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green5178's profile

Tutor

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9 Messages

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 6:48 AM

s6 edge problem with microcell

Hi,

 

I have att s6 edge.  I do NOT have an ATT microcell.  For the last 3 weeks my phone keeps trying to connect to a nearby ATT microcell.  When it does this i cannot make/receive phone calls or send/receive text messages.  I first noticed that i would hit dial and then the phone attempted to dial but then nothing happened.  I would have to dial again and then it would connect.  Then i noticed my text messages weren't going through and i had to hit resend.  By chance when it happened again i noticed that my phone instead of saying "ATT" in notification area it said "ATT microcell".  Then i noticed EVERY time i had a problem it said "ATT microcell".  Prior to this happening i didn't even know what a microcell was or for.  Now that i googled it and have talked to support my phone should not be connecting to this microcell at all.  The problem has now gotten worse where i get stuck on the mircocell and i have to turn on airplane mode, turn off airplane mode and hurry up and dial out when it happens.  I have swapped out sim cards.  ATT has sent me 2 replacement phones.  Still problem is not fixed.  ATT did not actually believe me initially.  Insisted its impossible for my phone to connect to a microcell when i don't have a microcell service.  When it happened again i immediately took a screen shot and called att.  They remoted in and confirmed what i said was accurate.  Suggested that they "reregister" my sim card.  That did not fix the problem.  I factory reset my phone.  That did not fix the problem.  They sent me 2 replacement phones.  They still exhibited same problem.  Supports solution is to factory reset the phone even after explaining between the 3 phones i have done 9 factory resets in 2 weeks.  It does NOT fix the problem.  I have tried safemode.  I even prevented the phone on setup from reinstalling all my apps from my old phone.  That does not solve the problem either.  After an hour on support i asked if they had any other ideas.  The response from ATT support was "I gave you a solution which you don't like".  I explained its not that i don't like the solution.  But since i have done 9 factory resets that is obviously NOT a solution.

 

Any ideas?

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

9 years ago

Is there a MicroCell anywhere close to you? The only way a phone can connect to the MicroCell is if the phone number is associated with the MicroCell. Registration and activation is phone number based. If you have access to the MicroCell I would ask the owner to check his/her registration page and see if your phone number has been added. If it is, delete your phone number and the S6 should not look for the MicroCell signal.

Tutor

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9 Messages

9 years ago

I live in a condo so i am not sure who has the mircocell. So i do not have access to the mircocell.  With that being said 2 different ATT support people have said i am not in anyones microcell database.

 

 

thanks for trying to help

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

9 years ago

Well that is certainly odd then. The MicroCell can't connect to a phone if the phone's number is not added to the Approved Users List. If you're not in anyone's Approved Users List then this is another Android OS oddity then. When your phone connects to the M-Cell I suppose you could use the signal meter to see if you can get a stronger signal by moving from area to area and see if you can localize where the signal is coming from. Other than that, if you're not in someone's MicroCell list then it's a phone issue, when that in itself is also very strange.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

9 years ago

Since the effective range of a Mcell is about 40 feet, whoever has a Mcell in your condo complex can't be too far away from you.  I'd be asking my neighbors if they have a Mcell and if you can locate who has the Mcell that your phone is connecting to, perhaps that can help AT&T determine why that particular Mcell is interacting with your phone.

 

We've never had this kind of problem posted here before.  If you find out anything else regarding the issue you are having, please post back.  This is a head-scratcher....

Tutor

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9 Messages

9 years ago

It is a weird problem.  I have talked to 6 different ATT support reps on the phone plus the local ATT devcie support center.  Nobody has ever heard of a problem like mine.  They have sent me 3 phones.  The last support person said "DO NOT turn on the 3rd phone" no matter what since they processed the 1st 2 phones as DOA if i do that witht he 3rd phone account may be flagged for fraud.  The reason is i had decided to keep my 2 month old new phone versus a 5 month old refurbished phone since i did not believe its a hardware problem.  Since both the 1st 2 replacment phones and my exisitng phone exhibited the same problem.  I live in the middle of my complex near the center courtyard.  So even if the range is 40 feet i may have to check with 10-12 neighbors.  As to trying differnt parts of the home.  I tried that with support on the phone.  My place is small enough where the signal wasnt varying that much where we could pinpoint direction of the microcell it was trying to connect to.  Sad thing is outside of my condo i really like my s6.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

9 years ago

Again, I can't see how the S6 can attempt to connect to a MicroCell if it hasn't "registered" itself with that MicroCell via the phone number. It's a really far-fetched coincidence that the MicroCell owner could have accidentally put your phone number on the Approved Users list but I guess that's possible.

 

I don't even think if someone had a cell booster that would affect the MicroCell beause the cell booster looks for a tower signal to boost, not the MicroCell based on protocols. Might be a good excuse to meet your neighbors Smiley Wink Seriously though, if AT&T can determine the phone numbers on MicroCell's in your complex and yours is not added, and you can confirm that, there's not much I can see that AT&T can do. Let me forward your problem to the Admins and see if they have any thoughts on this.

 

Update: Ok, I've linked your original post to the Admins so hopefully someone will reach out to you. I too would really like to figure this out as well. Did you ever add your phone number to any MicroCell (a friend, family member)?

Tutor

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9 Messages

9 years ago

Thats what the 5th and 6th ATT support person tole me too.  They looked through the database and said my phone number is not listed on anyones microcell at all.  However the 3rd ATT support person said there is no way for him to determine if i was in someones microcell.  The last 2 people were adamant there was a database and i was not in it.  They said they were going to escalate to network support.  That was Friday and i have not heard back since. 

 

I have a theory.  Basically ATT signal is week in my building its 1-3 bars.  The microcell is 1-2 bars.  IF i happen to try and make a phone call where the microcell signal is stronger than the att tower then my phone tries to connect to microcell and then realizes im not authorized so it disconnects.  And only time my phone calls go out is when the att tower is stronger than the microcell.  Does  that seem plausible?  ATT support wouldnt answer this question.  Just said nothing he could do since phone is working as designed and microcell is working as designed.  And since i would take his "solution" of factory reset he couldnt do anything else.  Finally he said he would escalate to network engineering.  That again was Friday.

 

Additional info since i just saw your update:  I have never had a microcell and none of my friends have a microcell.  Until this problem arose i never even knew what a microcell was.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

9 years ago

For the phone to attempt to connect to a MicroCell the phone has to "know" that the MicroCell signal is part of the phones cellular neighborhood. By that I mean that the phone will know when to hand off from the macrocell (tower) to the microcell and vice versa when either one presents a stronger signal. For the phone to know that the MicroCell is part of it's cellular neighborhood, the phone has to be registered to the MicroCell and that is done by adding the phone number to the MicroCell's Approved User list. Have you tried to disable handing off on your S6?

Tutor

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9 Messages

9 years ago

Not sure what you mean by disable handing off?  Can you clarify?

 

Thanks for trying to help.  Its been frustrating trying to explain to 6 different ATT support people since it takes 10-15 minutes just to make them understand that its not "impossible" for what i am describing.  They have to login remotely just to believe what i am telling them.  the last person was most frustrating.  I had explained that i did factory reset 2 different ways.  One through the menu settings and choosing factory reset.  The 2nd way with power button, home and volume button up at the same time.  I even wiped the cache partition.  He said i am not doing the factory reset correctly and got irritated when i asked if thats the wrong way then whats the right way?

 

thanks again for trying

Professor

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2.2K Messages

9 years ago

The S6 and S6 edge soft reset is the one you do using the settings option of Factory Data Reset.

 

The hard reset is done with the phone off and pressing/holding the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons simultaneously until the Android robot shows up on the screen.

 

Don't know what the support guy is thinking.....

 

 

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