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

[davidee]

WHAT!! Sprint is charging $5 a month for the minutes you already bought? DOUBLE DIPPING! No wonder they keep losing customers each month.

wait you are outraged over that yet, AT&T is doing that in their $20 plan

(as are all of the others to be fair)

I can see charging for handling/completion (if they could manage to do it)/and off system routing

but give people more for the $20

not just unlimited minutes in their own home _on their own wire_

not only is AT&T double dipping but now they are also charging you for use of the device hooked to another carries net.

are they paying comcast, timewarner, verizon, for the traffic this generates?
NO

yet we...pay them

 

[davidee]

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 ????????????

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.

device cost is fine, it is another network device that is not subsidized. the monthly is what is crap

 

[NoExpectations]

wait you are outraged over that yet, AT&T is doing that in their $20 plan

(as are all of the others to be fair)

I can see charging for handling/completion (if they could manage to do it)/and off system routing

but give people more for the $20

not just unlimited minutes in their own home _on their own wire_

not only is AT&T double dipping but now they are also charging you for use of the device hooked to another carries net.

are they paying comcast, timewarner, verizon, for the traffic this generates?
NO

yet we...pay them

That's not the way I read it. AT&T is $0 if you do not change your plan. Sprint is $5 if you do not change your plan.

 

[edoates]

1. This is free....read the article again. In fact, this is better than free...you can eliminate your local land line (prob 30-50 a month) and spend 10 a month for unlimited calls.

DSL usually needs a ... land line and some rate plan. I don't know if you can get DSL (whether from ATT or others: mine is with Earthlink/COVAD, but is in actuality ATT - that's who showed up the one time I needed service). And I have a minimum service plan for that line: I use it for my fax line.

So, yes, you can reduce your land line cost, but not to zero in most instances. Oh, and that line works with an old style phone when the power goes out.

 

[glap1922]

wait you are outraged over that yet, AT&T is doing that in their $20 plan

(as are all of the others to be fair)

I can see charging for handling/completion (if they could manage to do it)/and off system routing

but give people more for the $20

not just unlimited minutes in their own home _on their own wire_

not only is AT&T double dipping but now they are also charging you for use of the device hooked to another carries net.

are they paying comcast, timewarner, verizon, for the traffic this generates?
NO

yet we...pay them

That is not what ATT is doing in their plan. for $20 per month with ATT you get unlimited minutes, for $0 per month you can use your own plan, which is what Sprint charges $5 to do. While I agree $20 is too high for only unlimited minutes at home, it is not the same thing.

 

[Roy Hobbs]

And forty feet is squat. So instead of having to hang out the window to make a call, I'll have to be IN the room where the microcell is.

Assuming your room is 5000 sq foot than yes you will need to be in the same room as the microcell

 

[PaulieORF]

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.

 

[aristobrat]

if they are going to charge $20 for unlim, make that $20 for all the minutes you can use femtocell or otherwise for all the phones on your family plan...

??

Question:
I have a FamilyTalk plan with 4 additional numbers on my account. If I buy an AT&T 3G MicroCell™ device, are the additional numbers automatically added to the Unlimited MicroCell Calling?
Answer:
You must subscribe to Unlimited MicroCell Calling to receive unlimited domestic calling minutes. AT&T Unlimited MicroCell Calling is available for single lines or multiple lines on an account like FamilyTalk covering all 3G phones on your account. This is in addition to your 3G MicroCell device purchase.

 

[davidee]

That's not the way I read it. AT&T is $0 if you do not change your plan. Sprint is $5 if you do not change your plan.

so sprint sucks more than AT&T in this case™ of that part of their plan.

I have AT&T, they are who I care about. If sprint gave me unlimited use of my femtocell i would not go to their net, I like my phone, I just object to being violated by AT&T when they are using my wire to extend their capabilities (albiet for a limited # of users). 5-9$ per month for the device access cost (to their wire maybe and that is w/unlims), $20 is out of the question

 

[BryanLyle]

Assuming your room is 500 sq foot than yes you will need to be in the same room as the microcell

Hopefully I'll be able to put it in the center of the house (upstairs) and it will provide enough signal to my office down the hall. 2 bars of coverage is 2 more than I have now

 

[aristobrat]

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 ????????????

If you have "more minutes than you can count", you, sir, would be the one out of your !$#$#%#$#@#$#$#$# MIND if you bought the device *and* signed up for the OPTIONAL $20/month unlimited MicroCell minute plan.

There is NO ADDITIONAL AT&T MONTHLY FEE to use this device with your normal plan minutes.

 

[mr_matalino]

When will AT&T ever get it? They are screwed when they lose their exclusive contract with Apple...

 

[skinnylegs]

Can someone clarify.....will this provide for better phone service in homes that have limited bars?

 

[davidee]

??

wow yea that was badly constructed

what i meant to convey was:

for $20, give me unlimited usage for the phones in my family plan.
femtocell or AT&T native celular network.

then it would make it more inline with the unlimited talk plan from AT&T

it would be a tradeoff, I get some benefit outside of the femtocell addition, that way you can rationalize it and assign a monetary value to that feature set

for example: for $20 i get unlimited femtocell minutes, _and_ unlimited minutes for those 4 phones in my family plan? Sweet!

as opposed to "AT&T, money grubbing (etc, etc, and more non-productive expletives)

 

[clayj]

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.

I agree completely. How is it that supposedly educated people are missing the part where the $19.95/mo thing is OPTIONAL?

Again, for those who seemingly can't read:

$150 gets you the hardware, which is all you really need to set up your MicroCell. This is a one-time expense.

$19.95 a month, OPTIONAL, lets you have unlimited cellphone minutes through your MicroCell. Otherwise, you just use your normal minutes.

 

[clayj]

Can someone clarify.....will this provide for better phone service in homes that have limited bars?

Yes.

 

[aristobrat]

so sprint sucks more than AT&T in this case™ of that part of their plan.

Then so does T-Mobile, as they also don't offer a free option as part of their plan.

As far as I can tell, AT&T is the only carrier that offers both a FREE option as well as an unlimited minutes option.

 

[ItsGavinC]

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

There is NO monthly fee!

How will your ISP feel about AT&T using up some of their bandwidth? I don't know, but why don't you ask Verizon and Spring, since they have had these in home mini-tower options for their customers for quite some time!

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

 

[davidee]

When will AT&T ever get it? They are screwed when they lose their exclusive contract with Apple...

the fairness side of me says, as they are a telco they have oversubscription %ages that are in place for resource estimation. No one can afford to be 1 to 1, it is just not feasible. People can bail to VZW or sprint, but in reality had they been the only network for iphone, they would have had the same issue.

Now, when they do pickup the rats migrating off the ship (from AT&T) their network will see issues as well from time to time.

Noone...could have predicted the traffic and planned in a 3yr deployment cycle what AT&T has had to do to provide us the lackluster quality we have today.

Other carriers would have had the same issues

 

[greenpaz]

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.

Having to plunk down $150 to purchase the device doesn't exactly make the service free. That's like saying, well, I paid $12.50 for the movie, but they didn't charge me anything extra while I was watching it, so it's free!

Actually, this AT&T scam is more like paying $12.50 for the movie, then having to pay an extra $6 to make it so the screen isn't so out of focus. Cue the AT&T apologists on this message board: "Only $6 to make the screen less blurry? Such a deal! Why is anyone complaining!?"

Paulie, when you're finished with grade school, come back and see us...

 

[davidee]

Then so does T-Mobile, as they also don't offer a free option as part of their plan.

As far as I can tell, AT&T is the only carrier that offers both a FREE option as well as an unlimited minutes option.

dude if you want me to say that tmobile sucks more too, I will. none of the carriers should charge you to reduce your minutes if you are using your network, not theirs to carry the call.

full stop

 

[davidee]

Having to plunk down $150 to purchase the device doesn't exactly make the service free. That's like saying, well, I paid $12.50 for the movie, but they didn't charge me anything extra while I was watching it, so it's free!

Actually, this AT&T scam is more like paying $12.50 for the movie, then having to pay an extra $6 to make it so the screen isn't so out of focus. Cue the AT&T apologists on this message board: "Only $6 to make the screen less blurry? Such a deal! Why is anyone complaining!?"

Paulie, when you're finished with grade school, come back and see us...

you should have to pay for another piece of network kit, that is logical

 

[skinnylegs]

Well, if this improves my reception at my home office then count me in.....

I get great reception just about everywhere *except* at home which is where I run my company so this would be a blessing for me. I understand that I could change carriers but that would require giving up my iPhone and my phone is a very important business tool for me.

 

[alent1234]

Having to plunk down $150 to purchase the device doesn't exactly make the service free. That's like saying, well, I paid $12.50 for the movie, but they didn't charge me anything extra while I was watching it, so it's free!

Actually, this AT&T scam is more like paying $12.50 for the movie, then having to pay an extra $6 to make it so the screen isn't so out of focus. Cue the AT&T apologists on this message board: "Only $6 to make the screen less blurry? Such a deal! Why is anyone complaining!?"

Paulie, when you're finished with grade school, come back and see us...

every cell carrier charges for their microcells

 

[aristobrat]

dude if you want me to say that tmobile sucks more too, I will. none of the carriers should charge you to reduce your minutes if you are using your network, not theirs to carry the call.

You're using their broadband network instead of their cellular network. Perhaps that's why they charge you 50% less for unlimited calls on the MicroCell than they charge for unlimited calls on their cellular network.

You're making it sound like your network is doing the "heavy lifting" when it comes to making a MicroCell call.

Your network only carries your MicroCell calls 50% of the way (if that). At some point, the bandwidth of your call leaves your network and winds up on AT&T's network.

Your MicroCell call still requires an AT&T infrastructure, even though it's not cellular, in order to be made.