What is happening with 3G?
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

Did either one of you try a hard reset (pressing in the reset button on the back and holding it in for about 30 seconds)?

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

It was a while ago....I may have.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Try it again. I just don't unerstand why the 3G light is starting to blink red again on your replacement MicroCell (you did get it replaced, right?). It seems to work and then stop. I'd almost have to suspect something is happening to your connection (ISP?) causing it to lose connectivity and then not reset itself properly. Do you ever notice the power light to go off or blink?

Contributor

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1 Message

11 years ago

would love for otto pylot to contact me so help me with getting my Time capsule running 6.1 to see my micro cell I do not see a way to PM, I have had my micro cell runnning in Priority for about a year. It contantly drops out and i have to resrt everything. also it brings my internet speed to a trickle. I am at my wits end and about to pay up to swithc to verizon. please contact me. Thanks sorry for the hijack. 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

@Ryanhdd - just click on my name and in the right hand side you'll see the Contact box. There's a link that says "Send this user a private message", or something like that. Are you using the Apple Extreme Base Station with Time Capsule? That shouldn't affect your speeds at all, but....... Detail how you have your MicroCell setup. I don't use Time Capsule but I do have my AEBS setup for port forwarding to a static assigned IP address for the MicroCell.

Explorer

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27 Messages

11 years ago

I've now tried the microcell at two additional locations -- one somewhat nearby on the same ISP (cable), and one 10+ miles away on a different ISP (DSL). The problem is exactly the same. I think it's time to click the blue envelope, lol.

 

I've tried the standard troubleshooting, including reset, attaching directly to the modem, etc.

Community Support

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2.7K Messages

11 years ago

Hi Stephen570,

 

We received your private message and one of our managers will be contacting you shortly to help with your microcell.

 

Thanks!

 

Nicole K.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

@Stephen570 - contacting CustomerCare, either thru the blue message envelope or directly thru the link in my sig is the proper next step. I just noticed that you have a Nokia Lumia phone. There have been quite a few reports of problems like yours with Nokia phones connecting/disconnecting with the MicroCell when other phones connecting to the same MicroCell are not having any issues. I'm beginning to think that there is some sort of firmware issue with the Nokia's either due to a Nokia update or a MicroCell update that results in spordic connectivity. That makes troubleshooting very difficult becuase Nokia won't investigate the issue (it's not their problem) and AT&T doesn't have any control on how a specific mfr implements their protocols for femtocell connectivity. If you get it resolved, let us know or pm me with the resolution so I can add it to my "database" of possible MicroCell fixes.

Explorer

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27 Messages

11 years ago

Otto, I haven't had any problems with this microcell or the previous one that were specific to my Nokia Lumia. Both times there were a mix of phones (Nokia Lumia 920, HTC Windows Phone 8x, and iPhone 4s) and all were affected.

 

With the first microcell, the microcell became unavailable to the phones (dropping calls if you were on one) and requiring a reboot. All lights remained on, as if there was no problem. Turning the cellphones off and back on would not result in them reconnecting to the microcell -- only a microcell reboot would "fix" the situation for a variable period of time.

 

The replacement microcell appears to be restarting or dropping the connection to AT&T (I can't be certain if the power light flickers when it happens or not -- I've spent a lot of time staring at it to try and determine that). The internet, GPS, and 3G lights go out and then come back up like a normal start up sequence. Based on log files, the microcell is requesting an IP address each time this happens, which leads me to believe the microcell might be restarting and not just dropping the connection to AT&T.

 

In a way I was hoping I could pin the current problem on the ISP, but having taken the microcell to other locations and trying a different ISP with the same results I'm pretty sure it's the microcell.

 

Explorer

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27 Messages

11 years ago

One more reason I think the microcell is restarting and not just losing the connection to AT&T briefly is that if the microcell is attached directly to the modem and the wireless router is connected to the microcell all devices lose connectivity when the microcell drops.

 


Stephen570 wrote:

Otto, I haven't had any problems with this microcell or the previous one that were specific to my Nokia Lumia. Both times there were a mix of phones (Nokia Lumia 920, HTC Windows Phone 8x, and iPhone 4s) and all were affected.

 

With the first microcell, the microcell became unavailable to the phones (dropping calls if you were on one) and requiring a reboot. All lights remained on, as if there was no problem. Turning the cellphones off and back on would not result in them reconnecting to the microcell -- only a microcell reboot would "fix" the situation for a variable period of time.

 

The replacement microcell appears to be restarting or dropping the connection to AT&T (I can't be certain if the power light flickers when it happens or not -- I've spent a lot of time staring at it to try and determine that). The internet, GPS, and 3G lights go out and then come back up like a normal start up sequence. Based on log files, the microcell is requesting an IP address each time this happens, which leads me to believe the microcell might be restarting and not just dropping the connection to AT&T.

 

In a way I was hoping I could pin the current problem on the ISP, but having taken the microcell to other locations and trying a different ISP with the same results I'm pretty sure it's the microcell.

 


 

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