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The AT&T 3G MicroCell Owner's Thread
- Thread starter pcguru83
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Same. I picked up a M-Cell on Thursday after getting my iPhone. I can stand in front of the cell and wait five minutes before the phone has a data connection, then suddenly it just works. It shows it has 3-5 bars when this happens. Calls drop as well.
I wonder if this is specific to iOS 4? I was so psyched to get this Microcell last Friday but not having voice is a big bummer!
I've been having issues with my iPhone locking on to the M-Cell, but can't say whether it is iOS4 related. I bought the M-Cell after I upgraded my iPhone. I am going to do a full backup and restore this afternoon to see if that helps
I never noted whether it was a problem right after I upgraded to iOS4 on my 3G. I had to turn my M-Cell off so I could make/receive calls in my house with my iPhone 4. Maybe this will be addressed in the rumored software update for the iPhone this week? I hope so...
Anyone else know anything at all?
I have three iPhones activated, an iPhone 4, original iPhone and a 3GS. The 3GS is running 4.0 and can make calls with the M-Cell on. Only the iPhone has problems.
I have an iPhone 4 and an MicroCell and haven't had any issues connecting with it. As soon as I got home with the iPhone 4 from the AT&T store it immediately connected and have not had any dropped calls. Only issue was the M-Cell went down for a little while earlier this afternoon, but that's not iPhone related.
Microcell with the iPhone 4 is working now. I was able to re-activate it last night and no more problems with making/receiving calls.
Talking to CSRs, it sounds like ATT has had a flood of new microcell activations since Thursday/Friday. As a result they've had technical issues. Seems like a lot of iPhone 4 users are grabbing these.
I got mine up and running last night finally and everything seems to be going fine, even behind my Airport.
I got mine up and running last night finally and everything seems to be going fine, even behind my Airport.
I have had the MicroCell for a month now. It has worked great until last Thursday when my CenturyLink DSL 1.5 stopped working. I then unplugged the MicroCell but no change other than occasionally I would get the speed at a crawl. However I am in a fringe area where the DSL 1.5 speed is tops and have AT&T Edge. No cable internet available. 😡
The CenturyLink tech came out and said the modem/router had reset itself to half the speed it should be set at. He reset it and all is well. (My MicroCell was in another room while he was here). Something degraded this modem he thought but could not find anything. He would give me a new modem if the problem came back. Two minutes after he left, what do you know, dropped connection and back to a crawl.
I immediately called MicroCell to see if this device could cause the degradation of the modem/router. Absolutely not they said.
Any comments/advice here? Thanks.
The CenturyLink tech came out and said the modem/router had reset itself to half the speed it should be set at. He reset it and all is well. (My MicroCell was in another room while he was here). Something degraded this modem he thought but could not find anything. He would give me a new modem if the problem came back. Two minutes after he left, what do you know, dropped connection and back to a crawl.
I immediately called MicroCell to see if this device could cause the degradation of the modem/router. Absolutely not they said.
Any comments/advice here? Thanks.
When you disconnect the Microcell from your modem/router (leave it disconnected), restart your modem/router (power it on/off), does the issue re-appear again?
S1njin
macrumors 6502a
Ahhh ... so for the OCD among us its worth restarting it on some schedule or another to make sure you're as good as you're going to be.
Does it say somewhere in the documentation or is this something you gleaned from a phone call or ATT sales person?
What kind of speed do you guys see on the Microcell? When I run a speedtest the results are pretty awful.
Also, while it works in most situations, I sometimes have issues with calls where the person on the other end sounds garbled for a good 10 seconds before returning to normal.
Also, while it works in most situations, I sometimes have issues with calls where the person on the other end sounds garbled for a good 10 seconds before returning to normal.
S1njin
macrumors 6502a
Remember the microcell is going through your router. Be it DSL, Cable, or what have you. Its entirely possible that your internet connection is busy, lagging, problematic, etc. In the case of Cable, you could have major issues w/ congestion on your trunk.
If I buy one of these, I'm connecting it into my FIOS router - so I suppose I'd be the best test of my argument since FIOS alleviates congestion and what not. I've NEVER had my speed go less than 90% of what they advertise (25MB down). Most of the time I'm right around the mark, so I'd imagine I'm a good candidate.
People pushing this traffic over DSL or congested connections are going to see flaky/garbled performance.
I didn't test this much, but it does seem slower. Regardless, if you're on your Microcell might as be using Wi-Fi and not "3G."
S1njin
macrumors 6502a
No, it's definitely not my internet connection. Speedtest.net on iPhone reported 0.76 Mbps down. When run directly after that on my PC, I received ~32 Mbps down. Huge difference.
I do use WiFi normally, but I'm just a little surprised at how much slower the Microcell is.
S1njin
macrumors 6502a
I suppose its possible that the Microcell's first priority is call improvement ... that's certainly what they pitch on the Microcell pages on ATTs website. Calls, calls, calls, oih and it does Data too.
Who knows ....
Yes and that is why I left the microcell disconnected. A few days later the 1.5 speed stabilized pretty much.
Yesterday centurylink replaced the modem.
So now I am unsure whether to connect the
Microcell back up or not. I am thinking that being on the fringe with the 1.5 speed might have a negative effect on it. Thanks.
If you want to figure out MicroCell performance for voice, you have to consider uplink speed, as well as down, since calls are two way. With DSL up is often a lot slower than down. I typically get 4-6 Mbps down, but only .6-1Mbps up.
Measuring MicroCell performance for data is pointless.
Measuring MicroCell performance for data is pointless.
S1njin
macrumors 6502a
Going back to my FIOS statement above, w/ 25 down 25 up I'm assuming this thing would work fine.
Either the Microcell is not playing well with the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 4's antenna is junk.
I am currently connected to it and I have no bars displayed. Not sure what the deal is. As soon as I hang up, all bars go back up.
I am currently connected to it and I have no bars displayed. Not sure what the deal is. As soon as I hang up, all bars go back up.
Mine was the same when I first brought it home. I had to restart the Microcell and reset my phone several times. Not sure if one of those things actually fixed it or if it just started working on it's own.