AT&T 3G MicroCell Site Goes Live, Monthly Fees to Be Up to $19.99?

[GQB]

So the $60K question is, how long do you think before they offer this elsewhere, not just NC?

[terraphantm]

The idiot comment is for if you don't understand.

Again, you screwed up. Where did I ever say it's FREE? Exactly, I didn't! You're putting words in my mouth now to try and create an argument.

it's quite simple, people have been parading around here, saying it's outrageous that AT&T charges $20 a month on top of the $150 purchase in order to use the Microcell, and that simply isn't true. The truth is you buy it once and then you are done paying for it. It's simple. Posts where people are saying "wow, sucks to be an AT&T customer in the US and have to pay $20 a month to fix their crappy network" are based on 100% fallacy.

The issue is, I shouldn't pay for minutes or data used through the microcell. AT&T didn't pay for my cable modem or service in any way, so they shouldn't charge me for the minutes I use via that device.

[DotCom2]

Right now, I use my iPhone in my house, with unlimited mobile-to-mobile, more night and weekend minutes than I know what to do with, and more rollover minutes than I can count... and AT&T actually thinks I'm going to pay an upfront fee of $150 plus $20 per month IN ADDITION to what I already pay???

Are they out of their !$#$#%#$#@#$#$#$# MINDS ???????????? :eek::eek::eek:

This is perhaps THE WORST public relations mistake they could have made. With AT&T's image already tarnished, this is like squirting lighter fluid on an out of control camp fire. This move by AT&T is social suicide.
JEEZUZ! NOT ANOTHER PERSON THAT CAN'T READ.
You would NOT, and I repeat, NOT pay an additional $20 per month!
This device is for people who get poor service within their home/office.
You said yourself you have tons of rollover minutes so why on earth would you get the OPTIONAL, repeat, OPTIONAL unlimited minutes per month???
You would just buy the unit itself and use your plan minutes which you said you have plently of!

[diamond.g]

The issue is, I shouldn't pay for minutes or data used through the microcell. AT&T didn't pay for my cable modem or service in any way, so they shouldn't charge me for the minutes I use via that device.

But you are paying for them to allow you to use a PBX/PSTN in the transaction. So why should your PBX/PSTN usage be free?

[paj]

So the $60K question is, how long do you think before they offer this elsewhere, not just NC?
It's already available in the following 22 states:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Wisconsin

[yg17]

VERIZON HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Apple. The jump from the Chinese WCDMA to a Verizon CDMA receiver is not HUGE.

at&t- America's Tethered Titanic. :apple:

The WCDMA receiver in the Chinese iPhone is the exact same found in the iPhone 3G and 3GS. WCDMA and CDMA are two entirely different things.

[Rescuer]

3g microcell unboxed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pcguru83/sets/72157622302770611/

[aristobrat]

This $150 device is AT&T's way of telling us service won't really improve unless you pony up.
AT&T dumped $38 billion dollars over the last two years into improving service, and plans on spending $17-$18 billion just this year for service improvements.

$18 billion dollars = every single cent earned from 15 million iPhone customers, assuming they pay $100/month.

I don't think AT&T has 15 million iPhone customers.

I'm not here to defend their network. I have issues with it daily, where I work. I think Apple would have been wise to not make the iPhone an AT&T exclusive.

On the other hand, I see no point for people like you come along and post crap that implies AT&T isn't doing anything to improve their service, or that with the advent of this microcell, they're going to stop working on improving it.

[aristobrat]

Funny, T-Mobile has had this for years. Good to see it added for AT&T though. But that's a lot of money for the service.
Remember, T-Mobile doesn't offer a free option (you always have to pay a monthly fee, although you do get unlimited minutes with it), and you have to have a WiFi phone.

AT&T is a little different in that they do offer a free option (in addition to the monthly fee that gives you unlimited minutes), and it works with any of their 3G phones, not just the more expensive WiFi models.

[yg17]

Holy **** people, read the details!

This costs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING extra per month if you want to use your existing plan minutes.

If you pay 20 dollars a month, you get unlimited minutes as long as you're on the MicroCell. If you use a lot of minutes in your home, you can decrease your monthly rate plan, add this thing on, and possibly end up paying LESS per month than you already are.

Are we clear now? No, I didn't think so. Continue the bitchfest.

[satcomer]

Does anyone use the ThinkGeek Cell Phone Extender (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/dads/9823/) and live within a 3g area?

[tivoboy]

Does anyone use the ThinkGeek Cell Phone Extender (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/dads/9823/) and live within a 3g area?

I use the cheaper version of this product, the one that can be had for 60$ on amazon, and it works well AS DESCRIBED meaning it works very well within about 10 ft . of the unit. This unit will cover a house and I have no reason to think it wouldn't works AS WELL as the one I have which does.

[Rescuer]

Holy **** people, read the details!

This costs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING extra per month if you want to use your existing plan minutes.

If you pay 20 dollars a month, you get unlimited minutes as long as you're on the MicroCell. If you use a lot of minutes in your home, you can decrease your monthly rate plan, add this thing on, and possibly end up paying LESS per month than you already are.

Are we clear now? No, I didn't think so. Continue the bitchfest.

we could use more posts saying the same things over and over :)

[aristobrat]

I use the cheaper version of this product, the one that can be had for 60$ on amazon, and it works well AS DESCRIBED meaning it works very well within about 10 ft . of the unit. This unit will cover a house and I have no reason to think it wouldn't works AS WELL as the one I have which does.
I used the more expensive Amazon one here (http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Extenders-YX510-PCS-CELDual-Booster-Coverage/dp/B000J2XZ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1253572677&sr=8-1) (which looks like the ThinkGeek one) and didn't have much luck with it. The phones would show more signal, but the calls would still drop. I didn't want to spend the time figuring out which kind of directional antenna would help with the problem, so I ended up returning it for a refund, which worked out as AT&T put a new tower up less than a mile away shortly thereafter. Oye. :)

[PaulieORF]

It's already available in the following 22 states:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Wisconsin

Where did you get this from? I put in multiple Connecticut zip codes and the website says it's not available.

[PaulieORF]

The issue is, I shouldn't pay for minutes or data used through the microcell. AT&T didn't pay for my cable modem or service in any way, so they shouldn't charge me for the minutes I use via that device.

This is certainly a valid argument.

[Benster]

Ok, no flames for me being "an idiot" for buying one of these things. I'm a techno-geek and I love toys.

It took about 30 minutes after installation to "sync-up". I have two iPhones on individual plans so I set one up for the $20 unlimited (my wife's phone, she's "stay at home") and left my plan standard.

Once the cell activates, her phone says "AT&T Extend" instead of "AT&T" in the carrier signal area and mine says "AT&T M-CELL".

I used to have 2-3 varying bars of 3G signal, now I have 5 solid. Calls sound great.

As far as coverage, we have a 3500 sq foot house, I can get the Microcell signal full strength anywhere in the house EXCEPT, for the room over the garage, where it fails over to regular 3G (farthest point from the Microcell.)

This is very similar to the range of our 5.4 Ghz phones. I had to buy a separate base for the room over the garage because of similar signal issues when I got that far from the 5.4 Ghz base station.

All in all, probably not worth $150 for the level of signal we were getting, but worth $50 (I get the $100 rebate) and hoping the $19.99 will go down after the national roll out since I am a U-Verse customer too.

-Benster

[rtdunham]

Does anyone use the ThinkGeek Cell Phone Extender (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/dads/9823/) and live within a 3g area?

Yep. Be aware it's not a "ThinkGeek" cell phone extender, the product is by Wi-Ex. ThinkGeek's selling it, as does Amazon, and, I think, the mfr directly.

I use mine in Florida not in the "boonies" as some have referred to here but in the middle of a metropolitan area (st petersburg). There's good service very close by but i'm in an inexplicably bad area (no apparent geographic obstacles) that even the workers at my nearest ATT store knew about: a former store manager had lived there and his service didn't work there either! Repeated calls to ATT customer support brought promises of re-directed antenna but nothing ever changed with my (non-)service.

So...the multi-band Wi-Ex YX510 boosted my service from barely one bar and unusable service to 3 to 5 bars, 3G or not (I installed the antenna in the attic and ran coax down to a landing between the first and second floors: the install instructions make clear that mounting the antenna outside gives better results; for a variety of reasons that wasn't an acceptable solution for me). The immediate change in my ATT service was great. I say "was" because after my last trip to my florida place (I go back and forth) I'd lost the signal boost. I called Wi-Ex and we swapped the bad device for a new one. I won't be back in florida for 3 1/2 weeks so I can't swear the problem's solved, but I'd bet it is. So: a great product AND what i suspect will prove to be great customer service.

I do strongly object to having to pay $300 (the price when i bought mine) (or $150 for the femtocell) for service i had every reason to expect at my townhouse. I was a mile or two from a big ATT "more bars in more places" billboard. Uh-huh.

[yg17]

This is certainly a valid argument.

No it's not. Your call is still going across AT&T's network, it's just entering it at a different point (the internet rather than a cell tower). It still costs money to route your calls.

[aristobrat]

No it's not. Your call is still going across AT&T's network, it's just entering it at a different point (the internet rather than a cell tower). It still costs money to route your calls.
I wonder if Verizon doesn't offer an unlimited calling plan for their MicroCell because they figured a large percentage of their customers would go nutso like this thread?!

[JoeG4]

Actually, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint let you use the minutes pool for free. I'm not sure about Verizon, but if everyone else does it free, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. With T-Mobile, you have to have a Wi-Fi phone that supports UMA to do that, since they don't sell femtocells.

So that leads me to this: Why are you paying a phone company for a device to compensate in their failure to serve you? They should be BEGGING YOU to take that femtocell for free.

[mdriftmeyer]

Wow, this entire discussion about pricing makes me want to give up on the internet for good. It's bordering on hilarious now. Some of you people need to go back to school.

A vast majority of them just left, so I say we end No Child Left Behind and move these folks into trades like Sewing, Basket Weaving, Pool Cleaning, Sewer and other necessary careers that don't require the use of much brain power.

[PaulieORF]

No it's not. Your call is still going across AT&T's network, it's just entering it at a different point (the internet rather than a cell tower). It still costs money to route your calls.

I think it's something that can validly be argued, but I agree with you, there is still plenty of AT&T infrastructure that these calls go through. In my opinion, it's perfectly fine. My whole thing here today was about people who were arguing that $20 a month for Microcell service is a ripoff, which of course is not a valid argument since there is no such charge.

[DotCom2]

Ok, no flames for me being "an idiot" for buying one of these things. I'm a techno-geek and I love toys.

It took about 30 minutes after installation to "sync-up". I have two iPhones on individual plans so I set one up for the $20 unlimited (my wife's phone, she's "stay at home") and left my plan standard.

Once the cell activates, her phone says "AT&T Extend" instead of "AT&T" in the carrier signal area and mine says "AT&T M-CELL".

I used to have 2-3 varying bars of 3G signal, now I have 5 solid. Calls sound great.

As far as coverage, we have a 3500 sq foot house, I can get the Microcell signal full strength anywhere in the house EXCEPT, for the room over the garage, where it fails over to regular 3G (farthest point from the Microcell.)

This is very similar to the range of our 5.4 Ghz phones. I had to buy a separate base for the room over the garage because of similar signal issues when I got that far from the 5.4 Ghz base station.

All in all, probably not worth $150 for the level of signal we were getting, but worth $50 (I get the $100 rebate) and hoping the $19.99 will go down after the national roll out since I am a U-Verse customer too.

-Benster

Benster,
How far would you say the room over your garage is from the Microcell?
Thanks

[paj]

Where did you get this from? I put in multiple Connecticut zip codes and the website says it's not available.
http://www.wireless.att.com:80/learn/why/unity/more-information.jsp

[NoExpectations]

Ok, no flames for me being "an idiot" for buying one of these things. I'm a techno-geek and I love toys.

It took about 30 minutes after installation to "sync-up". I have two iPhones on individual plans so I set one up for the $20 unlimited (my wife's phone, she's "stay at home") and left my plan standard.

Once the cell activates, her phone says "AT&T Extend" instead of "AT&T" in the carrier signal area and mine says "AT&T M-CELL".

I used to have 2-3 varying bars of 3G signal, now I have 5 solid. Calls sound great.

As far as coverage, we have a 3500 sq foot house, I can get the Microcell signal full strength anywhere in the house EXCEPT, for the room over the garage, where it fails over to regular 3G (farthest point from the Microcell.)

This is very similar to the range of our 5.4 Ghz phones. I had to buy a separate base for the room over the garage because of similar signal issues when I got that far from the 5.4 Ghz base station.

All in all, probably not worth $150 for the level of signal we were getting, but worth $50 (I get the $100 rebate) and hoping the $19.99 will go down after the national roll out since I am a U-Verse customer too.

-Benster

This is very encouraging. I'm thinking of upgrading to the unlimited minutes plan at $20 per month and then I can get rid of my land-line to save $50 per month. Net-Net is that I save $30 per month.....or sort of like getting my iPhone Data PLan for free. :)

[Benster]

Benster,
How far would you say the room over your garage is from the Microcell?
Thanks

It is about 50 feet, but the garage and the room above it are separate structures from the house. It has always been trouble signal-wise. The farthest point I can get inside (same structure) is about 70 feet and the signal is strong. I can get it in all rooms upstairs full strength as well.

My 802.11g router from AT&T (came with the u-verse package) has a little better coverage ... at least it works in the bonus room above the garage.

-Benster

[gkarris]

Holy **** people, read the details!

This costs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING extra per month if you want to use your existing plan minutes.

If you pay 20 dollars a month, you get unlimited minutes as long as you're on the MicroCell. If you use a lot of minutes in your home, you can decrease your monthly rate plan, add this thing on, and possibly end up paying LESS per month than you already are.

Are we clear now? No, I didn't think so. Continue the bitchfest.

AT&T just wants to continue to justify their higher rates by offering yet another device that users have to figure out just to maintain a minimal quality of service.

I'll stick to my $52/month T-Mobile EDGE 1000 minute/unlimited data plan thank you... :eek:

[yg17]

So that leads me to this: Why are you paying a phone company for a device to compensate in their failure to serve you? They should be BEGGING YOU to take that femtocell for free.

100% coverage over an area is impossible because of terrain, government licensing, building permits, etc. Some people are going to be unfortunate and get stuck in such an area. This is certainly a better alternative over having no service.

[Rescuer]

http://www.wireless.att.com:80/learn/why/unity/more-information.jsp

click your link and see what you are posting about....

[paj]

click your link and see what you are posting about....

Ooops. Sorry about that.

Why the heck have they put the unity menus on the microcell page http://att.com/3gmicrocell/

[dyler]

I want to straighten some facts out about the microcell.

1. It makes you your own personal cell tower. You have to link the phone you want to use to it so people around you cannot use it as their cell tower only people you allow to.

2. you do not have to get the 20 dollar unlimited plan, you can just buy the micro-cell link your phone to it and use your wireless minutes you already have. If you want unlimited calling inside your home then you can add the 20.00 a month to your plan and get unlimited calling using the microcell that does not go against your other minutes.

So the cases said here are not the truth and I think it is a great idea for ATT to do this, and it sounds like it will be 150.00 with a 100.00 mail in rebate, sounds like a great deal to me. I have so many rollover minutes that buying this for 50.00 and getting to use my rollover minutes seems like a good thing to me.

[paj]

I want to straighten some facts out about the microcell.

1. It makes you your own personal cell tower. You have to link the phone you want to use to it so people around you cannot use it as their cell tower only people you allow to.

2. you do not have to get the 20 dollar unlimited plan, you can just buy the micro-cell link your phone to it and use your wireless minutes you already have. If you want unlimited calling inside your home then you can add the 20.00 a month to your plan and get unlimited calling using the microcell that does not go against your other minutes.

So the cases said here are not the truth and I think it is a great idea for ATT to do this, and it sounds like it will be 150.00 with a 100.00 mail in rebate, sounds like a great deal to me. I have so many rollover minutes that buying this for 50.00 and getting to use my rollover minutes seems like a good thing to me.
The mail in rebate is available only if you take the $20 monthly option.

[aristobrat]

Actually, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint let you use the minutes pool for free. I'm not sure about Verizon, but if everyone else does it free, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
If you look at Sprint's Airave pricing here (http://www.nextel.com/en/services/airave/index.shtml) and T-Mobile's info about "Unlimited Hotspot Calling" here (http://support.t-mobile.com/doc/tm23449.xml?related=y&Referring%20Related%20DocID%20List%20Index=1&docid=4158&navtypeid=6&pagetypeid=7&prevPageIndex=6), neither of them look to let you use your pool of minutes for free. Do you see otherwise?

[bboucher790]

This is the best thing ATT has done in the past year, and yet people are bitching. The general public can be incredibly stupid sometimes.

[chstr]

so do you have to have att internet service for this to work or can it work over any ISP?

[paj]

so do you have to have att internet service for this to work or can it work over any ISP?
Any provider will work. I'm using mine with Time Warner cable.

[NoExpectations]

...all you AT&T haters at the beginning of this post should do your homework.

Start here...

http://www.wireless.att.com:80/learn/why/3gmicrocell/

I can start a call from my home....take it with my on the road and it is unlimited.....does not count towards my calling plan.

[techwarrior]

$150 to help ATT fix their network shortcomings is in fact, quite a price for consumers to pick up.

With 4 ATT phones in my home, would I pay $20 for unlimited calls from all of the phones I authorize to use the microcell? Or is that on a per phone basis?

I would argue that at $20 per month, the device should be free given they are using my broadband connection to hop onto their net. How about the option to buy over a year at $10-15 per month.

[NoExpectations]

$150 to help ATT fix their network shortcomings is in fact, quite a price for consumers to pick up.

With 4 ATT phones in my home, would I pay $20 for unlimited calls from all of the phones I authorize to use the microcell? Or is that on a per phone basis?

I would argue that at $20 per month, the device should be free given they are using my broadband connection to hop onto their net. How about the option to buy over a year at $10-15 per month.

...but with this device, they can ensure excellent coverage at home. Many of us live in areas with natural barriers (hills, valleys, trees) and man made barriers (cement walls, steel beams, tinted windows)....and to get another local cell tower installed takes an act from God (local government permits, leasing of the land, construction, the NIMBY rule (Not In My BackYard)). This is really great news.....and if you plan it right, it can save you money (get rid of your land line!).

If you don't like the $20 per month, get it for $0 per month by using your existing wireless plan.

[GregorBehr]

(d) Get you free porn**


No free porn? Well then forget it! :D

[z-man]

So, this looks to break down as:

Spend $150 dollars. :(

A. Just use my phone(s) as normal, and have increased coverage wherever I want to place this thing. :)

-- OR --

B. Go the "unlimited" minutes route (and the $150 device decreases to $50). ;)
1. $20 a month if you do not have AT&T home phone or internet.
2. $10 a month if you have either AT&T home phone or internet.
3. $0 a month if you have both an AT&T home phone and internet.


So, since I have AT&T U-verse with both phone and internet -- I would pay $50 for the device (after a rebate), and I would now have unlimited minutes at home and 5 bar coverage always in my basement (or wherever I want)? :D

I really fail to see how this is an awful thing. I do not "have" to pay anything, except the $150 one time price to improve coverage exactly where "I" might want to improve it. They even WANT you to use them as your internet provider (if possible and available) -- and if so, they will reduce the cost? :cool:

[alexbates]

AT&T says you must have DSL or Cable to use it. I have Clear WiMAX as my home Internet & VoIP Phone service provider, which goes through 4G towers. Would this work with the MicroCell?

I'm confused exactly what the MicroCell requires besides an Internet connection to work. I have a 6MB connection, so that wouldn't be an issue.

[mrmike316]

Exactly Z-man I have att home phone and inetrnet and also wireless, looks like it would be free for me to use... sweet. from what it looks like on the att website you also get free data for the four phones also wich would be cool as well

[aristobrat]

I'm confused exactly what the MicroCell requires besides an Internet connection to work. I have a 6MB connection, so that wouldn't be an issue.
Yeah, as long as your latency isn't anything crazy, you'd think it'd work fine for you.

They really said just cable and DSL? No FiOS mention? Weird!

[cutmoney]

When I first saw this I was like that's exactly what I need! I've been complaining to AT&T for months now about my horrible service in my house (which has gotten progressively worse, even on my iPhone 3GS). Then, 30 seconds later I saw that AT&T is charging up to $20.00 per month for the service (plus the device). So, let me get this straight, we pay for a device which extends AT&T's network at our expense, pay an additional monthly fee, and finally get the service we're paying for in the first place. In the meantime, AT&T is getting more of my money, an expanded network and therefore a wider pool of customers to draw from, and a reduced strain on their cellular 3G network. Let's not forget, if you are using this device, you are using your OWN internet connection and avoiding AT&T's towers all together providing more capacity for them. Since these VOIP calls cost next to nothing for a company like AT&T, we end up paying more money for a service that most likely saves AT&T big money on cost of calls.

[noodle654]

So essentially we are paying even more money to expand a network/coverage that should already exist? This is the dumbest invention I have ever seen.

[Rodimus Prime]

When I first saw this I was like that's exactly what I need! I've been complaining to AT&T for months now about my horrible service in my house (which has gotten progressively worse, even on my iPhone 3GS). Then, 30 seconds later I saw that AT&T is charging up to $20.00 per month for the service (plus the device). So, let me get this straight, we pay for a device which extends AT&T's network at our expense, pay an additional monthly fee, and finally get the service we're paying for in the first place. In the meantime, AT&T is getting more of my money, an expanded network and therefore a wider pool of customers to draw from, and a reduced strain on their cellular 3G network. Let's not forget, if you are using this device, you are using your OWN internet connection and avoiding AT&T's towers all together providing more capacity for them. Since these VOIP calls cost next to nothing for a company like AT&T, we end up paying more money for a service that most likely saves AT&T big money on cost of calls.


Please if you can not be smart enough to read the FAQ do not bother flaming.

It has been pointed out time and time again the $20 a month charge is ONLY if you want unlimited minutes while on it. Other wise you buy the device for a $150 and use your plan minutes on it.

There is no monthly fee if you go with route 2.

[cutmoney]

I really fail to see how this is an awful thing. I do not "have" to pay anything, except the $150 one time price to improve coverage exactly where "I" might want to improve it. They even WANT you to use them as your internet provider (if possible and available) -- and if so, they will reduce the cost? :cool:

Here's what you're forgetting, we shouldn't HAVE to pay additional for a service that we are already paying for. I pay $200 per month for my two iPhones and two normal lines, which I already think is quite expensive. I live right next to a large university (2 blocks away) which has nearly 10,000 students in a city which has nearly 500,000 people. We have 3G coverage in the entire city but for some reason my service has gotten progressively worse around the whole area.

I'm sure the reason is because AT&T keeps increasing their subscribers (iPhone users) in the area but not their network. The told me that they have no plans to increase the network in the near future and that I should turn my phone on EDGE to get better performance. Now, I can't even make or receive a call in most parts of my house, the reception is TERRIBLE.

Now, why should I have to pay more money for something that I am already paying for??? I don't care if it costs me .99¢ for the device, it uses my internet connection and is an advantage for AT&T. Should I feel bad for AT&T because they have too many new subscribers in my area, NO!

Think about it this way, it's like if you went and bought a new hybrid car that was advertised to get 40 MPG but only really got 20 MPG. Then, the dealership offers a upgrade kit that gets an additional 20 MPG for only $150. You shouldn't have to pay additional for something you should already get for free!

[z-man]

So, let me get this straight, we pay for a device which extends AT&T's network at our expense, pay an additional monthly fee, and finally get the service we're paying for in the first place.

It sounds like we will be able to pay for a device to extend cell service into our homes, and use just for ourselves (does not sound like a public access point). There seem to be no additional fees unless you want to add "unlimited" minutes when you are using your home network (*yawn* -- how about unlimited SMS instead?).

I am not a fan of spending 150 dollars. But, if it is just for me and uses internet I am already paying for anyways -- I am not sure I would care much about using my internet connection more to improve my cell service.

[jrhone]

Alot of people dont realize that in Orange County there is a BAN on new cell sites. At&T cant add sites no matter what. So there are dead zones. EVERYONE has them, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, everyone. So this gives them an advantage over all the other companies. Its pretty smart actually. I give it 3-6 months before every wireless carrier has something similar. I would imagine that for environmental reasons ALOT of places have a ban on new cell towers.

[z-man]

Here's what you're forgetting, we shouldn't HAVE to pay additional for a service that we are already paying for.

Agreed. AT&T should offer the device for free.

The 40mpg example is pretty good. However, it is not the car (phone) that is having the problem. It's the highway. This "microcell" sorta sounds like a tollway if we are using that kind of comparison. And, I HATE tollways. They are all around us here in Austin now. So, I completely understand the unfairness of having to "pay more".

This 'microcell' sounds like a one-time investment though, so to me it sounds "maybe doable". I like the sound of the $100 rebate. FREE would be better though! Free is always better. :D

[run-kmc]

I give it 3-6 months before every wireless carrier has something similar.

This would be accurate if it were spoken in 2007, since everyone else pretty much has something similar already. :D

I bet Google is behind this. Another plot to destroy Apple.

[Rodimus Prime]

Alot of people dont realize that in Orange County there is a BAN on new cell sites. At&T cant add sites no matter what. So there are dead zones. EVERYONE has them, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, everyone. So this gives them an advantage over all the other companies. Its pretty smart actually. I give it 3-6 months before every wireless carrier has something similar. I would imagine that for environmental reasons ALOT of places have a ban on new cell towers.

tell you the truth AT&T is the last person to enter this game.

T-Mobile was first and used the by far better UMA system. Sprint and Verizon had there Fermacell tech out before AT&T.

AT&T was just playing follow the leader.

[GeeYouEye]

So AT&T wants me to use a device that ultimately reduces strain on the overloaded frontend of their cellular network and provides the services to me that I'm already paying for? Great! So how much are they paying me to use my internet connection? Nothing? Well, that's kinda disappointing. But they're at least giving me a free device, right? No? $150?!

If it wasn't so laughable, I'd be offended at this insult to my intelligence.

And I don't want to hear word one about how bad Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are. I. Don't. Care. I don't have service with them.

[aristobrat]

Now, why should I have to pay more money for something that I am already paying for??? I don't care if it costs me .99¢ for the device, it uses my internet connection and is an advantage for AT&T. Should I feel bad for AT&T because they have too many new subscribers in my area
Who said you should feel bad for a wireless carrier?!

Every carrier has customers in the same situation as you.

The reality is that you can use a microcell to enhance a carriers lack of coverage (and make use of the service you pay for). Or don't.

No major US carrier is giving microcells away for free. Only ATT and Verizon allow microcells to be used without a recurring monthly cost.

So if you don't believe in using one on the principal, that's fine. Either way, seems like you're wasting money (either by paying for a wireless service that doesn't work well at your house, with no immediate service improvements coming, or by paying $150 to get a device that lets you use your wireless service).

[aristobrat]

And I don't want to hear word one about how bad Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are. I. Don't. Care. I don't have service with them.
If ATT isn't providing you with adequate coverage, Perhaps. You. Should?

[zap2]

So AT&T wants me to use a device that ultimately reduces strain on the overloaded frontend of their cellular network and provides the services to me that I'm already paying for? Great! So how much are they paying me to use my internet connection? Nothing? Well, that's kinda disappointing. But they're at least giving me a free device, right? No? $150?!

If it wasn't so laughable, I'd be offended at this insult to my intelligence.

And I don't want to hear word one about how bad Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are. I. Don't. Care. I don't have service with them.

:rolleyes:

Ok, I understand wanting it for a low cost, that makes sense. But honestly, them paying mean seems unfair. this isn't for areas with good services with the goal of taking strain off the network, its for people such as myself whose homes are covered, but weakly, and I'd rather get service all over my house(as I'm planning to drop my landline)

Also ignore what Sprint, T Mobile and Verizon are doing is pretty irrational...as the market is largely made up of those 4 big players. If you want to push AT&T to change stuff, it will likely come from market forces(lots of users going to AT&T), so just ignoring that seems a bit closed minded and counter productive.

[Arcady]

I don't get the point of this. The only reason I would want it is because I get no cell reception in my office. No GPS either. So if it requires GPS to operate, wouldn't I have a 3G signal too? Then why would I need this?

[davidee]

Holy **** people, read the details!

This costs ABSOLUTELY NOTHING extra per month if you want to use your existing plan minutes.

If you pay 20 dollars a month, you get unlimited minutes as long as you're on the MicroCell. If you use a lot of minutes in your home, you can decrease your monthly rate plan, add this thing on, and possibly end up paying LESS per month than you already are.

Are we clear now? No, I didn't think so. Continue the bitchfest.

It deducts from your plan minutes (anytime, rollover, toothfairy donated whatever...). If it is using my network, it should not deduct from my plan. Period.

I find $20 to be not so reasonable when I am already paying over 300 (nearly four) monthly.

Equipment costs are one thing, but then a bundle price that gives me a feature (unlim talk on AT&T net ... not mine, or unlim text included is a nice gimee that could soften this) would be better received, at this point the consumer thinks that AT&T are money grubbing [insert favorite expletive]


instead they are offering you the privilege of extending their service area (for your phones) since they cannot (reliably) _and_ either removing minutes from your bucket(s) or offering you the stellar offer of paying them extra to utilize/originate calls on your wire marketed as unlimited (when you are providing the end access point to originate the call ... since they cannot). wow....what a deal.

No matter how blind you are here, I hope you realize that there should be a better compromise.

[Rescuer]

if there is a $100 rebate for signing up for the $20 plan, then why not sign up for that plan, get the rebate a month later, then change the plan to the free one?

[mactastic]

If there is anger to be directed at AT&T for this, it's for their slowness in getting this into people's hands rather than the product offering itself -- which appears to be comparable to other provider's offerings.

Granted, it's not aimed at everyone. If you currently get a strong signal in your house, and you already pay big bucks to have an unlimited minutes/texts plan and you don't even have a landline -- well, why the hell would you bother spending the money on this, right? But for people who either get poor reception at home or could benefit from a cheaper overall cost by ditching a landline and/or reducing a cell phone rate plan, this thing makes a lot of sense.

Now, you want to quibble about the costs? Ok. Sure, it would be nice if this device went for $99 instead of $150. Would be even better if it was free. But ultimately the device cost is negligible. If, as in my case, I can save $25/month by ditching the land line I've kept essentially just for 911 calls and because the AT&T service is spotty here (although superior to Verizon's oddly enough), then I break even on that trade off in 6 months. Would I like to break even a little earlier? Sure, but even at 6 months it's a good deal for me long term.

Or for instance, say you ran a home business where you needed a thousand or more minutes for calls during the day during the week (the kind that eat up your minutes) but most of those calls were made at home. You could lower your rate plan to a minimal plan, then pay $20 for unlimited calling at home. If you use your mobile phone as a landline replacement -- and thus make and receive a lot of calls at home -- it would be quite possible to lower your mobile plan rate by more than $20, and be saving money every month. If you can lower your total overall monthly costs by even $10, you'll be saving money on the cost of the femtocell by the time one full contract cycle on your mobile phone is up.

And for those who get little to no service at their home for whatever ill-fortune of geography or architecture, this device is priceless. $150 is a small price to pay to fix that problem.

Again, fault AT&T for being late to the party (once again), not for making this available. Quibble about the price if you want to, but recognize that for those for whom this saves a few bucks a month, that initial price is rapidly offset. (And for the person who said this $150 femtocell cost was "3/4 of an iPhone", I must sadly shake my head in wonder... Just because you PAY $199 for an iPhone does NOT mean the cost of the iPhone is $199. Seriously. Look it up.)

And if it doesn't make sense for you to own one, don't do it. No one's forcing AT&T customers to buy one of these. And even if you choose to buy one, nobody's forcing you to pay any kind of monthly recurring fee.

[hypmatize]

Alot of people dont realize that in Orange County there is a BAN on new cell sites. At&T cant add sites no matter what. So there are dead zones. EVERYONE has them, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, everyone. So this gives them an advantage over all the other companies. Its pretty smart actually. I give it 3-6 months before every wireless carrier has something similar. I would imagine that for environmental reasons ALOT of places have a ban on new cell towers.

Is it in all of orange county? I thought it was only irvine (where I live) that had a ban on new cell towers....

hope tmobile comes out with this..... but then again not sure about the unknown effects it could have on everyone.

[yg17]

It deducts from your plan minutes (anytime, rollover, toothfairy donated whatever...). If it is using my network, it should not deduct from my plan. Period.

I find $20 to be not so reasonable when I am already paying over 300 (nearly four) monthly.

Equipment costs are one thing, but then a bundle price that gives me a feature (unlim talk on AT&T net ... not mine, or unlim text included is a nice gimee that could soften this) would be better received, at this point the consumer thinks that AT&T are money grubbing [insert favorite expletive]


instead they are offering you the privilege of extending their service area (for your phones) since they cannot (reliably) _and_ either removing minutes from your bucket(s) or offering you the stellar offer of paying them extra to utilize/originate calls on your wire marketed as unlimited (when you are providing the end access point to originate the call ... since they cannot). wow....what a deal.

No matter how blind you are here, I hope you realize that there should be a better compromise.

It's still using AT&T's network. Where do you think the call goes once it hits the internet? It's still routed through AT&T and still using their resources and costing them money.

[thestaton]

It's still using AT&T's network. Where do you think the call goes once it hits the internet? It's still routed through AT&T and still using their resources and costing them money.

You should make Keith Oldermans Worst Person of the Weed. Defending AT&T. You do remember they let the government just walk right in?

[yg17]

You should make Keith Oldermans Worst Person of the Weed. Defending AT&T. You do remember they let the government just walk right in?

No, not defending anyone, just injecting a bit of common sense into a discussion that is lacking in that department.

[sschwar4]

Why bother with the data side???

Most home networks are still much faster than the 3G. Why would you want a device that uses your wireless to step down to 3G?

The voice on the other hand is where AT&T's problems are. They have been unable to keep up with the iPhone boom. Their network updates cannot happen fast enough to keep up with new users.

They should have had this solution a year ago!!

The cost is a wash. I can step back my minute plan, that supported the 100s of dropped calls each week. Maybe even money back in my pocket!

[aristobrat]

I don't get the point of this. The only reason I would want it is because I get no cell reception in my office. No GPS either. So if it requires GPS to operate, wouldn't I have a 3G signal too? Then why would I need this?
I don't see where it says the MicroCell provides GPS information to the phones, but I may have missed that.

One of the points of the MicroCell is to provide coverage in areas like your office. You plug this thing into your internet connection, and it acts like a mini cell tower, giving coverage to the specific AT&T 3G phones that you authorize to use it.

AFAIK, the main reason for GPS on this unit is that AT&T isn't allowed to let this operate in areas where they don't have a license to provide service. So they use GPS to verify that you're in an area that's OK to run it. The GPS signal that it requires comes from satellites (unless it uses aGPS, which may initially get some rough coordinates from the cell phone towers, until it locks onto the satellites), not AT&T. So if your office has zero AT&T coverage, as long as you can get a GPS signal (from the satellites), it should work.

[yg17]

I don't see where it says the MicroCell provides GPS information to the phones, but I may have missed that.

One of the points of the MicroCell is to provide coverage in areas like your office. You plug this thing into your internet connection, and it acts like a mini cell tower, giving coverage to the specific AT&T 3G phones that you authorize to use it.

AFAIK, the main reason for GPS on this unit is that AT&T isn't allowed to let this operate in areas where they don't have a license to provide service. So they use GPS to verify that you're in an area that's OK to run it. The GPS signal that it requires comes from satellites (unless it uses aGPS, which may initially get some rough coordinates from the cell phone towers, until it locks onto the satellites), not AT&T. So if your office has zero AT&T coverage, as long as you can get a GPS signal (from the satellites), it should work.

You can generally get a GPS signal indoors unless you live in a bunker. It may not be a strong enough signal or enough satellites to pinpoint you accurate enough for turn by turn directions, but for determining if you're somewhere in the US it'll be good enough.

[aristobrat]

Why bother with the data side???

Most home networks are still much faster than the 3G. Why would you want a device that uses your wireless to step down to 3G?
My guess is that they want this solution to work with all of their 3G phones, most of which don't support WiFi.

[davidee]

It's still using AT&T's network. Where do you think the call goes once it hits the internet? It's still routed through AT&T and still using their resources and costing them money.

- - - begin rebuttal - - -

Right, and I said that in my previous posts (and others have said it too, I do have an understanding of how telco/wireless carriers do their thing), so read back a few if you doubt that...

Now, back to my reply:

It is using their resources to call complete, but it is also using mine. Now if I were to get one of these because I lived in the sticks (as my dad does) and the reception is poor for about any carrier then great, but we are talking buildings, metropolitan areas, windows right next to cell towers, etc ... these people are also having problems and the femtocell is a solution for them (but it is kinda pathetic, seeing where they are).

the sad part is the AT&T network buildout was underspec'd and the subscriber ratio is higher than they had planned/engineered for.

Enter the femtocel: "If you'd like you calls to complete, buy one of these, because we can't promise you signal"

so you can defend all you like, you must realize when you say <quote>"It's still routed through AT&T and still using their resources and costing them money"</quote> that is also costs us money if we have one of those jewels on our wire (and I am not talking about up front costs, I have said that is ok in my prev posts that you have not read). The idea that I need to patch your net, and you deduct minutes from my plan or I have to pay you extra so you don't is extortion, not to mention double dipping (how, you laugh? simple i am already paying for them.).

All carriers do this, AT&T is the worst if you look at pricing. I have already suggested a solution in my prior post too.

- - - end rebuttal - - -

Now a thought regarding the femtocell. If this thing is mobile and can be taken around, I would wonder if businesses such as hotels (there are quite a few where I get poor reception), airport clubs, etc will make service agreement modifications that exempt use of such a device on their wire.

I am also curious as to the quality on one of the above nets, the whole thing of shared bandwidth and voip comes more into the mainstream now as a concern, where as in the past it was only for us techies.

[diamond.g]

- - - begin rebuttal - - -

Right, and I said that in my previous posts (and others have said it too, I do have an understanding of how telco/wireless carriers do their thing), so read back a few if you doubt that...

Now, back to my reply:

It is using their resources to call complete, but it is also using mine. Now if I were to get one of these because I lived in the sticks (as my dad does) and the reception is poor for about any carrier then great, but we are talking buildings, metropolitan areas, windows right next to cell towers, etc ... these people are also having problems and the femtocell is a solution for them (but it is kinda pathetic, seeing where they are).

the sad part is the AT&T network buildout was underspec'd and the subscriber ratio is higher than they had planned/engineered for.

Enter the femtocel: "If you'd like you calls to complete, buy one of these, because we can't promise you signal"

so you can defend all you like, you must realize when you say <quote>"It's still routed through AT&T and still using their resources and costing them money"</quote> that is also costs us money if we have one of those jewels on our wire (and I am not talking about up front costs, I have said that is ok in my prev posts that you have not read). The idea that I need to patch your net, and you deduct minutes from my plan or I have to pay you extra so you don't is extortion, not to mention double dipping (how, you laugh? simple i am already paying for them.).

All carriers do this, AT&T is the worst if you look at pricing. I have already suggested a solution in my prior post too.

- - - end rebuttal - - -

Now a thought regarding the femtocell. If this thing is mobile and can be taken around, I would wonder if businesses such as hotels (there are quite a few where I get poor reception), airport clubs, etc will make service agreement modifications that exempt use of such a device on their wire.

I am also curious as to the quality on one of the above nets, the whole thing of shared bandwidth and voip comes more into the mainstream now as a concern, where as in the past it was only for us techies.
The amusing part about it is AT&T is still profiting from this poor planning. From their perspective building out slowly and having to play catchup is better than doing what Sprint did (do all of this buildout and not have anyone to use it/charge for it).

[yg17]

It is using their resources to call complete, but it is also using mine. Now if I were to get one of these because I lived in the sticks (as my dad does) and the reception is poor for about any carrier then great, but we are talking buildings, metropolitan areas, windows right next to cell towers, etc ... these people are also having problems and the femtocell is a solution for them (but it is kinda pathetic, seeing where they are).

If you're in a metro area, and you get service outside a building, and lose service when entering a building, it's likely due to the building materials (some block signals more than others) and not the network.

And, other than up front costs, assuming you don't opt for the unlimited minutes plan, is this thing really going to cost you anything more? You already have a broadband connection. Voice traffic uses such little bandwidth that even slower broadband connections, such as 1 megabit, would be enough for you to use the internet on your phone or computer while on a call so it's not like you'll need to upgrade to the uber 10mbps or whatever package to run this. As long as your ISP doesn't cap your bandwidth, there are no ongoing costs.

[majortom64]

I can't wait to switch to Verizon, where I can pay $100 more for the exact same service. Stupid AT&T and their lower price.

Actually, you are paying Verizon $100 more ($250) for less service as theirs does not cover their 3G data. Sure with an iPhone I can also use WiFi, but with many other phones (and most of Verizon's in particular), I do not have that option.

I already have unlimited minutes, so I have no need to pay extra.

My two biggest suggestions are to have a mode that needs to be enabled where it can be set to open access. I have 5,000 square foot steel building on my 5 acres in which it is impossible to get service (T-mobile seems to work inside it on occasion, Verizon and Sprint work no where on my property, while AT&T has coverage outside and in my house, but not in the building, all this 10 minutes from Disney). I use this building for hosting large charity events, during which it would be great to open it up to general guests.

Also, in a similar vein, I would like to it to allow handoffs between Micro Cells. I would set up several of them around my 5 acres to ensure flawless coverage.

[Crotalus_Joe]

I get good service in my house so that isnt an issue, but i do like the idea of the $20 for unlimited minutes on our family plan. I could cancel the Comcast digital voice that is close to $30 and save myself $10/ month or so.

[Rodimus Prime]

Actually, you are paying Verizon $100 more ($250) for less service as theirs does not cover their 3G data. Sure with an iPhone I can also use WiFi, but with many other phones (and most of Verizon's in particular), I do not have that option.

I already have unlimited minutes, so I have no need to pay extra.

My two biggest suggestions are to have a mode that needs to be enabled where it can be set to open access. I have 5,000 square foot steel building on my 5 acres in which it is impossible to get service (T-mobile seems to work inside it on occasion, Verizon and Sprint work no where on my property, while AT&T has coverage outside and in my house, but not in the building, all this 10 minutes from Disney). I use this building for hosting large charity events, during which it would be great to open it up to general guests.

Also, in a similar vein, I would like to it to allow handoffs between Micro Cells. I would set up several of them around my 5 acres to ensure flawless coverage.

I do not think the Microcell will do you much good for your problem. The Microcells can only handle 10 cells and 4 active calls at 1 time. That is not very much. You might need another solution that is a bit more powerful. You could always get a good signal repeater that can handle a much larger number of cells.

[alent1234]

Actually, you are paying Verizon $100 more ($250) for less service as theirs does not cover their 3G data. Sure with an iPhone I can also use WiFi, but with many other phones (and most of Verizon's in particular), I do not have that option.

I already have unlimited minutes, so I have no need to pay extra.

My two biggest suggestions are to have a mode that needs to be enabled where it can be set to open access. I have 5,000 square foot steel building on my 5 acres in which it is impossible to get service (T-mobile seems to work inside it on occasion, Verizon and Sprint work no where on my property, while AT&T has coverage outside and in my house, but not in the building, all this 10 minutes from Disney). I use this building for hosting large charity events, during which it would be great to open it up to general guests.

Also, in a similar vein, I would like to it to allow handoffs between Micro Cells. I would set up several of them around my 5 acres to ensure flawless coverage.

no one does wifi calling because of the expense required on the backend and it's very insecure. not sure about N, but the G standard is very easy to crack the encryption

[davidee]

If you're in a metro area, and you get service outside a building, and lose service when entering a building, it's likely due to the building materials (some block signals more than others) and not the network.

And, other than up front costs, assuming you don't opt for the unlimited minutes plan, is this thing really going to cost you anything more? You already have a broadband connection. Voice traffic uses such little bandwidth that even slower broadband connections, such as 1 megabit, would be enough for you to use the internet on your phone or computer while on a call so it's not like you'll need to upgrade to the uber 10mbps or whatever package to run this. As long as your ISP doesn't cap your bandwidth, there are no ongoing costs.

yea it is due to building materials, and I won't go into frequency/wavelength discussions as to why edge is better there (and is the reason I leave mine on edge) but I will address the 2nd half

for someone that runs really close to plan minutes (and I have 4000 plus the nights/weekends (enhanced) and mob-to-mob, yea if i decided to use the device more than I already do, it would cost me money.

Now, the last part of your response. I think you need to do a bit of looking here at what packages are out there (as far as broadband) and see there is a up/down split. 1MB up is actually above average (**especially on AT&T**, having biz class in the past, I was limited to 768) now when you saturate the down, you do not have much up and vice-versa. Think about that for a minute, your internet speed is being degraded while you are on the phone, and if you have a family and have 1-4 cell connections active, it becomes pretty much constant use (just do the math). Now I realize that no one is on 24/7 but my point is it affects your speed (broadband isp), and if you don't select the unlim plan, it deducts from your plan minutes, so double loss unless you pony up the $20 extra.

[Stately]

I'm amazed at how many people posting here cannot read.

There is NO monthly fee!

I'm getting one of these MicroCells as soon as they are available.

Lol wow, and I'm amazed that yet again money has to be put out to help the iPhone do what it would be perfectly capable of doing at only $50 a month with other carriers, yet again because it already has the capability in terms of internal hardware and software, but is again crippled by greed. And for those of you who STILL say that people just like to whine about At&ts service/prices for no reason, what do you call this? This can't possibly make one iota of sense, even to you.

[d21mike]

Just spent 2 1/2 hours in a Medical Clinic waiting room while my wife had a minor proceedure. I could only get 1 bar and E service while setting next to a window. I was trying to do data (no voice) on my iPhone 3GS (email, text) and it was extremely slow when it worked.

In my city (Torrance, California) I have 3G Service pretty much every where. I think the option for these devices in busiinesses where they can open the service to customers would be very helpful.

For those that say AT&T should just put up more towers, I don't think it is financially feasible for them to cover every square foot of the US. This is a great option to extend coverage at a reasonable price.

[deannnnn]

im in NYC as well and service depends where you are. midtown is sucks due to the big buildings and people. on the hudson it's pretty good. queens and brooklyn it's good as well but the data is a bit slow

Haha, very true.
Too bad I live in a big building in midtown...

[aristobrat]

Lol wow, and I'm amazed that yet again money has to be put out to help the iPhone do what it would be perfectly capable of doing at only $50 a month with other carriers, yet again because it already has the capability in terms of internal hardware and software, but is again crippled by greed.
Can you please explain where the greed is?

AT&T has committed to spending $18B this year for service improvements (on top of the $38B they spend over the last two years).

$18B equates to literally every penny that they will earn this year from 15M iPhone customers (assuming that they actually have 15M iPhone customers, each paying $100/month average bill).

AT&T's made a lot of of poor decisions (IMO) that are now coming back to bite them, but I don't see where they're being greedy.

For those that say AT&T should just put up more towers, I don't think it is financially feasible for them to cover every square foot of the US. This is a great option to extend coverage at a reasonable price.
For something like an office building, other carriers have something called a picocell, which basically works like a super-MicroCell (but you don't have to authorize specific phones). Wonder if AT&T has that? :confused:

[javaJunkie]

Just got one. So for the first time in two years, I can use my iPhone in my home office which is in my basement. Before, I would get a call but when i answered, it would drop. I would then have to call back on a land line. Total PITA! now i have 5 bars! It was totally worth the $150 no monthly charge since i didn't go for the unlimited plan. Added bonus now i can get rid of my pager since i can now reliably receive calls, texts, and emails. I tried A cell phone booster before which cost more than the micro cell and did not work. So yes it sucks having to buy this, but it is not all ATT's fault. My wife's freebie Nokia gets 10 times better reception than my iPhone. That has been the reason she did not switch. So, while I hated to dish out the bucks, it is totally worth it

[Benster]

Just got one. So for the first time in two years, I can use my iPhone in my home office which is in my basement. Before, I would get a call but when i answered, it would drop. I would then have to call back on a land line. Total PITA! now i have 5 bars! It was totally worth the $150 no monthly charge since i didn't go for the unlimited plan. Added bonus now i can get rid of my pager since i can now reliably receive calls, texts, and emails. I tried A cell phone booster before which cost more than the micro cell and did not work. So yes it sucks having to buy this, but it is not all ATT's fault. My wife's freebie Nokia gets 10 times better reception than my iPhone. That has been the reason she did not switch. So, while I hated to dish out the bucks, it is totally worth it

I just checked on-line and it looks like my wife has racked up about 29 minutes in Microcell calls today already. It breaks it out separately on the summary page on the AT&T website in a "Unlimited AT&T 3G MicroCell Voice Usage" section. On the detailed billing section they are listed as "FEMTO" where as mobile-to-mobile show up as "M2MCNG". It even showed up on the iPhone myWireless app.

Maybe getting her the unlimited plan to offset the Microcell cost was not such a bad idea after all.

-Benster

[davidee]

For something like an office building, other carriers have something called a picocell, which basically works like a super-MicroCell (but you don't have to authorize specific phones). Wonder if AT&T has that? :confused:

Yep they sure do have that we have 4 of them. I do not know however the $ associated but I know that it is setup through a corporate rep, and ours tied into the switches direct. (or at least they did last I knew how we had it done...it may be voip now for all I know). sidenote, any phone can use it and you see it as a normal cell site (no special name in the carrier).

[Mr Maui]

With all of these stories recently about radiation from different smartphones ... how much radiation does this thing kick off around your house. :eek:

[aristobrat]

Yep they sure do have that we have 4 of them. I do not know however the $ associated but I know that it is setup through a corporate rep, and ours tied into the switches direct. (or at least they did last I knew how we had it done...it may be voip now for all I know). sidenote, any phone can use it and you see it as a normal cell site (no special name in the carrier).
That's cool. I wish we had enough clout with AT&T (where I work) to get a few. No carrier has great in-building coverage here, but the 1900mhz carriers (AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile) are the worst. :(

With all of these stories recently about radiation from different smartphones ... how much radiation does this thing kick off around your house. :eek:
Wonder if it's similar to a wireless access point everyone uses for Internet? Range is about the same. Frequency is lower, I think.

[Mr Maui]

Wonder if it's similar to a wireless access point everyone uses for Internet? Range is about the same. Frequency is lower, I think.

It probably works like an Airport or wireless router.

[yg17]

That's cool. I wish we had enough clout with AT&T (where I work) to get a few. No carrier has great in-building coverage here, but the 1900mhz carriers (AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile) are the worst. :(


Wonder if it's similar to a wireless access point everyone uses for Internet? Range is about the same. Frequency is lower, I think.

It's either using the 850 MHz or 1900 MHz frequency or a combination of the two. WiFi uses 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. Lower frequencies travel further than higher ones, so the MicroCell must use less power output to restrict it to about the same range as a wireless network, otherwise, if a MicroCell and a WiFi router had the same power output, the MicroCell signal would probably extend far beyond the WiFi network and what the FCC allows.

Due to the difference in frequencies, it won't interfere with your WiFi network or any other wireless devices you may have around the house (landline cordless phones, bluetooth, etc).

[majortom64]

I do not think the Microcell will do you much good for your problem.

Hence my suggestion for a new feature.

The Microcells can only handle 10 cells and 4 active calls at 1 time.

My two biggest suggestions are to have a mode that needs to be enabled where it can be set to open access.

Four simultaneous calls would not be a problem, most people are not making calls during these events. A limit to registered phones is the problem that my suggestion was trying to solve.

/carmi

[andyplace]

In my house, I get a crap-tastic 2G signal [3g not in my area yet] and I have cable internet. People call me 5 times in a row and it only rings on the last call sometimes. My phone fluctuates between no service and 1/2 bars. Because there is no added cost to use my own minutes , I would definitely get one of these so I can enjoy my iPhone to the fullest.

$150 -- could be worse

[majortom64]

Lol wow, and I'm amazed that yet again money has to be put out to help the iPhone do what it would be perfectly capable of doing at only $50 a month with other carriers, yet again because it already has the capability in terms of internal hardware and software, but is again crippled by greed.

You keep mentioning these "other carriers", would you be more specific. Who provides unlimited service with perfect coverage every where in the U.S. for $50 a month?

[DustyLBottoms]

I'm totallly going to buy a bunch of these, set them up here in roanoke (no 3g service!) and charge people to use them.

:D

[majortom64]

Yep they sure do have that we have 4 of them. I do not know however the $ associated but I know that it is setup through a corporate rep, and ours tied into the switches direct.

If you have a contact at AT&T, I'd be interested in talking further with them. I can provide them some chunk 100Mb/s commercial fiber for backhaul.

[swmetallica]

Nokia phones almost always capture the best signal. I've been using Nokia phones for years and my phone will have a signal when others around me with other brands of phones have no service.

I like the hotspot calling T-Mobile offers much better than having to purchase additional equipment that you can only use at a single location. I can make calls over any open wifi connection, at T-Mobile HotSpot locations, and routers I personally have access to. Hotspot calls use regular minutes, or you can get a $9.99 add-on for unlimited hotspot calling.

Because Nokia gets the best signal, and AT&T doesn't offer hotspot calling, I refuse to get an iPhone. My rate plan is much cheaper with T-Mobile anyways.

[Matthew Yohe]

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. I live in Los Angeles and still get horrible service at my house. So now I'm supposed to pay more money because AT&T can't get its act together?

This cocky, FU attitude from AT&T must mean that Apple is extending their exclusive deal. How else could they be so ballsy?

You were quoted on MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32959787/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

[majortom64]

Nokia phones almost always capture the best signal.

No, they do not. I moved to Nokia with my 6160 and did not leave until my iPhone, having gone through 6620, 6682, N70, N80, and the N80 US (among others). When comparing to others on my network, sometimes my reception exceeded all others and sometimes it was noticeably worse.

I've been using Nokia phones for years and my phone will have a signal when others around me with other brands of phones have no service.

Too bad Nokia is not really developing new (http://gigaom.com/2008/02/22/nokia-has-doubts-about-uma/) UMA phones.

I like the hotspot calling T-Mobile offers much better than having to purchase additional equipment that you can only use at a single location. I can make calls over any open wifi connection, at T-Mobile HotSpot locations, and routers I personally have access to. Hotspot calls use regular minutes, or you can get a $9.99 add-on for unlimited hotspot calling.

Instead of needing special equipment, one needs a special phone. Given how few deployments there are for this technology, the market is quite small and the selection is quite limited. Nokia (your phone manufacturer of choice) has a single phone, that is over two years old and does not support 3G. They do not have any smart phones. that work with the technology, and do not have any quad band phones (limiting your choice of roaming options internationally).

With a Femto Cell, one does need a special piece of hardware, but one can use any world phone giving one a much larger range of options, including many smartphones and many phones from Nokia.

Because Nokia gets the best signal, and AT&T doesn't offer hotspot calling, I refuse to get an iPhone. My rate plan is much cheaper with T-Mobile anyways.

Too bad your chances of getting a new UMA Nokia phone are small. Yes, T-mobile is cheaper. It is their way of competing with the much larger networks of AT&T and Verizon. I am glad they do that as it helps keep pricing down for the rest of us.

[majortom64]

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. I live in Los Angeles and still get horrible service at my house. So now I'm supposed to pay more money because AT&T can't get its act together?

Are you in an area that is geographically challenging for providing wireless service like the Hollywood Hills? Do you have an older house with lath and plaster walls which make signal propagation more difficult?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, than something like a Femto Cell is likely the only solution that will ever solve your problem and best of all, it does not require AT&T to do a business case to decide how many customers fixing coverage at your house would benefit. If you answered no to both of those questions and have already reported your service problems to AT&T, your service problems will be addressed based on AT&T's cost benefit analysis (how much it costs to fix vs. how many customers it effects).

This cocky, FU attitude from AT&T must mean that Apple is extending their exclusive deal. How else could they be so ballsy?

Being the 4th of 4 carriers to offer a solution like this is cocky? AT&T offers a choice of service plans with their Femto Cells, including one that has no monthly recurring fee. Verizon charges $250 for their Femto Cell and does not offer an unlimited plan for it. Sprint charges less for their Femto Cell ($100), but all plans require one to pay a minimum of $5 a month and as much as $20 for adding a family plan with unlimited usage. An AT&T customer with home phone, internet, and/or TV service can add a family plan for $10 or $0 (if one has both). T-mobile charges $10 for unlimited calling (albeit with many more locations since it works at every WiFi hotspot of T-mobile's), but require a special phone (limiting substantially ones choices there).

I fail to see how AT&T's program is cocky? While I personally think they would get better uptake with a $10 a month service price (dropping to $5 or $0 if one has one or more services with them), I think their offering is more interesting than any of the other three options.

[yg17]

Lol wow, and I'm amazed that yet again money has to be put out to help the iPhone do what it would be perfectly capable of doing at only $50 a month with other carriers, yet again because it already has the capability in terms of internal hardware and software, but is again crippled by greed. And for those of you who STILL say that people just like to whine about At&ts service/prices for no reason, what do you call this? This can't possibly make one iota of sense, even to you.

Other carriers have their dead spots and the other major 3 carriers also offer Femtocells (or UMA WiFi calling on T-Mobile). No carrier has perfect coverage in every nook and cranny of the country, and no carrier has ever stated they do. So please tell me which carrier gives me 5 bars of 3G coverage no matter where in the country I am, even a building built like a faraday cage, for 50 bucks a month because I'm dying to know.

[Starlifter]

I bought one of these today and it works great! I used to have 'no service' or at best 1 bar inside my house and now have 5 solid. I have however encountered one small problem. The location awareness within the telephone is now completely inaccurate by many miles on every single app that uses it---even the maps application, but only at home when I don't especially need the accuracy.

Available in Raleigh, NC - September 28 & Atlanta, GA / Columbia, SC - October 4

Edit (9/29/2009): The problem has been fixed.

[BryanLyle]

I'm totallly going to buy a bunch of these, set them up here in roanoke (no 3g service!) and charge people to use them.
:D

The "Roanoke is AT&T Country" billboards make me chuckle because they don't even have 3G. I am hoping that they expand this release quickly so that everyone can get their hands on these!

[dmelgar]

Other carriers have their dead spots and the other major 3 carriers also offer Femtocells (or UMA WiFi calling on T-Mobile). No carrier has perfect coverage in every nook and cranny of the country, and no carrier has ever stated they do. So please tell me which carrier gives me 5 bars of 3G coverage no matter where in the country I am, even a building built like a faraday cage, for 50 bucks a month because I'm dying to know.

All carriers are not created equal. Not even close. Look at a national map comparing Verizon's 3G coverage vs. AT&T. AT&T has almost no coverage anywhere in the US. Only in major metro areas, and even then its spotty.

Its a matter of scale. When I had Sprint, I can't remember anywhere in the nation where I didnt get excellent 3G coverage. I simply never lost coverage. I assumed all cell phone companies had matured to that point.

With AT&T I am in a major metro area with supposed 3G coverage. Yet I barely get any coverage at my home and most everywhere I go. Outside the metro area its edge only.

Folks make a big deal about rolling out 7.2mb HSDPA when they don't have any 3G coverage anywhere.

When I signed up for Spring 10 years ago, their coverage was spotty but quickly improved. I signed up for AT&T over a year ago and despite lots of talk I have not found a single place with any improvement. No expanded coverage, no additional 3G coverage, no improvement in poor coverage areas. I am amazed that anyone uses them.

Disclaimer: I dislike Sprint with a passion. Their CS constantly messed up my bill, as in it would take them 6 months and literally days on the phone to resolve in extremely stressful exchanges. AT&T CS has been very good.

[d21mike]

With AT&T I am in a major metro area with supposed 3G coverage. Yet I barely get any coverage at my home and most everywhere I go. Outside the metro area its edge only....and no improvement...
Sorry to hear about your bad coverage. However, this is not the case for a lot of people. I am in Torrance California (20 miles south of LAX). When I switched from Verizon to get the iPhone (when it was released) I was very concerned about coverage in my area. So, before I switched I borrowed my brothers AT&T phone and tried it at my house and also at my office and the trip from my house to my wife's office. These were the most used areas. It was pretty much the same as Verizon but the first iPhone only had EDGE. After the 3G came out I upgraded and I have 3G in all those places. When I travel I also get good to excellent 3G coverage (only travel to big cities). Also, in the last few years coverage in my area has gotten better. So, not all areas are the same. I would spend $150 to get a MicroCell in a heartbeat if I did not have 4 or 5 bars of 3G coverage in my house.

[Giggity]

For those who actually BOUGHT a MicroCell - is it true that AT&T landline and DSL customers get unlimited MicroCell voice for no monthly charge? It's in the pamphlet photo on this post but I don't see that anywhere on the AT&T site.

I've read it all over, except at AT&T.

[PeterQVenkman]

So let me get this straight, you pay an extra $10-$20 a month to get a service you've already paid for to work using another service you've already paid for?

I mean, seriously?

I'm afraid they are serious.

Is that how their 3g is "fast" like they advertise? Because you have to hook your 3G Microcell up to your FIOS connection?

:eek:

Nice job, AT&T. They've invested billions in upgrading their equipment so you can pay for how it's supposed to work in the first place!

[hsk]

I'm afraid they are serious.

Is that how their 3g is "fast" like they advertise? Because you have to hook your 3G Microcell up to your FIOS connection?

:eek:

Nice job, AT&T. They've invested billions in upgrading their equipment so you can pay for how it's supposed to work in the first place!

Wow, way to go man, never heard that one before!

If you don't agree with the Microcell approach, that's OK, but the hate on this is getting old. Nobody is making anyone buy this - and whether you do or not is not going to change anything at ATT. Please get another carrier.

[yukio]

Glad I live in Houston with my 850 Mhz spectrum and great call quality and no dropped calls. YMMV.

that's the karma balance for july & august weather in houston. <g>

[dmelgar]

Wow, way to go man, never heard that one before!

If you don't agree with the Microcell approach, that's OK, but the hate on this is getting old. Nobody is making anyone buy this - and whether you do or not is not going to change anything at ATT. Please get another carrier.

You can't get another carrier. People are talking here on Macrumors because they have an iPhone stuck on AT&T. The rebutals defending AT&T and the Microcell are getting old as well. It is a fact that AT&T is asking to use their customers other network resources and charging them for additional hardware to fix deficiencies in AT&T's coverage. That is a simple fact describing their microcell.
Many people rightly think that AT&T should fix their coverage or not charge people when using customer's resources to solve AT&T's problem.

[Benster]

For those who actually BOUGHT a MicroCell - is it true that AT&T landline and DSL customers get unlimited MicroCell voice for no monthly charge? It's in the pamphlet photo on this post but I don't see that anywhere on the AT&T site.

I've read it all over, except at AT&T.

Not true. The only discount at the moment is the $100 rebate if you sign up for the $19.99 unlimited plan.

The rebate gives you a $100 AT&T Visa gift card. When I bought my Microcell I asked the sales rep about all these rumors. They said that once the program launches nationally, some of these other discounts may be considered. During the limited roll-out, there is no service discount.


-Benster

[tivoboy]

totally true,

if you have home phone and at&t dsl, you get unlimited calling on your purchased microcell, just no rebate.

[hsk]

You can't get another carrier. People are talking here on Macrumors because they have an iPhone stuck on AT&T. The rebutals defending AT&T and the Microcell are getting old as well. It is a fact that AT&T is asking to use their customers other network resources and charging them for additional hardware to fix deficiencies in AT&T's coverage. That is a simple fact describing their microcell.
Many people rightly think that AT&T should fix their coverage or not charge people when using customer's resources to solve AT&T's problem.

You CAN get another carrier if talking and data connection are more important than the iPhone. No network is perfect - can ATT do better, sure, but this is a good solution if you are in a black hole. Case in point - me. I have a tower 2 miles to the north of me and 1.5 miles to the south and about 6-7 towers in a 10 mile radius of me. However, where I use the phone in my home office, my signal can fluctuate. It can sometimes be bad enough to make me miss a call. If I go 1/2 mile in just about any direction, I have great service. That, IMO, is a fact of life for me in my house. I had Sprint for years and sometimes had the same problems. ATT is not going to put another tower in my area - just ain't going to happen. Therefore, as an ATT landline, DSL and wireless customer, I think this is a great piece of technology. All 4 of the carriers offer this technology because none of them are going to have the perfect network everywhere for everyone.

So, be pissed all you want about ATT and the Microcell, but you do have a choice.

[dmelgar]

So, be pissed all you want about ATT and the Microcell, but you do have a choice.
Ok, I will be pissed all I want about AT&T.
In my area, they have poor coverage everywhere I care to be. They don't have 3G coverage at all outside major metropolitan areas, so the vast majority of the state is edge only. My neighbors and I complained over a year ago... AT&T said they'd look at improving it, just like they've said in the press. Over a year later, I haven't observed any improvement anywhere. No increased coverage area, no improved coverage where they claim coverage.
I simply do not see any effort on AT&T's part to improve horrible coverage in my area.

When I had Sprint, they greatly improved within 2 years. I complained about coverage and they fixed it. By the time I left them they had 3G coverage everywhere in the country I had ever been. I erroneously assumed all cell phone companies had such good coverage.

Rather than make any attempt to improve their coverage, they are now asking customers to buy their own cell tower and use their own network to run it, and AT&T will charge their customers extra for the privilege of improving AT&T's network.

If you're stuck in a spot where AT&T could not improve for some reason, that one thing, but when they're simply too lazy or cheap to improve coverage that they brag about... thats hypocritical.

[MorphingDragon]

I still think a signal repeater is money better spent.

[Benster]

totally true,

if you have home phone and at&t dsl, you get unlimited calling on your purchased microcell, just no rebate.

Please prove it. Show me a link or something. I'd love to save $20 per month. Apparently you are more "in the know" than AT&T is at the moment. Please share.

-Benster

[rbarthle17]

If you're stuck in a spot where AT&T could not improve for some reason, that one thing, but when they're simply too lazy or cheap to improve coverage that they brag about... thats hypocritical.

No, that's a business decision. You live in a less populated area, and AT&T decided obviously there were not enough customers there to warrant an upgrade or new towers. I live in the same kind of place. And although it sucks, I understand it for what it is. AT&T has network issues nationwide, and a limited amount of funds to handle it. They are going to focus on the areas that serve the most people first and foremost always. The rest of us will get whatever is leftover in the pot. Or choose to DIY and get a Microcell. Or switch providers.

[dmackerman]

I know that this is sort of an old post, but I'm going to chime in here with my experience on getting a MicroCell for cheap.

The service in my apartment is horrible. I get dropped calls basically every time, and I get 1 bar of service if I'm lucky.

I called ATT and complained about this issue. I went from customer care -> resolution -> tech support, which then said they cannot issue microcells for free. I had to call the store.

I called a local store and they offer a $100 rebate, IF you sign up for the $20/month service. I said ok fine, I called ATT back.

I got on the phone with cancellations. I threatened to cancel my service, and the lady credited my account $50. So at that point I had a $100 rebate, and a $50 credit.

I'm going to use the $20/mo service for one month (I don't need it) and then cancel. This is not against their ToS, I asked 3 people.

So all in all, I got the thing for $20.