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AT&T Trialling Free 3G MicroCell Offers

Att isn't the only one with microcell

everyone just get over it. ATT has great service, especially where i am located. and they are not the only ones who use this type of device, ever Verizon has one (also it doesnt support 3g, but att does), but you don't hear everyone bitch about them, don't like att service, get off the network and go somewhere else
 
Outside users

bbotte said:
So it uses your minutes, on your broadband and invites all your neighbors to use their iphones through your broadband too to free up cell towers? I'm not that nice of a neighbor. This service should be a discount on your bill each month.
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The Microcell doesn't allow anyone outside of a set number (10 in total) phones you designate. So, any concerns about neighbors using it are not necessary. With that being said, I recently bought one and am about to return it. We have had nothing but bad experiences with it. Calls drop as before, and the range is pretty bad. When you do get towards the end of the range the sound starts warbling. It is meant to switch to the outside 3G network when you leave the range of the microcell but that does not always happen. I am disappointed in this product.
 
solafide said:
How does this work in most customer's favor (unless they are in a bad reception area)? I pay ATT $150 for a unit, that will offer up the Internet bandwidth that I pay ATT for to other customers of ATT? So... ATT gets me to extend their network AND pay them to do it? If someone opts to host one of these units for ATT, they should be getting some break (added minutes, e.g.) on their wireless bill.

What am I missing?
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I'm with you.
 
got one for $90 - 50% fan discount = $45 + tax = $48.03 - $45 credit on bill = $3.08 for my microcell after a call to business care =P

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I bought a microcell ~ three weeks ago for the full fare of $150. It works great especially with the spotty coverage in my area. According AT&T's coverage map, my area is good where in reality it is spotty at best.

Just last weekend, I received my free microcell letter. I never complained to customer service so I was really surprised that I received the offer. I brought it to the store and I was the first to redeem it. They've never seen one before and everyone was surprised AT&T was giving them away.

Well everyone in the store was nice and let me return the microcell I bought and gave me my free one. It was a annoying to take apart the initial microcell and reinstall and reconnect the new microcell, but $150 back in my pocket is a great thing.
 
love having 5 bars in my basement now, ah i can finally use my ip4 without the bumper!

edit; cant use without bumper, still drop bars lol.

34868_446837801367_602796367_6499280_6073622_n.jpg
 
Interesting. I received one of the letters over the weekend except mine was an offer to let me buy one for $50 rather than free. No rebate or need to subscribe to the unlimited minutes option, just buy a MicroCell for $49.99.
 
yg17 said:
Holy crap, how many times does this have to be explained?

IF YOU MAKE A CALL ON A MICROCELL, IT STILL COSTS AT&T MONEY, SO THEY STILL CHARGE YOU. The call still goes into AT&T's network, it still uses their bandwidth, it still goes through their routers and switches, and they still have to pay to get the call to you and to the person you're calling.

And I suppose you'll complain about Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile who also offer similar devices and charge you to use it?
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You're correct, however, and this is a big however.... You have to take into account that the towers you connect to have a very limited number of connections. I would say the vast majority of the "cost" in a connection is that local tower. Once it gets to ATT's network and they route it over land lines the cost is much much lower. I can say that with great certainty because think about your home phone line (if you're in the U.S.). Almost all of us have unlimited calling for around $20 per month on land lines. These go through the phone companies network... the one cost they don't have are wireless towers. Again, remove the wireless towers from the equation and the cost to ATT is much much lower....so therefore IMHO they should either charge zero or much much less for calls that route through the customers own Internet connection.
 
They should be giving this to me for free. For 12 years now I've had 2 phones through ATT. For 6 years before that I had 1 phone (going back to my original brick phone). In total I've been a customer for 18 years and am on the verge of moving on. The service in AZ is just waaay too crappy in a lot of areas (Scottsdale being the worst) and I've been telling myself for years that it's gotta get better soon, but hasn't. I'm truly a fool I suppose. :cool:
 
MicroCell 3G

Just wanted to say I called about marginal service in my area and the AT&T rep I spoke with confirmed there have been 5 towers down in my area for quite some time and coverage is poor. I said I didn't think I should pay to put an AT&T tower in my house when I already pay for an unlimited plan voice and data. I also live in an urban area where service should be good. So I went in and bought it and they credited me the $150.00 on my account 15 minutes later. They were very accommodating once I made my case, you just need to ask.
 
They aren't sending them to loyal customers, they are sending them to customers who are techies, spend more than $5,000 a year on phones, and I can tell you for a fact they SUCK.

They drop every single one of my calls, and I have the fastest in-home bandwidth of anyone in the country you know… (1000mbs/500mbs) up/down through a private 3rd party line.

My internet is so fast I can use Cisco telepresence to stream 1080p a 20mb/s in video conference calls.

the macrocell has SERIOUS issues, it constantly drops calls, it freezes in the middle of calls, and it's not my network.

AT&T claims it's the firmware that's screwed up.

Ask the people like Mike Arrington at Techcrunch who got a free one as well what he thinks. AT&T came out and put a beta firmware in his because it dropped 100% of his calls.

These things ARE NOT ready for primetime. If you go out and buy one you can't get any new firmware for at least 3-4months unless you are famous or work for AT&T…and the firmware it ships with is so bad I unplugged the microcell…

It's pretty bad when a product designed to increase your signal, makes the situation worse.
 
I just picked one up yesterday for free with my letter, and set it up at work...(where my reception sucks). So far, it's working great. I really hope it continues that way.
 
aardwolf said:
I looked at a MicroCell at my local AT&T store yesterday, and it was listed at $150 before a $100 rebate. So, it's currently $50.
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You have to sign up for about 4-6 weeks of their $20 per month unlimited service to get the $100 rebate, so it equates to, roughly $85~ after MIR.

If I had to, i'd purchase the microcell again, the thing is amazing.

And to all the haters, every carrier has a device similar to this, so ****.
 
great, now when im connected to the microcell data on my phone refuses to work, this thing is gonna end up going back.
 
Yesterday was a good day. I came home to a letter in my mailbox from AT&T offering me a free Microcell. I'm not quite sure why I was one of the lucky few, but here are my stats:

-Monthly bill right around $100 for two lines, only one of which is an iPhone
-Called AT&T once about 2 months ago to complain about the craptacular service in the area in Maine that I just moved too. Was able to get $75 credited to my account for the trouble
-Used AT&T's mark my spot app hundreds of times to report said craptacular service
-I have been a customer with AT&T since 2008 when the iPhone 3G came out

After I recieved the letter, which had the nearest AT&T store nearby listed, I went to the store presented them with the letter, which they kept, and I walked out with the Microcell. The letter had a barcode on it that for some reason wouldn't scan properly, but the let me leave with the Microcell anyway.

It went home and set it up in 10 minutes, and didn't have to pay a cent or sign up for the unlimited plan. Needless to say I'm pretty happy that AT&T has done the right thing in my case. I hope that all you out there that are in a similar boat, get the same treatment. AT&T has turned me from a disgruntled customer (don't get me started on the whole early adopter upgrade eligibility shafting that I received) to someone who may be willing to ride the storm of updates and improvements with them.

I tip my hat to you AT&T for doing the right thing
 
bbotte said:
So it uses your minutes, on your broadband and invites all your neighbors to use their iphones through your broadband too to free up cell towers? I'm not that nice of a neighbor. This service should be a discount on your bill each month.
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Only the (max 4) cell phones that you register in the setup of the thing are able to use it. Your neighbors will not be able to log on.
 
I picked up my free one yesterday, hooked it up and it was active in less than 60 minutes. Works well, and while I usually got 5 bars at my house, I'm pretty much guaranteed 5 bars now.
 
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