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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.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

That's interesting that support said that nightly polling is done to verify GPS coordinates. One would think that any call made thru the MicroCell would verify the GPS coordinates for the account holder's address and cell phone number. Maybe when they poll your particular address there is an account disconnect at AT&T's end and the phones get dropped. The only way to re-estabish connectivity is to re-boot and go thru that portion of the activation process again.

Tutor

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6 Messages

11 years ago

I have been having the exact same problem and have done all the things mentioned to try and remedy. It drops my Iphone 4s and my wifes android at the same time.  I have it connected directly into the cable modum and it is right in front of a window. All lights indicate normal operation always, it just decides to quit working and needs reset, sometimes several times a day.  Very frustrating. It seems from reading this thread that AT&T has no clue as to what the real problem is. I'm not buying the Iphone issue since the android drops out too.  For what it's worth, I'm an FCC licensensed communications technician, while I make no claims as to knowing how AT&T's stuff is configured, I'm not a rookie at this stuff either. The problem is on AT&T's end in my opinion.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

This does seem to be a new problem. It could be that whatever AT&T is doing on their end (polling, updates, etc) that your account is being disconnected and a reboot on your end is necessary. This shouldn't be happening. I'd contact CustomerCare (use the link in my sig) and give them as much info as possible. The more AT&T is aware of this issue the sooner they are to look into it.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

I am out of town until next Tuesday so I haven't had a chance to deal with this problem lately, but I did notice right before I left town that I was starting to see drops at other times than at night.  So my initial theory that the problem was associated with the nightly polling is most likely incorrect.

 

I'll post more when I get back home and have had a chance to talk to customer care again as they said they would call me again when I'm back.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Thanks. Keep us informed. Something more to add to my "database" of issues and possible resolutions.

Teacher

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24 Messages

11 years ago

I am of the opinion that the internal gps antenna on the microcell is spotty at best..........all of the problems i see listed here sound VERY familier to me..........the solid gps light means NOTHING in my experance........AT&T support telling me the gps is NOT the problem also ment nothing.........in my experance anyway.............external antenna, 6 bucks, nuff said......

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

I don't think it's related to the GPS. No GPS, no GPS light, no address confirmation, no connection and thus no 3G light either. Plugging in an external antenna may have "jiggled" a bad connection or you could have just had a bad MicroCell. Trying an external antenna certainly can't hurt, it's cheap, and if it works, cool.

Teacher

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24 Messages

11 years ago

I had 2 of them and the GPS light stayed on all the time on both of them........i think it loses it after its been on a while or for some other reason, then when you reset, it regains a lock......and im not the only one, several here on this forum and many others have went this route and ended their frustration with the microcell........the best setup imo is to have the microcell in the WORST possible spot available, that way it isnt trying to monitor the tower signal  and "handing off" to it......i beleive the microcell "adjusts" its output if it thinks a tower is available......

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

You are partially correct about the MicroCell adjusting it's power output. Placing the MicroCell in a spot in your house, other that next to a window, is recommended if you have a relatively strong tower signal in your home at that location. The reason being is when the MicroCell first boots and is establishing GPS, it then looks for a tower signal in relationship to your GPS coordinates. Once detected, the MicroCell will adjust it's power output so as to not interfere, or be interfered with, the tower signal. Most of the time placing the MicroCell next to a window works just fine. The problem with the MicroCell is that a lot of different issues can have the same symptoms so going thru the most common troubleshooting steps are necessary. The nice thing about using an extension antenna is that you can get them up to about 25'. So if tower interference is your issue, then you can place the MicroCell in a location other than next to the window to mitigate interference but still maintain constant GPS contact, which is necessary at all times. Of course that may mean running a longer than wanted enet cable from the MicroCell to the router/modem unless you use a power adapter connection.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

So I'm back from vacation and the problem still exists.  I'm seeing dropped connections occurring at other times besides at night so I definitely think we can rule out "nightly polling" as the cause of a dropped connection.

 

I just received another call from ATT Customer Care this morning and that person told me after discussing my problems with their technical gods, it is recognized by ATT that there is a dropped connection issue with the Mcells and it is independent of cell phone manufacturer.  I was told that while there is no solution at this time, ATT is working with Cisco to come up with a firmware revision that will address this problem.  No date was mentioned as to when (if ever) we will see it.

 

I said that's fine but I wanted to eliminate the possibility that I had a defective Mcell.  I told her that when I first got the Mcell, I didn't have this problem.  She agreed to send me another Mcell (reconditioned) free of charge by priority shipping.  I will need to send the original Mcell back within 10 days.  She will contact me after I've had a chance to see how the "new" Mcell is working.

 

If I had paid $200 for my Mcell, I would certainly be more upset than I am now but since they gave it to me for free, I'll just have to deal with it by power cycling the Mcell when I see that my iPhones have lost their Mcell connection.  Considering the fact that when I do have a Mcell connection it provides good cell phone coverage in my home where I have marginal cell tower signal strength and dropped calls, it's better than nothing.

 

Despite my frustration with the Mcell, I have to say that at least ATT seems to care about my problem and is doing everything they can from their end to help me.

 

I'll report back after I've had a chance to evaluate the "new" Mcell and see if I still have the same problem.

 

 

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