so, here's the deal

the dongle, is locked to c5v but not locked to maxis sim
the other maxis provided routers also say they're a c5v to the usb dongle to make it work

it may have worked with the dlink briefly as with my experience
it works briefly
then it automatically downloads a firmware update, which locks things out

if you are using an advanced router that lets you send a custom hostname to the device, such as using an OpenWRT router, send "Maxis_Archer_C5v" as the hostname to the dongle, then it works

not sure what the ip address as it auto opens ufi.ztedevice.com for me
but the connect button is greyed out and disabled, even if you use inspect element to press it, it will connect but refuse to talk with the host router if it doesnt say it is a "Maxis_Archer_C5v"