What is happening with 3G?
joehkc's profile

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62 Messages

Thursday, May 12th, 2011 12:21 AM

Microcell works then drops gps or unregisters phones

I have a microcell which I've had about 6months. It will work about 6 weeks, then either lose gps lock or unregister the phones. It usually takes several reboots of the unit and maybe a couple reboots of the ATT 2Wire Router.

I have had the ATT internet about 4yrs, the Elite version and it works very well. The unit is 3 inches from a south facing window and no obstruction. I have been down all day and periodically try reboots every 2-3 hrs.

 

Sorry for my previous post, I guess the text wasn't entered properly...Joe

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ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

13 years ago

 


@joehkc wrote:

I have a microcell which I've had about 6months. It will work about 6 weeks, then either lose gps lock or unregister the phones. It usually takes several reboots of the unit and maybe a couple reboots of the ATT 2Wire Router.

I have had the ATT internet about 4yrs, the Elite version and it works very well. The unit is 3 inches from a south facing window and no obstruction. I have been down all day and periodically try reboots every 2-3 hrs.

 

Sorry for my previous post, I guess the text wasn't entered properly...Joe


The last thing you want to do is call support, but you may have to. The "recommended" configuration is modem ->router->MicroCell. Putting the MicroCell in front of the router is what AT&T calls priority mode. That will work as well but is not recommended. I"m sure you know all of this but it never hurts to repeat. You may have to do port forwarding and assign a permanent ip address to the MicroCell. It sounds to me like some sort of update happened (AT&T's update a few months ago caused me about 2 weeks of trouble and headaches). I know AT&T is upgrading it's network system-wide (at least they are where I live) and that may be causing havoc with the towers in your area. I know none of this really answers your question as to what is going on but AT&T's MicroCell has been a really flaky product. If you know your ISP is not having any issues, your modem/router is configured correctly, then you'll probably have to call support and open a ticket. If you're still under warranty, you may be able to get a replacement and maybe it's as simple as a faulty unit.

 

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62 Messages

13 years ago

Hey Otto, I don't think my replies are working w/ie9 so I'm trying Safari. The Microcell started working overnight, and I did know, as you said that it's not one of ATT's best efforts. I'm hoping it was network problems as our Uverse has been flakey the last couple days.

 

I will keep your suggestions for future reference and I appreciate your help...Joe

Explorer

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35 Messages

13 years ago

If you buy a Gillson antenna, you will not drop the GPS nearly as much otherwise, I have mine in a basement, works great!

 

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

13 years ago


@joehkc wrote:

Hey Otto, I don't think my replies are working w/ie9 so I'm trying Safari. The Microcell started working overnight, and I did know, as you said that it's not one of ATT's best efforts. I'm hoping it was network problems as our Uverse has been flakey the last couple days.

 

I will keep your suggestions for future reference and I appreciate your help...Joe


I used IE9 on one of my  Win7 laptops and quickly dumped it. There are lots of issues and incompatibilities with IE9 so I removed it and went back to IE8 and have not had any issues since. I'm not a real fan of IE8 either but at least it works. IE9 is crap. However, I'm a Mac guy so I usually use FF on my Macs and Win7 laptops. I only use IE8 for work.

 

As someone else mentioned, if you're still having GPS issues you may want to try the external antenna for better GPS lockon. Some have reported good success with it.

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62 Messages

13 years ago

Thanks Otto, I may go with that external antenna. The voicemail servers I worked on used FF and it's pretty good. I'm a pc guy, but I really do like Safari for Windows. It's a pretty good product

Mentor

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62 Messages

13 years ago

Thank you. I did notice an external antenna connection. Do you know ballpark how much the antenna is? Also, if you lose gps lock, do you reset the microcell, powercycle the microcell, or powercycle both microcell and router? Seems like it takes a combination of powercycling the router and microcell, and then sometimes it takes several hrs to overnight before it resyncs.

 

Thanks for your input...Joe

Explorer

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35 Messages

13 years ago

$39.90 when I bought it

(Gillson) GPS for microcell

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62 Messages

13 years ago

Thank you

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

13 years ago


@joehkc wrote:

Thank you. I did notice an external antenna connection. Do you know ballpark how much the antenna is? Also, if you lose gps lock, do you reset the microcell, powercycle the microcell, or powercycle both microcell and router? Seems like it takes a combination of powercycling the router and microcell, and then sometimes it takes several hrs to overnight before it resyncs.

 

Thanks for your input...Joe


I see that you got your info on the external antenna.

 

Once you get a GPS lock,  you should, in theory, never lose it unless you move the MicroCell or something blocks it's view of the sky. Once you get locked on, the 3G light will continue to blink until it registers with a tower (AT&T). That can take up to 24 hours according to AT&T. It's been my experience that if you don't get a solid 3G after about 15 minutes you may not get a connection at all. I know AT&T says wait 90 minutes but it either it connects or it doesn't, unless AT&T is having server issues (which is not uncommon). If you don't get sync in 24 hours, I'd power cycle everything (modem, router, MicroCell) and try again. I have all of my devices on a single surge supressor so I just turn it off, wait a couple of minutes, and turn it back on. I don't do the modem first, router second, and MicroCell last as suggested by support. If that doesn't work, then you may have to look at your modem and router settings. Some, myself included, have had to do port forwarding and assign a permanent IP address to the MicroCell via it's MAC address to keep the connection robust. AT&T periodically does updates in the middle of the night and sometimes your MicroCell will lose sync. I think the port forwarding with it's own IP address keeps it alive after an update, especially if the update doesn't go well.

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