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Avedis53's profile

Professor

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2.2K Messages

Monday, February 18th, 2013 4:49 PM

Mcell requires power cycle every day to regain connection to iPhones

While I didn't encounter this problem initially when I started up my Mcell a few months ago, it has now become a daily ritual that I hope someone here can help me with.

 

My setup:

 

Motorola SB 6120 modem -> Netgear WNR3500L router -> Mcell

 

The Mcell is connected to the router with a pair of Netgear Powerline 200 Nano Adapters because my modem and router are located in the basement with no exposure to window for the Mcell to see a GPS satellite.  The connection is good.

 

My Charter ISP connection is 30 mbps down and 4 mbps and is rock solid.

 

What's happening and what I've done so far:

 

Usually once a day I will no longer see the AT&T Mcell indication at the top of my iPhone 5.  When I check my wife's iPhone 4S she has also lost the AT&T Mcell indication.

 

Turning the phones off and then on does not bring back the Mcell connection.  Switching Airplane Mode off and then on does not bring back the Mcell connection.

 

The Mcell has all solid green lights when I go to check it after seeing the lost connection.  If I power cycle the Mcell, the phones will then show an Mcell connection again until the next time they lose the connection which is usually once/day but not at any particular time.

 

I have the latest firmware on all devices.

 

When I check my router's admin page after a lost connection, the router indicates that the Mcell's IP address has not changed and it remains the same after power cycling the Mcell.

 

On the WAN page for my router, I have set the MTU size to 1492 and set the NAT Filtering to "Open" instead of "Secured".  No improvement after doing so.

 

Suspicious of the Powerline Adapters, I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the Ethernet cable from the Mcell to the Powerline Adapter to mimic a temporary loss of connection to the router to see if that affected the Mcell connection.  The Mcell connection was not lost.

 

I have not set any open ports or a static IP address for the Mcell yet.  Is what I'm experiencing indicative of this solution?  Does anyone have any other thoughts as to what try next?

 

I don't want to waste my time with an AT&T Level 1 tech support person because their suggestions are almost always worthless.  I have better luck contacting user forums and that is why I'm posting here.

 

Thank God I was able to convince AT&T to give me a Mcell for free because if I paid $200 for it, I'd be very upset right now.

 

Thanks In Advance!

 

Avedis53

 

 

___________________________________________________________

MicroCell Technical Guide by Otto Pylot


I am not an AT&T employee.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

It started out looking promising.  I went a day without the iPhones losing a connection to the Mcell but it happened again late last night and again this morning. So the static IP address and port-forwarding changes don't appear to have helped any.

 

Next step I'm taking is to drop everything off the network except my two computers and the iPhones and see if that makes any difference.  If so, then I'll add network equipment back one at a time to see if there is a singular offender.  Perhaps my repeater is causing the problem.

 

If that doesn't help, then I'll try the alternate installation with the Mcell in front of the router which is located in my basement.  I'll use a couple of long Ethernet cables and temporarily locate the Mcell by a window to establish a GPS lock and then move the Mcell to where I'd like to have it.  Hopefully it will be satisfied with the GPS signal lock long enough to see if the alternate installation makes a difference.  If that works in fooling the Mcell and it eliminates the lost connections then fine.  If I eventually lose GPS lock then I'll look at getting an external GPS antenna if the alternate installation works.

 

I don't really like this solution because I'd rather have the Mcell centrally located in the house to cover all floors but if it just covers the lower two floors where my cell phones drop off the tower and I have to go through a switchover to the tower on the upper two floors then I guess that's what has to be.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

One other question.  I've seen it recommended in this forum that one do a network reset on the iPhones to help establish a connection with the Mcell.  How can that work?  The iPhones communicate with the Mcell using the cell phone's cell transceiver , not the WiFi transceiver.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

I just read the setup instructions today to answer another question and the docs do say to not put the MicroCell in the basement so that's a consideration.


Resetting the iPhone has worked for some. Technically I'm not sure why but it may have something to do with the way the signal is recognized and configured (on the phone). It can't hurt anything. Just make sure you have your network setting written down in case the phone's settings go to default. I keep my WiFi on all of the time with my iPhone and there is no problem with the MicroCell.

 

Please remember that the GPS signal needs to be maintained at all times so you need to figure out how to keep that setup (either in front of a window or with an extension antenna that is is contact with the sky).

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

Ok....so I tried removing everything connected to my router except the Mcell and I still lose the connection to our iPhones.  I then tried connecting the Mcell directly to my modem first and running the output to my router (alternative connection).  Again, I lose the connection to my iPhones at night (only thing consistent about this is that the lost connections always occur at night while we are asleep).  I tried deactivating and then reactivating the Mcell while using the alternative connection and I still get the same result.  I tried a hard reset while using the alternative connection and I still get the same result.

 

One thing I noticed while using the alternative connection is that the packet loss my router sees has gone up alarmingly.  I am a participant in the SamKnows ISP database where my router communicates on a hourly basis with SamKnows servers to measure connection quality parameters (downstream speeds, upstream speeds, lag, packet loss, jitter....etc).  This information is used to measure the quality of the services provided by ISPs and is reported to the FCC.  I don't believe this is having any effect on the Mcell as the router is downstream of the the Mcell.

 

At any rate, I've tried everything I can think of except replacing the Mcell and that will be the next step.  If the new Mcell does the same thing, then my next solution will be to install a digital AC timer that will automatically power cycle the Mcell early every morning as a power cycle is the only way to re-establish a connection to my iPhones.

 

Now, off to the sad land of AT&T customer support to convince these clowns to replace my Mcell......

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

I would discontinue, for the time being, the SamKnows connection. I personally don't like to have something like that snooping on my network even though it is supposed to be on the up and up. The MicroCell needs a continuous, uninterrupted connection. I wish they were built a little more robust but they aren't, so anything that could even temporarily interrupt the connection could be your problem because it seems to happen at the same time every night, which leads me to believe that's it's not entirely the MicroCell but your basement setup, line adapters, and SamKnows. The more complicated your LAN is, the more apt you are to have problems with MicroCell realiability. Getting AT&T to replace the MicroCell may be difficult if they don't think it's a defective unit because of  your setup.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

Just a clarification, I get a constant GPS lock since I used Ethernet cables to connect the Mcell to my modem and moved the Mcell to a location to acheive a GPS lock.  I am not using the Powerline adapters in this configuration either.

 

I just got off the phone with AT&T Mcell technical support.  After describing my situation, the tech person asked if I had upgraded both my iPhones to iOS 6.  "Why yes I have!", I told him.  He then told me that AT&T and Apple both recognize there is a connectivity problem with iOS 6 and the Mcell and that they are working on a firmware/OS upgrade for the iPhone to resolve the problem.

 

He also told me that every night between 10 PM and 4 AM, the Mcells are sent instructions to reset/reboot themselves (checking GPS, downloading firmware updates if available..etc.) and that the iPhones/iOS 6 aren't dealing with this soft reboot very well and that's why I'm losing the connections every night and having to power cycle the Mcell to re-establish my connections.

 

So it isn't my router, SamKnows, router settings, Powerline adapters, Mcell location or the phase of the moon....it's an AT&T Mcell / iPhone / iOS problem.  When I asked about a possible date for this iOS revision, I got the "whenever it's done" answer.


So in the meantime, I'm putting everything back the way it was and accepting the fact that every morning I need to power cycle my Mcell when I start the morning coffee.  I might just install a digital AC timer outlet to automatically cycle the Mcell until a solution is forthcoming from AT&T / Apple.  The tech told me that the principle iPhone phone numbers on the Mcells will be notified by text message when a iOS upgrade is available.

 

Someone should sticky something about this at the top of this forum so iPhone users with Mcell problems don't tear their hair out trying to fix things that aren't the cause of their Mcell connectivity problem.

 

As a side note, I can understand your concern about SamKnows but their router doesn't root around my network.  It only communicates with SamKnows servers to calculate internet connection parameters.  In addition to getting a free wireless N router, I get quality information I can use to get my ISP (Charter) to recognize and fix problems with my internet connection.  In fact, a few months ago my packet loss shot up from 0.01% to 3-4%.  I was able to give the Charter technician exact times and dates as to when the problem started and they were able to trace it to a repeater a few blocks away from my house and fix the problem. 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago


@Avedis53 wrote:

 

 

I just got off the phone with AT&T Mcell technical support.  After describing my situation, the tech person asked if I had upgraded both my iPhones to iOS 6.  "Why yes I have!", I told him.  He then told me that AT&T and Apple both recognize there is a connectivity problem with iOS 6 and the Mcell and that they are working on a firmware/OS upgrade for the iPhone to resolve the problem.

 

He also told me that every night between 10 PM and 4 AM, the Mcells are sent instructions to reset/reboot themselves (checking GPS, downloading firmware updates if available..etc.) and that the iPhones/iOS 6 aren't dealing with this soft reboot very well and that's why I'm losing the connections every night and having to power cycle the Mcell to re-establish my connections.

 



SOME iPhones ( 4 and 5) had connectivity issues but most haven't. We've had iPhones using the MicroCell since the 3GS days (and before) and never had any connectivity issues. I'm using 6.1.2 on my iPhone 5 and the upgrade was smooth with absolutely no problems at all. There's another iPhone 5, 4, and 3GS using the MicroCell as well, and an old Samsung, and none of them have had any problems. Our Guest list is full with other family members, with other phone types (mostly iPhones of various flavors and iOS's) and they haven't had any issues walking into our house and connecting. Resetting the Network Settings on the iPhone 5 at least has taken care of some of the issues that other iPhone users had. The issue that some iPhone 5 (iOS 6.x) users were having was AT&T upgrading their network to 4G and LTE, which confused some phones when they went to hand off to the MicroCell (which is 3G only) because of signal strength and timing frequencies.

 

IF AT&T resets the MicroCell everynight, which I doubt becuase there would be a lot more reports about the flashing green 3G light, I haven't seen any issues personally or reported.

 

Unfortunately you were given incorrect and outdated info from phone support which is sad. That's something that is in the process of being corrected but the machine moves very slowly.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

I've never had a flashing green 3G light (or any of the lights for that matter) with this problem.  Every time my connection was lost, all the lights were solid green.   I'm not sure why you would think that AT&T doesn't query their Mcells on a routine basis.  I would think that there would have to be some routine polling by AT&T servers to determine if the GPS location is the same as it was when a Mcell was activated. 

 

Perhaps other diagnostics are run at that time also.  I don't know because I'm not awake watching the Mcell to see what is going on but it would make sense that if it does temporarily drop any connection, it would be done when most people are sleeping.  If this is what is going on, then for some reason our iPhones will not reconnect while most do. 

 

One would think that if this were an iOS problem, that all iPhone users with a Mcell would have the same issue.  Most likely, there are other factors or settings that influence whether this happens or not.  That you don't have this problem is good for you but none of the "solutions" have worked for me.   

 

At any rate, until someone from AT&T comes up with a solution for this problem I've encountered, I've installed a $10 digital AC timer and plugged the Mcell power supply into it.  Every morning at 5:29 AM the timer turns off the Mcell and turns it back on at 5:30 AM.  Granted, this isn't what I consider to be the best solution, but it will work until I see something posted here or I hear back from AT&T.  I've PM'ed customer care with this problem and perhaps I'll get an answer someday.

 

I appreciate all your input and hopefully a solution is forthcoming regarding this problem.

 

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

I would agree that if this was an iOS problem, you'd see a lot more reports but you don't. However, each phone is different and for some with similar issues, Reset Network Settings on the iPhone corrected the issue. Some were ever reporting that the MicroCell ate up battery life on the iPhone but that has been determined to an iOS issue on some phones and not necessarily the MicroCell because it happens without a MicroCell connection.

 

GPS determination (or polling) doesn't require a reboot of the MicroCell. If you move the MicroCell to another location (another address), or the MicroCell is rebooted after a power failure or testing, then the location needs to be checked against the address database. It could also be a failing power adapter. Some have even reported that AT&T "reset" their phones from AT&Ts end but I'm not sure about that. The morel likely scenario is that AT&T modified some account configuration.

 

PM'ing CustomerCare is a good idea just give them as much inormation as you can on what the issue is, your setup in detail, what you have done, account info, etc. I still think that your setup is a bit more complicated than most but the bottom line is that what ever the reason, we need to get you up and running to your satisfaction so do keep us posted, and hang in there.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

I just got off the phone with Customer Care today.  They have some Level 2 and Level 3 technical specialists looking into my issue.  They verified that there is a nightly polling of Mcells to verify GPS location and to download firmware updates (if any).  They said that it does not require rebooting the Mcell though.  Whatever is causing my iPhones to lose their connection has something to do with the polling and they don't know at this time what that is.

 

I'm leaving town for a week so they said they would contact me when I get back and that my ticket is still open at this time.  In the meantime, my AC outlet timer is power cycling the Mcell at 5:30 AM and when I wake up, my iPhones show a connection.  I'll be moving the power cycling time 30 minutes earlier each morning to try and identify exactly when the polling occurs and to minimize my lost connection time at night.

 

When I hear more, I'll post back.

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