What is happening with 3G?
Clemke1234's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Monday, March 28th, 2011 8:06 PM

Microcell Activation

I just bought a 3g microcell of ebay and im trying to activate it and i get to the address confirmation step for the E911 part and i get an error code of FTC 132 can somebody please help me

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

13 years ago

 


@Clemke1234 wrote:

I just bought a 3g microcell of ebay and im trying to activate it and i get to the address confirmation step for the E911 part and i get an error code of FTC 132 can somebody please help me


Off the top of my head I don't remember what the error codes are but if you bought it off of eBay, I hope the previous owner de-registered it. Otherwise, it's still going to be registered to his/her phone number which won't match with your address.

 

Teacher

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26 Messages

13 years ago

As far as  I know the unit doesn't have to match your address. I'm using my neighbors address since ATT's website wouldn't take my address. When I first activated mine I had to use a very well known address in St. Louis in order to get past the activation screens. After that I went in and modified my account to use a much closer address (2 doors down). It seems that the address database that's used by the activation website is different from the address database in the My Account settings. Also use IE. ATT's websites don't handle non IE browsers well.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

13 years ago

 


@acMcLean wrote:

As far as  I know the unit doesn't have to match your address. I'm using my neighbors address since ATT's website wouldn't take my address. When I first activated mine I had to use a very well known address in St. Louis in order to get past the activation screens. After that I went in and modified my account to use a much closer address (2 doors down). It seems that the address database that's used by the activation website is different from the address database in the My Account settings. Also use IE. ATT's websites don't handle non IE browsers well.


AT&T seems to have recently started to upgrade their MicroCell system which is causing havoc (well, more so than usual) all over. The activation apparently needs the same address as the owner of the My Account for the GPS to work correctly and the 3G to lock in. AT&T's website works just fine with Firefox whether it's the Windows version or the Mac version.

 

Teacher

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26 Messages

13 years ago

I activated my microcell for the first time yesterday and used an address 1 mile away. I'm just east of St. Louis.

Contributor

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3 Messages

13 years ago

I had the same issues. After spending hours on the activation screen and nearly 2 hours on the phone with support, they told me they need to open a case to have someone contact me in 3-5 days to help me set up my microcell. I found the AT&T support completely useless.

 

I began tinkering myself to try to figure out the problem.  I found this website that had solutions for similar problems, but not my exact issue.

http://www.whitneyhoffman.com/2010/07/31/att-microcell-solutions/

 

I then realized that the device has a GPS built into it, and the reason it can't identify my address may be related to it. I'm not sure exactly why it worked, but after following these steps I could magically activate my device with my own address. I tried many things like entering in random addresses all around the US. I'm in NYC, so there is no reason why my address wouldn't work.

 

I followed these steps:

1. unplug the network cable and power cable from the microcell for 10 minutes

2. move it to a window or a place with a strong GPS signal

3. If you activated a device already, deactivate it from your account on att.com (in my case, I never got to this point, so no devices were activated)

4. plug in the network cable to the device

5. plug in the power cable to the device

6. wait a few minutes for the lights to stop flashing

7. go to the website and activate the device

 

I was shocked that this worked after hours of playing with the activation screen. The whole time I just needed to reboot the device and make sure the GPS signal was strong. If you can't get it to work, try moving the device again to a location in your home with a stronger GPS signal. Even try putting it outside if you have to during the setup. After activation, you can move the device where ever you want.

Contributor

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1 Message

13 years ago

Obviously more than one problem can result in this message.  The fixes others have found will not work for me because the web page kicks the address out before the unit is connected.  In other words, the address is rejected before the GPS ever checks it out.  Some zip codes are not showing as being in the AT&T area, when in fact they are.  The zip codes in the southeast corner of Kentucky are all rejected.  I used a Tennessee address, got it registered there and it worked fine while it was there, but when I moved it back to Kentucky, no dice!  The GPS started searching as soon as I plugged it up.  "Nope," it said, "I'm not home anymore and I refuse to function."  (Paraphrasing what happened.)

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

7 years ago

Don't know why this is here, it's almost 6 years old Smiley Frustrated

Professor

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2.2K Messages

7 years ago

FTC132 - The location provided for the AT&T 3G MicroCell device does not appear to be within an area AT&T is authorized to provide service. Please relocate the device, or call 800.331.0500 for assistance.

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