3G Microcell calls rapidly "skip"

[grafty]

Another unhappy iPhone 4/Microcell user here. I turned off my cellular data and that has stopped the problem. That's not an acceptable solution, however. AT&T/Apple need to fix this immediately. 

[lu621]

I have this issue on both an iPhone 4G as well as a Blackberry Bold when I am too far away from the tower, although I'm still within 5,000 sq. ft. and usually within 50 ft but too many walls.

[ajw522]

I've got an iPhone 3G and it seems to do that to me too.  Unless I am REALLY close to the tower, like within a few feet, I seem to get that on most incoming calls.  Outgoing, however, seems to not have a problem.  It's really annoying because I live in a two-story 2100sqft home, and the tower is upstairs.  Whenever I am downstairs, I experience this skipping and I have to ask the caller to hold on while I run to be near the tower.

[msdowdie]

I got a long overdue call from AT&T support today.  The lady I spoke with was very nice and said that engineering had "put a patch out on the network" (whatever that means) that may resolve the problem.  Then she wanted to know how long it had been since I turned my phone off .  That didn't fill me with confidence. 

Nevertheless, I rebooted the iPhone and the Microcell.  Wife hasn't had any problems using the Microcell with her Blackberry today and I haven't had any problems either, but I haven't used it much. 

I'm very cautiously optimistic that something might have been done to help, but fully prepared to be disappointed.  Will see what happens over the next few days as I use the phone more.

[enyce1]

I just did the power cycle on both our iPhone 4's and the Microcell.  I am crossing my fingers the so called "patch" fixed it.  I have a 150.00 paper weight right now, and I am so annoyed!

[enyce1]

Argh!  Still does it!   {word filter evasion}

[PDUB750i]

I live in Oklahoma City and have had my MicroCell for 2 weeks now and have been PLAGUED with this problem....I've got a trouble ticket into AT&T but so far no substantive reoslution.  I've power cycled the iPhone 4 and the MicroCell

with no effect.

I am O V E R AT&T right now.  I am having a TON of dropped calls while on the MicroCell and speaking to someone on a landline.  Tonight, ordering take-out, the call dropped 4 TIMES BACK TO BACK before I could get my order in to the restaurant.

Someone has to have an answer at AT&T---They do employee some engineers, right?  Someone smarter than I am to solve these problems, right??

Any advice, I would appreciate it! :-)  P DUB OKC

[keithpod]

I've had this problem for 2 months on both my 3Gs and now iPhone 4, so I don't think it is just a 4 issue.  Although it has gotten worse since I bought my 4 about a month ago.

I called ATT support this morning and my rep was clueless as to the problem and had no record of this being an issue for anyone.  She went on to tell me that the Microcell would only work if it were connected to a computer in the house??? Since the Microcell computer light "wasn't showing green"...that was a problem. She was insistent that the Microcell computer light had to be on, even after I explained to her that my Microcell wasn't connected to a computer just my router.

According to the ATT Microcell support rep, "in order for the Microcell to work you must have a computer in your house."   How can they be this oblivious to a problem that is so well documented?  Do they not have some sort of centralized trouble ticketing system?

[EPFIII]

keithpod, the representative you talked to must have misspoke.  The only reason you will require a computer is to register the 3G MicroCell. 

I'd suggest that you, or anyone else in the same boat, run a baseline speed test on your broadband connection's up and down throughput speeds, making sure it's over the recommended 1.5 Mbps down and ~300 kbps up.  And record it.

I'd also suggest that you put the MicroCell in front of your router, connecting it directly to your DSL or Cable modem in what the User's Guide refers to as priority mode.  Then reset each element of your network in order, as well as all the authorized handsets, and retest.

If you continue having issues, dial AT&T support at 800-331-0500 and request Emerging Services for MicroCell support.  They should be able to assist during the week.  Be ready to report:

The primary wireless number tied to the device, the E911 address where the device is installed, the cabling configuration, the make/model of your modem, router, and or gateway, the up and down throughput speeds of your broadband connection, and the type of handsets that are experiencing the issue.

That should be enough information for a trouble ticket.  The more information they gather, the more likely we will see some kind of response, if this is a MicroCell or iPhone issue.

I hope this helps.

[adamsfbay]

This has nothing to do with ISP.

My MicroCell works perfectly with Samsung and Nokia handsets. Both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 exhibit garbled speech intermittently, particularly when farther away (but still pretty close) to the MicroCell.

Clearly, this is a problem that is unique to the iPhone iOS/MicroCell interaction. If Blackberry, Samsung, Nokia can get it right, it's up to Apple to fix this.

[kneill]

This post has been picked up by TUAW, so more eyes will see it and it should get some attention.

[apothacarion]

You can add me to the list of people having issues.  AT&T states they have no previous reports.  I have a connection of 36Mbps down and 9Mbps up.  Its definitely not an ISP issue.

[gcacioppo]

I live in San Diego and have this problem since we got our iPhone 4  units.  When anyone calls us we rapidly get distorion in the incoming audio.  We have to apologize, hang up the phone, unplug the MicroCell and walk outside to call them back (since there isn't enough signal in our house without the MicroCell).  Fortunately our callers can hear us fine, so at least we can tell them we're going to hang up and call them back.

We never had this with our iPhone 3G units or with any other cell phone registered to our MicroCell.  It only happens with iPhone 4.

[justintact]

Hopefully a fix will come soon!!

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/08/08/does-the-iphone-4-hate-the-atandt-microcell/

[justintact]

kneill, you beat me to the story!!  Hopefully it will be fixed soon. It is still driving me crazy!!

[viper1613]

Hey Guys, good news, I got the people over at TUAW.com to write about this!

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/08/08/does-the-iphone-4-hate-the-atandt-microcell/

-Allen

[justintact]

Thanks Allen, I was so glad to see a great site like tuaw post this!!

[jmcmathortho]

I have a bold 9700 and a 9000.  Both are skipping and dropping calls with the micro {word filter evasion}.  I have tried every configuration and resets but no luck.  Only seems to work if I am with 10 feet... well I used to have a corded phone with a longer reach.  Wireless is a scam and the FCC regulates the power output of these devices so they really are about non functional. I too have entered microcell {word filter evasion}.  JM

[JetwingX]

Add one more to the Micro cell stutter. Are there any tricks or work arounds to get it to stop?

[dellsweig]

Same issue here - more so on the Phone 4 than my 3GS - if it was happening on the 3GS my wife would be yelling!!!

Symptoms remind me of the old days with my VOnage VOIP when there were bandwidth issues (someone downloading data while a VOIP call was active).

I tried setting QoS for the Microcell to a higher priority, just as I do for my VOnage adapter but the problem is still there. I have plenty of bandwidth on my ISP connection (30/1 Cable) so thats not the issue.

I have 7 years experience with Vonage VOIP on my home network and I understand the issues involved with VoIP calls - as I noted - plenty of bandidth avaialble and I also watch the Microcell usage with Cacti (and netflow data) so I can guage the bandwidth requirements during a call - the Microcell uses about 100Kbps during a call so no issue there.... Seems to be an issue insode the Microcell itself

Again - 3Gs not effected (also running IOS4.0.1).

Would love to hear from ATT on this - problem being their support center technical ability leaves MUCH to be desired.. If you a re lucky enough to get to a tier 2 "tech" they tend to talk down to customer..... Especially if you have any networking knowledge....

[bnharrison]

Still the same thing here....especially with the lack of my wife yelling about her 3G (which is still not having the stuttering problem that my iPhone 4 is)!

Glad to see that the thread is starting to get some exposure.  Hopefully that will lead to the issue getting some meaningful attention from Apple and/or AT&T.

[jwelches]

I have the same issue. iPhone 4, Microcell and skipping audio. Sometimes if I hangup the call and call back the issue goes away. However it happens a lot! It never used to happen on my old 3GS.

[dellsweig]

---

jwelches wrote:
I have the same issue. iPhone 4, Microcell and skipping audio. Sometimes if I hangup the call and call back the issue goes away. However it happens a lot! It never used to happen on my old 3GS.

---

Is anyone seeing this on outgoing calls - or only incoming??

Come to think of it - it seems only incoming are issues for me

[msdowdie]

As far as I've seen, the issue only occurw with incoming calls.  But, no more than I'm on the phone, no one should consider my experience conclusive or even strong evidence.

[dellsweig]

From doing a little research - jitter (choppiness) on incoming calls is caused by the jitter buffer  being set too small. This is a paramter that is set in the Microcell config pushed by ATT to your device.

Now - getting someone at ATT tech support that understands what you are saying when you call will be a bigger issue than actually getting the parameter changed!!!!!

I will make a call to support when I get home tonight and try to get past the script readers that tell you to reset your micrcell or plug it into the cable modem......

[Eurisko]

I have this same issue. It's specific to the iPhone 4. I can not reproduce this behavior on an iPhone 3Gs even after a couple of weeks of heavy usage, yet can reproduce it on an iPhone 4 within minutes of a call.

I have (2) iPhone 4's in my home, and (2) iPhone 3Gs' and it happens on both 4's, never the Gs.  I have tried eliminating all bandwidth issues by plugging it straight into both my Cable Modem, and even on my backup DSL line. It's very specific to the iPhone 4 + Microcell combo.

[dellsweig]

Has anyone opened a support case on this?

Can you post the ticket number so we can all refer to the same issue when calling AT&T

 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps8611/ps10456/ps10465/ps10962/data_sheet_c78-59733...

[Velodog2]

Add me as someone with this problem.  So annoying.  Another Apple/ATT FAIL.  Yes, I'm using an iPhone 4.

I can't complain seriously I guess. ATT gave me the microcell for free because their signal was so crap where I live.  I was quite thrilled, for a while, until this problem showed up.  I'm better off not using the microcell.

What to look forward to:  Endless finger pointing between Apple and ATT over who's fault/problem this is.  I'm as big an Apple fan as I know, but even I am getting tired of all this crap.

[dellsweig]

well - I have been on the phone with ATT support now for 30 minutes.

Just what I expected - did you load IOS4.0.1, did you do a full reset, did you reboot your router, etc, etc, etc...

I am now trying to get them to open a support ticket - they are giving me a hard time about that too...

I will be transfering to a manager and see where that takes me - lol

I had the tech (through the t1 support gal via chat) tell me they cant change provisioning on the microcell uint.

I am reading the Cisco documentation for the RAN telling him what they have to change

[Jumpie]

Yes, this is happening to me. Ever since day one. And it's extremely frustrating. Either say it's an issue or not.