Miscellaneous - AT&T MicroCell Operating And Troubleshooting

MicroCell Informational Document for
™
Technical, Operational, and Troubleshooting Issues v1.7
by Otto Pylot
cause other issues. If you can make your MicroCell work with SIP ALG turned off,
then it's an indication that SIP ALG is implemented poorly causing MicroCell traffic
disruption even though, in theory it should not.

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. All of those steps have
been detailed above so you'll be repeating what you've already done, but Support
has to document that THEY went thru those steps with you.
Be polite, and patient with Support. They are limited in what they can do and I think
their support is limited at times as well. Be as clear and concise as possible in
describing your problem, what you have done to fix it, and explain your setup as
clearly as you can. Sending a PM to ATTCustomerCare, with your detailed issues,
account information, and location is sometimes more efficient than phone Support.
For a brief period of time, the MicroCell was given away for free. This was more for
marketing purposes than anything else but some folks who had documented
coverage issues got them free as well. That program is over now but you may be
able to get a replacement (if it is out of the Warranty Replacement period) for a
reduced cost. That is totally up to the support person you talk to so be nice. Some
corporate store managers have even been known to go above and beyond and
replace them for free (or reduced cost) but that is totally up to the manager and
certainly not company policy. However, there are still customers who receive free
MicroCell's from time to time so it can't hurt to ask.
Some phones, specifically the Nokia Lumia's have had some major connection issues
when other phones worked fine with the same MicroCell. AT&T tested the 900 and
920 (along with another yet-to-be-released model) and couldn't duplicate the
problem. That doesn't mean the problem isn't real, I think it just points to some
Nokia models having transmission strength/locking issues due to a hardware or
firmware problem. Difficult to prove either way.
Newer phones like the Galaxy Note 3 have shown connection issues as well. This
may be due to software or features that are not yet compatible with the MicroCell
and only the phone manufacturer working with AT&T can fix that. As mobile devices
become more and more sophisticated it's likely that phone-specific issues will
become more commonplace. Both examples mentioned above may be corrected by
performing the Complete Reset/Activation procedure once an update is pushed.
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