Almond+ and cell phone signal booster

[singhna1]

I get lousy cell reception in my apartment and my provider, Sprint, sent me an Airave 2.5 device to boost my signal strength.  I had an earlier Airave connected to my Air Port Extreme base station, which worked fine.  When I got my Almond+ this past weekend, everything seemed to work properly (wifi, hardline Ethernet connection, etc.), except for my Airave. 

Thinking there was a malfunction with the Airave device, I asked Sprint to send a replacement (the new 2.5 model -- which I just received and set-up tonight), but that is not working with my Almond+ either.  Is there a mode that I need to have my Almond+ in for devices like the Airave to work?  I don't recall having to do anything with the Airport Extreme in terms of any special settings… I just plugged in the Airave and it was good to go.

I just want to make sure there isn't something broken with the Almond+ (the on-screen status indicates that it is getting throughput via the ethernet port, for what it's worth).

I'm a total luddite with this kind of stuff, so apologies if I'm not using the lingo properly.

Appreciate whatever insights I can get.

[dbuttke]

There is still something strange with the almond and these things.  My voip still isn't working right either so I'm using access point mode.
Not sure what it is and I haven't had much time to troubleshoot lately.
My voip can make a call and hear one side but not the other. So the almond. Isn't passing some sort of info somewhere.

[singhna1]

Thanks for the response.

If you do troubleshoot your VoIP issues, please update this thread.  In the meantime, I'll look for a workaround, too.  I'd hate to have to go back to the Air Port Extreme (it's a solid router, but I'd rather just use the Almond+), but I also need to be able to use my cell phone while I'm at my apartment, as it's my only phone. 

I wish this aspect worked right out of the box...

[Ashok]

Hi singhna1,

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you faced with the Almond+. Rest be assured we are there to assist you and in order to diagnose and resolve the issue completely, we need some additional information and possibly a quick phone support session would be more fruitful. Hence, please do let us know your status and for any further communication you can send an email to [suspicious]ashok.kumar@securifi.com and cc to joe.john@securifi.com. [/suspicious]

Best Regards,
Ashok Kumar,
Securifi Technical Support,

[gergles]

Thanks for the response.

If you do troubleshoot your VoIP issues, please update this thread.  In the meantime, I'll look for a workaround, too.  I'd hate to have to go back to the Air Port Extreme (it's a solid router, but I'd rather just use the Almond+), but I also need to be able to use my cell phone while I'm at my apartment, as it's my only phone. 

I wish this aspect worked right out of the box...

For the VOIP issue, I found removing the nf_nat_sip module helped (though it still isn't perfect, I often will lose the connection halfway through a call which suggests there's still something mangling packets). If you are comfortable SSHing to your almond, doing so as root and running "rmmod nf_nat_sip" will disable it until your device reboots.

[singhna1]

Thanks to everyone who responded.  I tried the steps outlined here, where someone else was having trouble making calls via their Vonage modem:

http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1173.msg3195.html#msg3195

But it was to no avail.  I have send an e-mail to Ashok and Joe.

[thaddeus1]

I have found that my ATT 3G micro cell stops broadcasting a signal every once and a while, and the broadcast signal blinks red. I just have to power cycle it and it fixes, but it didn't do it before RO65.

[hjobanpu]

Yay, I got my almond plus yesterday. Set it up. It has better range than my prior N router. Great start,

Ran into issues with Vonage calls not working properly. Found answer in this forum and set it up....it works.

Now next problem, could not find answer for this.

I have Cisco MicroCell DPH-153AT and it worked just fine with prior netgear router. Since I have connected it on Almond+, it does not work, it has Signal Bar indicator blinking.


I presume it has to do with some setup and port forwarding. I am not core network guy so help. please.  I found following info on AT&T microcell DPH-153AT support site. I don't know what/where to configure this.


AT&T Microcell Firewall and Router Settings for Advanced Installations

Instructions:
 
Overview

If the AT&T Microcell is not working after it's connecting to the router/gateway, first try the basic troubleshooting steps contained in the User Guide.  If the MicroCell still will not connect to the AT&T network (as indicated by a continuous blinking network light), then use the following instructions to check the router settings and change them, as needed.   Please contact the router manufacturer or the ISP provider to obtain assistance with configuring the router settings.
 
Normally, just plugging the Microcell into the router/gateway is all that is required. However, sometimes router/gateway settings have been changed or the Microcell will not connect properly.  This section will show how to change the settings for some popular modems/routers to enable the Microcell to connect successfully.
   
Procedure
NOTE:  Please be advised that the router manufacture or the ISP provider will not provide support for AT&T Microcell, but they can assist with configuring the router settings.
DHCP is on
Data is not restricted from passing through ports 4500 and 500 (AKA Port Blocking).
MTU size is set to 1492
MAC address filtering is either turned off or allowing the MAC address of the AT&T Microcell
IPSec Pass-Through is Enabled
Block Fragmented Packets is Disabled
If using multiple routers, the Microcell must be connected to the first router connected to the broadband modem
If the Microcell is connected to a router that is connected to a modem and both the router and the modem have NAT (Network Address Translation) enabled, disable NAT either in the router or the modem.
Ensure the modem / router is using the latest software (firmware). Please see the manufacturer's documentation.
TCP/UDP Ports
NOTE:  All ports listed need to be configured for inbound and outbound connections.
123/UDP: NTP timing (NTP traffic)
443/TCP: Https over TLS/SSL for provisioning and management traffic
4500/UDP: IPSec NAT Traversal (for all signaling, data, voice traffic)
500/UDP: IPSec Phase 1 prior to NAT detection (after NAT detection, 4500/UDP is used)
4500/UDP: After NAT detection, 4500/UDP is used

[LGNilsson]

I've forwarded this issue to the software team so we can investigate what's going as this is clearly an issue from our side.

Also merged the above post as it's about the same issue.

[DarrenH]

I have an Airave that, like the OP's, has not worked since I connected it to my Almond. I called Spirnt and they went through their debugging script without getting things working.

The only useful thing they mentioned is that the Airave relies on VPN passthrough by the router. I found another message here mentioning that disabling the IPSec ALG helped with their VPN problems.

So I disabled the IPSec ALG (clicking advanced, then OpenWRT, login to OpenWRT, then select services->ALG, deselect the IPSec and save), powered off the Airave and reset the Almond+

When I powered up the Airave after waiting for the Almond+ to restart, the Airave started working in about 5 mins. I had noted with my previous router that the Airave start up can sometimes fail, so it if doesn't work restart the Airave again.

[DarrenH]

So close... I did this with firmware revision R064. Then I saw firmware R065 and installed that...

Bad move - now the Airave isn't working, and there's no longer an ALG page to disable IPSec ALG 

I guess I need a new solution, but if you keep the R064 firmware you should be OK...

[DarrenH]

Final followup for this evening....

If I open a ssh session to the Almond+ and use the following rules from http://forum.securifi.com/index.php/topic,1135.msg3016.html#msg3016 with the R065 firmware the Airave starts working again.

# This file is sourced as a shell script
#
# Rules for opening the firewall for IPSec
#
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -p udp --dport 500 --sport 500 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -A FORWARD -p udp --dport 500 --sport 500 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -p udp --dport 4500 --sport 4500 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/nullT
iptables -A FORWARD -p udp --dport 4500 --sport 4500 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -p 50 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -A FORWARD -p 50 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -A FORWARD -p 51 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null
iptables -A FORWARD -p 51 -j ACCEPT 2>/dev/null

[MrAkai]

Does the booster support uPNP?  You might want to try turning that on in the openwrt settings under advanced.

[hjobanpu]

Hello,

I added following changes in Firewall - Port Forwards, which made my ATT Microcell work. Hope this works for others.

ATT MCell 1
UDP
From any host in wan
To any router IP at port 123
Forward to IP XX.XX.XX.XXX, port 123 in lan

ATT MCell 2
UDP
From any host in wan
To any router IP at port 500
Forward to IP XX.XX.XX.XXX, port 500 in lan

ATT MCell 3
UDP
From any host in wan
To any router IP at port 4500
Forward to IP XX.XX.XX.XXX, port 4500 in lan

ATT MCell 4
TCP
From any host in wan
To any router IP at port 443
Forward to IP XX.XX.XX.XXX, port 443 in lan

[DarrenH]

So I took another look this weekend. I updated to the R066 firmware. I tried both the port forwarding and enabling UPNP (and the UPNP/NAT option) without success. Occasionally it would come up when I'm changing settings (perhaps the firewall is being temporarily disabled?) but it only lasted a few minutes before stopping again.

I decided to dig out my old router (a WNR3500) and put the latest dd-wrt on it - and the Airave started working again! The key option in dd-wrt that needs to be enabled is the IPSec passthrough. Using iptabes-save I checked to see what the difference was, and the rules with and without IP passthrough enabled seem to be the same.

Anyway I went looking for the OpenWRT setup for IPSec passthrough and found it at http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/uci/firewall#ipsec.passthrough. It seems that adding it to the end of /etc/config/firewall would work, but there might be a better way to do it. I need to revert to using the Almond+ as the router and see if I can get it to work.