Official Magic Box discussion thread

[crazy_vag]

On 7/13/2020 at 7:52 PM, ingenium said:

I just got that same email for my Magic box that has been on Ethernet backhaul for 9+ months (I checked and the serial number matched that unit). It was still on Ethernet when I got the email, since I speed tested faster than Sprint's nearby macros (they're fairly congested even on B41). So they're just blanket sending it out to everyone, even people who are already off of LTE backhaul.

 

 

 

Well, my MB suddenly dropped from the WiFi.  I didn't get VoLTE, so who knows whether it's an upgrade or a bug.

When I connected it again, I'm no longer able to get reception outside on the sidewalk.  Not sure if they turned off directionality, strength or something combination of that and other settings.  Data usage dropped from 3 GB / day to under 2 GB / month!! 

[ingenium]

Well, my MB suddenly dropped from the WiFi.  I didn't get VoLTE, so who knows whether it's an upgrade or a bug.
When I connected it again, I'm no longer able to get reception outside on the sidewalk.  Not sure if they turned off directionality, strength or something combination of that and other settings.  Data usage dropped from 3 GB / day to under 2 GB / month!! 

You might need to factory reset. My Magic Box lost VoLTE about a week ago (Airave is fine). Rebooted it, still no VoLTE. So I factory reset it on Friday or Saturday. Still no VoLTE, but hopefully in a few days it'll get re-enabled.

There's something going on with the provisioning I think. I kept getting emails saying that my MB was offline (it wasn't). And to move it to wireless or wired backhaul (it was). So I figured a factory reset would fix whatever backend provisioning issues they might be having. Just very weird that it would lose VoLTE when the GPS lock is still solid (12 satellites), power is fine (it's on a UPS), and my internet is fine (also on a UPS, and haven't had any downtime in years).

So you might be having a similar issue. It seems like the macro has "forgotten" about your Magic Box and won't handoff to it, resulting in it not getting used. 2GB/month is probably just from keeping the ipsec connection alive and normal background idling. A factory reset should force all the provisioning and such to happen again, and hopefully get things fixed.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[crazy_vag]

Sounds like factory reset is the way to go.  I'm assuming I won't need to contact Sprint to re-enable anything after the factory reset.

[ericj]

On 7/18/2020 at 12:17 AM, ingenium said:

If you have an LTE signal from the macro network, then chances are your phone won't really see the magic box for a few days. It has to be integrated into the network before your phone will handoff to it.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

Thanks so much for the reply.  It's been about a week now and my phone still does not connect to the MB.  The MB has LTE/WIFI and GPS all still locked in.  Anything else I should try or just continue to play the waiting game?  Thanks again.......

[ingenium]

Thanks so much for the reply.  It's been about a week now and my phone still does not connect to the MB.  The MB has LTE/WIFI and GPS all still locked in.  Anything else I should try or just continue to play the waiting game?  Thanks again.......

I think it could be VoLTE related. I lost VoLTE on my magic box, so I factory reset it last weekend to try to get it back. It hasn't come back yet, but when I come home the macro will not hand me off to it, possibly because it doesn't support VoLTE (handoffs are 100% controlled by the network unless you completely lose service). It will however handoff to my Airave, which does have VoLTE. Once I'm on the Airave, it will handoff to the magic box.

 

Before I lose VoLTE on my magic box, the network would hand me off to the magic box as soon as I approached my house (on B41). Now it will move me to b26 instead of the magic box, until I get in range of the Airave, when it immediately moves me there.

 

So it's possible/likely that the network is avoiding doing handoffs which would cause the loss of VoLTE. My phone sees it in neighbors while on the macro, so it's being reported as an option for handoffs. The network is just actively deciding to not handoff. It's so frustrating that VoLTE is still a manual toggle for these femtos....

 

 

 

[crazy_vag]

On 7/25/2020 at 12:35 PM, ingenium said:

I think it could be VoLTE related. I lost VoLTE on my magic box, so I factory reset it last weekend to try to get it back. It hasn't come back yet, but when I come home the macro will not hand me off to it, possibly because it doesn't support VoLTE (handoffs are 100% controlled by the network unless you completely lose service). It will however handoff to my Airave, which does have VoLTE. Once I'm on the Airave, it will handoff to the magic box.

 

Before I lose VoLTE on my magic box, the network would hand me off to the magic box as soon as I approached my house (on B41). Now it will move me to b26 instead of the magic box, until I get in range of the Airave, when it immediately moves me there.

 

So it's possible/likely that the network is avoiding doing handoffs which would cause the loss of VoLTE. My phone sees it in neighbors while on the macro, so it's being reported as an option for handoffs. The network is just actively deciding to not handoff. It's so frustrating that VoLTE is still a manual toggle for these femtos....

 

 

 

Dumb question.  Does VoLTE kick in for all calls, or only for calls where the other end is also on a cellular connection and their device supports VoLTE?

[ingenium]

Dumb question.  Does VoLTE kick in for all calls, or only for calls where the other end is also on a cellular connection and their device supports VoLTE?

All calls

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[crazy_vag]

Well, I did Factory Reset on Saturday, but still don't get reception on the street anymore and data usage is low.  Definitely seems like power setting was altered on the MB Gold. 

Still waiting for VoLTE.

[troyd96]

Well, I did Factory Reset on Saturday, but still don't get reception on the street anymore and data usage is low.  Definitely seems like power setting was altered on the MB Gold. 
Still waiting for VoLTE.

I had to do a network reset on my Note 10+ by dialing the ##72786# maybe different on your phone then it restarts and does a new handsfree provisioning and it started working again.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[crazy_vag]

14 hours ago, troyd96 said:

I had to do a network reset on my Note 10+ by dialing the ##72786# maybe different on your phone then it restarts and does a new handsfree provisioning and it started working again.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 

I should clarify that I did Factory Reset to the magic box, not my Pixel 4 XL.

[troyd96]

I should clarify that I did Factory Reset to the magic box, not my Pixel 4 XL.

I understand this. I have done that numerous times as well. After the last software update I had issues with it staying connected or connecting to the box at all. Doing that Carrier/Network reset fixed it for me on my phone. It was the only thing that fixed it.

I'm not talking about a full data wipe and factory reset. I'm talking about a network carrier reset.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[DurhamHusker]

In a chat session with customer service today they told me that VoLTE is only supported on the MB Gold when using LTE for backhaul.

For whatever that's worth.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[ingenium]

In a chat session with customer service today they told me that VoLTE is only supported on the MB Gold when using LTE for backhaul.

For whatever that's worth.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Not true, they're mistaken. It works on previous versions as well, along with non LTE backhaul. I have it on working on a 545 (LTE backhaul since that's all it supports) and a MB Gold with Ethernet backhaul.

A senior / high level tech confirmed a few months ago that it's supported and working on wired and wireless backhaul in addition to LTE backhaul. It also works on Airave 4s and Pebbles, which use wired backhaul.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[jefbal99]

Has anyone started having issues with their MagicBox in the last few days?  any device of mine that is connecting to the MB is terribly slow and very unstable network connections.  We turn off the MB and we are somewhat stable on B26/weak B25/41 connections.  I did a full factory reset on the MB and the issue still persists.

 

Has anything changed with the B41 carriers that are being used for the backhaul of these devices?

[jefbal99]

So after getting caught up on he TMobile/Sprint Network integration, I'm guessing that it is an offshoot of that work.  Hopefully things stabilize in the near future.

[crazy_vag]

Well, my MBG no longer reaches the street and now speeds capped at 17Mbit...

It feels like it's running at 1/4 the power and half the speed, but data usage dropped from 80GB/month to 2GB/month.

[alphaalphagamma]

I noticed this at home, thought it was unusual the signal strength was too low.  Thought it may have been the device. 

I've yet to test my other MBG, which covered an entire 140,000SQ foot building.  I'll find out to see if they actually did cut the transmit power, in the mean time anyone else have issues?

Otherwise still running full speed 100mbit/sec on the MB from the devices.

Edited October 3, 2020 by alphaalphagamma

[ahecht]

Looks like Sprint is phasing out Airave and Magic Box devices. I got the attached email, and I've seen reports of similar Magic Box ones going out today. I wonder if the pebble is impacted as well.

 

For what it's worth, calls from home are nearly impossible without using WiFi calling, but I guess that's what they mean by "improved network experience".

 

At least I'll save ~$40 per year in extra administrative fees.

Edited October 15, 2020 by ahecht

[alphaalphagamma]

It is regrettable that that t mobile is doing this, but not unexpected. 

 

Just signed up for verizon, another regrettable decision.

[red_dog007]

Man, they should do like at least like a $20 credit on your account if you bring it into a store.  Don't think it is responsible of them to make a million paper weights that will significantly end up in the trash. 

Can we expect another 20MHz to get added to 5G!?

[crazy_vag]

This applies to MB Gold and non-Gold?  I haven't received mine yet, but maybe explains the lower signal strength.

[troyd96]

For a while they moved my phone to all T-Mobile bands, and I could not connect to my Magic Box Gold anymore.  Just found out today I'm connecting back to my Magic Box again.  The T-mobile bands worked a little better in the interior of my work building but near where the Magic Box it was a wash as to which was faster.

I need to experiment today and determine if it tries to pick up T-mobile bands in the interior of the building or keeps trying to shift onto the unusable Band 25 Sprint signal that gives me no data in the interior like it used to do.

[mnjeepmale]

Well I just received that email from above regarding my MB. So essentially it's a paperweight soon. I haven't been using it for several months as it's connected in my office and I've working from home. But when I'm in the office, it does help as coverage is bad in the office. 

So I guess they are saying the MB will stop working soon.

[though]

Just ran a speedtest while connected to my Magic Box Gold. It was substantially higher than any previous time before. For the heck of it, I checked the software version and it's 15.17.50.557

Just wanted to throw that out there.

[alphaalphagamma]

On 4/20/2021 at 8:24 AM, though said:

Just ran a speedtest while connected to my Magic Box Gold. It was substantially higher than any previous time before. For the heck of it, I checked the software version and it's 15.17.50.557

Just wanted to throw that out there.

pushing 103mbps down on the MBG, used to cap out at 90, now i can top 105mbps