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MicroCellEarl's profile

Teacher

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17 Messages

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017 1:26 PM

Microcell not working

Hi Everyone,

 

I've used the white/orange ATT Microcell for almost a decade. Outside of the occasional restart, the device has performed well; without it, we have 1 bar of signal strength in our Wayne NJ home. A couple of weeks ago, we no longer had 4-5 bars of strength and the term "Microcell" was no longer visible on our iPhones. After recycling the unit, resetting it, cycling my router, etc., it still didn't work. However, it had all 4 lights solid green. Opened a ticket with ATT and they could find nothing wrong. So, thinking that my 10-year old MCell had given up the ghost, I bought a new one on Amazon - the black Cisco unit ($240). I transferred my family configuration to the new MCell on the website, got  4 green lights, email confirmation that my MCell was "activated and working", but no MCell service.

 

I use a pair of Linksys WRT-1900AC routers. Although I hadn't deliberately opened the ports outlined in the MCell manual before (the original unit worked anyway), I did so. Still no joy. Contacted ATT again. They told me to give them a couple of days, after which they let me know that "everything was working again". Indeed, I had MCell reception on my iPhone 7+, but neither my wife nor my daughter had MCell service. This situation happened in the evening; by the next morning, MCell was once again absent from my iPhone.

 

So, I contacted ATT again last night, updating my escalated support ticket. They told me that they could find nothing wrong, but will investigate "another aspect of the Microcell" and let me know.

 

I'm sorta at my wits end here.... ATT consistently recommends using WiFi calling, but that won't work in many areas where there is insufficient WiFi coverage. And that suggestion is nothing more than a band-aid, seemingly to get me to go away. My sister lives 8 miles from my home, has ATT and the same Cisco MCell unit and things are working fine for her.

 

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions? I've constantly had to follow-up with ATT - there is no communication coming from their end unless I initiate the conversation. 

 

I don't know where to go next with this

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

6 years ago

@MicroCellEarl - the suggestion for WiFi-C (WiFi Calling) is what we recommend to replace the MicroCell for in-home use if all of your phones are WiFi-C capable. It is more reliable than the MicroCell and call quality is much better. 

 

I would check the ac adapter with a voltmeter, especially if you are using the same, original adapter with the replacement MicroCell. It should read 16 VDC +/- 0.5 with no load. If not, replace it with a good adapter that meets those specs and see what happens. We have seen all kinds of odd behavior when the adapter starts to fail.

 

I'm confused about your statement of using a pair of Linksys routers. The MicroCell should only be connected directly to one router, with, ideally, no switches, power line adapters, etc.

 

Who is your ISP and what kind of internet service do you have, and please explain your setup with two routers. 

 

Have your turned off completely the phones (not standby), waited a couple of minutes, and then turned them back on? Sometimes the phones need to re-register the MicroCell as being part of their cellular neighborhood.

Teacher

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17 Messages

6 years ago

Hi,

 

I'm using a bridged router setup to provide adequate Wi-Fi coverage throughout my home; that's why I have 2 routers (1 upstairs and the other downstairs). For part of the time (over the past decade) the mcell was connected to my main router. During February of this year, I moved the mcell to my bridged router, where it continued to function until very late September. The non-working mcell issue extends to 2 completely distinct mcell units, which includes the power adapter. In other words, after the original mcell seemed bad, I bought an entirely new unit, and am still experiencing the issue.

 

I have optimum online as my ISP (same ISP for all the time that the mcell was operational). We have repeatedly powered down and back up the family's 3 iPhones. No joy.

 

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

6 years ago

@MicroCellEarl - try connecting either MicroCell directly to your main router, bypassing the bridged router, to check that the MicroCell(s) are working properly. If they are, then something has happened to your bridged setup, regardless of the fact that it worked fine before.The MicroCell can work with access points but that can cause issues, either right away or after a period of time. It seems that the MicroCell is just more reliable with a single, direct ethernet connection to your router.

 

WiFi-C, if all of your iPhones are capable of that, is really the best way to go in your situation for in-home use. Just disable the MicroCell (turn off the power), setup WiFi-C, and see if it meets your needs. If you're out and about, and have sufficient cellular coverage, then your phones will not use WiFi-C so whether you have good or bad WiFi coverage when you're out it shouldn't make a difference. I would make sure that WiFi Assist is disabled on your phones just to be sure. WiFi Assist has nothing to do really with WiFi or the MicroCell but it can cause issues in certain instances.

 

 

Teacher

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17 Messages

6 years ago

Hi,

 

During the course of my troubleshooting, I did bring the mcell back downstairs and connect it to my primary router. This did not resolve the issue. I'm going to try a few things tonight when I get home:

 

1. ping femtocell.wireless.att.com to see if I can resolve the 12.230.x.x address. If not, I'll map it to the IP address returned by the ping command.

2. I'll turn off LTE for voice on my iPhone (leaving LTE for data) to see if that makes a difference.

3. Check MAC address filtering on my router. If necessary, I'll allow the MCell's MAC address through.

 

I can update this thread tomorrow. Please let me know your thoughts on the above.

 

earl

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

6 years ago

@MicroCellEarl - I don't think the pinging will work but it's worth a try. We leave LTE enabled on our iPhone SE's  as well as WiFi. WiFi Assist is disabled and we don't use WiFi-C because the other iPhone's are not WiFi-C capable so we need to keep the MicroCell up and running for the time being.

 

Why are you filtering the MicroCell's MAC address, or did I read that wrong? I have port forwarding setup on my router so that ALL four of the required ports are forwarded to the MicroCell based on the MicroCell's MAC address. I then assign a static ip address to the MicroCell. That makes for a more stable MicroCell if one is prone to power outages or fluctuations.

Teacher

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17 Messages

6 years ago

Hi,

 

I will check if MAC address filtering is ENABLED (and I don't think it is), then I will allow the MCell's MAC address to pass-through (sorry for the verbal shorthand)

 

I have the ports forwarded, but, again, I did this only recently, during the course of troubleshooting. I hadn't touched port forwarding (for the MCell) prior to this, and MCell always worked.

 

Agreed on the static address; I hadn't heard about the femtocell/wireless.att.com and want to see the address it resolves to.

 

thanks,
Earl

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

6 years ago

@MicroCellEarl - I really don't think that the femtocell address is going to yield any useful information other than to satisfy curiosity. The only ip address that the MicroCell needs is the one provided by your router. If could be something as simple as a subtle change on the ISP side to increase stability or whatever but for some reason, that has affected how the MicroCell communicates with the AT&T Mobility servers. If all of the lights on the MicroCell are a solid green, the ac adapter checks out, and you haven't received any error messages from AT&T then you'll need to look more closely at your setup.

 

You can always take your new MicroCell to another location and set it up there. I think you said your sister uses a MicroCell. If your MicroCell works from there, then you've ruled out the physical MicroCell, and probably AT&T, and again you need to look at your current setup.

 

Port forwarding shouldn't be necessary at all but as home networks and connection equipment becomes more complicated it's not a bad idea to do that. Also, updates to router firmware can also cause issues so check to see if your hardware was updated at around the time you started to experience issues.

Teacher

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17 Messages

6 years ago

Hi,

 

Update.... I relocated the new Microcell and connected it directly to my primary router (not the bridged router). Still have 4 solid green lights on the MCell. My wife's iPhone now DOES see the MCell, but mine (and our daughter's) do NOT and this is after repeated power cycling the phones. I've explicitly forwarded the relevant ports to the MCell's IP address on my lan. No joy. I CAN resolve the 12.xxx address for femtocell.wireless.att.com. I  am not blocking any MAC addresses and have adjusted my router's MTU from "auto" to "1492".

 

Not sure where to go next. The ATT Network Group hasn't given me any updates. The MCell's config on the ATT site (and the allowed phone numbers) all look OK. Funny that my cell # is the primary number associate with the MCell, and it doesn't see the MCell, while my wife's isn't and does see the MCell.

 

Any suggestions? Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Earl

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

6 years ago

@MicroCellEarl - if one of your phones can connect, and the others can't, I'd start looking at how the phones are setup. Did you recently update your iPhone's to iOS 11? I updated (via iTunes) my SE over the weekend to 11.0.3 and it went very smoothly. I did notice that there was an AT&T update as well. Check to see if your other iPhones are configured the same way as the one that connects (WiFi-C is disabled, WiFi Assist is disabled, WiFi is enabled, etc). You might want to try and turn off LTE as well to see if that makes a difference. You can Reset Network Settings on your phones but I'd do that as the very last resort because you may lose passwords, etc (so make sure you have them readily available should you have to put them back in).

 

I wouldn't worry about femtocell.com. There is nothing that you can do there to help your phones connect. If one phone connects, then the MicroCell is transferring your calls to the AT&T Mobility Network.

 

I'll be very surprised if you get any solid help from the AT&T Network Group. You might want to try a hard reset of the MicroCell (following the instructions given in my Tech Guide) but if one phone connects, then the MicroCell is working as designed. Is your other MicroCell disabled at the moment?

 

When you say you power cycled your phones, do you mean you powered them completely off, waited a few minutes, and then turned them back on or did you just cycle from Standby to on?

Teacher

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17 Messages

6 years ago

Hi

I completely turned off my iphone, waited a few minutes and then powered it back on. I'll compare my settings with those of my wife's iPhone tonight. She is running iOS 11 but I'm not sure if it's .03. I'm running .03

Thanks
Earl

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