Coincidently, I was about to post that for us data through the microcell was not working (but voice calls were). I called up AT&T and power-cycled the phone while I had the guy on the phone and that fixed it.

 

He said that according to him there was a problem in Northern California that has been resolved and that bouncing the phone might have cleared some state that was germane somehow.

 

At one point he wanted to do a "Reset network settings," but I don't like doing that because it clears all of the saved WiFi passwords. Apple really needs to separate those two functions.

 

I also just got the "welcome" text from AT&T, so I suspect he also sent a reset to my phone while it was powered off. Not sure if that had anything to do with it or not.

Were your lights flashing? I have neither phone nor data. I've powered down the phone many times today, but the microcell flashing continues. I can't call ATT--no phone. :-)

No. The lights were on solid and my phone showed I was connected, and as well voice calls were working.

My Microcell went out on Friday night (San Jose) with the 3G bars flashing. It has worked flawlessly since we first got it in October. After jumping thru the usual hoops with Support, I took it back to the local B&M and did a warranty replacement. The new one wouldn't register either, with the GPS and 3G bars flashing intermittently. After jumping thru more hoops today, I was told to let it try to lock in for at least 24 hours. I am supposed to get a commitment call on Monday between 4 and 6pm to see if it has connected. If not, they will replace it with another one. I asked Support if they had experienced any other support calls about the Microcells and they said no. We'll see.

Mine came back on late yesterday after I did a hard reset (by inserting a paperclip into the little reset hole in the back of the unit and holding it for a few seconds).

I tried that with my old Microcell and the warranty replacement Microcell and it still won't lock on. It's been over 24 hours now (Supports suggestion) and still nothing. I'm still waiting for my "commitment call back". They're supposed to call back between 4 and 6 and right now it's 5:10 and no call. Typical. Looking at the other threads, there seems to be lots of folks across the country with the same, or similar issues. I guess I was lulled into thinking that AT&T finally got it right because my first Microcell worked right out of the box and only took about 10 minutes to lock in and start working.

AT&T never made the "commitment call" to me like they promised. I called Support again tonight and it turns out that they wrote down the wrong date. Not happy nor ready to give up I made AT&T give me a 3-day credit on my phone bill because none of out cell phones can connect to the Microcell in our house. Thank god I never gave up my landline! They agreed. I called around the area and none of the corporate stores have any more Microcells in stock and don't know when they will be getting any. I was hoping my warranty replacement was a lemon and wanted to get another replacement. I then tried to get support to send me one via FedEx and that was another set of hoops to jump thru. A "specialist" was supposed to call me back by 8:30pm who is experienced in fixing problems like mine but guess what, he/she never called back. So, I will continue to be a pain in the a$$ until I get some sort of satisfaction. They were even balking at refunding my initial $100 that I paid for the Microcell back in October. We'll see. I asked one of the support people if they were aware of the numerous complaints here and she told me she didn't even know there was an official AT&T Microcell forum. No surprises there. However, support did finally say that there were some problems in the Bay Area and California in general with the Microcell system and they were working on it so whether that's true or not is hard to tell.

An update for anyone who's reading this....... the "commitment call" for last night at 8:30pm never came. No surprises there. But this morning, the GPS light was solid. The 3G light is still blinking which means no Microcell conntection but it is odd that after 3 hours on and off the phone with all kinds of support, billing, and warranty people that the GPS was lit this morning.

It's possible you have more than one problem. The GPS light not going solid means you had poor GPS reception. GPS reception will vary as the satellites move, so it's possible that your Microcell can get a lock, but not all the time.

 

That doesn't, by itself, explain why the 3G light is blinking, but if you can't get a good, consistent GPS lock, well, that's step 1.

 

I picked up another Microcell tonight under warranty. This is the second replacement since Saturday. It's been about 3 hours now since setup and the GPS and 3G lights are blinking intermittently like the first replacement. I'll give it a full 24 hours before calling Support again. What I don't understand is why the first Microcell worked flawlessly for 5 months and then lost the 3G. Now these two replacements (the one I picked up today was made last month) are having difficulty in getting the GPS lock. Nothing has changed, DSL, position near the window, etc.

my microcell stopped working sometime between last night and today. coincidentally (or maybe not), i switched over from a PC to a mac and i also updated my iphone to iOS 4.3. now my microcell has flashing GPS and 3G lights. i have tried power cycling everything (gateway, then microcell) with no luck.

 

what now?

 

nvm. looks like it finally came back on line.

After a bit over 30 hours, the GPS light finally stayed on. This is my second warranty replacement in 4 days. The first Microcell worked solidly for over 5 months. Of course Support was absolutely no help and all and the guy that I talked to tonight was actually quite rude which surprised me cause the other 7 support people that I've talked to in the last 4 days were friendly and courteous. Unfortunately, the 3G light is still blinking so no in-house cell phone use. Guess I'll have to wait another 24 hours and then call Support back, again.

 

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Otto Pylot wrote:
After a bit over 30 hours, the GPS light finally stayed on. This is my second warranty replacement in 4 days. The first Microcell worked solidly for over 5 months. Of course Support was absolutely no help and all and the guy that I talked to tonight was actually quite rude which surprised me cause the other 7 support people that I've talked to in the last 4 days were friendly and courteous. Unfortunately, the 3G light is still blinking so no in-house cell phone use. Guess I'll have to wait another 24 hours and then call Support back, again.

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I got the rude guy a while ago too. He insisted that all of the problems we were having with the Microcell were the fault of our ISP (which, at the time, was AT&T, natch). I posit that I've owned computers connected to the Internet longer than he has been alive, and yet he would not entertain any other possibility. Since then, the behavior of the Microcell has changed markedly - mostly for the better. While I am now on a different ISP, the change in ISPs didn't coincide in any way with any change in the Microcell's behavior or performance.

 

The next time I talked with AT&T about the Microcell, they simply said that the Microcell was doing as well as it's going to, and that I could either live with it or eBay it. I haven't bothered to try and talk to them since, as it's clearly pointless.

 

What I thought was interesting is that not 20 minutes after I hung up (almost on him), I got a call from AT&T marketing wanting me to take a survey on customer satisfaction. It was all I could do to stifle my laughing. So I took the survey, held nothing back, and he said based on my answers, a Manager would be calling me back in a week or so to discuss this. I'm certainly not holding my breath on that one because I was supposed to have two "commitment calls" and nobody called me. I'm convinced that there is something terribly wrong with their Microcell system (more so than usual) and they either won't admit it or know how to fix it. I've been keeping a detailed log of what has happened since last Friday and if I can't get any satisfaction soon, then I'm go to take the information and contact the Consumer Advocate on our local news station and see what kind of reaction from AT&T I get. He's really hard on AT&T in the Bay Area so we'll see what happens. My last resort is to have AT&T credit back my entire purchase price of the Microcell ($100). But doing so will render my 5 cell phones useless inside my house which would not solve my original issue.

 

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Otto Pylot wrote:

I'm convinced that there is something terribly wrong with their Microcell system (more so than usual) and they either won't admit it or know how to fix it.

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Yeah, I think you're right. At this point, I'm convinced that AT&T simply doesn't care. Nothing else can explain the shocking level of indifference mixed with incompetence that passes for AT&T's Microcell support.

 

 

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nsayer wrote:

 

Yeah, I think you're right. At this point, I'm convinced that AT&T simply doesn't care. Nothing else can explain the shocking level of indifference mixed with incompetence that passes for AT&T's Microcell support.

 

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One support person didn't even know they had a specific Microcell support division (I think the number you call for support is for Data Services) and none of then knew that this forum existed.

 

Mine is out again. I just cycled and hard booted again. I wonder if they have trouble with all this rain? But comcast is fine, my other phone on comcast is fine. Just the darn Microcell. I'll report back if it comes online again. 

 

Joan

I just got off of the phone with support again. He sent me a document that has the recommended router settings for proper communication. None of the other 6 support people that I've talked to every day for 5 days ever mentioned the document. I'm wondering if AT&T didn't do some sort of upgrade to the system so that some routers now have to be configured specifically to work with the MicroCell. Right now the MicroCell is setup in priority mode (DSL modem -> MicroCell -> router) and it only took about 40 minutes to get a GPS lock. The 3G light is still blinking so we'll see what happens later on or tomorrow if it connects. If it does, then I have to re-connect the MicroCell the way it is supposed to be connected (DSL modem -> router -> MicroCell) and see if it works. If not, then I'll have to check the router settings and adjust them if need be and see it that works.

Update for those who care: After 24+ hours in priority mode, still no 3G connection. GPS lock has been solid for the entire time. The DSL modem is set for bridged mode and is a straight pass-thru to the MicroCell, no NAT or firewall. I changed the setup to what it's supposed to be (at support's suggestion from yesterday's call), DSL modem -> router (AEBS) -> MicroCell, and still no 3G. The GPS locked on in about 8 minutes (yes, I am timing this) but the 3G is still blinking after about 60 minutes. So...... we'll see. I'll leave it and let it go for *another* 24 hours and then call support. Whatever update AT&T did last week, it certainly screwed up the system in the Bay Area (San Francisco, in case anyone from AT&T support reads this).

Update 2 for those who care... AT&T support told me today that I have to call ConnectTech to work out the issues with my router because that's the problem (even tho priority mode didn't work either). I called ConnectTech and they wouldn't help me (probably because I don't have AT&T DSL service), they referred me back to support. So I called support again (my second call today) and found somebody who seemingly understood what was going on and was willing to help me. We set the port settings in my AEBS to exactly what AT&T wants, made sure the IP address was the same as the assigned one to the MicroCell and rebooted. GPS locked on in about 10 minutes but the 3G light was still blinking. After 3+ hours still no 3G. I tried to call support again but the wait now is 20 minutes. I'll give this *another* 24 hours and then call support tomorrow. Bottom line, my router is set to exactly what AT&T says I need and I have a solid GPS signal but still no 3G connect.

Update 3: No 3G connection after 3 hours. Callling AT&T is not possible now due to the "number of calls coming in". Never had trouble calling in before so maybe my number has been flagged.

Update, again: Been on the phone with AT&T support for a little over an hour now. AT&T did upgrade the MicroCell system sometime around the 18th and it has apparently played havoc with various routers etc. I did all of the port forwarding that AT&T suggested, made sure there was no "double NAT" going on between my DSL modem and the AEBS router (there isn't, the DSL modem lets everything pass on thru and lets the router deal with it). I called AT&T's ConnectTech service and they wouldn't help me because they don't deal with MicroCell issues (my guess is that they didn't want to help me because I'm not an AT&T internet customer). Support said that was wrong and has been on hold for the last 20 minutes or so with ConnectTech trying to arrange for someone to come out to the house and troubleshoot. So far, AT&T has credited my bill for almost $90 to cover for lost cell phone coverage and the $50 that ConnectTech charges to come out to the house.......... Just talked to Support and ConnectTech is refusing their call so now the Supervisors are involved. Basically, Support feels that ConnectTech should come out, and has credited my bill for their charges but ConnectTech doesn't want to take the call because I'm not an AT&T internet customer. So, AT&T is fighting amongst itself over me. Cool.

And yet another update: FWIW, I'm keeping a log of my support issues here so that I can print out the "story" and take it to the Consumer Advocate on our local evening news station. It also shows that I been posting on AT&Ts own public forum. So, that being said, Support now says that I have to go down to my local corporate store, pay $50 to have them call ConnectTech and arrange for them to come out to the house. AT&T has already credited by phone bill the $50 so it's a break even. If I don't have ConnectTech come out, then I'm $50 ahead but without cell phone coverage in my house. To Supports credit, the guy I worked with today was with me for almost 2 hours and did everything he could possibly due, including getting the Managers involved but ConnectTech wouldn't budge. I'm off to my corporate store.

I just came back from the AT&T store after waiting for over an hour. I have to say that the folks in the store were genuinely concerned after reading the support notes. They finally got a hold of ConnectTech and have made an appointment for someone to come out to my house on Saturday morning. Nothing was mentioned about me having to pay the $50 to ConnectTech even tho AT&T has already credited my account for the same amount. We'll see what happens on Saturday morning if they can fix the MicroCell or not.

One last update and I should be done for the week. I received a confirmation email from ConnecTech. They have confirmed my "complimentary" MicroCell setup appointment for next Saturday.

Did you change DSL providers at about the same time the MC stopped working? Do you have a new DSL modem from the new provider, or are you using the same modem? What make/model of modem?

 

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Wireless_Guru wrote:
Did you change DSL providers at about the same time the MC stopped working? Do you have a new DSL modem from the new provider, or are you using the same modem? What make/model of modem?

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No. The only thing I did, with the same DSL provider, was increase my download speed from 6.0Mbps (which is what it was back in October when we first got the MC) to 21.2Mbps but that was done about 2 months before the failure on March 18th. The ADSL2+ modem is a Comtrend. The Comtrend is brigdged and passes all the traffic straight thru to the router and lets the router do all of the firewalling etc. Even in priority mode, the MC would not get 3G. Keep in mind that we have done absolutely nothing to our setup other than increase the download speed and the MicroCell worked fine before and after that. AT&T did some sort of system upgrade around the 18th which has played havoc with some customers.