This is an issue between Cisco, AT&T, and Apple. There has always been ongoing problems with the iPhone and the MicroCell. I would have hoped by now they would have worked it out but apparently not. Some of the connectivity issues that others are reporting (non-iPhones) leads me to think that the update was for the new iPhones and messed with existing customers. Hang in there.

For what it's worth (which is probably not much), my wife's iPhone 4 with iOS 6 still connects to our Microcell with no problem.

 

Go figger. 

Both my wife and I have iPhone 4's (not to be confused with 4S's) that are no longer able to connect to the MicroCell since we upgraded to iOS 6 on September 19.  I've also tried all the methods mentioned above with no success.  

 

We moved into a new house about three months ago and could not receive calls at the new location or the calls were dropped after less than 10 seconds, even when standing next to our sliding glass door.  Being that I work from home and have to use my cell to take and make business calls, I was forced to use Skype, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone.  When I contacted AT&T they did nothing to help, even when I explained that my wife weren't able to use our phones at home, which is most of time.  I've been with AT&T for a while now so I thought that maybe they would offer to give me a MicroCell, but that was naive thinking.  I even asked to speak with a manager, but they just gave me the same company line, "We're really sorry, but AT&T doesn't guarentee coverage inside of buildings."  So I bit the bullet and bought the MicroCell.  Fortunately my company covered half of the cost, but I still feel somewhat cheated, especially since AT&T is using my ISP to boost the 3G signal. 

 

So now, after having the MicroCell for less than a month, I'm back in the same boat.  I know AT&T isn't solely to blame, but I'm seriously considering a switch to Verizon when I upgrade our phones to the iPhone 5 in a month or two.  Unless this gets resolved in short order.  We'll see.....

I picked up my iphone5 last Friday and when I came home was surprised to see that it was unable to pickup the signal from the Microcell even through the other AT&T phones (including two iphone 4's) had no problem.  SInce then, it's been a complete nightmare and I have lost all Microcell service.  On the advice of the AT&T phone tech, I was told to restart the microcell and see if that fixed the problem.  It did not.  I was then told to remove the device using the online interface and from there I completely knocked out service all together.  It still says it is activated and I am getting a blinking light on the microcell itself.  I am getting an error 100 form the website and was told at this point that there is a country wide microcell outage.  It would have been nice to know BEFORE I was told to remove the device.  I am now without microcell service through 4 days and my patience is running out.  I am unable to add my microcell back since the website says it is still active and when I attempt to remove it (again), I get the error 100.

 

Does anyone have any ideas?  At this point, AT&T opened a ticket and has ignored the problem....

Any thoughts on what can be done when I have 0 bars without ucell?

My microcell doesn't work after upgrading my iPhone to iOS6.  Any idea why this is & how to remedy? 

I had this same issue the fix is simple. Open settings, general, cellular, enable cellular data and 3G.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

 

I have the answer - finally talked with someone with ATT who was familiar with the problem. The Microcell is 3g and 4g compatible. It is not CURRENTLY LTE compatible with the iphone5. Other LTE phones work with it - just not the Ip5 so a fix should be forthcoming - hopefully soon. In the meantime, go into your settings on the Ip5 and go to General, Cellular and switch off Enable LTE. The phone will now work with the microcell for voice - but not in the faster LTE mode for data. It's a pain in the butt because now when you leave the house you will have to remember to turn the LTE back on then off again when you return home. I can live with this for now bc I have wi-fi that I use at home for data anyway - I just needed the improved voice service and the microcell is providing that. Hopefully Apple and ATT will get their heads around this soon. Will probably be an Apple software update if I had to guess.

I have two AT&T model iPhone 5 units that have operated just fine on my microcell since we turned them on Sept 21st.  LTE has been enabled sincee day one without any issues so it is possible to operate with LTE enabled even though the microcell doesn't use it.  When on the microcell, the iPhone 5 signal indicates 4G (when the wifi is turned off of course).  The 4G that is shown is AT&T's version and is really just 3G with HSPA+ enabled. 

 

It is highly unlikely that the microcell will ever have LTE enabled.  The existing microcell has a  PC302 3GPP Release 7 WCDMA (HSPA) base band chip on the board inside the unit which is not LTE compaitable.  "upgarding" to LTE would require a hardware upgrade to be compatiable.

Count me in on this issue, too. Lots of people here seem to attribute it to the iPhone 5, but we have two iPhone 4 models in our house and they're both experiencing issues. 

Here's my experience with the iPhone 5 and the 3G Microcell.

 

Just for kicks, I did deactive and reactive my Microcell to make sure that it had the latest version of software.

 

What seems to happen is that the phone attempts to connect to the fastest network possible. Therefore, even if there is a faint, 1 or 2 bars, LTE signal the iPhone will connect to it (I think the frequency used for LTE penetrates better than HSPA frequency). However, the connection is not reliable and both voice and data quality are affected. This usally means you can't make or receive calls reliably. I still experience this even with the latest Microcell firmware.

 

As a previous poster indicated, disabling LTE on the iPhone does alleviate the problem. With LTE off, the phone consistently connects to M-Cell.

 

 

 

Good point.  I agree that with LTE turned off, the phone will not seek an LTE signal and will settle for the next strongest signal (typically the microcell). 

 

If you are interested in increasing the range of your microcell, you might be interested in how the microcell adjusts its output power (and in effect the range).  When the user activates a Microcell for the first time (i.e.. taking it out of the box and plugging it in for the first time), the unit utilizes the GPS signal and the received signal from nearby cellular towers to configure the internal transmitter power.  The greater the received signal strength from local towers, the lower the 3G transmitter power from the Microcell to your handset.  The reason so that the microcell will not interfere with existing towers.  This means that if your Microcell (and likely your phone) receives a strong signal from local 3G towers, it will automatically reduce the Microcell power output so as to not interfere with the signal from those towers.  What is the result?  The less signal received the the Microcell during initialization, the higher the transmitter power from the Microcell to your handset.  THe microcell scans the received signal from neighboring towers during initialization and uses this information to set its power.  What's the bottom line?:  If you want maximum handset range with your microcell, be sure that it receives the least amount of 3G signal from local towers during its initialization cycle (make sure it is in the worst coverage spot in your home during initialization).  It will assume that there are no or fewer towers in the area that it will cause interference with, and it will increase the transmitter power inside the microcell, and in turn your microcell coverage area will increase.  To complicate matters, the individual handsets will also adjust their transmitter power based upon the received signal strength from the Microcell.  This is the main reason why there is so much variation in Microcell coverage between users.  The Microcell operates at 850 or 1900 MHz 3G or 3G HSPA+ depending on the FCC licenses that AT&T has available at your GPS coordinates.

Sorry, but that simple fix doesn't work.

I'm having the same problem after updating both my iphone and my wife's to iOS 6.    Spent over an hour with AT&T tech support but no solution.   Strangely, I can get one but not both phones to see the mcell by resetting the network settings on the iphones (General - Reset - Reset Network Settings).

 

 

Try resetting the phone when the other one is not in range of the MicroCell. Maybe the MicroCell is getting "confused" when both are in range and trying to be reset.

We have a few iPhone 4s and none of them are, or have been, having issues. I think some of the 5s with IOS6 are having issues with the apparent Cisco/AT&T upgrade to accomodate 4G and LTE when available.

IIt is highly unlikely that the existing microcell will ever have LTE enabled.  The basd band chip on the existing microcell is a  PC302 3GPP Release 7 WCDMA (HSPA) inside the unit which is not and cannot be made LTE compaitable.  It is not possible to enable LTE without a chip upgrade, and the chip in the existing microcell are not upgradeable.  LTE will require a newly designed microcell which does not yet exist. 

 

 The recent firmware update was to enable 3G HSPA+ (which AT&T calls 4G).  There is no software or firmware update to LTE.  In addition, AT&T is operating LTE on 700 MHz, and the microcell operates only on 850 Mhz and 1900 MHz.

---

moleman_42 wrote:

IIt is highly unlikely that the existing microcell will ever have LTE enabled.  The basd band chip on the existing microcell is a  PC302 3GPP Release 7 WCDMA (HSPA) inside the unit which is not and cannot be made LTE compaitable.  It is not possible to enable LTE without a chip upgrade, and the chip in the existing microcell are not upgradeable.  LTE will require a newly designed microcell which does not yet exist. 

 

 The recent firmware update was to enable 3G HSPA+ (which AT&T calls 4G).  There is no software or firmware update to LTE.  In addition, AT&T is operating LTE on 700 MHz, and the microcell operates only on 850 Mhz and 1900 MHz.

---

Ok. So the MicroCell won't work on LTE, it will still work on 4G and that's the update that seems to be causing trouble for some.

 

Well I am running an iPhone 5 having recently upgraded from a 4S. My microcell has worked flawlessly and I have  not had to shut off LTE.

 

The phone is suppose to make an appropriate connection based upon signals. For me, I have no LTE where I live so this is probably why I have had not issue. My phone simply cannot connect to LTE from here.

 

Unless the MCell can be software upgradable to support LTE, the only solution for many will be a new MCell with LTE capabilities.

 

 

<CM Edit - combined threads/edited subject>

Hey all, 

 

For those of you having an issue with iOS/iPhone 5 connecting to a Microcell, please send me a private message with the following info:

 

Full Name:

Phone Number:

Email Address:

Location (address where the microcell is located):

Account Number:

iPhone Model (3, 4, 5):

iOS version: 

 

I want to start gathering some information about this and would appreciate your help!



To send a private message, you can either click on the link in this message or click on the little blue envelope in the upper right hand corner, click "compose new message" and type my username in the "Send To" field.

So, does anyone actually have a resolution posted here because I'm not seeing it?
With IOs6 there is no way to change the Auto Hand off.
Resetting Network settings on the iPhone 4 doesn't work. Resetting the Microcell doesn't work... Frankly, I'm not seeing any answers here.
Care to elaborate on a possible solution?
Thanks

In settings go to General then Cellular and set Enable LTE to off while in microcell coverage

 

this is an issue with all 4G devices and any provider's Ubicell (Microcell)

Same issue here. I can't get my iPhone 5 connected to my AT&T microcell.....

 

I got my iPhone 5 back in September.

 

I received AT&T microcell today, did the activation process, and added my phone numbers, and my family's phone numbers to the Microcell account.

 

The iPhone does NOT show M-Cell, and at my house, I get very spotty AT&T service (which is why I got the AT&T Microcell in the first place).

 

I tried several suggestions posted on this forum (de-activate, re-active, reboot Microcell, reboot phone, etc). None work.

 

Please help!

We justed switched from Sprint to the AT&T iPhone 5, so far so good.   A few places signal is challenged, but there were areas where Sprint suffered too. 

 

We found how to actually measure signal strength at your location, the number of bars appears only relevant to each individual phone.  You can turn on a numeric RSSI indicator  which is much more useful.

 

The scale is in -dBm (minus decibels) -50 being near perfect, and -150 being impossible.  If you are in the -70's or -80's it seems all is well.

 

 

Since my initial post back in September I have had sporadic success with connecting to my MicroCell.  I would frequently put my phones in and out of airplane mode and once in a while it would connect to the MicroCell.

 

That all changed three days ago.  There must have been a firmware update pushed to my MicroCell, because it has been rock-solid since.  As soon as I arrive home both phones (iPhone 5, iOS 6.0) connect to the MicroCell with 5 bars of coverage.

 

I was a little apprehensive of installing iOS 6.0.1 but I did it anyway.  It remains solid.

 

I made no changes to my phone or the MicroCell so there's no additional trouble shooting advice here.  I just wanted to pass on that I am functional and happy now.

 

Thanks for all the responses and advice.

 

I recently fixed my issue by doing the following>

1.  Deactivate the microcell

2.  re-register (activate) the microcell

3.  enter in all my information (ie. home info, serial number from the mcell, etc.)

4.  wait for activation text/email

5.  toggle iPhone 5 on and off airplane mode

 

My iPhone now displays M-cell at the top and can receive calls (tested from home phone).

 

iPhone 5 has iOS 6.0.1 (latest iOS).  My issue started with fast busy when phone connected to M-Cell.  After calling ATT support, they did not give any solutions other than turn off the M-Cell.  I found this solution online and just completed. 

I live in an area with no LTE service.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Our mcell randomly stopped working, this fixed ours:

Go to MCell management website. Reactivate MCell by entering Serial Number, address, authorized users, etc.

If it gets stuck on "Pending Authorization" unplug modem/router and MCell. Plug in modem/router until lights all come back on, then plug in Mcell. Give it like 15 minutes and activation will start. Go to sleep and it'll be working the next morning.

De-activation/re-activation, power cycling (with or without a hard reset), checking cable connections are the first fixes one should try if you have lost MicroCell functioning (all lights green except for the the 3G light which is either blinking green or red) and there has not been any acknowledgement of a service issue in your area. Depending on the number of complaints to support from you area, you may get confirmation of an AT&T issue for your area and you'll just have to wait for AT&T to fix it. FWIW, we have not had any issues at all with an iPhone 5 (iOS 6.0.1), iPhone 3GS and 4. See my post on IPhone 5 and MicroCell Speeds.

So I have had a micro-cell for a few years and my iPhone has worked great at home. After I updated to IOS6 on my 4S everyone says my calls are breaking up even though I'm showing full bars and connected to the micro cell. Any ideas since it's becoming a real pain to have to call people back on my home phone? Thanks, John