

for example, COMMAND could be '*101#' to check your current pre-pay balance 💸

--3gpp-ussd-respond=RESPONSE — when you start a USSD session, the network might send its own request and need a RESPONSE back. this option is how you answer it 🫶
--3gpp-ussd-cancel — cancels an ongoing USSD session for a given modem 🙅‍♀️
--3gpp-disable-facility-lock=FACILITY,CONTROL_KEY — turns off the selected facility lock using the control key you give it 🔓
- FACILITY — one of these lock types:
  - 'net-pers' — network personalization
  - 'net-sub-pers' — network subset personalization
  - 'provider-pers' — provider personalization
  - 'corp-pers' — corporate personalization
- CONTROL_KEY — the alphanumeric code that unlocks the facility 🔑

✨ CDMA OPTIONS ✨

okay the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) options are all giving "you need --modem or -m first" 🎀 no shortcuts here, bestie

--cdma-activate=CARRIER — activates the given modem using OTA (Over the Air) settings 📡 the CARRIER is a code the network hands over for the default settings they provide 🎁

✨ SIMPLE OPTIONS ✨

every simple option has to be used with --modem or -m, no exceptions 💖

--simple-connect=['KEY1=VALUE1,KEY2=VALUE2,...'] — runs a full connection sequence using KEY / VALUE pairs 🚀 you can use the --create-bearer options too, plus any of these:
- 'pin' — your SIM-PIN unlock code 🔐
- 'operator-id' — the ETSI MCC-MNC of a network you want to force registration on 📶
--simple-disconnect — disconnects ALL connected bearers for a given modem 👋

✨ LOCATION OPTIONS ✨

these are the location vibes 🗺️ they figure out where you are using Global Positioning System (GPS) or straight from your mobile network infrastructure (either 3GPP or 3GPP2) 🛰️

every location option must be used with --modem or -m 💅

--location-status — shows the current status of discovering our location 🧭
--location-get — shows ALL the location information available 📍
--location-enable-3gpp — turns on location discovery using the 3GPP network 📶
--location-disable-3gpp — turns off location discovery using the 3GPP network 🙅‍♀️
--location-enable-agps-msa — turns on A-GPS (MSA) support 🛰️ heads up, this does NOT start the GPS engine by itself. it just says A-GPS should be enabled once the engine starts 💭 so you should enable A-GPS before the raw or NMEA outputs with --location-enable-gps-raw or --location-enable-gps-nmea, periodt ✨
--location-disable-agps-msa — turns off A-GPS (MSA) support 🙃
--location-enable-agps-msb — turns on A-GPS (MSB) support 🛰️ same deal as MSA: it does NOT implicitly start the GPS engine, it just marks A-GPS as enabled when the engine starts 💭 so request A-GPS before the raw or NMEA outputs are enabled with --location-enable-gps-raw or --location-enable-gps-nmea 🫶
--location-disable-agps-msb — turns off A-GPS (MSB) support 🥀
--location-enable-gps-nmea — turns on location discovery using GPS, reported with NMEA traces 🧾

this command will start the GPS engine if it isn't already running 🔥

--location-disable-gps-nmea — turns off location discovery using GPS and NMEA traces 🛑

if the raw output isn't enabled at the same time, the GPS engine gets stopped too 💀

--location-enable-gps-raw — turns on location discovery using GPS, reported with raw (i.e. longitude/latitude) values 🌐

this command will start the GPS engine if it isn't already running 🔥

--location-disable-gps-raw — turns off location discovery using GPS and raw values 🛑

if the NMEA output isn't enabled at the same time, the GPS engine will be stopped 💀

--location-enable-cdma-bs — turns on location discovery using the 3GPP2 network 📡
--location-disable-cdma-bs — turns off location discovery using the 3GPP2 network 🙈
--location-enable-gps-unmanaged — turns on location discovery using GPS WITHOUT taking control of the NMEA tty port 🤝 this lets other programs, e.g. gpsd, use the NMEA tty once the GPS engine is enabled 🧚
--location-disable-gps-unmanaged — turns off location discovery using GPS and the unmanaged port 🌙
--location-set-gps-refresh-rate=SEC — sets the location refresh rate on the DBus interface to SEC seconds ⏱️ if you set it to 0, the new location gets published on the DBus interface as soon as ModemManager detects it ⚡
--location-set-supl-server=[IP:PORT] or --location-set-supl-server=[FQDN:PORT] — configures the location of the A-GPS SUPL server 🗺️ you can give either the IP address (IP:PORT) or a fully qualified domain name ([FQDN:PORT]) 🌸
--location-inject-assistance-data=[PATH] — injects assistance data into the GNSS module, loaded from a local file at PATH 💉 the data has to be in a format the device expects, e.g. stuff downloaded from the URLs exposed by the 'AssistanceDataServers' property 📦
--location-set-enable-signal — enables reporting location updates through DBus property signals 📣 this is needed if apps rely on listening to 'Location' property updates, instead of asking directly with the policy-protected 'GetLocation' method 🔔

these DBus property signal updates are disabled by default, so you have to turn them on yourself 💅

--location-set-disable-signal — disables reporting location updates through DBus property signals 🔕

✨ MESSAGING OPTIONS ✨

all messaging options must be used with --modem or -m 💌

--messaging-status — shows the status of the messaging support 📬
--messaging-list-sms — lists the SMS messages available on a given modem 📥
--messaging-create-sms=['KEY1=VALUE1,...'] — creates a new SMS on a given modem ✍️ these are the KEYs you can use:
- 'number' — the number the message is addressed to 📱
- 'text' — the message text, in UTF-8 💬 when sending, if the text is bigger than the limit of the technology or modem, the message gets broken into multiple parts or messages 🧩 heads up: text and data are NEVER given at the same time 🙅‍♀️
- 'smsc' — the SMS service center number 🏢
- 'validity' — specifies when the SMS expires in the SMSC ⌛
- 'class' — the 3GPP message class (0..3) 🏷️
- 'delivery-report-request' — specifies whether a delivery report is requested when sending the SMS ('yes' or 'no') 📨
- 'storage' — specifies where this message is kept 🗄️ storages may be 'sm', 'me', 'mt', 'sr', 'bm', 'ta'
--messaging-create-sms-with-data=PATH — uses the file at PATH as the data for a new SMS 📎
--messaging-create-sms-with-text=PATH — uses the file at PATH as the message for a new SMS 📝
--messaging-delete-sms=[PATH|INDEX] — deletes an SMS from a given modem 🗑️

✨ TIME OPTIONS ✨

all time operations require --modem or -m ⏰

--time — displays the current network time from the operator 🕰️ this includes the timezone, which is usually the important bit 🌏

✨ VOICE OPTIONS ✨

all voice operations require --modem or -m 📞

--voice-list-calls — lists the calls managed on a given modem (initiated, received, ongoing) ☎️
--voice-create-call=['KEY1=VALUE1,...'] — creates a new outgoing call on a given modem 📲 these are the KEYs you can use:
- 'number' — the number to call 🤙
--voice-delete-call=[PATH|INDEX] — deletes a call from a given modem 🫣

✨ FIRMWARE OPTIONS ✨

all firmware options require --modem or -m 🛠️

--firmware-status — shows firmware update specific details and properties 📋
--firmware-list — lists all the firmware images installed on a given modem 💿
--firmware-select=ID — selects a firmware image from the ones installed on a given modem 🎯 you can see the list of available firmware images with the --firmware-list option 👀

the ID you give is a UNIQUE identifier for the firmware 🆔

✨ SIGNAL OPTIONS ✨

all signal options require --modem or -m 📶

--signal-setup=[Rate] — sets up extended signal quality information retrieval at the specified rate (in seconds) ⏲️

by default this is disabled, meaning the rate is set to 0 🙈

--signal-get — retrieves the last extended signal quality information that got loaded 📈

✨ OMA OPTIONS ✨

all OMA options require --modem or -m 🎀

--oma-status — shows the status of the OMA device management subsystem 🧑‍💻
--oma-start-client-initiated-session=[SESSION TYPE] — requests to start a client initiated session 🚦

the session type has to be one of these:

'client-initiated-device-configure'
'client-initiated-prl-update'
'client-initiated-hands-free-activation'

--oma-accept-network-initiated-session=[SESSION ID] — requests to accept a network initiated session ✅
--oma-reject-network-initiated-session=[SESSION ID] — requests to reject a network initiated session ❌
--oma-cancel-session — requests to cancel the current OMA session, if there is one 🫠

✨ SIM OPTIONS ✨

okay so these are all about your SIM card 💳 and yes it's giving security guard energy 🔐

--pin=PIN — sends your PIN code over to a given SIM card 🔑
--puk=PUK — sends the PUK code to a given SIM card 🆘 this one has to be used WITH --pin or it won't work 🙈
--enable-pin — turns on the PIN request for a given SIM card 🔒 must be used WITH --pin too
--disable-pin — turns the PIN request off for a given SIM card 🔓 must be used WITH --pin as well
--change-pin=PIN — changes the PIN on a given SIM card so it becomes PIN 💅 this must be used WITH --pin so you can pass in the old PIN number

🫧 BEARER OPTIONS 🫧

bestie, all bearer options need the --bearer or -b option first 💖

-c, --connect — connects to a given bearer 🔌
-x, --disconnect — disconnects from a given bearer 👋

💌 SMS OPTIONS 💌

all SMS options need the --sms or -s option, no cap 🫶

--send — sends an SMS 📨
--store — this one stores the SMS in the default storage the modem uses, which could be either modem-memory or SMS-memory 🧠 to check what the current default storage is, look at the --messaging-status option
--store-in-storage=STORAGE — this picks which STORAGE to use for SMS messages ✨ the possible values are:
- 'sm' — the SIM card storage area 💳
- 'me' — the mobile equipment storage area 📱
- 'mt' — the sum of SIM and mobile equipment storages 🧮
- 'sr' — the status report message storage area 📊
- 'bm' — the broadcast message storage area 📢
- 'ta' — the terminal adaptor message storage area 🔌
--create-file-with-data=PATH — this takes an SMS that has DATA (not TEXT) and creates a local file at PATH, then saves the content of the SMS in there 📁

📞 CALL OPTIONS 📞

the call options, lowkey the most iconic part of this whole page 🦋

--start — starts an outgoing call 📲
--accept — accepts an incoming call 🥰
--hangup — rejects an incoming call, or hangs up an ongoing one 📴
--send-dtmf=[0-9A-D*#] — sends a DTMF sequence through an ongoing call 🎹

🌈 APPLICATION OPTIONS 🌈

these are the general app vibes that work across everything 🧚

-J, --output-json — runs the action with machine-friendly JSON output 🤖 this is perfect for shell scripts that rely on mmcli operations 🍓
-K, --output-keyvalue — runs the action with machine-friendly key-value output 🔑 also for shell scripts that rely on mmcli operations 💜
-v, --verbose — performs actions with more details reported and/or logged 🔍
-V, --version — returns the version of this program 🏷️
-a, --async — uses asynchronous methods 🌀 > this is purely a development tool and has no practical benefit to most user operations, so don't stress about it 💀
--timeout=SECONDS — uses SECONDS for the timeout when performing operations with this command ⏰ this is super useful for long running operations, like --3gpp-scan 🐢

📡 CELL BROADCAST OPTIONS 📡

all cell broadcast options must be used with the --modem or -m option 💅

--cell-broadcast-status — shows the status of the cell broadcast support 📶
--cell-broadcast-list-cbm — lists the cell broadcast messages available on a given modem 📋
--cell-broadcast-delete-cbm=[PATH|INDEX] — deletes the cell broadcast message at the given path or index 🗑️
--cell-broadcast-set-channels=[CHANNELS] — sets the list of channels that cell broadcasts get received on 🎀 for example 5370,5371-5372 ✨

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

📱 Send the PIN to the SIM card

okay so first things first, you need to figure out the proper path/index for the SIM in your modem bestie 🫶 grab it with this:

$ mmcli -m 0 -K | grep "modem.generic.sim" | awk -F ": " '{ print $2
}'
/org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SIM/0

and once you've got that, you can just use the SIM index 💅

$ sudo mmcli -i 0 --pin=1234
successfully sent PIN code to the SIM

🔌 Simple connect and disconnect

the simple connection process is giving effortless ✨

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --simple-connect="pin=1234,apn=internet"
successfully connected the modem

and when you're done, disconnect like this 🦋

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --simple-disconnect
successfully disconnected all bearers in the modem

📡 3GPP network scan

ngl scanning for 3GPP networks can take forever 😭 so you have to give it a specific timeout:

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --3gpp-scan --timeout=300
  ---------------------
  3GPP scan | networks: 21403 - Orange SP (gprs, unknown)
            |           21407 - Movistar (gprs, unknown)
            |           21404 - YOIGO (gprs, unknown)
            |           21401 - vodafone ES (gprs, unknown)

💌 Creating a new SMS message & storing it

using the "sm" (SIM) storage, you can do this 🎀

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --messaging-create-sms="text='Hello
world',number='+1234567890'"
Successfully created new SMS:
    /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SMS/21 (unknown)

$ sudo mmcli -s 21 --store-in-storage="sm"
successfully stored the SMS

$ sudo mmcli -s 21
  -------------------------------
  General    |         dbus path:
/org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SMS/21
  -------------------------------
  Content    |            number: +1234567890
             |              text: Hello world
  -------------------------------
  Properties |          PDU type: submit
             |             state: stored
             |              smsc: unknown
             |          validity: 0
             |             class: 0
             |           storage: sm
             |   delivery report: not requested
             | message reference: 0

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --messaging-status
  ----------------------------
  Messaging | supported storages: sm, me
            |    default storage: me

📦 Sending binary SMS messages from files

so the main stars here are --messaging-create-sms-with-data and the PATH you hand it 🌈

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 \
       --messaging-create-sms="number='+1234567890'" \
       --messaging-create-sms-with-data=/path/to/your/file
Successfully created new SMS:
    /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SMS/22 (unknown)

$ sudo mmcli -s 22 --send
successfully sent the SMS

📥 Listing SMS messages

once the receiver has every single part of the message, they can get the file back with another mmcli command on their own ModemManager setup 🧚

$> sudo mmcli -m 0 --messaging-list-sms
    /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SMS/0 (received)

$> sudo mmcli -s 0 --create-file-with-data=/path/to/the/output/file

🛰️ GPS location status

first things first, check whether the modem even has GPS-specific location capabilities 👀 we're assuming the modem is index 0 here, so if you have more than one modem, use --list-modems to find the right index:

$ mmcli -m 0 --location-status
  ----------------------------
  Location | capabilities: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea
           |      enabled: none
           |      signals: no

so the output says the modem supports 3GPP Location area code/Cell ID, GPS raw and GPS-NMEA location sources ✨ nothing is enabled yet because we haven't enabled the modem, which you can fix with:

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --enable
successfully enabled the modem

$ mmcli -m 0 --location-status
  ----------------------------
  Location | capabilities: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea
           |      enabled: 3gpp-lac-ci
           |      signals: no

🧭 GPS location technology enabling

you can start the GPS engine by enabling the RAW or NMEA GPS location sources 🔥

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 \
             --location-enable-gps-raw \
             --location-enable-gps-nmea
successfully setup location gathering

and if you check the status again, the GPS-specific locations should now be enabled 💖

$ mmcli -m 0 --location-status
  --------------------------------
  Location | capabilities: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea
           |      enabled: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea
           |      signals: no

🗺️ GPS location retrieval

you can grab all the location info in one go with a single command 🫶 if any of the specific outputs isn't available, that section just gets left out of the output.

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-get
  -------------------------
  3GPP location   | Mobile country code: 214
                  | Mobile network code: 3
                  |  Location area code: 21071
                  |             Cell ID: 7033737
  -------------------------
  GPS NMEA traces | $GPGGA,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,*66
                  | $GPRMC,,V,,,,,,,,,,N*53
                  | $GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*1E
                  | $GPGSV,4,1,16,24,,,,29,,,,05,,,,18,,,*7A
                  | $GPGSV,4,2,16,22,,,,14,,,,11,,,,17,,,*7B
                  | $GPGSV,4,3,16,03,,,,12,,,,30,,,,13,,,*78
                  | $GPGSV,4,4,16,23,,,,15,,,,27,,,,07,,,*79
                  | $GPVTG,,T,,M,,N,,K,N*2C

🛜 A-GPS support

if A-GPS is enabled before you start the GPS engine, and the modem has a data connection, the configured SUPL servers can be used to get a faster first position fix 🚀

heads up though: the GPS engine won't start when only the A-GPS capability is enabled. you need an explicit output (RAW or NMEA) enabled to actually start it 🙈

$ mmcli -m 0 --location-status
  --------------------------------
  Location |      capabilities: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea,
agps-msa, agps-msb
           |           enabled: 3gpp-lac-ci
           |           signals: no
  -----------------------------
  GPS      |      refresh rate: 30 seconds
           | a-gps supl server: supl.google.com:7276

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-agps-msa
successfully setup location gathering

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-gps-nmea
successfully setup location gathering

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-gps-raw
successfully setup location gathering

📶 Injecting assistance data

okay this one is lowkey clever 🧠 if the modem has no ongoing connection (like no mobile network coverage) but your system can reach the Internet some other way (like WiFi), you may be able to download location assistance data and inject it into the modem yourself.

for example, if the device supports XTRA assistance data, you can download it from one of the servers ModemManager lists and inject it manually afterwards. the XTRA assistance data is usually valid for several days ⭐

$ mmcli -m 0 --location-status
  --------------------------------
  Location |         capabilities: 3gpp-lac-ci, gps-raw, gps-nmea,
agps-msa, agps-msb
           |              enabled: 3gpp-lac-ci
           |              signals: no
  --------------------------------
  GPS      |         refresh rate: 30 seconds
           |    a-gps supl server: supl.google.com:7276
           | supported assistance: xtra
           |   assistance servers:
https://xtrapath3.izatcloud.net/xtra3grcej.bin
           |
https://xtrapath1.izatcloud.net/xtra3grcej.bin
           |
https://xtrapath2.izatcloud.net/xtra3grcej.bin

$ wget -q https://xtrapath3.izatcloud.net/xtra3grcej.bin

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-inject-assistance-data=./xtra3grcej.bin
successfully injected assistance data

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-gps-nmea
successfully setup location gathering

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 --location-enable-gps-raw
successfully setup location gathering

📻 Setting the Cell Broadcast channel list

the channel list can be a comma separated list of channels or channel intervals 🎶

$ sudo mmcli -m 0 \
             --cell-broadcast-set-channels=5370,5371,5373-5000
successfully set channels in the modem

🧾 Key-Value output

if you're writing shell scripts that poke the modem with mmcli, --output-keyvalue is your best friend 💜 you can grab all the main status info in one call and then parse out the fields you want, like so:

$ STATUS=$(mmcli -m 0 --output-keyvalue)
$ echo "${STATUS}" | grep "modem.generic.state " | awk -F ": " '{
print $2 }'
failed
$ echo "${STATUS}" | grep "modem.generic.state-failed-reason " | awk
-F ": " '{ print $2 }'
sim-missing