Mcell requires power cycle every day to regain connection to iPhones

no i have the same issues everyone else is having with no resolve.... This answers all my quesrtions at to why my microcell disconnects at the same time every night but works great all day... hopes this helps others.... weather this can be stopped im not sure... seems silly to terminate the service at night if it cant find a tower.. im so angry at the truth factor here of what we all oay 90 dollars a month for and up.. for AT&T to use our internet to get service on thier own devices... but flash it every night if it cant see " neighbors" or towers////  why did you sell it as a femtocell?

@ pyrexions

It is difficult to figure out what you are trying to say, but after reading what you posted I would offer this and Otto please correct me if I'm wrong.

AT&T absolutely must know where the Mcell is at all times.  The way I interpret what you posted, if the Mcell can determine its location by doing a GPS scan and it matches the address you entered when you activated the Mcell, then it will not do Network Listen and it will continue to operate.

If the standard GPS scan can't determine the Mcell's location then it does the next best thing to determine the Mcell's location and that is a Network Listen between midnight and 5 AM EST.  If it can't detect at least 50 % of the cell towers it saw previously then it tries to do a GPS scan again.  Ultimately, if AT&T can't determine the Mcell's location by GPS scan or by a Network Listen, then it will not function.

If you are in a fringe reception area where cell tower signals are weak enough where weather, time of day, or other conditions can cause towers to not be detected at times, then you are going to have problems.  But that is only if the Mcell can't successfully complete a GPS scan and it is depending on a Network Listen to determine the Mcell location.

What the document you provided is telling me is enlightening.  It is basically saying how important it is for the Mcell to utilize its GPS antenna to determine its location as a first choice and not to depend on the Network Listen function in very weak cell tower coverage areas like you have.  This would lead me to believe that installing an external GPS antenna would help your situation.  These external GPS antennas have a higher gain than the GPS antenna in your Mcell and with the proper placement of the external antenna module, you will always have a strong GPS signal for the Mcell to lock on to when conducting its GPS scan and the Mcell won't go into its Network Listen mode.

Have you tried an external GPS antenna?  Seems to me that you should try that before ditching the Mcell.

@ Otto,

I consider the Mcell as VOIP+.  Instead of running VOIP software on your computer and communicating with someone else running the same VOIP software on their computer (ie. peer-to-peer) via the Internet,  AT&T has complicated the technology by adding a cheap module that communicates wirelessly with cellphones, has to know where it is at all times via GPS, communicates on the Internet and  juggles competing cell tower signals all at the same time.  No wonder there are problems!  VOIP is finicky enough without all the other stuff that cellphone plan providers have to deal with when trying to operate femtocells on their network.  Definitely the No-Win Scenario of Star Trek Academy days!

With that, I'm tired and am leaving in the morning.  Later.....

I agree with Avedis53. It is difficult to understand what pyrexions is trying to say.

@pyrexions - if your MicroCell is in the basement, or any other room in your house, it absolutely has to maintain GPS lock at all times. This is for E911 services and for locational determination (physical address confirmation and MicroCell Service Area confirmation). When and how often AT&T checks GPS is anyone's guess. If I unerstand your post, it apparently happens for you between 12-4am. There are lots of other scenarios that could be happening as well. AT&T could choose to do tower maintenance/upgrades when it would cause the least amount of cell interruption, etc. As Avedis53 pointed out, if the GPS coordinates are not confirmed, then AT&T may choose to determine location by checking your network. After all, you did register your MicroCell with AT&T at one time and as long as your mobile phone account is current, and you haven't changed your phone number, AT&T will periodically check.

I will ask your the basic question again, how do you have your MicroCell setup and where is it located in your house?

was told today AT@T can turn of the GPS mode... and from what i understand the NWL happend regandless.. the  mine worked flawlessly with a flashing red light for days becuase i assume for whatever reason they couldnt NWL it and have it come back false... mine works fine with 0 signal at all.. untill they flash it wih NWL.. the fact it worked with a redlight to me says it works fine without a signal... the major differance wuld be is this a femtocell witch requires no signal and the internet or a repeater.... yes im a bit confused too.. all i know is it works fine stellar call qaulity rare dropped calls.. untill this mode kicks in between 12 and 5 am est.  and i asked AT&T a thousand times if there is any activity from your end at these problem times.. " no sir the only time we look at your microcell is when it sets up and when its disconnected.. either they dont know how their own system works or ive been lied to for 6 months

not anyones guess it clearly says at the bottom NWL mode occurs every night at 12 to 5 AM... that would not be a guess that would be AT&T's own words

Daily Location Verification Scan

• The MicroCell will perform a NWL to verify its location during the nightly maintenance window (typically between Midnight and 5 a.m. EST). 
• If 50% or more of the neighbors detected match those that were seen during the previous night's NWL, the MicroCell will stay activated.
  NOTE: If no neighbors were detected during the previous night's NWL and no neighbors are detected during the nightly NWL, the MicroCell will consider this a 100% match and remain activated.
• If less than 50% of the neighbors detected match those that were seen during the previous night's NWL, the MicroCell will use GPS to determine its location. 

i highlited it for you 😉

note how it says will stay activated... but at the same time was told today by AT&T  manager when asking abut NWL mode if it could be disabled she said and i quote " we only have the ability to turn of GPS and like two other features... but when m,ine goes into NWL mode for whatever reason it requires a total reboot.. all light solid.. flashing 3 g... same as eveyone else in the void.. its sending a false NWL and losing connection to AT&T  none of this has anything to do with ISP .. yes if your ISP goes down so does your light but under "normal" functions it comes back up on its own.... NWL clearly is the answer to the glitch.. i called the FCC today to ask if this was an FCC requirment or AT&T policy... "AT&T policy sir".... whats the piont of having a "femtocell if i need to have towers and if thats the requirements for it to work why has and does it work flawlessly will NWL mode time.. logically explain this to me .. im all ears AT&T... is this a booster or a femtocell? depends on who you talk to?????  if a booster why are you using my internet? and god forbid i wasnt grandfathered into unlimited data.. id be paying you to use your phone and data to pass through my internet?  gee thanks.   got no problem with that till you mislead me.. lie to me.. blame issues on everyone else... 

It's still a bit difficult to understand what you're saying but I'll try again.

AT&T performs routine maintenance on the system late at night, early in the morning. One of the things they do is to check the GPS coordinates for E911 and other reasons. If they can't confirm your unit via GPS, they will try to confirm it with a local tower using the NWL protocols. If your tower is out of range, or there are other issues with location, interference, etc then the MicroCell will generate an error message, such as a blinking red light or loss of connection altogether. Both of which usually requires a reboot which starts the initialization procees again.

The MicroCell is a femtocell using VoIP technology. While a local tower is not required for activation and optimal performance, it is necessary in helping to confirm location and handing off to, or from, a macrocell.

Your ISP can have a lot do with how well a femtocell works. A stable connection all of the time is critical especially with VoIP technology and RTP jitter. That's not say that your ISP is at fault here, but there are lots of complicated pieces that have to all play nice together from AT&T, your ISP, and even your phone  before VoIP works as designed.

done talking about this... its more than obvios to me why this happens.. just wonder at this point if the GPS bypass is still available as an option.. this was the reason the NWL info came to light in the 1st place.. notice at the top of the memo.. AT@T will no longer be doing GPS bypass.. weather you undertstand this or not is not my issue ... sorry i do type horribly but its pretty clear whats going on. when it works fine all day.. set up fine.. but during the NWL mode something comes back false... for people that have no service at all... but obviosly not a requirement for it to work or function hence it setting up and working all day till these times.. is that clear enough. and to top it all off why has knowone ever mentioned this as a "possible" issues when so many complain about problems at these times...????? tell me how everyones internet at the same time, differant providers goes down or has issues in wide spread areas .. hmm doesnt it make sense that they all have the same symtoms not the same internet,, but the exact same equipment.. service and in the void...