AT&T MicroCell Operating And Troubleshooting
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AT&T MicroCell Operating And Troubleshooting

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Technical, Operational, and Troubleshooting Issues v1.7
Vonage VoIP
MicroCell
Informational Document for
™
by Otto Pylot
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Summary of Contents for AT&T MicroCell

  • Page 1: Table Of Contents

    MicroCell Informational Document for ™ Technical, Operational, and Troubleshooting Issues v1.7 by Otto Pylot Introduction VoIP Basics Requirements Nominal Setup Alternate Setup Router Requirements U-verse Basics Wireless Home Phone (WHP) Ethernet Conditions GPS Lock Initial Activation 9-10 Handing over 10-11...

  • Page 2: Introduction

    There are no announcements of what the updates are for or when they will be pushed out. The MicroCell is primarily for voice. You can use it for data, but the speeds will be slow (typically up to about 3.0Mbps download) even though it uses 3G (HSPA) for throughput.
  • Page 3 ISP (the term usually given is “up to”). Most of the time one is close to that but variations will occur with sometimes very drastic speed fluctuations. All of which can affect the MicroCell voice quality and connectivity. You home network will also affect the bandwidth if you are sharing multiple devices that can all connect to the internet.

  • Page 4: Requirements

    Active postpaid account. Prepaid customers can be approved users on an active postpaid customer’s approval list, but cannot own the AT&T MicroCell device. In other words, the primary phone number has to be a postpaid account. Page 4 of 23...

  • Page 5: Nominal Setup

    GPS lock. In other words, if you are looking at the lights on the front of the MicroCell, the right or left side is facing the window. The reason is that the antennas are located on the top of the pc board and sometimes a 90 degree orientation is enough to render GPS fixing variable.

  • Page 6: U-Verse Basics

    ROI (Return On Investment) your particular service provider expects and if deployment is cost effective. Either type of service works well with the MicroCell. But VDSL is a bit more tempermental and less tolerant of line faults like bridge taps and AM interference, and thus is a bit more difficult to get installed correctly for the MicroCell.

  • Page 7: Wireless Home Phone (Whp)

    RG’s are constantly evolving with firmware/software upgrades so the above is just to give you an idea of what is involved in getting the MicroCell to work well with U-verse.

  • Page 8: Ethernet Conditions

    (for GPS confirmation and initialization). GPS Lock: The MicroCell needs to maintain a GPS lock at all times. This is for E911 services and for timing purposes to allow the data packets to synchronize between the MicroCell and the nearest tower for handing off calls. The MicroCell does not have a very good atomic clock embedded so it needs to do this for timing the packets.

  • Page 9: Initial Activation

    GPS lock. An external antenna can be used if optimal window location is not possible. The external antenna input on the back of the MicroCell uses an MCX type connection. Good antennas can be found on Amazon with the prices varying from inexpensive to fairly expensive.

  • Page 10: Handing Over

    3G transmitter power from the MicroCell to your phone. The reason for this is so the MicroCell won’t interfere with the local tower signal. That’s why if you are really far away from a local tower, your MicroCell’s transmission power will be increased with the...

  • Page 11: Technical Information

    Virtually all femtocells are hard, vertical handovers. That’s why a local tower is necessary so that the MicroCell can build a list of the local towers, hopefully both 3G and 2G, and pass that on to the phone in the form of a neighbor list.

  • Page 12: Imsi/Imei

    5 SpeedTest when I tested it in 2013.. HD Voice, while it doesn’t pertain to the MicroCell specifically, does come up from time to time in the forums so I thought I’d briefly mention it here. HD Voice, which AT&T will call VoLTE, is basically wideband technology using the frequency range...

  • Page 13: Connection Issues

    There are instructions online that show how to open and successfully close the MicroCell but there is absolutely nothing inside that is going to be of any use to the user and/or support. There is an LED light pattern on the pc board but the meaning of the blinking sequence is meaningless to all except maybe an engineer.

  • Page 14: Blinking Red 3G Light

    Power cycling the MicroCell can clear the ROM. If that doesn’t work, a hard reset may be necessary. There is a small reset hole on the back of the MicroCell towards the top.

  • Page 15: Power Light Red Or Not Lit

    Check the outlet itself or try another outlet to see if that works. If the Power Light is red, that could mean that the MicroCell’s power supply has failed and the unit will probably have to be replaced.

  • Page 16: Blinking Green 3G Light

    Technical, Operational, and Troubleshooting Issues v1.7 by Otto Pylot small stand so that the top of the MicroCell is about two or three inches below the window sill. This gives the top of the MicroCell maximum exposure to my North facing window.

  • Page 17: Phone Not Connecting

    The reason for this is because the serial number of the MicroCell is tied to the current account holder’s information. If that’s the case, AT&T support can deactivate the account, but that can take time, probably because they have to make sure that it’s a legitimately purchased second-hand MicroCell before...

  • Page 18: Dropped Calls And/Or Call Quality

    NAT related problems, the fact is that many router’s ALG implementations are wrong and break SIP. SIP ALG will not cause problems with the MicroCell as the MicroCell does not use SIP protocols. However, in many cases, the SIP ALG is implemented poorly and can...

  • Page 19: Miscellaneous

    Sometimes the MicroCell just doesn’t work because of the multitude of variables. It is also possible that the MicroCell is a lemon and needs to be replaced. If that’s the case, then you will have to contact Support and go thru a series of troubleshooting steps before they can determine that it needs to be replaced.
  • Page 20 Technical, Operational, and Troubleshooting Issues v1.7 by Otto Pylot If you have issues with your MicroCell, whether it is brand new or a working MicroCell recently developing problems, don’t always assume it’s AT&T or the MicroCell. As service providers merge, expand their service areas, install new hardware or security protocols that may, and will, affect the MicroCell for the reasons given above (see VoIP Basics).
  • Page 21 Port forward the MicroCell to a static assigned IP address based on the MAC address of the MicroCell, or place the MicroCell in the DMZ like you would a gaming device Try different locations in your house to find the “sweet spot”...

  • Page 22: Disclaimer

    I am not an AT&T employee. However, this document would not have been possible without the considerable help and guidance from the AT&T Admins and the MicroCell Forum members. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Avedis53 for his help and support.
  • Page 23 Version 1.3, October 2013 1. OpenBSD 4.9 settings 2. Using an alternate browser for Activation 3. Galaxy Note 3 4. Contacting ATTCustomerCare 5. Complete Reset/Activation procedure 6. MicroCell Service Area Outages Version 1.2, August 2013 1. First release Page 23 of 23...

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