What is happening with 3G?
jpenaflorida's profile

Tutor

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1 Message

Saturday, December 17th, 2011 3:32 AM

3G Microcell - 3G Red Light Flashing

My GPS, Ethernet, and power light are on with a solid green. My 3G light is a solid red that flashes every three seconds. I use a Netgear router/modem; honestly, I'm not sure what a modem or router looks like but I plugged the microcell's ethernet into the Netgear. I've tried disconnecting then reactivating the microcell. No luck.

 

Any advice on how to troubleshoot this issue would be awesome. I live in the countryside where cell phone reception is severely limited. Thanks!

Voyager

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1 Message

11 years ago

I found a fix for my flashing red light. You might try this.

3 months ago came in to notice my microcell that was working perfectly for almost a year was flashing red bars. So i unplugged and it rebooted to all flashing green bars but still no connection. Tried this several time before finally calling att to inform them of the problem. They suggested unplugging again but to no avail. They decided the microcell was defected and sent me a brand new one. Great its working again everything is fine. 3 weeks later there it is again, the dreaded flashing red bars. This time I think it can not be another defective microcell so as I work in computers I decide to figure it out by myself. My microcell is plugged into a router that is connected to cable modem. Log into your router. Its different for each manufacturer of router. Check the web to get the IP address to log into your router. mine is 192.168. 1. 0. Log in to the router and check the DHCP settings. Make sure the STATIC DHCP button is ENABLED. As soon as this was checked the microcell worked with no proble. Why this button became disabled is unknown. My router is a D-Link FYI. Hope this helps some people.

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

What you are doing is assigning a static IP address to your MicroCell, which is a good thing. However, if you lose power, you may have to assign it all over again. What I do is establish port forwarding (using the ports that AT&T requires) and then set a static IP address based on the MAC address of the MicroCell. That way, if you ever have a power failure or something else, the MicroCell will always get the same IP address assigned.You shouldn't have to do that but I've found that it makes for a very stable connection.

 

BTW, a flashing red 3G is an indicator that something is wrong. You may still be able to use the MicroCell but you may want to consider a re-boot to see if that clears up what ever the issue is.

Voyager

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1 Message

11 years ago

I had to sign up for the forum and post this because everyone was very helpful in resolving the issue I had with the blinking red 3g light, but none of the solutions worked to actually solve the issue I was having and like others I was left with the same problem after trying everything so I would like to share what worked for me.The trick is to put your microcell's MAC address into your routers dmz. It turned out for me that the firewall was blocking some of the packets that the unit was sending. I have comcast and some of the more advanced settings such as block fragmented packets aren't available on the gateway/router combo so this step just bypasses any possibility that the packets are getting blocked. The DMZ (demilitarized zone) feature allows the device placed there to communicate unhindered by the devices firewall and fixed my issue perfectly. Hope this effort helps at least some of you with this very annoying issue. Good luck!

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

rpkamins, I'm curious when you said you tried everything else does that include a static IP address and forwarding the required ports?

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

@ Otto,

 

In my experience, practically all routers maintain assigned static IP addresses as well as port forwarding settings and all other user assigned settings in flash memory, but it's a good idea to check your router's admin pages after a power loss to verify that there have been no changes.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Agreed. That's why when I port forward I assign the ip address to the MicroCell's MAC address. That's sort of my insurance that if something gets scrambled in the DHCP table the correct ports/address will get forwarded if the MAC address is detected.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

@rpkamins - using the DMZ is mentioned in the MicroCell Guide posted above as a sticky.

Contributor

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3 Messages

10 years ago

Thank you for your support manual. After 3 years, my microcell finally works and works well.  I have a q1000 modem on centurylink. Just needed to put the IP address in the DMZ on router, did a hard reset along with new activation and it works great.  Using an Iphone 5 with latest OS. 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

10 years ago

You're welcome. I periodically update it so check back every now and then to see what's new.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

10 years ago

Another happy customer!

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