NTN (non-terrestrial network) opens up connectivity anywhere you can see the sky — no towers, no gateways, no LoRa infrastructure to maintain. But getting your first satellite attach is fiddly: special modem firmware, a two-IMSI SIM dance, band locks, and location hints the modem won't connect without.

This guide walks through the entire process I used to get a live NTN connection, with every AT command and the actual responses you should expect:

- Flash the NTN modem firmware — where to get it and how to load it with the Circuit Dojo updater tool

- Set up your Soracom SIM — attach the planNT1 subscription and switch to the NTN IMSI (the part everyone gets stuck on)

- Configure the modem — system mode, band locks by region, location, and PDN setup

- Verify your connection — how to read CEREG, CESQ, and XMONITOR so you know it actually worked

- Hardware that works — the exact antenna, adapter, and test-rig BOM I used, including the antenna that didn't work