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silvervic02 · 07-09-2008, 11:49 PM

John, thanks for the heads up, did exactly that....
Bobby, thanks for the fix!!! It works!!! Set PC as default MAC address, rebooted PC and router, deleted profile from device, and reinstalled profile.. UMA back in business!! Couldn't come at a better time..have an imp conf call tomo and can't rely on the shady 1 bar on Edge that I get in my apartment..

Now here's a newb-ish question... What, if any, are the security implications of setting the PC as the default MAC address.. ie- is my PC or network any more vulnerable to external threats?

Thanks again all for the feedback and fixes!

newberry52 · 07-10-2008, 04:26 AM

Wirelessly posted (Curve)

Still UMA so apparently the fix is in!

200KIAS · 07-10-2008, 05:54 AM

I hope everyone is up and running well on UMA again by now. I am the original poster on this issue and I am happy to report that UMA is currently working in the Roswell Alpharetta area of Atlanta. My thanks and congratulations to all who called the "Higher Ups" to give a voice to this issue. I am sure you helped speed up the resolution.

NO Edge at home, ever!
200kias

200KIAS · 07-10-2008, 06:03 AM

By the way...This was not specific to Linksys. It was also an issue on an Office 3com. Also of great import is the fact that I made no changes to our setup... UMA fixed somewhat mysteriously! T-mo rolled out a change without proper testing. Anyone want some more Guinea Pig food?

hdawg · 07-10-2008, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jibi

Bobby, you rock. This works. I'm using a Linksys WRT54GL router with the Tomato firmware (Linux-based router). To get to this, login to the Tomato interface, go to Advanced then MAC Address. For the WAN Port, click on Clone PC and save the settings. Very nice

...as for why this works, there should be no real explanation on what one has to do with the other, unless TMO decided to block MAC addresses.

Will you dump tomato already and put on http://www.dd-wrt.com like John and I?

hdawg · 07-10-2008, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyr

Maybe T-Mobile doesn't like Linksys' block of MAC addresses? Who knows! What else could it be?

Bobby

MAC addresses are at a different layer of the OSI model (hardware) than the layer used for UMA / WiFi (network) ...

This makes no sense, but is is a 100% welcome "solution".

bobbyr · 07-10-2008, 06:08 AM

I wanted to post a link I found but I can't post links until I have 10 forum posts. So, Google the following : "T-mobile clone mac address" and you will see T-Mobile support pages for cloning mac addresses and why it is sometimes needed.

I don't buy the reason though. It says
"Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allow only one MAC address to be registered, either for a PC, for a router, or for the modem. To bypass this restriction, you can clone the MAC address. This process copies the MAC address from the computer to the wireless router. The MAC address on the router then matches the MAC address that is stored by your ISP."

but I don't buy that answer. We have internet connectivity so its not our providers. It seems to be T-Mobile, and mostly in this area for some reason.

ms_ccr · 07-10-2008, 07:42 AM

Wow. I am back on UMA now. As I was reading these posts thinking great, now I have to learn how to clone a MAC address. Before I tried cloning the MAC address I decided to do a battery pull. Once I was finished reading I looked at my BB and whadaya know…I am connected! It was the battery pull not the MAC address that fixed it. Whoo-hoo! I can actually use my phone now! This has been an interesting experience. I have learned more about my BB in the past two days than I expected…I feel closer to it now

. Anyway, I am glad I found this forum and this thread. Knowing I was not the only one having this issue made me feel less crazy.

Hope everyone else is back on UMA now.

PhillyGuy · 07-10-2008, 07:44 AM

I was having UMA problems at home last night. I have the Linksys TMO router set up as a separate network through my Verizon FiOS Actiontec router. I'll give the cloning a try.

markbb99 · 07-10-2008, 08:05 AM

I wish I'd looked here first!! I'd been down a couple of days - it was working at home (where I had cloned my MAC address when the router was installed as my ISP will only allow one MAC address), but at work I couldn't get UMA. I tried my 8320 and a Nokia - but as they both worked at home and not here I assumed that our IT people had blocked things to prevent the connection. It was all working ok this morning though.

EDIT: Spoke too soon - I re-booted my router and now it won't connect again. I am spoofing the MAC address of the pc conected to the router as I always have - but still no joy.

O'dell · 07-10-2008, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyr

I wanted to post a link I found but I can't post links until I have 10 forum posts. So, Google the following : "T-mobile clone mac address" and you will see T-Mobile support pages for cloning mac addresses and why it is sometimes needed.

I don't buy the reason though. It says
"Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allow only one MAC address to be registered, either for a PC, for a router, or for the modem. To bypass this restriction, you can clone the MAC address. This process copies the MAC address from the computer to the wireless router. The MAC address on the router then matches the MAC address that is stored by your ISP."

but I don't buy that answer. We have internet connectivity so its not our providers. It seems to be T-Mobile, and mostly in this area for some reason.

That reason is bogus. I worked for a very well known ISP for over 2 years in their NOC and that makes no sense.

Let's say you have cable internet, and you're hooked up to a <insert any brand here> router like most everyone in this post is. The ISP will only see the MAC address of the router plugged into the modem, and nothing else. If anyone was using a switch (or hub), I could understand.

My guess is someone or somehow T-mobile blocked the MAC addresses of most routers in that area.

200KIAS · 07-10-2008, 09:03 AM

The gremlins are baaak.

Anyone else have UMA restored only to have it go out again?

rheavy2 · 07-10-2008, 09:15 AM

I'm in Atlanta and I've had the same uma problem since Monday (7/7) night.

First time on the line with TM was wasted 1.5hrs. Of course they blamed it on a nontmobile router so I picked up a TM router and got the same result. However, I was unable to successfully run the router installation software. It kept telling me that I wasn't connected to the internet even though I was definitely connected.

Last night with TM they found something interesting while going through their checklist: I am not able to ping TM from my computer (in a cmd window "ping www-DOT-tmobile-DOT-com" - replace DOT with .) since it just times out. So they told me my ISP (Comcast) was blocking their site. Sure it's going to be the blame game and I'm going to be caught in the middle. So I got TM to do a 3way call with Comcast and Comcast could not ping TM either from AZ. Then I remoted into my office computer on a T1 line and couldn't ping either. (Weirdly, I can easily get to the site via a browser so maybe it's a port issue.) Nevertheless after an hour+ they finally wrote up a ticket. I believe this might also have something to do with me not being able to run the TM router installation software. I assume it was looking for the TM address.

The frustrating part about this is that the TM techs seem to be in the dark about this problem. It's like no one is communicating there. They are wasting our time!

So last night I tried the clone thing and didn't get an immediate result. This am it was working! But I have lost the signal this am but it has come back so I would say it is working intermittently.

robjdj · 07-10-2008, 10:41 AM

I tried the MAC clone last night and it started working immediately. Interesting part is that it only worked if cloned to my PC or laptop MAC address. When I cloned the router (Tmo Linksys) to the MAC of my curve, it wouldn't work.

I'll undo the cloning tonight to see if the underlying problem was fixed in Huntsville, AL.

and on the note about Apple routers:
I have the apple airport base station and it doesn't seem to like UMA. After a lot of googling, I saw tons of reports saying that they didn't work well together. I bought the Tmo linksys and have the apple plugged into it. The curve connects to the linksys and all my macs use the airport. it all works like a champ now.

bberry8320 · 07-10-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ms_ccr

Wow. I am back on UMA now. As I was reading these posts thinking great, now I have to learn how to clone a MAC address. Before I tried cloning the MAC address I decided to do a battery pull. Once I was finished reading I looked at my BB and whadaya know…I am connected! It was the battery pull not the MAC address that fixed it. Whoo-hoo! I can actually use my phone now! This has been an interesting experience. I have learned more about my BB in the past two days than I expected…I feel closer to it now

. Anyway, I am glad I found this forum and this thread. Knowing I was not the only one having this issue made me feel less crazy.

Hope everyone else is back on UMA now.

I tried the battery pull and it wouldn't work for mine. I even tried to undo the MAC address clone to see if it would work without it and lost the UMA. So, speaking for myself, the MAC address clone is necessary for mine to work. Mine is still up and running.

As for TMO, I have to agree with the one user who said that they're about in the dark as we are and are wasting our time. Great customer service is useless if they aren't even equipped to help the customer or, in this case, aren't talking to each other. It just has us chasing our tail. I think it's pretty sad that we have to rely on each other for help.

themostversatile · 07-10-2008, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rheavy2

I'm in Atlanta and I've had the same uma problem since Monday (7/7) night.

Last night with TM they found something interesting while going through their checklist: I am not able to ping TM from my computer (in a cmd window "ping www-DOT-tmobile-DOT-com" - replace DOT with .) since it just times out. So they told me my ISP (Comcast) was blocking their site. Sure it's going to be the blame game and I'm going to be caught in the middle. So I got TM to do a 3way call with Comcast and Comcast could not ping TM either from AZ. Then I remoted into my office computer on a T1 line and couldn't ping either. (Weirdly, I can easily get to the site via a browser so maybe it's a port issue.) Nevertheless after an hour+ they finally wrote up a ticket. I believe this might also have something to do with me not being able to run the TM router installation software. I assume it was looking for the TM address.

The frustrating part about this is that the TM techs seem to be in the dark about this problem. It's like no one is communicating there. They are wasting our time!

I went through the EXACT same thing you did with T-mo. Absolutely ridiculuous! My Apple router does not allow MAC cloning(BOO!) so that wasn't an option. Apparently, SOMEONE at T-Mo is working on it, as UMA is working at my house as of this morning, after being without it since Tuesday morning.

jwsthomas · 07-10-2008, 12:31 PM

Still having problems in Atlanta. UMA was working this morning but is out this afternoon. Tried MAC Cloning and I couldn't connect to the internet

ms_ccr · 07-10-2008, 12:34 PM

Well, looks like my joy was short lived. I powered off my device (silly me) and now do not have UMA access. I had acess for atleast two hours this morning. I will try cloning my MAC address later this afternoonxxx8230;urgh.

Spinch · 07-10-2008, 12:41 PM

Still having problems in Alpahretta, too... and in Snellville... and in Metro Atlanta... (home, girlfriend's house, and job). Three different routers (a Netgear, a Linksys, and a Cisco), two different ISPs (Comcast and whoever my work goes through for their T1)... and no luck.

I tried cloning MAC settings at home, and that didn't help, either. I'm really starting to get pissed off as I JUST bought an 8120 to use @Home since I get crappy reception in my house, and T-Mo support, although friendly, isn't willing to admit that the problem lies on their end.

bbjunkee · 07-10-2008, 12:48 PM

I have a Linksys WRT54G. I cloned my PCs MAC addy and UMA is now up and running. FINALLY!!!

After cloning your MAC address on your wireless router, reboot router, do a battery pull on your BB and it should work. I'm located in Alabama. Good luck to those of you who are experiencing difficulties. I feel your pain.

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