Need help with Cell Booster on Charter Spectrum

@Wrecks  Have you read thru my Cell Booster Tech Guide? The link is in my sig line.

1. Did you receive an email or message from AT&T after you registered that basically said you were good to go?

2. Is the GPS antenna firmly connected (it should make a clicking sound when inserted correctly)?

3. Is the GPS antenna attached to a window or on a window sill?

4. Is yellow WAN port on the Cell Booster connected directly (no switches, etc) to the LAN port of your router?

5. Did you power cycle your router/modem?

6. Have you reset the Cell Booster?

7. Was AT&T able to see on their end that the ports in question were blocked or was that a guess on their part?

8. Does your router even "see" the MAC address of the Cell Booster?

Spectrum (Charter) has a long history with not playing nice with the AT&T's  MicroCell and it appears the Cell Booster now as well. The ports should be open not only on the router but all the way up on Spectrum's network. Even if the ports are opened on the router, if there is a blocked port or failed switch upstream the CB won't be able to connect. That is Spectrum's problem not AT&T's because AT&T can't "fix" Spectrum's network.

The router requirements for the Cell Booster are fairly standard but in the case of Spectrum, especially Spectrum, you need to check the router to make sure that they are being met. The complete router requirements are given in my Tech Guide. However, you will have to work with Spectrum or TP-Link on how to access the router and check. AT&T can't help you because one, it's not their product and two, they don't want to be responsible for messing around with a customer's setup. There are just too many different kinds of routers, firmware versions, customer setups and  needs for AT&T to keep current on.

If all of the requirements check out then you may have to do port forwarding or triggering to a statically assigned IP address in your router based on the MAC address of the CB. But that will be the last thing to do and again, that will be something you'll have to do with Spectrum and/or TP-Link.

@OttoPylot : Thank you for your response, and yes I have read your guide.

1. Did you receive an email?  Yes.

2. Is the GPS antenna connected?  Yes.

3. Is the GPS antenna attached?  Yes.

4. Is yellow WAN port connected directly?  Yes

5. Did you power cycle your router/modem?  Yes.

6. Have you reset the Cell Booster?  Yes.

7. Was AT&T able to see on their end that the ports in question were blocked or was that a guess on their part?  Ha ha -- If only I knew.

8. Does your router even "see" the MAC address of the Cell Booster?  Yes.

Re ports being blocked:  Spectrum says they are not blocked.  I used to have an AT&T MicroCell that worked fine with my same hardware setup.  Did the MicroCell use those same UDP ports?  If so, that would argue that Spectrum is correct.

Has anyone else seen the CB stall with Power: blinking white, Internet: blinking yellow? 

I'm guessing that at this stage of the CB startup it hasn't started to pay attention to the GPS yet, ruling that out as a possible culprit.

Is the connection from the Cell Booster to the router a direct one, no switches, power line adapters, etc?

If you are using the same hardware as before, has the Spectrum hardware received an update prior to attempting to connect the MicroCell?

Have you done a factory reset of the Cell Booster? See my Tech Guide if you don't know how.

Yes, the Cell Booster uses 3 of the same ports that the MicroCell used.

I hate to say this but you may have to call AT&T Support back and ask them if they can ping or "see" your Cell Booster on their end. If they can't, then there's an upstream switch somewhere on Spectrum's backbone that isn't configure correctly, is failing, or there is a re-routing issue that is affecting communication between the Cell Booster and AT&T.

@OttoPylot Responding to your questions...

Is the connection from the Cell Booster to the router a direct one, no switches, power line adapters, etc?  Yes.

If you are using the same hardware as before, has the Spectrum hardware received an update prior to attempting to connect the MicroCell?  Not to my knowledge.

Have you done a factory reset of the Cell Booster?  Yes.

you may have to call AT&T Support back and ask them if they can ping or "see" your Cell Booster on their end:  OK.  How will they "see" it?  By its MAC address?

Thanks for your help.

AT&T should be able to ping the Cell Booster (at least they used to with the MicroCell) or see that the Cell Booster is connected to the correct incoming ports. If they can't ping it and get a response, then something is blocking the connection. You will probably get stuck in the middle of Spectrum pointing fingers at AT&T and vice versa. Just document what Spectrum and AT&T tell you to do and the results. You may need that to determine that the Cell Booster is defective (which is doubtful, but possible) and ask for a replacement.

What kind of speeds do you have have with Spectrum and how consistent are they. Do you have any other VoIP devices in use?

I have 200 Mbps download and 10 upload.

No VoIP -- just a landline, and one-bar AT&T cell service.

Your internet speeds are fine. I would push Spectrum to ensure that the necessary ports are open on their network, not just open on the router, and test your line for jitter. You might also want to double check with them about any updates that may have pushed to their modem between the time you removed the MicroCell and connected the Cell Booster. I would also call TP-Link and ask them how to check the router to make sure that the minimum router requirements as listed in my Tech Guide are being met and if they have pushed any updates.

@Wrecks I am on my second AT&T 4g device SS2FII. Also with Spectrum. Modem is a Technicolor DPC3216, Router is a WiFi 6 SAX1V1S.  I have also read @OttoPylot Tech Guide, thoroughly. Confirmed minimum router requirements, set up static IP, and other recommendations. 

Spectrum confirmed they can see my device and confirmed ports are open for UDP 123, 500, 4500. They confirmed both units I have received. 

I have tried to connect from the wan port directly from the modem, as well as every port on the router. Nothing ever progresses past the power light flashing white and the internet light flashing yellow. 

I sit here now waiting for a Supervisor from AT&T Advanced Support to phone me back, but it's been 2 hours past the promised time. 

I suspect we are in the "planned obsolescence" bucket and can only image the cost/benefit isn't on our side. Best of luck and I hope @Wrecks can resolve your issues. For me, my family has lost over 2 months of service at home and we are paying for a sub-performimg product that I can no longer justify. 

Should anything change in the next few days that could benefit you, I wish you the best. 

@Wrecks  and @VanMagnus  Based on my past experience with Spectrum (Charter) and the MicroCell, this is not unusual for Spectrum.

The Technicolor modem has VoIP capabilities. Are either one of you using VoIP? If so, a lot of modems or routers have poorly configure SIP ALG protocols which have been known to conflict with AT&T's femtocells. This is touched upon in my Tech Guide.

Hi VanMagnus, we are here to help you get your AT&T Cell booster device back up and running again!

If you haven't already, perform a reset on your device by pressing and holding the reset button located on the back of the device for 5 seconds. For a factory reset, press and hold the back of the device for 20 seconds.

Please keep in mind, a factory data reset will erase all data on your device and restore it to factory settings. We also recommend power cycling your Internet Gateway to reset your connection. 

Other troubleshooting steps are:

• Confirming that the ethernet cable is plugged in between Cell Booster device and the Internet Gateway/Router

  • One end of the ethernet cable should be connected to WAN port on the AT&T Cell Booster device

  • The other end of the ethernet cable should be connected to Ethernet open port on the Internet Gateway/Router

  • The ethernet cable should have a tight and secure connection on each port as OttoPylot suggested. 

Let us know if this is helpful! 

Rhoda, AT&T Community Specialist