AT&T 3G MicroCell, Cisco Femtocell Tower, Product DPH151-AT

I am in the process of cleaning up and optimizing my SOHO internet connectivity.   One item in particular with that I have had bandwidth allocation problems is the AT&T Microcell.  I have been working on it, tweaking and testing for a couple weeks now.  There was most certainly a problem and it wasn’t even worth having.                          

It’s ironic that if you have bad AT&T wireless service at home or at the office, they use it as an excuse for you to purchase a ‘Microcell’ network device from them.  In an area with spotty or no coverage (such as my home), it is basically using a broadband internet connection (in my case a Cox Cable Modem) to replace communication directly with one of their towers.  In includes a GPS so it knows its location (I think mostly for E-911 purposes) but I guess also to prevent it from being used overseas or areas that would be prohibited. According to AT&T's published coverage maps, I should have 5 bar service 3G service at their highest quality rating.  You can check out your area here:AT&T Detailed Coverage Map.

With 1-2 bars of service in my home office, I could not reliably use AT&T service for business or personal calls.  I was having difficulty hearing the caller and the caller was having difficulty understanding me, so I contacted AT&T to report the difficulties that I was having and potential remedies (other than switching carriers).   They told me that I could have full 5 bar coverage throughout my home with a private, small device that connects to your internet and basically converts the call from cell tower, to the “grid” to a VOIP call using the cable modem broadband connection to bypass the tower.

It sounded a little like extortion to me because I believe that if I purchased AT&T wireless service and they were unable to deliver a reliable signal to a densely populated area in a major metropolitan area, that they should be taking action to correct the problem to ensure that I stay a loyal AT&T wireless customer.  Instead, AT&T suggests purchasing their Cisco developed and manufactured booster private labeled as the AT&T Microcell.  Literally, creating a cell tower in my house.

Fortunately, you need to specify which users have permission to use the microcell so at least I don’t have the neighborhood piggybacking on my “cell tower” and my internet connectivity.

Almost every device that I have added to my network suggests that for peak performance that it is plugged directly into the cable modem and then the “Ethernet out” port be used to plug into your primary router.  That means that traffic must pass through an extra device before leaving for the big ‘ol internet.  The “performance” suggestion was to connect the AT&T Microcell to the cable modem directly and then to plug the router into the Ethernet port labeled “Ethernet” next to the port labeled “Internet”.  I don’t like this idea or approach whatsoever because the router should be the workhorse of your network and you lose substantial control when it is connected to another device rather than directly to the internet cable modem.

For example, my router has the capability for QoS, which allows me to specify which traffic gets prioritized/de-prioritized.  For example, streaming a DVD quality video takes priority over sending e-mail or a back-up or sync between computers.  In a more “mission critical” situation, this allows you to prioritize any VOIP traffic to have, take and use as much network capability as it needs and then the router goes down the list allocating any “extra” bandwidth.

If that was not successful, I decided that I could probably use the router function to create a DMZ (de-militarized zone) that basically removes the device from behind the protection of the firewall, packet scans and other possibly slowing (and therefore degrading) the quality of a phone call or video chat over the internet.

For many reasons, including the referenced capabilities above, it would be common Best Practice to put anything and everything BEHIND your router, which is likely, depending on model, acting as a basic firewall and is able to see the “bigger picture” of all the incoming and outgoing traffic and to direct (route) traffic.  If actually defeats the purpose of many of the advanced features of the current generation of home and business routers to stick another device between it (your router) and the internet.  (The only exclusion would be in a much more complex environment where there are actually separate routers and firewalls.  In that scenario the internet [from whatever method] would go through the firewall for a safety check and then once cleared would be passed off to your router.)

Nonetheless, the bottom line is that the only possible way to get the damn thing to work properly and well enough to make normal mobile telephone calls, I was forced to put it in “Priority Mode” as the instructions and AT&T Microcell likes to call it.  Despite my best efforts to use “Best Practices” and control the immense demands of a household of 5 people on my home network, I’ve surrendered to AT&T so we can use our mobile phones while at home.

I will let you know if this is as least a permanent fix for this problem.  I’m optimistic but trepidacious at the same time.

FYI, here is a short list of what is current “on” the network:

• Dell XPS Laptop
• Dell Inspiron Laptop
• Dell Tower Desktop
• Blackberry Torch (AT&T)
• Apple iPhone 4 (AT&T)
• Blackberry Curve (AT&T)
• Wii Game Console
• DirecTV Standard Resolution DVR
• DirecTV HD DVR
• DirecTV HD DVR
• Netgear ReadyNAS (1TB Storage)
• HP Color Laserjet CP1510
• Brother All-In-One MFC-495CW
• Linksys / Cisco VOIP Adapter SPA2102
• Cisco DPH151-AT / AT&T 3G Microcell
• Router:  DIR-825 XTREME N DUAL BAND GIGABIT ROUTER
• Motorola  SBV-5222 Cable Modem with integrated 2 line VOIP w/ integrated battery backup