Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
fugufish
Newbie

Got my shiny new VZW NE yesterday, set it up, got 3 blue lights but the SYS light flashes(slowly) red. Hmmm. I have link and activity on the WAN LED and the RJ-45 on the back of the NE.

 

Troubleshot it myself for a while. Set up a MAC/DHCP IP reservation and forwarded all the suggested ports.(Since the NE uses IPSEC NAT transversal (judging by the port numbers) it should not need ports forwarded. I will check with my ISP to see if they block any of those ports for some reason.) Nothing. At that point I called tech. support. They had me ping a VZW site, put me on hold a few times, gave me a ticket number and told me that it could take up to 72 hours for resolution. 

 

In the meantime, I completely bypassed my router and hooked it directly into my cable modem. Rebooted cable modem to learn NE MAC and assign an IP address. Nada. 

 

Just for ha-ha's I hooked it into my Vonage router ( I get 2 WAN IPs from my ISP). Nada. 

 

I checked "My Network Extender" and they do have my MAC address properly registered to my account.

Eliminated all the easy stuff, patch cables, etc. 

 

Have the GPS on the extender cable with a clear view of the sky. Locks on in a couple of minutes. 

 

I'm guessing that the problem is on VZW's end or the NE is simply defective. 

 

 

 

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
ColdnFrosty
Newbie
I don't know who your ISP is, but I just plugged it into my Linksys router and it worked. Took about 5 min to go "all blue."  I'm on Comcast. I hope they resolve it for you quickly.
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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
fugufish
Newbie

Thanks... still waiting for them to call. I was told it could take up to 72 hours for them to respond to a ticket. Ridiculous. After shelling out $250 for this thing I would expect more immediate support. When and if they do call I'll probably be at work. It's either a config error on their end or my box is bad. I've read that you can exchange it at a VZW store assuming they have one in stock. I may try that or just punt and return this thing. 

 

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
fugufish
Newbie

I talked to tech. support again and they told me that it could take up to 5! business days for the network guys to get back to me. At that point I took it back to the nearest VZW store. They hooked it up to their test bench and confirmed that something was wrong with it. They handed me a brand new one and I just got done hooking it up...

 

Yay, slow red blinking sys light on NE #2. Sigh. I guess I'll open another ticket and if that doesn't work I'll just bring it back.

 

 

How long should it take for the sys light to go blue after the GPS locks on?

 

 

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
ColdnFrosty
Newbie

My understanding of the SYS light is that it should come on after a GPS lock has been established, but only if you are in a Verizon coverage area. If you happen to be in an Alltel area, it won't come on. I have seen a couple other people with that problem. The GPS serves the purpose of determining what coverage area you're in (as well as for 911 purposes).

 

It could also be that the Mac address is not propoerly registered. Have you checked your Verizon Wireless Account for your Extender information?

 

I believe the manual describes how long it can take. But do make sure the Mac address is registered. They should have done that at the store.

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
fugufish
Newbie

Thank you for replying.

 

Maybe that's it, I'm not in a Verizon official coverage area. The nearest Verizon tower is 10 miles away and that's where we have to drive to *228 our phones. We have one tower nearby which is probably Cellular One /AT&T. 

 

That's the reason I bought the extender! If you need to be in a Verizon coverage area to use it, it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

In my 5+ calls to customer service, they never thought to mention this.  The VZW wireless store tech. told me that the first NE was bad, so that clouds the issue even more.

 

It's a nice bookend anyway. I'll wait for the VZW network folks to call and ask them about the coverage area issue. Worst case, it goes back to the store.. 

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
fugufish
Newbie

Just re-read the FAQ and found this:

 

Network Extender will operate anywhere within the Verizon Wireless Enhanced Services coverage area. Not available in the Extended Enhanced Services coverage area or outside of the United States. Refer to Verizon Wireless coverage maps for details.

 

So I guess I'm out of luck. 

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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
ColdnFrosty
Newbie
Bingo! That is definitely your problem. I'm not sure why they do that - it might not be Verizon's problem at all. With so many of the wireless companies offering Femtocells now - like the Network Extender - there may be some franchise issues. I would pursue that with VZW.
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Re: Network extender doesn't work (slow blinking red SYS LED)
ph1ll1ps
Newbie

I don't know if this will help at all, but when I first got my NE, it worked beautifully and only took about 5 minutes to get up and running. About a month later, I started getting the blinking red light thing. I started to draw a connection between the red light and when we would have a power outage from a storm.

I started resetting my modem, router and NE (unplugging the NE first, then the modem then the router, waiting 30 seconds and powering up modem, router and NE in that order) and it would take about 5 minutes and I would get all blue lights. It's kind of like when the older operating systems would lose internet connection on computers if the went out and you would have to reset the modem and then reboot the computer.

Hope it works for anyone out there, it is soooo frustrating when you cannot get signal, and you pay alot of money for a boost you do not get

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