While prepping some new Panasonic Toughbook CF-54’s at work we ran into a major issue with the cellular modem in them. We would set the proper APN for a static IP with the Verizon LTE connection and test it, all was good. After a reboot it would default back to the stock APN which cut off our connectivity. We looked at the registry, drivers, firmware, WWAN XML files and few other things and NOTHING would fix it!
Note: The modem in the Toughbook was a Sierra Wireless 7455.
I was finally able to get it changed and make it “stick” through 3 reboots, and the list below is what I did. We initially created a “new” APN other than the default one in the Advanced Settings of the Cellular modem inside network settings. When changed that, it would revert every reboot!
- Create a new APN with the proper setting you want to use, set as default and reboot.
- Go back to the APN setting and see that it has reverted back to stock.
- Create a new APN again, set as default and delete the one you created first.
- Reboot and check your setting.
In our case, it fixed both machines we were having issues with. We use a static IP Address assigned from Verizon so we have to use a different APN from stock.
| Stock Verizon APN | Static IP Verizon APN* |
| vzwinternet | mw01.vzwstatic |
* These appear to be regional as I’ve seen references to NE, SE, SW, etc.
If this doesn’t work for you, then below are some of the links that we tried that may work for you as well as the initial Google search I ran at the end of this post.
Source: WIn10 changes cellular APN on reboot – Google Search
Were you still having issues with Windows 10 losing your custom APN settings? Our company has been having issues with this sporadically and we’re testing using a provisioning package using the instructions in the link below. We’re barely a week in, so we’re still waiting with fingers crossed.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4487376/windows-10-enterprise-apn-lost-after-sim-change-or-mbn-adapter-error
No we have not, once I made this change it has stuck. This was very frustrating and took a number of hours to figure out which is why I posted it. I really hope it helped you sort the issue out.
Fingers crossed that it doesn’t back! 🙂