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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.

Explorer

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27 Messages

11 years ago

Update: After contacting support through the forums we were sent a replacement microcell. There was a glitch somewhere in activating it so the activation took 10-12 hours (I did contact support through chat and they escalated the issue).

 

We now have a working microcell.

 

In addition to the troubleshooting steps that AT&T publishes and those discussed here in the forums I'd suggest trying the following if possible for you:

 

  • Check your router's logs and look for the microcell requesting an IP address. I was able to determine that the microcell was requesting an IP address as often as every 5-15 minutes. These requests matched up to when the microcell was resetting or restarting, and I could see how often it was happening even when I wasn't home to witness it. If all other devices/services remain working while the microcell drops, it's a possible indicator that the microcell and not your ISP is the problem.
     
  • When you connect the microcell in priority mode (microcell directly to the modem and the router to the microcell) watch to see if other devices/services go down when the microcell does. In the case of our microcell in priority mode, all devices would lose service when the microcell dropped/reset, but they would all work just fine when the microcell was not setup in priority mode. That was another indicator that the microcell was probably defective.
     
  • Try the microcell at another location, preferably with another ISP. You'll need to add another service address and set it as the default/current address (manage microcell at http://www.att.com/standalone/3gmicrocell). That will put the microcell through the activation process again. I tried this and the microcell displayed the same problem of dropping/resetting.

 

Again, everyone from AT&T I worked with was very helpful.  And, again, thanks to Otto and everyone else here in the forums.

 

 

 

 

 

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

I've had my replacement Mcell for about 3 months now and it has operated virtually trouble-free except for an ISP outage and a couple flashing 3G green light events that corrected themselves without a power cycling.

 

My replacement Mcell is sitting on a window sill that faces the south with its right side facing out. I do not use priority mode as I do not want the Mcell to affect the rest of my network and the Mcell is connected to my router with Powerline adapters that use my house wiring for communication between the two units.

 

I did make the suggested router changes (port forwarding and static IP address for the Mcell) when I had my original Mcell and kept those changes with the replacement Mcell.  I've had dynamic IP addressing issues in the past when my router changed IP addresses on some of my network equipment (I have 11 devices connected to my router), so I wanted to eliminate that potential problem with the Mcell.  I don't know if these changes are still required but I haven't removed them because if it ain't broke...don't fix it.

 

Since the summer months are about here, I'm hoping that solar heat the Mcell will receive by sitting on that southern-facing window sill won't cause thermal issues.  The Mcell specifications page lists a maximum ambient temperature limit of 100 degrees F and that could present a problem during the daylight hours.  We'll see.

 

I am hopeful that AT&T will eventually replace their current Cisco Mcell with one that is truly 4G/LTE compatible and has improved reliability/performance.  Since Cisco bought Ubiquisys in May of this year, hopefully they will trickle down the purchased technology to femtocell customers with a much improved, new generation of the Mcell.

 

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Nice summary report. Mine sits facing a North-West window (oriented like yours) about 18" from the glass (double-paned) and down low so that only the top half is above the window sill. They do get warm but I have plenty of open space around mine. You might want to consider a small desk fan blowing on yours if you think it's getting too hot. You have a fairly elaborate LAN which is proof that the MicroCell can work under those confgurations. But yes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've often toyed with the idea of removing the port forwarding, but.........

 

I am in total agreement with you on a new MicroCell that can take handle 4G/LTE, and have expressed as much to my support group but we'll see. After what I learned about the new AIO service and why it can't, and won't, work with the MicroCell, the 4G/LTE may take longer than we want, if it happens at all. But support does listen and pass along our suggestions so we'll see what the future brings.

 

Thanks for your contributions, which are positive and supportive to me, and the community as a whole.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

@Stephen570 - Good advice and thanks for getting back to the group. Priority mode is basically a trouble-shooting method but some have found that it's the only way to get a somewhat stable connection. I prefer not to use it for the reason you mentioned. I've been trying to put together a User Guide for the Real World so tips and solutions like yours are essential. Thanks.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

I knew if I posted anything about things going well with this replacement Mcell that something would happen and it has.

 

I've started experiencing a loss of connection with the Mcell over the past three or four days.  The big difference over my past problem is that to reconnect to the Mcell only requires switching to Airplane Mode and back to regain the connection.  I haven't had to power cycle the Mcell.  With my original Mcell, toggling Airplane Mode didn't help.

 

Otto, any thoughts as to why the sudden change and a possible cause?

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Arrgh! This is so frustrating. Ok, refresh my memory. What kind of phone do you have? If you aren't having to reboot your MicroCell, and just toggling back and forth between Airplane mode on your phone corrects the issue, then maybe it's the phone. If it's an iPhone, try to Reset Network Connections. I know that AT&T has started to update the network connection settings on iPhones to comply with the Emergency Notification Act and maybe that confused something. Mine was updated the other day and nothing changed but each phone may be different. Oh, and AT&T will eventually be updating all phones to comply (I think VZ and the other carriers will have to as well).

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

Iphone 5.  I just reset the network connections.  I'll see if it still happening.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

Let me know how it goes.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

11 years ago

Resetting the iPhone's network settings didn't solve the problem.  I woke up this morning and saw that my iPhone was not connected to the Mcell again.  A quick toggle of Airplane Mode and the iPhone reconnected to the Mcell.

 

Shows up on both my wife's 4s and my 5 at the same time so I'm thinking that the issue is on the Mcell side.  I think I'll try a hard reset of the Mcell and see if that makes any difference. 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

11 years ago

It almost sounds like there's a brief drop in transmission from the MicroCell so that the MicroCell connection is fine with AT&T but the iPhones can't recover. That doesn't mean that it's the iPhones problem but something is interfering with their communication and they are having a hard time re-connecting, whether it's on the MicroCell side or the iPhone side. Have you tried sending a pm to CustomerCare? Tell them I sent you Smiley Wink If you have and they haven't been of any help, let me know. I may have another avenue to pursue.

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