Ok help

and I forgot my manners.  Tired.   Please?

The minimum router requirements for the MicroCell are given in the setup instructions and in my Tech Guide (see link in my sig).

MINIMUM ROUTER REQUIREMENTS

DHCP enabled

Ports that must remain open (public and private):

123/UDP -  for NTP traffic.

443/TCP -  for HTTPS over TLS/SSL for provisioning and management traffic.

4500/UDP -  for IPSec NAT Traversal (for all signaling, data, and voice traffic).

500/UDP -  for IPSec Phase I prior to NAT detection, after which 4500/UDP is used.

IPSec Pass-Through is enabled

Block Fragmented Packets is disabled

NAT duties handled by only one device if you have a separate router and modem (gateway)

The MicroCell is a dumb device in that all it does is move data back and forth between your phone and the AT&T Mobility servers. It does this by establishing a 24x7 secure VPN to the servers. The port requirements were set because most ISP's have those ports open which made the MicroCell basically plug and play. The most reliable setup for the MicroCell is to port forward those ports to a statically assigned ip address for the MicroCell based on the MicroCell's MAC address. That really wasn't necessary when the MicroCell was first introduced about 10 years ago but seems to be a necessary now for stability purposes. However, that requires your ISP to keep those ports open, which is between you and your ISP. AT&T can not force a provider to open those ports.

The configuration of your equipment (router/gateway) is up to you. AT&T, and us, can not help you with the configuration. I tried to set up a database for configuing various routers, etc but it became obvious early on that it was an almost impossible task. Routers/gateways change all of the time with new models/feature sets, firmware updates, ISP-specific requirements, etc so to maintain somthing like that is unrealistic. Besides, we don't want to be responsible for messing with someone's network.

The G1100 gateway is mfrd by Greenwave in conjunction with Verizon. You will need to contact them to see how to check the router requirements given above, and change them if need be. Verizon offers their own VoIP service so the gateway may be pre-configured to work with their VoIP service which is not compatible with the MicroCell. Verizon will not give you any help with the MicroCell because it's not their product and any problems you have, according to them, is AT&T's fault and not their's.

Thx much for the expanded explanation.  I have read tech guide and I understand the info collection hurdle you forcasted. VRZ will not help.  Funny thing, the first MCell activated instantly and at times 2 phones would connect for a period, this was before I knew about the ports dependencies.  And this was when I contacted ATT, they sent another MCell. That one simply has never activated. 

During my troubleshooting i started noticing the IMCP/trace route replies for each, basically trying either separately, independently.  Again with one network, the 1st MCell has "unreachable" replies (which i understand to a point. The 2nd is ICMP reply error free.  I've set both to static and forwarded ports.  I've put both in a DMZ, no luck.  Tuff going with this.

Thx again for your reply

The router requirements have to be met, period. There is no way around it. My guess is that Verizon is just making it difficult. There are no significant difference between the MicroCell models. They all have the same requirements for creating a secure VPN.

Did you deativate and/or remove the other MicroCells from your myAT&T account? Activation is MicroCell serial number dependent.

yes, I've deactivated/activated when attempting to work with either, allowing only one Mcell at a time.  I seem like a stuck record but really curious about the ICMP reply behavior when comparing both.  Reason is I wonder if I've received 2 bad Mcells. Odds should be low but anything is possible. 

It's doubtful that you've received two, defective, brand new MicroCell's. By any chance, did you received the ac adapters with the replacement MicroCell's? The reason I ask is that AT&T has this annoying habit of not shipping the appropriate ac adapters with the new MicroCell replacements. The power requirements are slightly different and using the adatper that came with the white model doesn't always work correctly with the newer black models. We've seen all kinds of squirrely things happen when the adapters start to fail.

Are you meeting ALL of the router requirements?

Both original and replacement Mcell are the same model.

Did not recieve an additional AC adapter with the replacement.  

One thing that bothers me, the replacement came in a box with no supporting stationary packing; just flopping around in the box.  Ugh! 

Given that I've never owned this router brand before, I figure the ports are good, but dude I figure I've got room to screw up.  This RTR is not my favorite.

Again, the 1st Mcell activated fairly quickly before I knew there was port dependencies. 

And again, 2 of our phones periodically had connections and 5 bars.  Wouldn't that indicate all was working ... intermittently however? 

To just to be clear: 1st Mcell still will activate everytime.  2nd still will not activate.

So I keep figuring I should use the 1st device, start over (it at least activates) and work it from there.  Won't be my 1 or 2 attempt, embar-assing! 😞   All this has me thinking i just haven't found the right rtr config.  But then there's was my question about the ping reply which you haven't really responded to. My phone(s) probably can't connect to the MCell if my rtr (or any computer in my network) get's an "unreachable" ping reply from the Mcell.

My last attempt with the 1st Mcell was a 2 day period where there was not phone connection at all.   

Thx for your help still.  

Don't fixate on the ping replies. A lot of that "behind the scenes" stuff is for the engineering folks, not the end-user because there is nothing you can do about it. If the first MicroCell worked, then use that one with the ac adapter that came with it. You can always test the adpater to see if it's ok. Basically it should read 16VDC +/- 0.5 with no load.

Make sure the correct MicroCell (based on its serial number) is the default MicroCell that you want to use. You can always just delete the other one if it's still listed on your account. That way you only have one MicroCell.

The MicroCell should be plug and play (at least they used to) but I can't stress enough that you really need to one, make sure the router is meeting ALL of the minimum requirements, and two, you ISP does not have any blocked ports upstream.

Have you received any error messages?

I have maintained that work habit - remove either before trying the other; I've never have attempted both running.  I have the original back up and running.  Activated within minutes; all lights solid.  Phones will not connect.  

Ports, I've tried port forwarding, port triggerng (knew better but why not)  and putting the Mcell in a DMZ, nothing.  the fragment packet config simply does exist in this RTR.

2 calls to VRZ is really useless; won't talk to me about it; refers me to websites for configuring RTRs.  They are on-strike, right?  so I figure their crews are in the weeds, who knows.  they just don't want to help. 

a couple more days and I will request both be RMA-d.    I've dealt with this 3G degraded area for 4 years now.   Will consider my options when ready.

Otto, thx for the help thru this.  I see others with the same delimma as mine.  must be a bit frustrating at times. 

~g

Some routers, because of the way they come pre-configured for the ISP, will just not play nice with the MicroCell. If all of the lights are a solid green, and you have received an activation notice from AT&T, then you should be good to go. As long as you have a post paid AT&T account on one of the phones, and you use that number for registration/activation, that phone should at least connect. What kind of phones do you have?

However, there are some phones that will not work if they are not originally mfrd for the domestic market or have been hacked/broke in some manner.  This is covered under the IMSI/IMEI section of the Tech Guide.

So can we assume then that ALL of the router requirements are being met with the exception of the Fragmented Packets Discard and all of the lights on the MicroCell are a solid green. If that is true, then I would try another router and/or a different phone (as long as it is an AT&T phone). This really does sound like a Verizon and/or a hardware config issue. Verizon is notorious for not helping their customers who are trying to use another service (AT&T femotcell) on their network.

Verizon does offer their own VoIP service so is it possible that the router is also a telephony router specific for Verizon's service?