What is happening with 3G?
AlexanderGR8's profile

Teacher

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17 Messages

Thursday, March 24th, 2016 3:07 PM

5 years of flawless MicroCell service - now getting interference on calls?

We purchased an AT&T 3G microcell in September of 2010 because our new house was constructed of poured concrete - and it was impossible to get a signal of any kind when inside. The system has worked perfectly for nearly 6 years but for some reason we're now getting interference mid-call that is so bad that it's impossible to communicate with the other party and the call must be dropped. We're conducting business from our home so this level of performance is unnacceptable. 

 

  • Has anyone else had this problem and if so were you able to resolve it?
  • Has the technology changed and if so do we need a new microcell? (Our microcell unit is 'grey and orange' and the unit depicted on the AT&T website is 'black' so we're left wondering whether or not it has become obsolete.

 

Please help us. Whenever we call support they have no idea how to support the Microcell. 

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago


@AlexanderGR8 wrote:

Thanks for the additional feedback and suggestion(s).

 

I will order a new AC adapter today, (can't hurt), and will keep you all posted regarding our progress.

 

Best wishes and thanks.

 

Kevin


Make sure you order one with the exact same power requirements as the original. Or at least one that has a regulated 12VDC. A voltmeter is always a handy little tool to keep around Smiley Wink

Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago

OttoPylot,

 

Now I'm going to humble myself and confess my technopeasant status with the following comments:

 

(1) I tried to utilize the 8x8, Inc. VOIP test webpage - and nothing happened. No results poulated no matter what variables I entered into each field. What am I doing wrong? How do I get this tool to work without calling 8x8 for support? [See Below]

8x8 Inc. VoIP Test and Broadband Speed Test.png

(2) I will unplug / inspect the original adapter for MFR / MODEL etc... but where do you recommend that I order/buy a replacement AC adaptor? (Amazon? or ???). Similarly there are probabably a thousand voltmeters available for purchase online. Can you recommend a simple, affordable make / model and where to purchase it? Sorry for the inconvenience but it will probably take two minutes for your to make a recommendation and that would save me ten hours of research. Thanks for your consideration.

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Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago

Okay, since I've already embarrassed myself I'm going to go one step further and lay it onl the line. 

 

Below is a photo of my current MicroCell AC adaptor:

2016-03-24 17.42.42.jpg

 

Accordingly, Amazon has sellers that offer an adapter that is an exact replica of the original, in new condition for $9.99 - (http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Power-Supply-3A-153WU12-LINEAR-SWITCHING/dp/B007KLCMWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458855817&sr=8-1&keywords=linear+switching+power+supply+model+3A-153WU12). Amazon also has sellers that offer an adapter made by the MFR "UpBright" for $12.30. http://www.amazon.com/UpBright%C2%AE-Microcell-DPH151-AT-Replacement-Switching/dp/B00JTMIDXG?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3MHODALK1T59W

 

According to some of the reviews the newer UpBright adapter made their MicroCell work even better. than it did before. Of course I could always buy one of each but that seems foolish. Do you have an opinion? Does it even matter? It's not about the money ... I just want to get it right and not have to deal with it again down the road.

 

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this or on any of the highly rated voltmeters available for sale on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A228013%2Cn%3A495266%2Cn%3A495336%2Cn%3A14244481%2Ck%3Avoltmeter%2Cp_72%3A1248909011%2Cp_85%3A2470955011&keywords=voltmeter&ie=UTF8&qid=1458856936&rnid=2470954011

 

Thanks for your consideration. 

 

Yours humbly,

 

Kevin

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Professor

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2.2K Messages

8 years ago

Before you run off and buy another adapter or a voltmeter, I'd say based on what you posted, your ISP connection has degraded for some reason.  Robotic, garbled voice communications are due to voice packet loss or delay.  Minor packet loss or delay is mitigated by predictive insertion protocols in the hardware that try to fill small gaps in the packet flow with manufactured packets to counteract degradation of voice quality.  However, if the packet loss or delay is excessive, the predictive insertion protocols will fail and the voice quality will degrade to robotic or alien sounding voices and can end up dropping the call.

 

So, IMHO, the first thing to do is run the VOIP test throughout the day and generate several reports to see what is going on.  You posted that you can not run the 8v8 VOIP test.  This is due to a Java conflict with the browser you are using.

 

Please post which browser and operating system you are using when trying to run the VOIP test.

 

Don't buy voltmeters or adapters until we've determined what your line quality is.  You will most likely be wasting your money at this time as I believe your line quality is the culprit here.

 

Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago

Avedis53,

 

Your prognosis and explanation makes a lot of sense to me. I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast is the culprit afterall. 

 

To answer your question, I brought up the voiptest.8x8com website on a 'Chrome' browser on my Samsung Series-9 ultrabook / laptop which operates on Windows 7.  

 

Perhaps I should be using Internet Explorer or FireFox? 

 

Also, what settings should I use when running these VOIP tests?

 

  • Number of VoIP Lines (1-100):?
  • Test length (secs): ?
  • Codec: ?

I greatly appreciate your assistance. I mean no disrespect to the other members who have been trying to help me but I would be very upset if I went to the expense and all the trouble to purchase accessories that have nothing to do with the problem. 

 

Please advise at your earliest convenience and I will continue to move things forward.

 

Kevin

 

 

Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago

Well, well, well! When I opened the voiptest website in an IE browser it came to life all by itself and spit out this test summary:

 

VOIPtest_10-10PM_03.24.16.jpg

 

Is this the type of report that is useful? If so then how often should I run it in order to determine if there's a problem with the ISP?

 

Should I run it with the same test parameters and create the same screenshot or would a different screenshot be more helpful. Please advise. 

 

Thanks again.

 

Kevin

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Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago

I updated Java and ran it again at 10:40 PM

 

The parameters look different but the results look similar.

 

 

VOIPtest_10-40PM_03.24.16.jpg

1 Attachment

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago

I only have one line so that's all I test for 30 seconds using the G711 codec. I would agree with Avedis53 and hold off on purchasing anything until you run the VoIP test a few more times. But yeah, if it is your line (which it appears to be) then there's not a whole lot you can do. A newer gateway from Comcast may handle the traffic better but that's a stretch.

 

I just ran the VoIP test. My results are below. Even though it's only a one time test, it's pretty much what I see all of the time:

 

Speed test statistics

 

---------------------

 

Download speed: 15069 kbps

Upload speed: 870 kbps

Download consistency of service: 96 %

Upload consistency of service: 32 %

Download test type: socket

Upload test type: socket

Maximum TCP delay: 42 ms

Average download pause: 1 ms

Minimum round trip time to server: 20 ms

Average round trip time to server: 22 ms

Estimated download bandwidth: 15277 kbps

Route concurrency: 1.0138243

Download TCP forced idle: 0 %

Maximum route speed: 26214 kbps

VoIP test statistics

 

--------------------

 

Jitter: you --> server: 0.0 ms

Jitter: server --> you: 0.1 ms

Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %

Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %

Packet discards: 0.0 %

Packets out of order: 0.0 %

Estimated MOS score: 4.2

Teacher

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17 Messages

8 years ago


@OttoPylot wrote:

I only have one line so that's all I test for 30 seconds using the G711 codec. I would agree with Avedis53 and hold off on purchasing anything until you run the VoIP test a few more times. But yeah, if it is your line (which it appears to be) then there's not a whole lot you can do. A newer gateway from Comcast may handle the traffic better but that's a stretch.

 

I just ran the VoIP test. My results are below. Even though it's only a one time test, it's pretty much what I see all of the time:

 

Speed test statistics

 

---------------------

 

Download speed: 15069 kbps

Upload speed: 870 kbps

Download consistency of service: 96 %

Upload consistency of service: 32 %

Download test type: socket

Upload test type: socket

Maximum TCP delay: 42 ms

Average download pause: 1 ms

Minimum round trip time to server: 20 ms

Average round trip time to server: 22 ms

Estimated download bandwidth: 15277 kbps

Route concurrency: 1.0138243

Download TCP forced idle: 0 %

Maximum route speed: 26214 kbps

VoIP test statistics

 

--------------------

 

Jitter: you --> server: 0.0 ms

Jitter: server --> you: 0.1 ms

Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %

Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %

Packet discards: 0.0 %

Packets out of order: 0.0 %

Estimated MOS score: 4.2


Thanks OttoPylot, 

 

Your input is helpful. I've duplicated your test parameters and report format this morning and the results appear below:

 

VOIPTEST_10.20AM_03.25.16.jpg

 

Based upon these results I hae two questions for you and the other experts on this thread:

 

(A) Do you see any 'RED FLAGS' in these results? (Anything that would negatively impact the MicroCell / VOIP performance?)

 

(B) How do you determine how many 'Number of VoIP Lines (1-100):" that you have in your household? (In other words, is it the number of cellphones that are turned on in the household? Is it the number of MIcroCell's that are operating in the household? Do you count any other devices such as laptops or XBox consoles or ... desktop PC's or....?). I want the most accurate test results and don't want to screw it up by having the wrong test parameters here.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

Kevin

 

P.S. - We've had several phone calls in the past 14 hours - and have had 'zero' interference. I don't know if its because we've turned off the 'Enhanced LTE services' setting or not ... but we have our fingers crossed. 

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ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago

we you could turn HDvoice aka enhanced LTE back on to see.  What I found it HDvoice has trouble with microcell.  Hope you got it licked....

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