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The AT&T 3G MicroCell Owner's Thread
- Thread starter pcguru83
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P
Right, but for people on DSL, they may have optimal performance down, but marginal or sub-marginal up.
Well, I am on my second Microcell and my phone did it on the first one as well. So I believe it's the phone.
I had to pay $150.00 for living in a Edge area. I will admit I get full bars and good call clarity with the MicroCell.
FAIL. I had the problems on my 3GS and still having the problems with my new iPhone 4. In fact, it's MUCH worse with the new iPhone 4. I had 3 dropped calls today alone!!! I am so over this *****.. I love my g*d damn f*ing I phone 4, but I can't take another minute of this AT&T torture.
Do any of the VOIP apps work well on the iphone? I'm wondering if I could use a VOIP app instead when I'm at home.. If only call forwarding could automatically kick in when I am on wifi... Then maybe that could work.
I actually have a free Verizon blackberry from my employer. If I could somehow get the iPhone to automatically forward my calls when I am at home, then I would be golden, but manually doing it every time is not going to work for me.
UGHHHHH.
The Micro Cell is just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't work.. I don't want to hear any more excuses. It doesn't work... Get over it.
I have a 15mbps (20 burst) connection, so don't tell me it's my internet. Speeds are very consistent on Cox here in San Diego... Did I mention that my internet connection rocks?
So... whatever.
FAIL. I had the problems on my 3GS and still having the problems with my new iPhone 4. In fact, it's MUCH worse with the new iPhone 4. I had 3 dropped calls today alone!!! I am so over this *****.. I love my g*d damn f*ing I phone 4, but I can't take another minute of this AT&T torture.
Do any of the VOIP apps work well on the iphone? I'm wondering if I could use a VOIP app instead when I'm at home.. If only call forwarding could automatically kick in when I am on wifi... Then maybe that could work.
I actually have a free Verizon blackberry from my employer. If I could somehow get the iPhone to automatically forward my calls when I am at home, then I would be golden, but manually doing it every time is not going to work for me.
UGHHHHH.
The Micro Cell is just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't work.. I don't want to hear any more excuses. It doesn't work... Get over it.
I have a 15mbps (20 burst) connection, so don't tell me it's my internet. Speeds are very consistent on Cox here in San Diego... Did I mention that my internet connection rocks?
So... whatever.
Everyone is so quick to blame AT&T. It couldn't possibly be Apple designing phones with flaws.
Skype
A friend of mine is using Skype for VoIP. He subscribed to the 25$ per year plan so he gets a dedicated Skype number, then he can place/receive any call in the US for however long at no extra charge. So i think it breaks down to less then 3$ per month.
A friend of mine is using Skype for VoIP. He subscribed to the 25$ per year plan so he gets a dedicated Skype number, then he can place/receive any call in the US for however long at no extra charge. So i think it breaks down to less then 3$ per month.
I would've though this with the first iPhone or even the iPhone 3G (As it switched to a new network). But knowing Apple, and that they only hire the best of the best of the best for their research, development, and productions, I doubt they've designed a flawed phone after 4 years. I am no saying that quality control on the parts/whole units is in it's prime, but I doubt Apple would spend this much money and time to produce a ****** unit, even accidentally.
FAIL. I had the problems on my 3GS and still having the problems with my new iPhone 4. In fact, it's MUCH worse with the new iPhone 4. I had 3 dropped calls today alone!!! I am so over this *****.. I love my g*d damn f*ing I phone 4, but I can't take another minute of this AT&T torture.
Do any of the VOIP apps work well on the iphone? I'm wondering if I could use a VOIP app instead when I'm at home.. If only call forwarding could automatically kick in when I am on wifi... Then maybe that could work.
I actually have a free Verizon blackberry from my employer. If I could somehow get the iPhone to automatically forward my calls when I am at home, then I would be golden, but manually doing it every time is not going to work for me.
UGHHHHH.
The Micro Cell is just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't work.. I don't want to hear any more excuses. It doesn't work... Get over it.
I have a 15mbps (20 burst) connection, so don't tell me it's my internet. Speeds are very consistent on Cox here in San Diego... Did I mention that my internet connection rocks?
So... whatever.
After my trip to the airport and back today, I have gleaned this much - holding my phone as to bridge the antennas has no effect when I have a strong signal/full bars. Areas where the signal is slightly weaker, the bars will drop one or two but come back up within a few seconds. I have tried this in several locations around town. I seem to be getting the same results.
This really blows my mind because I have the Microcell and holding the phone to induce the signal drop results in a 5 bar drop to no service every time. It makes no sense.
Conclusion? There is something seriously wrong with iOS4 or iPhone 4. That's the only thing I can come up with. It's not AT&T, that's for sure.
FAIL. I had the problems on my 3GS and still having the problems with my new iPhone 4. In fact, it's MUCH worse with the new iPhone 4. I had 3 dropped calls today alone!!! I am so over this *****.. I love my g*d damn f*ing I phone 4, but I can't take another minute of this AT&T torture.
Do any of the VOIP apps work well on the iphone? I'm wondering if I could use a VOIP app instead when I'm at home.. If only call forwarding could automatically kick in when I am on wifi... Then maybe that could work.
I actually have a free Verizon blackberry from my employer. If I could somehow get the iPhone to automatically forward my calls when I am at home, then I would be golden, but manually doing it every time is not going to work for me.
UGHHHHH.
The Micro Cell is just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't work.. I don't want to hear any more excuses. It doesn't work... Get over it.
I have a 15mbps (20 burst) connection, so don't tell me it's my internet. Speeds are very consistent on Cox here in San Diego... Did I mention that my internet connection rocks?
So... whatever.
Hey, there's actually somethign cool you can do over in america for that call forwarding thing, it's called google voice, look it up.
I just got the Microcell last Monday. I moved and reception here is pretty poor inside my house. Before upgrading to iPhone 4 I wanted to make sure it would work. I keep having issues with the quality of call using the Microcell. Every few minutes the person on the other end sounds very garbled and robotic-like. Meanwhile my phone still will say I have 5 bars. My husband, who doesn't have an iPhone and doesn't use his phone nearly as much as I do, says he has not experienced this. Any idea/suggestions or is this just par for the course for it? I just have the iPhone 3G. Really wanted to get the iPhone 4 but if I can't get quality of service even with Microcell I'll have to change providers.
I live in San Diego and I have the exact same problem. I do, however, notice that if I am right next to the Microcell, it doesn't seem to happen.
I think I'm going to get my M-Cell replaced. I've replaced my phone and even set it up as a new phone instead of restoring from backup, and I still have problems with it locking on when I move the phone into range.
I think regarding the iPhone 4, the M-Cell basically a microcosm what we're seeing with towers. Stronger the signal, no death grip. As the M-Cell goes through walls/floors/furniture/etc, it gets weaker.
Last night was the first time I had an issue. It was highly compressed audio and difficult to understand. I might have been having some Internet issues though. Also the other caller was using an iPhone 4, so who knows.
They DIDN'T go nationwide, I STILL can't get one here in Lancaster. Something about problems with the E911 service. An AT&T rep told me maybe in october and he's been right about things before so I'm hopefully but I'm not holding my breath. Meanwhile, coverage still sucks and the bill is still almost enough to give me an aneurysm and they still say I shouldn't have any problems from home because their map shows good coverage. Hello? CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Obviously not.
Edit: There are GSM repeaters, also. They can work with any GSM carrier, any CDMA carrier, specific carriers, all kinds of configurations. They appear to generally be more expensive than a microcell BUT it doesn't use your internet connection, you don't pay a monthly charge to the carrier to use...your own internet connection...they don't need to be "activated" because they're not sold by carriers and they don't introduce problems that aren't already at a carrier's tower. The only reason I can think of that a microcell would be preferable to a repeater is if you're literally in the middle of nowhere with NO coverage at all. Not at ground level, not on your roof, nothing. If you have even borderline coverage, I'd think a repeater would be a much better way to go.
Edit: There are GSM repeaters, also. They can work with any GSM carrier, any CDMA carrier, specific carriers, all kinds of configurations. They appear to generally be more expensive than a microcell BUT it doesn't use your internet connection, you don't pay a monthly charge to the carrier to use...your own internet connection...they don't need to be "activated" because they're not sold by carriers and they don't introduce problems that aren't already at a carrier's tower. The only reason I can think of that a microcell would be preferable to a repeater is if you're literally in the middle of nowhere with NO coverage at all. Not at ground level, not on your roof, nothing. If you have even borderline coverage, I'd think a repeater would be a much better way to go.
I too have had this problem on iphone 4 but not with any of my other 3g capable phones. I did a complete restore of the iphone 4 (for other reasons) and set up completely as a new phone. Problem hasn't occurred since.
I would be interested to know if this resolves the issue. Anyone else want to try a full restore?
I called AT&T and spoke to a CS rep and failed at trying to get a free Microcell. She wasn't able to get me anything for free. She kept apologizing for me having crappy reception & pointed me to the nearest AT&T store to buy a microcell.
She did say she will transfer me or point me to another tower but that didn't help at all. I live with a bunch of roommates who have the same issue but are too cheap to pitch in on getting a Microcell.
Guess, I continue to work on my tan while making all my phone calls out on the parking lot.
Try again. I received an $80 credit towards the purchase. Just have to find the right CS rep.
I have had the MicroCell for about 6 weeks. It worked great with our iPhone 3GS (2 of them). Calls were very clear.
With the iPhone 4, it is pretty miserable. Calls keep dropping with the "Call Failed" error and two beeps. This is always during the call. This problem may be related to how I hold the phone -- I am going to test it with a bumper tomorrow.
We received two calls today. My wife's iPhone 3GS range perfectly. The iPhone 4 didn't ring and just told me about voicemail later. Go figure.
With the iPhone 4, it is pretty miserable. Calls keep dropping with the "Call Failed" error and two beeps. This is always during the call. This problem may be related to how I hold the phone -- I am going to test it with a bumper tomorrow.
We received two calls today. My wife's iPhone 3GS range perfectly. The iPhone 4 didn't ring and just told me about voicemail later. Go figure.
Since I have done the complete restore and setup from scratch, I have had no problems with the microcell and iphone 4.
I'd suggest not only using a case, but also test calls being in very close proximity to the box. From my couple weeks using it, my feeling they're basically as powerful as a WiFi base station, which is fine, but once you go through some walls/floors/furnature the death grip goes into effect just as with cell towers.