LTE Extender Working - Can't Connect Phone

[Chelsea133]

I live in midtown Manhattan and recent nearby construction has made impossible for me to get more than 1-2 bars inside my residence -- occasionally bounces to zero which makes it impossible to log into many MFA sites since I can't receive codes.   I tried to get LTE Extender for free (impossible) so just paid for one. 

(1)  Set-up went fine, connecting to 8-11 satellites, shows "In Service"  - all good

(2) Cannot connect my iPhone to the extender.  My neighbors seem to be connecting since I do see people connected to my Extender at various times.   Tried to close off access but the MyVerizon portal will not accept my phone number - says phone number on the account (yes I'm typing it correctly) must be first number added.  In any case, good to know some people can connect even if I don't know them.  Have tried other family member iPhones with no success. 

(3) Spent at least a dozen hours with Verizon tech support but have yet to connect with a support tech who knows more than I do from reading the online instructions.

Any suggestions or advice welcome --otherwise I guess the alternative is to try ATT and see if I get better reception. 

[Fdbk]

Hi @Chelsea133. The 'Managed Access' feature has been non-functional for a while but that doesn't stop the phones from connecting. What might be going on, is that your iPhones are preferring the band that the cell tower is broadcasting on rather than the extender's band. The extender by default broadcasts on band 13.

1. You can dial *3001#12345#* on iPhones which opens the FTM Dashboard. This screen allows you to see the Cell Tower or Extender that you're currently connected to by their Cell ID and the band/bandwidth. To know what the extender's Cell ID or Cell Towers may be in the area, you can check the "Neighboring Cells Detected" section in the extender's local admin GUI.

2. Try turning on Airplane Mode for a few seconds and turn back off to see if the iPhones will reconnect to the extender long enough to check the FTM information for the extender.

3. To possibly resolve this band issue, reach out to support see if they are willing to raise a NRB ticket (after the troubleshooting flow) to change the extender's band to 4 or 66 depending on your area. If successful, the extender will reboot and a "Configuration change" will be logged in the extender's local admin GUI logs and the phones should connect automatically without user intervention. You can validate the iPhones connection by reception bars, dialing #48 or*3001#12345#* and listen/look for the extender's Cell ID.

[Chelsea133]

You obviously know a lot more than any of the Verizon tech support people I 've been able to reach by phone, even after hours at a time and being escalated from one level up to the next.  Appreciate your effort to help so thank you for that - I am not a computer expert, have no idea what FTM and GUI mean, and am giving up since I just can't get adequate Verizon cell coverage here (13th floor in the middle of Manhattan).  There is zero knowledgeable tech support available at Verizon -- most times I need to explain to the first person answering what a Verizon  Extender even is (that they sold me for $272)   Seems like my guests with ATT get great reception so I guess that is the solution.

[SynthpopAddict]

Wow, sorry to hear Vz tech support hasn't been able to get you a resolution.  Manhattan typically has awesome 5G service, but if there is a lot of construction going on right next to you, I can see how that would block some of the 5G signal, particularly since that area is blanketed in mmWave spectrum which doesn't travel far at all.

It's been reported elsewhere that sometimes you just have to keep trying with getting someone who knows what they're doing...not sure if you've gotten anyone with level 2 tech support, if you've been talking with people who don't know what a Verizon extender is. 😞  It just seems like if someone were able to tweak things or maybe send you a different make of extender then things would work (never mind that if your current extender isn't working, you ought to get a refund or replacement considering you paid for it).

In case you're curious, I think FTM in the telecom industry stands for "fixed to mobile" and GUI is "general user interface".

P.S. - I've heard you can still manually change the network band on iPhones, even Verizon ones.  Have you tried switching your phone to LTE or at least have it set on 5G Auto so it'll select the best spectrum to use, to see if that'll help your reception problems?  From what I've found elsewhere, it's under Settings > Cellular Settings > Cellular Data Options > Voice and Data

[Fdbk]

You're welcome. FTM stands for Field Test Mode which is a built-in menu by Apple which allows you to see the statistics of your iPhone's cellular connection. GUI stands for Graphical User Interface which is the visual way of allowing you to interact with the extender's admin settings by accessing its IP address displayed on the screen. 

[SynthpopAddict]

Hi @Chelsea133 , Fdbk has some great advice to try.  But if that doesn't work, is it one of the Askey extenders?  People have been posting here and there that the "newer" Askey extenders have more problems than the older Samsung extenders and one of the issues is they won't let things connect to them (the other is the extenders can just fail after a short period of time).  Reportedly you can request the older Samsung extenders, as I've heard of people either going back to their older Samsung extender or getting one of the Samsung extenders before things worked.

As for the closed access thing not working, yes, that's a known issue and has been happening for a couple of years.  Since nobody knows when/if it'll be fixed, the only workaround is to lower the extender's range to prevent your neighbors or people outside getting free service.

As an aside, I'd also like to thank @Fdbk for the dialer code for the FTM Dashboard.  I don't have an iPhone, but someone else was mentioning how they couldn't view what tower they're connected to on an iPhone; something about how Apple doesn't let anybody see this information.  Will have to put this in my notes, as I'd suggested using the OpenSignal app to the other person but they said it didn't work.  Does this also work on a Verizon iPhone, or only on factory unlocked iPhones?

[Fdbk]

Hi @SynthpopAddict, the FTM is a built-in hidden menu with iPhones. It's not specific to the carrier or locked/unlocked status. There is a shortcut that can be added to the home screen using the "Shortcuts" app but that's more involved setting up for the average user. Android phones are a lot different with their dialer codes.

[SynthpopAddict]

Thanks again @Fdbk !  I've posted links for how to get field test mode on iPhone in other threads and didn't know off the top of my head that was what the dialer code was.   On Android it's much easier to get to field test mode, although it is much less detailed than what iPhone users see.