[ANSS-netops] cell modems and first of the month

[Philip Crotwell]

Hi

We put in the power cycling earlier (using a PRC1000) because we were
having  issues with stations going down followed by trips to the field
where all that was needed was to cycle the power on the modem. You
waste a whole day driving just to unplug/replug the stupid modem and
you start thinking there must be a better way! The power cycling
seemed to be more of a raven-x issue rather than a verizon or AT&T
issue as it happens with both. The RT130 seemed to have had a problem
renegotiating earlier, but I think that has been fixed in the more
recent firmware. We do not powercycle the rt130 daily, only the
reven-x.

We also log the raven-x voltage every 15 minutes, and when the first
of the month outage happens, not only does the data stops flowing but
also we are unable to access the modem (via telnet) remotely. So we
are pretty sure this issue is cell provider to raven-x and does not
involve any of the actual seismic equipment on the other side.

Since we put in the daily power cycling things have been much more
stable, with the exception of this first of the month issue. We
suspect of course that there is something happening with the cell
provider, maybe some monthly maintenance or rebooting. But we don't
have enough evidence to make them pay attention.

thanks
Philip



On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Mark E. Meremonte <meremonte at usgs.gov> wrote:
> HI Phillip,
>
> Is it a requirement to daily power cycle a Raven-X, XT, XE if using Verizon
> service?   I have numerous Cell modems across the country now and have never
> power cycled them.   However, I do have a couple that had weak to nill
> signal strength from time to time; and 2 which the RT130 would not
> renegotiate to the Internet.  Thus the RT130 had to be physically power
> cycled after I installed a directional antenna vs an Omni to obtain a more
> robust signal from one cell tower instead of 2 or more which the Omni
> appeared to be jumping around.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> At 07:54 12/2/2011, Philip Crotwell wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> We use raven-x cell modems on both verizon and at&t and have noticed
> that often a large percentage of the stations will go offline shortly
> after midnight on the first of the month. Not always, and not exactly
> at midnight, but usually between midnight and 2am. Usually the
> stations come back after our daily cell modem power cycle. It seems to
> happen more often with Verizon, but has also happened with AT&T. Tech
> support is as usual completely useless as they suggest "turn off the
> power and turn it back on again" and seem very surprised when I tell
> them I can't.
>
> Has anyone else seen this odd behavior? Any words of advice?
>
> thanks,
> Philip
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> *********************************************************
> Mark E. Meremonte         Geophysicist    Eq_Effects/NEIC
>
> U.S. Geological Survey:  Geologic Hazards Science Center
>  Denver Federal Center         Work: 303-273-8670   Cell: 303-478-5766
> MS 966, Box 25046                 Email: meremonte at usgs.gov
> Denver, CO  80225                  Web: http://geohazards.usgs.gov
>
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