Check the store location part. Enter your zipcode and select the service you are looking for "3G MicroCell". I've been doing that daily and today noticed my local store has them in stock. For months it didn't till now. I will be heading over there to pick on up.
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The AT&T 3G MicroCell Owner's Thread
- Thread starter pcguru83
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Check the store location part. Enter your zipcode and select the service you are looking for "3G MicroCell". I've been doing that daily and today noticed my local store has them in stock. For months it didn't till now. I will be heading over there to pick on up.
I picked up my 3G Microcell yesterday in Los Angeles at the Wilshire/Western AT&T store. I've been waiting for this stupid thing for months, checking the AT&T site every day for availability.
My building has poor reception for all carriers and I constantly have to repeat myself and get a lot of dropped calls.
The Microcell was easy to set up and started working about two hours after I bought it. Five bars throughout my apartment, out to my elevator, and down into my parking garage. Made two 35 minute calls that would have surely dropped before and they were totally solid and the person on the other end said I was very clear.
I'm very pleased; hopefully it continues to work this well forever.
My building has poor reception for all carriers and I constantly have to repeat myself and get a lot of dropped calls.
The Microcell was easy to set up and started working about two hours after I bought it. Five bars throughout my apartment, out to my elevator, and down into my parking garage. Made two 35 minute calls that would have surely dropped before and they were totally solid and the person on the other end said I was very clear.
I'm very pleased; hopefully it continues to work this well forever.
That's really good to hear. No pun intended. 
I really wish they would kick it into high gear with this thing. I don't have a "major" issue at home but it could be much better. I have like half a bar. Lol. Amazingly though, it all still works. Seems like half the house works, half does not.
I really wish they would kick it into high gear with this thing. I don't have a "major" issue at home but it could be much better. I have like half a bar. Lol. Amazingly though, it all still works. Seems like half the house works, half does not.Just picked one up today too. Well, my wife did, and they configured it in the store. When I got home, I plugged it in, and within 20 minutes it was configured and working. Took some time for our phones to connect to it, but now seems to be going okay.
One thing that doesn't work, oddly, is data. It absolutely won't route any data traffic. I find it odd, but don't really care as I have wifi at home. I think more than anything, I'm just curious as to why. Not sure where to begin troubleshooting.
Anyway, as for coverage, seems to be spreading throughout the house, but did manage to drop a call when I was standing about 15' from it. All our other tests were good.
I'm going to remain optimistic; I really want it to work.
One thing that doesn't work, oddly, is data. It absolutely won't route any data traffic. I find it odd, but don't really care as I have wifi at home. I think more than anything, I'm just curious as to why. Not sure where to begin troubleshooting.
Anyway, as for coverage, seems to be spreading throughout the house, but did manage to drop a call when I was standing about 15' from it. All our other tests were good.
I'm going to remain optimistic; I really want it to work.
this is a good thread to keep talking on, explaining our experiences with the microcell. so now, it is available in Los Angeles, so I'll be picking up one here probably tomorrow. Before I do this I am going to call sales and try to get a discount of some kind, because I find it kind of ridiculous that I get no reception at all, when on their map it says I should have full reception for both data and voice. I just happen to live in a dead spot in the hills, so I'll mention that.....has anyone else done something like this over the phone (or in person) and got some sort of discount, or got it for free? A person on the previous page said he got it for free because they were trying to sell him on U-verse....but I don't really want to take that route. Got any tips for me or anyone else on here, which I am sure is wondering the same thing. I mean hey, we pay $100+ per month to use their crappy service, and now they want us to pay even more for a device to take the load off of their network?????? wow.....
Microcells now available in Milwaukee/Chicago. Picked mine up last night at the Kenosha retail store and had to start deveice registration process at the store, which seemed weird but the AT&T rep (Tina) I dealt with was very pleasant so I didn't really mind.
Took device home, setup connected to my Airport Extreme and device activated itself in about 35 minutes. It was actually nice that AT&T emailed and texted me to let me know it was done.
So far I have tested:
Took device home, setup connected to my Airport Extreme and device activated itself in about 35 minutes. It was actually nice that AT&T emailed and texted me to let me know it was done.
So far I have tested:
- Signal reception - 5 bars throughout my house.
- MMS - worked fine but seemed somewhat slow the first time. Second photo was much quicker.
- Data - actually a little disappointing . My ISP is Comcast (12Mbps down / 6 up) and I regularly clock as high as 25-30 Mbps down because of the speed burst technology. Data on the iPhone over the M-cell was only 1027Kbps according to dslreports test site. Wifi was turned off during my testing.
- Voice calls/quality - untested.
I as well just picked up my MicroCell in Los Angeles. I live in an all cement building, which, I don't know is creating interference or the fact that I have so many devices connected to the network. Sometimes calls are sort of distorted, I asked a person on the other line today and he said I was a little crackled. Rest of the time its absolutely clear. Last night I was checking stuff out on my phone in bed, which is about 30 ft away and a cement wall is directly in the way...it went from 5 bars, down to 3, to 2, to 1 then all the way back up to 5. All the other times its 5 bars, rarely 4 bars. Texts seem to hang at the end for 3-4 seconds then send, at least I haven't had any unsuccessful texts......yet. MMS takes about 10-15 seconds to send 1 picture.
definitely much better than having "No Service" 95% of the time in my place
maybe I'll have to call service to see if they can do anything on their end to possibly fix some things, or call time warner and see if they can possibly boost my speed since now I am running this on there.
Right now on the network I have 4 computers, 1 iPhone, 3 directv receivers, 1 xbox 360, vonage and now the MicroCell.
definitely much better than having "No Service" 95% of the time in my place
maybe I'll have to call service to see if they can do anything on their end to possibly fix some things, or call time warner and see if they can possibly boost my speed since now I am running this on there.
Right now on the network I have 4 computers, 1 iPhone, 3 directv receivers, 1 xbox 360, vonage and now the MicroCell.
Thanks to jeremy.king, I now have a 3G Microcell, too! I signed up for the availability email, but AT&T has yet to send me anything. Based on jeremy.king's post, however, I stopped by the AT&T store in New Berlin, WI and picked it up.
Something good to know for those of you with FAN discounts, it is eligible for discount if your FAN includes accessory discounts. Mine doesn't.
I'm activating it now. The AT&T rep said that if I'm going to move it into a basement or location with no signal (which I am) that as long as the device is plugged back in in under 10 minutes, it will remember the GPS location and not make me re-verify.
It's been about 5 minutes and the GPS indicator and signal indicator are flashing in tandem. I'll post later with final activation time and test results!
Something good to know for those of you with FAN discounts, it is eligible for discount if your FAN includes accessory discounts. Mine doesn't.
I'm activating it now. The AT&T rep said that if I'm going to move it into a basement or location with no signal (which I am) that as long as the device is plugged back in in under 10 minutes, it will remember the GPS location and not make me re-verify.
It's been about 5 minutes and the GPS indicator and signal indicator are flashing in tandem. I'll post later with final activation time and test results!
Initial activation took 34 minutes. I received a text message and email from AT&T upon completion.
I then unplugged everything and moved it. It took 14 minutes to re-activate.
Test Results:
5 Bars everywhere in the house.
Placed a call from inside a walk-in closet in the basement and had perfect clarity.
SMS & MMS go through fast once again.
Data is great on 3G, but I'll continue to use wifi inside anyway.
Good luck everyone else! I'd recommend it though. I think paying $150 because AT&T's service isn't strong enough is kind of ridiculous, but I'll do it so that I can actually use my $500 phone!
I then unplugged everything and moved it. It took 14 minutes to re-activate.
Test Results:
5 Bars everywhere in the house.
Placed a call from inside a walk-in closet in the basement and had perfect clarity.
SMS & MMS go through fast once again.
Data is great on 3G, but I'll continue to use wifi inside anyway.
Good luck everyone else! I'd recommend it though. I think paying $150 because AT&T's service isn't strong enough is kind of ridiculous, but I'll do it so that I can actually use my $500 phone!
Picked up the Microcell in La Grange, IL. AT&T set it up in the store. I came home, plugged it in, and 20 minutes later I got a text saying it was up and running, and when I looked, my iPhone was already connected to it.
Haven't had a chance to really test it out yet, but it's nice to see bars in the house.
Haven't had a chance to really test it out yet, but it's nice to see bars in the house.
I think it would be helpful for people to post their connection speeds at home, i.e. you have a 3mbps cable modem or 1.5mbps dsl...
AT&T says 1.5mbps is the minimum required, which is what I have. I've been trying to convince my roomie to upgrade our connection, but he hasn't been too motivated since all he does is check email and chat online and doesn't need the faster connection. Maybe I should just order U-Verse in my name! LOL
Anyway, I would be curious to see the speeds everyone has using the micro-cell. My micro-cell sucks... Data is extremely slow so I have to turn wi-fi on or it takes forever to check my email on the iphone, and when I go in my bedroom people who are talking to me on the other end have cut-out in their voices so I can't hear everything they are saying.
AT&T says 1.5mbps is the minimum required, which is what I have. I've been trying to convince my roomie to upgrade our connection, but he hasn't been too motivated since all he does is check email and chat online and doesn't need the faster connection. Maybe I should just order U-Verse in my name! LOL
Anyway, I would be curious to see the speeds everyone has using the micro-cell. My micro-cell sucks... Data is extremely slow so I have to turn wi-fi on or it takes forever to check my email on the iphone, and when I go in my bedroom people who are talking to me on the other end have cut-out in their voices so I can't hear everything they are saying.
It's funny, I asked about the availability of this at my store and one person said 2 months and another said early June. A lady on the phone said June 4th. It irks me to no end that a company this big, has no damn clue what is going on. They need to TRAIN their associates much better than this.
They are now available in the Washington DC area as well. I picked mine up this weekend at the AT&T store in Tysons Corner Mall. The guy said that they had just gotten them in.
The activation took about 30 minutes. I did not run into any problems. I have the Microcell connected to a Verizon Fios Actiontec router. Our internet service is the Fios 25/15 package.
It's working great. I get five bars throughout my house--even in the basement. Call quality is superb. As expected, the wireless data speed is good, but not nearly as fast as my wifi.
The activation took about 30 minutes. I did not run into any problems. I have the Microcell connected to a Verizon Fios Actiontec router. Our internet service is the Fios 25/15 package.
It's working great. I get five bars throughout my house--even in the basement. Call quality is superb. As expected, the wireless data speed is good, but not nearly as fast as my wifi.
Wow, I didn't realize this thread was still kicking around! Glad to see it's been helpful for so many.
Ironically, I ended up taking my initial MicroCell back. I can't remember if I ever updated this thread to update my experience, but we had some nasty issues with call quality and ended up returning the unit after about a week or so. But I'm ready to give it another shot.
The $150 cost was really eating at me though. So I figured what the heck, I'll give AT&T a call and plea my case. I've been an AT&T wireless customer for 5 years, and haven't had coverage at my house for 4 of those years (entire time we've been in this house). The initial representative I spoke to looked into what she could do, but wasn't able to comp a MicroCell for me. However, she was extremely helpful and thought Customer Relations (?) might be able to help. She transferred me over, and I once again plead my case. Again, the representative was extremely helpful and put me on hold for a bit to see what she could do.
Long story short, I'm getting refunded the entire amount of a MicroCell. They credited my account $50, and I'll be responsible for the $100 mail in rebate. Not too bad.
I'm going to read back through this thread, but how are things with the MicroCell these days? Like I mentioned above, we returned our initial unit because of call quality issues. We tried a variety of configurations (namely in front of and behind router), but frequently had issues with call quality. Any better these days?
Ironically, I ended up taking my initial MicroCell back. I can't remember if I ever updated this thread to update my experience, but we had some nasty issues with call quality and ended up returning the unit after about a week or so. But I'm ready to give it another shot.
The $150 cost was really eating at me though. So I figured what the heck, I'll give AT&T a call and plea my case. I've been an AT&T wireless customer for 5 years, and haven't had coverage at my house for 4 of those years (entire time we've been in this house). The initial representative I spoke to looked into what she could do, but wasn't able to comp a MicroCell for me. However, she was extremely helpful and thought Customer Relations (?) might be able to help. She transferred me over, and I once again plead my case. Again, the representative was extremely helpful and put me on hold for a bit to see what she could do.
Long story short, I'm getting refunded the entire amount of a MicroCell. They credited my account $50, and I'll be responsible for the $100 mail in rebate. Not too bad.
I'm going to read back through this thread, but how are things with the MicroCell these days? Like I mentioned above, we returned our initial unit because of call quality issues. We tried a variety of configurations (namely in front of and behind router), but frequently had issues with call quality. Any better these days?
I'm waiting for Microcell to come to the detroit area then I am going to my Local AT&T and see if the manager can help me switch from DirectTV to AT&T Universe and work a deal for Microcell as well. see what happens looks like that time is getting close.
I am curious about this option, seeing as how it's likely that the Verizon iPhone is still a ways off. I live in North Berkeley which is just about the worst AT&T area I have ever seen. I mean, truly, despicably awful. I routinely get texts and voicemails hours, sometimes even a day after they are sent - it's been a real problem. If this device would allow me to get my calls and texts in my house (novel idea, I know!!!) I would be all over it.
Any recent reviews?
Any recent reviews?
Seems every state around mine is getting this thing. I reside in Richmond, VA. Service is great outside the house. Literally right outside the door. Go inside, not so good. It's "ok" but could be much better. I get 1 bar rarely to searching downstairs. Would be nice not to have put my phone down and use speakerphone all the time.
To be fair, Verizon has the same issue as well. Albeit, the signal is a bit better. A SOLID one bar and calls seem to be fine. They do drop though.
It's my area. I live in a bowl. This would be a great help. Hope it gets released soon!
To be fair, Verizon has the same issue as well. Albeit, the signal is a bit better. A SOLID one bar and calls seem to be fine. They do drop though.
It's my area. I live in a bowl. This would be a great help. Hope it gets released soon!
the oddest part is I typically have 5 full bars in my house, and yet I just don't get the calls/texts. voicemail or text appears magically out of thin air hours later sometimes, with no missed call at all. very frustrating. it never happens anywhere else - I'm fine over in SF, LA, NY, virginia, D.C.
drives me nuts!
drives me nuts!
Well...
I've been waiting for this device for a long time... I had registered on the website to get notified when it was available in Fort Collins... I was at the grocery store and saw a girl carrying one out of the AT&T store. So I went in and picked one up.
I spent all evening trying to get it to activate. In every case I get to all solid lights then the 3G (bars) light remains blinking... It was in this state for 13+ hours over night with the website saying Activation Pending.
I've called AT&T and they started a network ticket on it. I tried a different location and got FTC193 error on the web page.
Sigh...
I've been waiting for this device for a long time... I had registered on the website to get notified when it was available in Fort Collins... I was at the grocery store and saw a girl carrying one out of the AT&T store. So I went in and picked one up.
I spent all evening trying to get it to activate. In every case I get to all solid lights then the 3G (bars) light remains blinking... It was in this state for 13+ hours over night with the website saying Activation Pending.
I've called AT&T and they started a network ticket on it. I tried a different location and got FTC193 error on the web page.
Sigh...
The Microcell became available in my area so I picked one up yesterday morning. Hooked it up as instructed and began to wait the 90 minutes as intructed. After just 25 minutes I had all 4 green lights going. Solid as a rock. Conversations crystal clear and no drops. Now, frankly I've only had it a day so of course I'm going to hold off getting to excited but I do now have 5 bars all the time on both our iPhones of which we only had 1 or 2 before. 2500 s.f. one story house with metal studs and blown in insulation, out skirts of town I'm sure were my problem before. This little guy has taken care of that for now so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will report back if I have any problems with it. If you don't hear back from me that's because I am busy making lots of calls on my cell phone!
Updated review:
I've had my Microcell for close to 2 months now and it has been a Godsend for me. I live in the Appalachian Mountains so cell service is spotty at best, my house particularly was in a dead spot for about 2 miles all around.
The day I got the Microcell I put it on the bottom floor of my house (2 story concrete/wood) behind the monitor of one of my computers (next to the router even though it said not to). It's against an outside wall, so it's not near a window. It got GPS lock almost instantly and has had perfect coverage ever since for the entire house.
I also like the fact that it seems to update itself in the early morning hours between 2-4 am. So I never get interruptions during normal phone use hours.
The one slight problem I do have with it is the GPS function of my iPhone is off (says I'm in Georgia) when using Microcell signal but this seems to be a common occurrence and is being worked on by AT&T. A workaround for anyone with the same problem: If I'm home and I REALLY need to do anything with the GPS I can turn off 3G on the iPhone and it will revert to using WiFi signal and get the correct GPS location.
I'd give the Microcell a 9.5/10 for my personal situation and experiences. 10/10 when they fix the GPS issue. Your mileage may vary.
I've had my Microcell for close to 2 months now and it has been a Godsend for me. I live in the Appalachian Mountains so cell service is spotty at best, my house particularly was in a dead spot for about 2 miles all around.
The day I got the Microcell I put it on the bottom floor of my house (2 story concrete/wood) behind the monitor of one of my computers (next to the router even though it said not to). It's against an outside wall, so it's not near a window. It got GPS lock almost instantly and has had perfect coverage ever since for the entire house.
I also like the fact that it seems to update itself in the early morning hours between 2-4 am. So I never get interruptions during normal phone use hours.
The one slight problem I do have with it is the GPS function of my iPhone is off (says I'm in Georgia) when using Microcell signal but this seems to be a common occurrence and is being worked on by AT&T. A workaround for anyone with the same problem: If I'm home and I REALLY need to do anything with the GPS I can turn off 3G on the iPhone and it will revert to using WiFi signal and get the correct GPS location.
I'd give the Microcell a 9.5/10 for my personal situation and experiences. 10/10 when they fix the GPS issue. Your mileage may vary.
Just got mine in Columbia, Missouri and it is working fine. It is sitting on top of my computer tower and close to a window. It sycned within 40 minutes to my iphone. Instead of Edge, I get 3G, five bars. My internet connection is DSL 1.5 (no Cable etc. available even though I live in the city limits) I am lucky to get the 1.5!
Oh and the data and texting work about as good as my Wifi so I just leave 3G on. In fact, I think it is a little faster.
I am lucky to get the 1.5!Oh and the data and texting work about as good as my Wifi so I just leave 3G on. In fact, I think it is a little faster.