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redstick45
join:2013-04-08
Baton Rouge, LA

redstick45

Member

3G Microcell

Has anyone every moved their 3G Microcells from Uverse to Cox and then they all die with the red light fault? We need them because there is no cellular coverage in our area. We own 3 of these that worked fine until we moved them to Cox. All 3 died. At first the bar light was just flashing. But now they refuse to connect to any network, not even back on Uverse(we have disconnected it, yet)
All other devices in the house connect fine. Modem:
Motorola 6141
Router: TP Link TL-R470T V2

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

I think that your TL-R470T is a multiple WAN port load balancing router, and you seem to mention that you currently have both Cox and U-verse service active.

If you are attempting to load balance the two networks, you may need to setup port/protocol binding rules in the TL-R470T to make sure that the 3G Microcell only tries to use one of the networks. The reason is that the 3G Microcell uses a VPN tunnel to connect to the AT&T network, and it is usually not possible to load balance a VPN tunnel.

The above guess is based on you having the 3G Microcell(s) connected to the router's LAN, not connected between the modem and the router. If you have the 3G Microcell(s) connected between the modem and the router, I can think of two possible problems:

1. Unless you have a multiple IP address account with Cox, you can only have one CPE device connected to the modem, and that would eliminate the possibility of connecting multiple 3G Microcell devices between the modem and the router. Also, if you are moving equipment around, anytime you change the CPE device that is connected to a cable modem that is configured by the ISP for a single IP address account, you need to power cycle both the modem and the device in order for the cable modem to recognize that it must register a new CPE device.

2. The SB6141 is a 10/100/1000 Ethernet device, and I have heard of problems when a 3G Microcell is connected to a gigabit Ethernet interface. Using a 10/100 switch between the SB6141 and the 3G Microcell device(s) might help with that problem (but you will still only be able to use a single 3G Microcell in that manner unless you have a multiple IP address account with Cox, and the 10/100 switch would have to be a dumb layer two switch that did not have a visible MAC address).

Another possibility is that you may need to have AT&T reactivate the 3G Microcell device(s) when you change between using Cox and U-verse.

netboy34
Premium Member
join:2001-08-29
Kennesaw, GA

netboy34 to redstick45

Premium Member

to redstick45
Did anyone hit the reset button in the back? If I remember correctly, there was an issue where pressing the reset button bricked the microcell and it needed to be replaced...

They only have a one year warranty, but it might not hurt to call
1-800-331-0500

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

ilikeme to redstick45

Premium Member

to redstick45
The ISP should not matter. I have moved mine back and fourth between U-Verse in Houston and Verizon FIOS near Dallas many times without any issues.
redstick45
join:2013-04-08
Baton Rouge, LA

redstick45 to NetFixer

Member

to NetFixer
I ordered another mirocell from amazon. This time I hooked it directly to the Motorola 6141. It made it throught the activation process, but no cell phones on the list will connect to it. I power cycled it per AT&T's request and now it is bricked. This is a mystery to me. I understand about the load balancing router. It is being used with Cox only. The other ports are set for LAN ports. It is set up for one WAN. Uverse is not connected to the load balancing router. Our uverse is only active for their voice service for now. Cox told me what ports they block, none of which are relative to the microcell. So now I have 4 bricked microcells. I switched to Cox because of their fast upload speeds as compared to uverse in the area. I need speeds to support security IP cams.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

Do you have a single dynamic IP address account with Cox? When a bridge type device like that 3G Microcell is attached directly to a cable modem with a router behind the 3G Microcell, it is a coin toss as to which of those devices will be recognized first and be given an IP address by the ISP if you have a typical single IP address account.

I have a five IP address account with Comcast, but even so I had to stop using a Netgear GS10Xe smart switch directly behind my SB6121 because the GS10Xe MAC address would be detected by the SB6121 and interfere with my being able to use five active devices behind it. I had a similar problem when I tried to use a SamKnows FCC monitoring box directly behind my SB6121.

The [Addresses] tab in the SB61xx series modems will tell you if you have a single or multiple IP (MAC) address account as shown below:




At the moment I am only using three of my allowed five IP/MAC addresses, but if I were using a Netgear GS10Xe switch directly connected to the SB6121 instead of the ZyXEL GS105S switch, the modem would detect the Netgear switch's MAC address, and that would only allow me to have four usable devices with public IP addresses.

Here is an image of my current network to help illustrate what I have said:




Do you totally have no AT&T cell service in your area? I am in a small dead zone that is made worse by the construction materials in my apartment building that means usually "zero" bar cell coverage inside my apartment. The RF blocking capabilities of the apartment building itself also rules out my being able to use a 3G Microcell because my cell phones also can't get a GPS lock inside. I use a zBoost extender/repeater box with an outside antenna that I placed on a mast in a "two bar" location outside. If you can find an outside location with cell phone reception within reasonable distance from your residence, that might work for you. A couple of side benefits (if you can use an extender/repeater box) over the 3G Microcell is that it is not dependent on your Internet connection (and doesn't use your bandwidth either), and 3G/4G data access is not limited to ~50 kbps as it is with the 3G Microcell (I typically get ~2-3 mbps downstream on my ancient Samsung Solstice II phone).

Here are a couple of cell phone photos showing my zBoost setup:







Sorry for the long winded TL;DR reply, but I had several non-related subjects to cover, and the post just kept growing bigger.
redstick45
join:2013-04-08
Baton Rouge, LA

redstick45

Member

I appreciate your help. Today, I was staring at the pile of bricked 3G microcells on the counter. I decided to just plug the power supply in and see if it was still bricked. Surprise! I had a green light. So, I logged into my ATT account and reactivated it. The activation process completed in 20 minutes. I got the same results with the other 2. So now I'm wondering if the Microcell had to rest in its bricked state for a few days before it reset itself. This is a mystery to me. I already ordered a Wilson Electronics - DB Pro - Cell Phone Signal Booster for Large Home or Office - Including Directional Antenna. i don't know whether or not to return it since the microcells work now. I haven't even received it, yet.