Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The AT&T 3G MicroCell Owner's Thread

So today hasn't been quite such a great experience with the MicroCell. We've been doing a bit more talking on the phone this evening and two different parties mentioned that we sounded garbled at times throughout the call to the point where they had to ask us to repeat ourselves. Our bandwidth was not being utilized at all at the time either. I'm going to try setting it up in "Priority" mode and see if that makes a difference, but I'm not super optimistic. Although such a setup did fix some issues my parents were having with Vonage. We'll see.

Anyone else seeing voice quality issues?
 
This thing looks pretty neat. I guess I am lucky to have great coverage in my home. It must be a huge problem if they made an entire product to address it. Goodluck NC testers!
 
pcguru83 said:
So today hasn't been quite such a great experience with the MicroCell. We've been doing a bit more talking on the phone this evening and two different parties mentioned that we sounded garbled at times throughout the call to the point where they had to ask us to repeat ourselves. Our bandwidth was not being utilized at all at the time either. I'm going to try setting it up in "Priority" mode and see if that makes a difference, but I'm not super optimistic. Although such a setup did fix some issues my parents were having with Vonage. We'll see.

Anyone else seeing voice quality issues?
Click to expand...

Same.

I was on the phone (with 611 ironically) and both times the person on the other end sounded extremely garbled. Additionally, I just finished a phone call where sitting in one place, the call dropped THREE times, to the point where I went downstairs and reset the thing.

Earlier today I tried putting the device in priority mode, but each time I tried, my Airport Extreme was not able to log into a PPoE server. I wonder what the hell could be wrong with it?

EDIT: after thinking about it, I wonder if the router does not need to log into a PPoE server since it's connected to the Microcell? But then again, plugging the cable right into the wall does gives the same effect.

Hmm.
 
Change Microcell Location?

Can anyone address the portability of the M-Cell?

For example, let's say you set it up at home, but travel frequently to another city. Can you plug it in there and have it still work, or does the GPS restrict you to a certain locale?

If portability is allowed, could someone in California buy one from a store in Charlotte now and get it working?
 
Luigi239 said:
Same.

I was on the phone (with 611 ironically) and both times the person on the other end sounded extremely garbled. Additionally, I just finished a phone call where sitting in one place, the call dropped THREE times, to the point where I went downstairs and reset the thing.

Earlier today I tried putting the device in priority mode, but each time I tried, my Airport Extreme was not able to log into a PPoE server. I wonder what the hell could be wrong with it?

EDIT: after thinking about it, I wonder if the router does not need to log into a PPoE server since it's connected to the Microcell? But then again, plugging the cable right into the wall does gives the same effect.

Hmm.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I may have found the culprit though. I have a home server running Windows Server 2003 that I primarily use as a Bittorrent box. Inadvertently I had left uTorrent running (and seeding) in a second session. I'm thinking that may have been where the issues were coming from. Even with Vonage, I never had much luck with seeding and voice calls simultaenously. And the QoS implementation in my DD-WRT firmware is a joke.

Prior to realizing this, I had already wired things up in "Priority Mode". We'll see how things go the next day or two and I might put it back to normal to isolate the issue further if the problems seem to clear.
 
galenmd said:
Can anyone address the portability of the M-Cell?

For example, let's say you set it up at home, but travel frequently to another city. Can you plug it in there and have it still work, or does the GPS restrict you to a certain locale?

If portability is allowed, could someone in California buy one from a store in Charlotte now and get it working?
Click to expand...
I haven't tested this, but the way I understand that it works is that the whole point of the GPS in the MicroCell is to make sure you only use it at home or outside your home area. The registration process and the Getting Started guide make it clear that you must update your address on file if you move the device. Supposedly if the device is detected outside the "home area" it ceases to function. Granted, I could see how you could just go in and update the address on file each time you needed to move it, as long as it was in your "home area", but that would get old pretty fast I'd imagine.

Most of this is just speculation of course, as I haven't actually tried to use it outside my house.
 
I'd still like to see some speedtest screen shot comparison of 3g/ M-cell/ and wifi.
 
TMar said:
I'd still like to see some speedtest screen shot comparison of 3g/ M-cell/ and wifi.
Click to expand...
OK, here we go. Note that I have a 10Mb connection (turbo boost up to 15Mb I believe) with Time Warner, but the iPhone is obviously hardware-limited, even over WiFi due to CPU/RAM constraints.

First, SpeedTest.net app run on my iPhone 3G using the MicroCell:

3946650364_af50dbf3c7_o.png


And then the SpeedTest.net app run on my iPhone 3G using standard WiFi:

3946650256_f58092c36f_o.png


And I can't get ANY signal at home without the MicroCell, so I don't have a the 3rd case you mentioned.
 
pcguru83 said:
So today hasn't been quite such a great experience with the MicroCell. We've been doing a bit more talking on the phone this evening and two different parties mentioned that we sounded garbled at times throughout the call to the point where they had to ask us to repeat ourselves. Our bandwidth was not being utilized at all at the time either. I'm going to try setting it up in "Priority" mode and see if that makes a difference, but I'm not super optimistic. Although such a setup did fix some issues my parents were having with Vonage. We'll see.

Anyone else seeing voice quality issues?
Click to expand...

I am having the same issues. Never had it before they got "mass" released. I also just 10 mins ago experienced what I would explain as lag - as if I was talking to someone on the other side of the world, satellite lag. I think its on their side. Try resetting the machine, this helped me for about 15 mins.
 
pcguru83 said:
Interesting. I may have found the culprit though. I have a home server running Windows Server 2003 that I primarily use as a Bittorrent box. Inadvertently I had left uTorrent running (and seeding) in a second session. I'm thinking that may have been where the issues were coming from. Even with Vonage, I never had much luck with seeding and voice calls simultaenously. And the QoS implementation in my DD-WRT firmware is a joke.

Prior to realizing this, I had already wired things up in "Priority Mode". We'll see how things go the next day or two and I might put it back to normal to isolate the issue further if the problems seem to clear.
Click to expand...

I thought this was the case also, however, I was on the road with my macbook with me and no torrents seeding. Still had the same issues. A call is only like 8-14 kbs anyways, i dont see how it should be affected
 
nozebleed said:
I am having the same issues. Never had it before they got "mass" released. I also just 10 mins ago experienced what I would explain as lag - as if I was talking to someone on the other side of the world, satellite lag. I think its on their side. Try resetting the machine, this helped me for about 15 mins.
Click to expand...
I'm disappointed to hear that. Seeing as how we are intending this to be a replacement for our Vonage service, I'm not sure we'll be able to keep it if these problems persist. But unless things really take a turn for the worse, I'm in it as long as possible before my 30 days is up.
 
Luigi239 said:
Picked mine up from the AT&T store in Blakeny this afternoon, another guy was there buying one too. My mom was pissed that we didn't get the unlimited calling free (since we have DSL + a landline) so we just got the Microcell without the unlimited calling.

Setup and activation took less than an hour, and now I have 5 bars throughout my house where as I used to only have 1 bar of 3G. Only thing is that the iPhone's menu bar isn't symmetrical any more and I must say it bothers me...:p

If anybody has any questions about the device I'd be happy to answer them.
Click to expand...

You were quoted on MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32959787/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
 
jav6454 said:
What is the upload on your Cable/DSL line?
Click to expand...

20Mbps/2Mbps

From AT&T : Referenced speeds require an HSDPA 3.6Mbps / HSUPA capable device with Receive Diversity and/or Equalizer. BroadbandConnect speed claims based on our network tests without compression using 3MB data files. 3G devices not enabled with HSUPA support typical upload speeds of 220-320kbps based on our network tests without compression using 500KB data files for upload. Actual throughput speed varies.
 
TMar said:
20Mbps/2Mbps

From AT&T : Referenced speeds require an HSDPA 3.6Mbps / HSUPA capable device with Receive Diversity and/or Equalizer. BroadbandConnect speed claims based on our network tests without compression using 3MB data files. 3G devices not enabled with HSUPA support typical upload speeds of 220-320kbps based on our network tests without compression using 500KB data files for upload. Actual throughput speed varies.
Click to expand...

Whats that you are referencing? The M-Cell?

In the case of your upload, I think the M-Cell reserves or put aside a certain % amount of bandwidth for it to use. That % amount depends on your connection. I believe that the M-Cell only took 384 Kb/s from your total 2 Mb/s
 
jav6454 said:
Whats that you are referencing? The M-Cell?

In the case of your upload, I think the M-Cell reserves or put aside a certain % amount of bandwidth for it to use. That % amount depends on your connection. I believe that the M-Cell only took 384 Kb/s from your total 2 Mb/s
Click to expand...

Oh I don't have one, just from the screenies I've seen they seem to cap upload at about 55kbps.

AT&T
 
jav6454 said:
I mean, the speed the guy is supposed to be getting from his ISP, not the one reported by SpeedTest.
Click to expand...

So I would assume that your hinting at the cell pick up advertised speed somehow and capping at a % of that? It would be dumb to cap at a % of advertised speed vrs actual speed the people see.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back