HELP - 3G light is flashing, microcell was previously working fine

My primary residence is in Calif, my other home is in rural Idaho where there is no ATT coverage at all. My  Microcell was working great in Idaho for about 3 weeks then just stopped. My internet connection is point to point PPOE 6.5 MB dn / 2.75 up and ping times are around 30 ms. My ISP assures me there is no issue on their end. I use my internet connection for VPN / SSH login to Unix servers, streaming quotes from my brokerage and download movies and TV shows daily without issue. All status lights on the MC are steady state green and ATT support says it should be working. I have worked with several ATT support folks including tech support. Rebooted and restarted everything numerous times. After speaking with an ATT manager he had a replacement priority shipped to me. After activation I have exactly the same situation. I have opened a new case with support and I'm getting nowhere. All status shows it should be working but all 3 of my ATT phones have no service. I have a IPhone 5C, HTC and Pantech phones. All three were working before all three stopped working at the same time. I am a long time ATT customer but I am so furstrated I'm ready to dump ATT and switch to the competitor whose network has good coverage in my rural Idaho home as well as my Calif home and would not require the MC. I purchased the MC hoping it would be a workable solution as my work phone is on ATT. I am a tech guy, I do Computer System Engineering and System Administration and offten work remotely.

Edit: sent PM to Customer support with my phone number and best times to reach me.

The MicroCell, at least when it was initially released, had issue with PPOE connections. Whether that's related to your particular issue or not is hard to say.

So, when all of your phones stopped working, was the light status on the MicroCell still a solid green (power, ethernet, GPS, and 3G) or was any of them blinking?

Try a Complete Reset/Activation:

1. Turn off your phone
2. De-register the MicroCell on myATT and log off
3. Perform a hard reset of the MicroCell by holding in the reset button on the back for about 30 seconds
4. Re-register the MicroCell on myATT
5. Wait till the registration and updates (if any) finish
6. Turn on the phone

Rural areas have typically been difficult for the MicroCell because the GPS coordinates sometimes don't match the postal address (house address) that is in the locational database. The fact that you were able to register and have a functional MicroCell probably means that the location issue is not the cuase of your problems. However, there have been some recent issues where the database got corrupted and when AT&T did their nightly maintenance they couldn't verify the MicroCell's location.

I'm glad you pm'd CustomerCare because that was going to be my next suggestion. Just make sure you give them as much information that you can including you location.

I replied to your other thread but as far as I know, AT&T is not working on a new MicroCell that will support 4G/LTE. That would require new hardware.

I have an iPhone 5 that I leave on LTE all of the time. I have no problems with the phone dropping down to 3G to connect to the MicroCell when I walk into the house. We have other "flavors" of iPhones as well and none of them have any issues with the MicroCell.

Let's start with the basic questions:

MicroCell™ TroubleShooting Questions:

1. Do you have an active postpaid AT&T mobile account?
2. Do you have a combined modem/router or a separate modem and router? What are the model numbers?
3. Have you met the minimum requirements for router configuration as outlined in the Tech Guide?
4. What are your download and upload speeds?
5. What kind of internet service do you have (ADSL, cable, WiFi)?
6. Are you using the basic connection (modem -> router -> MicroCell) or the alternate connection (modem -> MicroCell -> router)?
7. What other equipment (computers, WiFi TV’s, Xboxes, Playstations, etc.) do you have connected to your network?
8. What does the light pattern look like on the MicroCell (power, ethernet, GPS, and 3G)? Are they all a solid green or is any of them blinking green or red, and if so, which one?
9. Does the ac adapter feel warmer than the top of the MicroCell where the vents are?
10. Are all of the cables firmly in place?
11. Have you checked your line speed, http://www.speedtest.net/ ? If so, please post results.
12. Have you checked to see if you line is adequate for VoIP, http://www.voipqualitytest.com/ ? If so, please post your results.
13. Have you checked the Technical Guide?

No LTE problems regarding my iPhone 5 and Mcell.....

Certainly LTE femtocells have been manufactured.  Fujitsu, Hitachi and others already have products.  The issue as I see it is when will AT&T, Verizon and Sprint et.al. be able to adopt the new technology.  They will have to incorporate new hardware on the backend to handle LTE femtocells.  It will also have to dove-tail in with their existing femtocell environment but most importantly will be the price. 

Unless they change their business model of selling femtocells and move towards a monthly fee structure, the price of a LTE femtocell can't be much more than the current 3G femtocell cost of $200.  I don't think early adopters are going to rush to AT&T to pay $300 or $400 for a LTE femtocell if they already have one.  Since they are used in the home, higher data rates are almost always shouldered by the WiFi system so buying one for more speed doesn't make much sense.

At any rate, LTE femtocells are coming......just don't hold your breath.

To follow up on what Avedis said, I have an email in to the Admins to see if they can fine out anything from the Mobility group. Certainly if phone support is telling customers that one is in development we should know about it. But, as I have learned in the past, support is not the most knowledgeable or informed group.

As far as the cost goes, I agree with Avedis. However, being an ACE may have some benefits

The status lights on the MC have always stayed steady state green indicating no issues or trouble. I never observed any other state (blinking or red / off) on the indicators.

The complete reset and re-activation has been performed numerous times.

Dimitiry is the best contact for this. You might want to give them an email address to contact you.

Have you Reset Network Settings on your iPhones and the equavalent on the other phones?