Tutor
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3 Messages
3G Microcell U-verse Dropped Calls After 30 Seconds
I recently switched over from DSL to U-verse. Several months prior to that I had purchased a 3G Microcell and had little to no issues with it. After the switch though, I have had nothing but problems.
The current issue is that about 30 seconds into the call, the person on the other end is no longer able to hear the voice of the person connected through the 3G Microcell. Then usually about 1 minute into the call, it drops out. If End Call is pressed, the iPhone connected to the microcell freezes for several seconds before returning to the home screen. After this, the 3G bottom light on the microcell will often begin blinking as the connection to the AT&T servers appears to reset.
Initially I had 10% packet loss, but was able to resolve this with U-verse. They scheduled a technician visit, and had the problem fixed before he even arrived. I now have 0% packet loss and either an A or B rating with pingtest.net.
I also attempted to manually configure my router settings by changing the MTU to 1492 and setting up Port Forwarding for UDP 123, 500, 4500 and TCP 443 to the microcell in the Pace 5031NV router settings. This had no effect, so I have since taken the further step of placing the microcell in the router's DMZ.
Since I occassionally would receive a 102 error message (the registered address does not match the actual device location) when attempting to deactivate and re-register the microcell, I verified with AT&T that the GPS coordinates being sent by the microcell matched my address, which they did.
I also took my iPhone 5 to the AT&T store to swap the SIM card. This had no effect either. Neither did disabling LTE on the phone or disabling hand-out on the microcell.
After many calls to tech support, AT&T finally sent me another 3G Microcell to try. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the problem either.
At this point, I am considering trying out Charter internet or giving up on microcell entirely and trying Magic Jack. At least with cable service, I would have the option in that case of bypassing the router for the microcell by connecting directly to the modem.
When I last spoke with AT&T microcell group they recommended I speak with U-verse or even Cisco for further troubleshooting as they blame the problem on the internet connection. However, when I called U-verse, they were unable to help and transferred me back to Mobility for the microcell...
Running out of ideas. Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions...
guido23
Tutor
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7 Messages
10 years ago
Thank you so much to the participants in this forum for helping turn a frustrating mystery into a simple, easy resolution for me!
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Avedis53
Professor
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2.2K Messages
10 years ago
I can't help but believe there is an 802.1N solution to this problem. I, for one, wouldn't be happy with having to downgrade to 802.1G speeds especially if I was paying for the higher bandwidth.
I know that the Motorola NVG 510 will handle ADSL2/2+ and will work with the Mcell as does the Motorola NVG 589 for VDSL2 w/bonded pair.
Motorola makes the Netopia 7000 series VDSL2 gateways and I wonder if one of those would work as a replacement for the Pace 5031NV.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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24.4K Messages
10 years ago
That's good news! I know there was a firmware update for the Pace's that was supposed to take care of that but I don't know if that fixed the issue globally or in certain situations.
G WiFi works just fine for us. Partially because we have our router about 5 feet up and centrally located on a shelf in the "computer room" so it's visually out of sight. Now that we've wired the HTS via CAT-6 to the router, we don't need to use WiFi for streaming to the HTS so that eliminates possible sources of inteference. WiFi speeds for us are typically around 17Mbps anywhere in the house so I'm happy with that.
I will be updating the Guide with the U-verse issues and possible fixes (be patient Avedis53
) so this information will be easier to find via the Guide.
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Avedis53
Professor
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2.2K Messages
10 years ago
Speedtest on my iPhone using my wireless router gives me 37.5 Mbps down and 4.02 Mbps up with 21 ms ping to the nearest OOKLA server.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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24.4K Messages
10 years ago
Showoff
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Avedis53
Professor
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2.2K Messages
10 years ago
Cable internet rules.......ADSL drools....
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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24.4K Messages
10 years ago
You funny guy
The only choices here are Comcrap and AT&T. Both of which are more than than the $58 per month (including taxes) I pay for 20Mbps DSL, my old AT&T copper landline (which my ISP owns and maintains now), and our $8 per month Netflix subscrip. We can easily stream 1080p when available so I guess I'll just have to get by with a measly 20Mbps (17Mbps in reality) line 
Oh yeah, tv for us is OTA only but we have a perfect LOS to the towers so our reception and pq is typically much better than our pay-tv neighbors.
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msgamblr1
Contributor
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1 Message
10 years ago
Thank you for the description of the problem and solution to your 3G Microcell dropping calls. I've had the exact same Microcell problem of dropped calls that brian.25 described with a couple of differences: my service is via DSL and the calls usually last about 5+ minutes before dropping. Every other detail is the same. I've spoken to numberous representatives, had trouble tickets investigating the problem and was given two new Microcell towers. Nothing has helped. The problem has been going on for well over a year. It is at a vacation home; so, I'm not there all the time. However, thinking back, I do think that the problem possibly started after getting a new modem/router combo. I will be getting a separate modem and router to see if this corrects the problem. I'll report back later when I return to that location in a few weeks.
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Avedis53
Professor
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2.2K Messages
10 years ago
Some gateways have shown to be problematic when it comes to working with a Mcell. If you buy a separate modem and router, be sure to first try connecting the Mcell directly to the modem temporarily with nothing else connected to determine if you can maintain a call connection to the AT&T servers. This will eliminate the possibility of the router causing the dropped calls. If that works, then you can connect the router to the modem and then connect the Mcell to the router and see if it works.
Let us know what your results are.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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24.4K Messages
10 years ago
+1
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