Phones switching to cell tower mid call - handoff is disabled

[JohnLNash]

Ive had my micocell for about 3 months now and it's worked pretty well.  It's configured not to allow hand off to a cell tower and has largely done that.  However in the last week or so more often than not, I will start a call on the mCell and move to a cell tower mid-call and then drop the call due to the signal.  I've tried togging the function on/off/on again and it doesn't seem to make difference.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do?

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

Have you moved the MicroCell to a new location or re-booted the system? Is this in your home or work? Handing-off does not always happen as elegantly as it should as you've seen. I've not had any issues handing-off calls in my home but I rarely leave my house talking on the phone or vice versa. MicroCell coverage for us is good to about the sidewalk in front of our house.

[JohnLNash]

Roboot the system about 3 times a day.  Yes I've moved it and I do the same thing, as far as I got is the sidewalk.

And I don't want handoff, i have it disabled.

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

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JohnLNash wrote:

Roboot the system about 3 times a day.  Yes I've moved it and I do the same thing, as far as I got is the sidewalk.

And I don't want handoff, i have it disabled.

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Ok. If you move the MicroCell then it needs to re-establish itself with one, the GPS signal (which it needs to have constant connection), and two, the local tower. Apparently, when the MC first connects, it adjusts its power output based on the local tower strength. In theory, the MC should be the strongest signal in your house because the outside tower signal is weak. Once you establish connection, the power output from the MC is set. If you continually move the MC around, and reboot, then the MC signal output will change. You need to pick one spot in your house that has the stongest MC signal and leave it. If you are too far away from a window, then you need to use an external antenna for GPS lock. Constantly re-booting the system can alter the signal strength and ultimately the connectivity with the phone. What kind of phone do you have?

[JohnLNash]

Understand.

We have 3 Iphone 4's and 1 Iphone 5.

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

That's the same phone we have and we've never encountered any issues (or rarely). To be honest though, we don't usually change coverage in the middle of calls so..........

[JohnLNash]

I don't undestand your statement, or maybe you misunderstand my issue.

I don't want to change between the Microcell during a call and have configured the settings so it's not supposed to.  However it does.  It worked great for a while and then just started becoming unpredictable.  You can start a call on the MCell and midway thru the call the cell phone will switch to a cell tower and then usually drop due to the signal quality.  All i want is to be able to use the MCell reliably in my home since the AT&T signal quality is so poor in my location.

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

I see. Sorry for the confusion. It almost sounds as if there is some sort of a signal flluctuation from the MicroCell. The phone detects a decrease in signal from the MicroCell so it tries to re-negotiate with a tower but can't due to the tower's signal strength and drops the connecton. Handing off is obvioulsy based on signal strength. When the phone hits a signal strength theshold with the MicroCell it will look for a stronger signal which is the tower. It then hands off your cell phone connection to the tower. That can obviously cause havoc if you're on a call and not done quickly and smoothly, which it usually is. However, in your case, the signal seems to be fluctuating in your house confusing the phone and it doesn't know what to do. You may have to move your MicroCell around a bit (using an external GPS antenna if necessary) and see if you can find the sweet spot. That may require you to re-boot your MicorCell so that it can adjust it's signal output based on the signal strength it detects from the tower. There may have been some maintenance done on your local tower that has affected it's signal output. Just a guess though.

[JohnLNash]

Update on this:

So I moved it and it worked GREAT for maybe 2 weeks.  This mornng my ISP services went down (someone cut a cable).  I ended up rebooting everything inlcuding the mcell after the cable was repaired.  The mcell itself didn't move but is now doing the exact same thig as before. The only differnce here is that the device was rebooted.

Any ideas?

BTW - yes this is complaining, but all I want is my phone to work.  It'd honestly shoulnd't be this much time/effort for that.

[Otto Pylot ACE - Czar]

You don't have to apologize for complaining. It's very frustrating I know (been there done that). It almost sounds as if there is something going on with your ISP because as you said, it worked GREAT until you lost connection and had to re-boot. I know that port 4500 can cause all kinds of issues if it is blocked or incorrectly configured by either your ISP or an upstream provider. If you can't maintain a reliabe connection to port 4500, the MicroCell will lose connection which may cause your phone to search for a tower and if it can't find one, the call is dropped. Most ISPs don't block port 4500 but it coudn't hurt to check and while checking see if there is anything upstream from your provider that might be mis-configured, or is having issues, as well. Some ISPs will go the extra mile and check, some won't, so it all depends on what your ISP wants to do. Technically, if it us upstream from them, then there is nothing wrong on their end so........

Send a PM to ATTCustomerCare (blue envelope in the upper right corner of this page), detailing  your problem and what you have done, and give them your account info, phone number, etc. That usually assigns one individual to your case so you have one person to contact.

[JohnLNash]

Understand. thanks for the ideas/info and will give it all a shot.