Free Micro-cell Tower?

[smithrh]

Interesting - did you tell them that there was an AT&T tower within 1 mile, or did they tell you?

Towers aren't usually identifiable to an operator - so I'm wondering how you knew it was an AT&T tower.

If it really is an AT&T tower, that's really nasty that you can't get coverage - and doubly nasty that they won't help you out. Note, if AT&T was any good, they'd be able to tell that you were having call drops on that tower, but I suspect they can't figure it out, sadly enough.

 

[CAWjr]

Interesting - did you tell them that there was an AT&T tower within 1 mile, or did they tell you?

Towers aren't usually identifiable to an operator - so I'm wondering how you knew it was an AT&T tower.

If it really is an AT&T tower, that's really nasty that you can't get coverage - and doubly nasty that they won't help you out. Note, if AT&T was any good, they'd be able to tell that you were having call drops on that tower, but I suspect they can't figure it out, sadly enough.

They told me, but I did confirm it. The AT&T tower is directly behind the police station up the road & there is another one that is no more than 2 miles away in the other direction. I am in Atlanta & AT&T mobile is based here. You would think that we would have this place covered better than anywhere else.

If they were able to easily detect dropped calls, why would they have an app that lets you report bad coverage & dropped calls? I have a feeling that their ability can get them visibility if it is really bad, but finding dead spots, especially in homes or dense areas, is probably beyond their capabilities.

 

[BiggAW]

Lucky. I tried everything, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, and couldn't get one. Ended up buying one. Bad decision. It would have been $200 more, but I should have bought a Wilson Electronics repeater instead. Would have worked a lot better than that flaky POS.

 

[smithrh]

They told me, but I did confirm it. The AT&T tower is directly behind the police station up the road & there is another one that is no more than 2 miles away in the other direction. I am in Atlanta & AT&T mobile is based here. You would think that we would have this place covered better than anywhere else.

If they were able to easily detect dropped calls, why would they have an app that lets you report bad coverage & dropped calls? I have a feeling that their ability can get them visibility if it is really bad, but finding dead spots, especially in homes or dense areas, is probably beyond their capabilities.

All cellular manufacturers not only detect dropped calls, but they report them in various ways as well.

As you might imagine, resources need to be allocated to a call when that call gets established. By the same token, once a call is done (either a party hangs up, or the call is dropped), those resources need to be de-allocated so they can be used by other calls.

Just about everything in a cell system is instrumented. The amount of stats and "pegs" is pretty danged high, and the amount of detail available might boggle your mind.

Basically, the system will tell you just about anything you want to or need to know - if you know to ask. Or, in AT&T's case, care to ask.

Of course, if you don't ask, you won't find the answer, which unfortunately I think is AT&T's issue. I've been dropping calls on a regular basis with AT&T even before the iPhone came out - same places every time. With other operators - specifically VzW - they'll notice these drop zones and - wait for it - DO something about it. I honestly think AT&T doesn't care.

 

[BiggAW]

Wait... people still make phone calls? I'm at the point where I'm annoyed when people call me, and I ask them why they didn't text.