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AT&T On Track for Femtocell Deployment By End of 2009
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I understand the concept as I was given one FREE by sprint years ago when I had poor service at home.
But why anyone would PAY for one to fix problems with a carriers poor network is beyond me. Choose a better carrier.
Perhaps they should take the route T-Mobile has where for $10/month you get unlimited hotspot calling. If you are anywhere with WiFi you make and receive VOIP calls seamlessly for no per minute cost.
Oh yeah, why do that when you can charge customers extra to make up for your crappy network AND still get them to use their minutes using bandwidth they are paying for. Brilliant.
Hope T-Mobile gets in on the iPhone next year and AT&T doesn't find a way to bribe Apple into continued exclusivity.
But why anyone would PAY for one to fix problems with a carriers poor network is beyond me. Choose a better carrier.
Perhaps they should take the route T-Mobile has where for $10/month you get unlimited hotspot calling. If you are anywhere with WiFi you make and receive VOIP calls seamlessly for no per minute cost.
Oh yeah, why do that when you can charge customers extra to make up for your crappy network AND still get them to use their minutes using bandwidth they are paying for. Brilliant.
Hope T-Mobile gets in on the iPhone next year and AT&T doesn't find a way to bribe Apple into continued exclusivity.
Why wouldnt I just go out and get an extender to own and fix this issue, instead of paying att a monthly fee:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...p?EdpNo=1829799&sku=H529-0002&srkey=h529-0002
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...p?EdpNo=1829799&sku=H529-0002&srkey=h529-0002
The problem with these extenders is, you have to have a good signal outside the house. I live in an area that I can get 1 - 2 bars outside if I stand in the right spot. These extenders, unfortunately, don't work for me.
I am looking forward to getting one of these. I just hope I don't have to pay a monthly fee for the "privilege".
This is rather asinine.
Step 1: Cell phone provider doesn't give you coverage.
Step 2: Cell phone provider doesn't invest in better coverage.
Step 3: Users have to BUY a widget that gives them better coverage, using the users internet connection.
Step 4: Cell phoneprovider gets payed twice. User has to pay twice.
Step 1: Cell phone provider doesn't give you coverage.
Step 2: Cell phone provider doesn't invest in better coverage.
Step 3: Users have to BUY a widget that gives them better coverage, using the users internet connection.
Step 4: Cell phoneprovider gets payed twice. User has to pay twice.
Sorry, I may not have been clear in my post. The $400 signal booster is not getting the job done for data OR voice. It's flakey at best. No fault of the fine people at Wilson as they are very clear about the fact that if your cell coverage is already marginal, you won't get much benefit out of the device.
I'm just trying to explain the point of view of the folks, like me, who are willing to pay a one-time fee for this device. I have absolutely no expectations that ATT come out to where I live and build a new tower. I live out in an area away from the population centers on purpose. Of course, I'd love to let them plonk a tower right in my backyard and get rental/consideration for it, but that's not going to happen. I'm more than willing to pay $250 for a device that will allow me to use my ATT phone indoors as it will provide a cost savings for me in the long run by letting me get rid of my voip phone.
Now, I agree, if they try to charge a usage fee or a monthly fee, we're going to have a fight on our hands. That would be absolutely ridiculous. However, I think they're going to be reasonable about the whole thing. I would imagine that the device will go for a one time fee and folks who spend a large amount per month (we have 3 voice/data and 3 voice phones on our account) may see a discount or even get the device for free. This seems to me to fit the way that ATT has handled things in the past.
I can see two options for this that wouldn't outrage people:
1) $99* for device, no monthly fee, still uses your minutes.
2) $99* for device, small monthly fee (less than $10), unlimited minutes when on femtocell.
*Would be nice if it were only $49 though. If it were $49 with $10/month, I would consider buying it as it would still be cheaper than getting a dedicated land line. However, my wife and I use our phones as primary lines and still don't go over our minutes each month (and we have 4800+ rollover minutes). But I could drop down from 1400 minutes (too many) to 700 minutes (not quite enough) and the femtocell and save some money if it were priced as I speculated above.
1) $99* for device, no monthly fee, still uses your minutes.
2) $99* for device, small monthly fee (less than $10), unlimited minutes when on femtocell.
*Would be nice if it were only $49 though. If it were $49 with $10/month, I would consider buying it as it would still be cheaper than getting a dedicated land line. However, my wife and I use our phones as primary lines and still don't go over our minutes each month (and we have 4800+ rollover minutes). But I could drop down from 1400 minutes (too many) to 700 minutes (not quite enough) and the femtocell and save some money if it were priced as I speculated above.
You would think they would have an interest in getting users these boosters in areas where their signal isnt stellar because after-all the more places they can get signal the more subscribers they can possibly have.
Useful to ditch landline with mediocre indoor cell coverage
I'm eager for one of these as I'd love to finally ditch my landline. However, I get really spotty reception in my home. I've looked at the signal boosters, but am pretty uncertain I have enough signal outdoors for them to do much good.
Pricing seems to be pretty speculative, but it sounds like there'll be an unlimited minutes option and something else. Hopefully the something else will be no monthly fee. I could see paying $10 a month for unlimited minutes through the MicroCell as that would be pretty favorable to a landline.
There's a lot of info on what these are and features we might see over at Engadget.
I'm eager for one of these as I'd love to finally ditch my landline. However, I get really spotty reception in my home. I've looked at the signal boosters, but am pretty uncertain I have enough signal outdoors for them to do much good.
Pricing seems to be pretty speculative, but it sounds like there'll be an unlimited minutes option and something else. Hopefully the something else will be no monthly fee. I could see paying $10 a month for unlimited minutes through the MicroCell as that would be pretty favorable to a landline.
There's a lot of info on what these are and features we might see over at Engadget.
So if I understand this correctly, femtocell only works as a booster. I have a vacation property up in the mountains where there is no cell phone reception. Femtocell won't help me there right?
You understand incorrectly.
It routes your phone calls through your high speed Internet connection.