I was thinking of getting for my store, but it is in a enclosed shopping mall and I am sure the GPS will not get a lock. If I set it up at my house and move it to the store will it still work?
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The AT&T 3G MicroCell Owner's Thread
- Thread starter pcguru83
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Here is a question for Microcell owners.
I think this is possible, and want to see if any of you are in this situation or know that it would work.
I am currently on my own AT&T plan and pay about $100 a month for my wireless bill. My family (who I do not live with) has a Family Plan, and for $40 a month ($10 for the line, $30 for data plan) I can join their plan. This is obviously a great monthly savings for me should I do this. One thing I am a little concerned about is the Microcell and the GPS thing. I read in some articles that AT&T says that your Microcell has to be at the same location as your service address on your account. I then read other articles and posts (with screenshots) that say you can just add Microcell locations into the Microcell management site and you'll be all set. I would love it if the latter is true, but would like confirmation from anyone here who has a Microcell setup at a different location than their AT&T service address.
Thanks!
I think this is possible, and want to see if any of you are in this situation or know that it would work.
I am currently on my own AT&T plan and pay about $100 a month for my wireless bill. My family (who I do not live with) has a Family Plan, and for $40 a month ($10 for the line, $30 for data plan) I can join their plan. This is obviously a great monthly savings for me should I do this. One thing I am a little concerned about is the Microcell and the GPS thing. I read in some articles that AT&T says that your Microcell has to be at the same location as your service address on your account. I then read other articles and posts (with screenshots) that say you can just add Microcell locations into the Microcell management site and you'll be all set. I would love it if the latter is true, but would like confirmation from anyone here who has a Microcell setup at a different location than their AT&T service address.
Thanks!
Works perfectly down by Carowinds / Moss Road. I used to get 2 bars of edge at home (on a good day), now I'm seeing 5 bars of 3G all over the house and out by the pool.
Thanks Paj, I called the Pineville - Matthews store yesterday and they told me I could not use it because I live in SC. I told them I live literally on the border in Lake Wylie and could see NC from my house so I dont think they were understanding I am pretty much in Charlotte. I figure I will go over there today and talk to them and explain it further. There is hardly any reception what so ever in Lake Wylie, which is pretty sad since we are on the Charlotte border and we even use the cell tower in Charlotte to connect. Ughhhh. AT&T frusterates me.
I understand that. However I live on the border and can see the Charlotte city limit from my house if I go out to the street. They are offering this device as far up as Huntersville and as far south as Gastonia and I am in the middle of the two cities as the area of SC I am in is sort of like a nook inside of Charlotte. So it is not just for the city of Charlotte but the Metro Charlotte area it seems but they say I am not able to get it even though I am in the middle. HA HA.
No. Apparently it will not activate in a location that is not "approved" by ATT. Thus the GPS locator requirement makes sure of this.
I guess I was surprised they would charge it for this device; seeing that it's purpose is to improve THEIR signal in your home. If it doesn't help any, you're just back where you are except out of $35. They should be giving these things to us that have terrible reception.
This is true. Jacecole posted on twitter that he actually activated a unit in Charlotte, got it to work there. Then he took it to Chicago and it would not work.
ATT seems to have it locked down. Now, what "might" be possible is to buy it and activate it in Charlotte, and then move it to one of the beta test cities such as Atlanta or Raleigh. Those cities beta test 3g microcells still work, so it might work for the market test units too....but I doubt that as well, since the ATT sales reps check your address before selling it to you.
I read elsewhere (from one of the beta testers I believe) that ATT will allow you to move the device, you just need to re-register in your new location. But obviously, as you pointed out, they will have to support the Microcell in the area you are moving it to.
From the official AT&T FAQ:
Question:
Can I move my AT&T 3G MicroCell device and use it in another location?
Answer:
Yes, your device can be moved to another location provided it is within the Wireless from AT&T authorized service area. A device move requires an update to your location address in your AT&T 3G MicroCell account profile for the device to function and for 911 purposes. Please go to www.att.com/3GMicroCell and select "Manage Your AT&T 3G MicroCell".
So the "Wireless from AT&T authorized service area" must have a different definition when applied to the 3gMicroCell (or at least different during the initial trials).
The full list of FAQs are here
Could someone comment on the range of this device? I am considering purchasing one when it becomes available in my area for use at work (which happens to be in the only dead zone for miles around), but I am not always right in my office, and I'm wondering how it will work when I'm in a meeting elsewhere in the building. Is the range comparable, for instance, to that of a Wi-Fi router?
Update
After about 3 months or more of using the device, sadly I unplugged it. I don't know if its a hardware issue, placement issue (too close to the router) or what but any calls made were unintelligible to the other person. It got to the point that it was no longer worth my time trying to figure out why it was not working properly. Maybe when I get a gigaspeed switch or different router (airport extreme) I'll try plugging it back in. I get 1-2 bars which is good enough for calls so oh well. I hope you all dont have the issues I started to have starting about 2 weeks ago.(the mass launch date in charlotte)
After about 3 months or more of using the device, sadly I unplugged it. I don't know if its a hardware issue, placement issue (too close to the router) or what but any calls made were unintelligible to the other person. It got to the point that it was no longer worth my time trying to figure out why it was not working properly. Maybe when I get a gigaspeed switch or different router (airport extreme) I'll try plugging it back in. I get 1-2 bars which is good enough for calls so oh well. I hope you all dont have the issues I started to have starting about 2 weeks ago.(the mass launch date in charlotte)
I am having the same problems as you. Every call I make on it ends up with the other person sounding garbled so that I can't understand them. Also calls drop when leaving the house.
I called AT&T and they said that it is definitely a hardware issue and that I should go to a store and get it replaced. You might want to try that as well since there is a 1 year warranty on it.
Got it free as a trial participant. I dont know if they would swap it out or what. Ill give them a call tomorrow I guess.
Yea, I had planned on going the MicroCell route and getting one today; but have changed my mind. It just really rubs me wrong to pay $150 to buy something to provide improved service on something I'm already paying for. What I've done instead is switch over to Google Voice and I have all my (and my wife's) calls routed to both our Vonage home phone and also our iPhones. That way if we're at home we'll just use our home phone to answer calls. The only downside to this is when our daughter and son call, they will be charged for usage now since it's not an AT&T to AT&T call. But most of daughter's calls are in the evenings and weekends and son doesn't call us much at all.
Sorry to ask again, but could someone comment on the real-world effective range of the Micro-Cell? I'm hoping to use it at work, and I move around a lot in the building. Does it have coverage at least as good as a WiFi router? I'd be glad to hear anyone's experiences.
Earlier in this thread, I said that I had issues with configuring my Microcell with AT&T DSL. I called tech support about this, and they then told me that my router (Airport Extreme) was incompatible with the Microcell in Priority mode. This is BS though, because it does not work with my Mac Mini or Macbook either, so I plan on calling them back today and getting some real answers.
I did swap my device out yesterday for a new one, and I still got a garbled call, twice. I disconnected it and took out the ethernet cable from the "computer" port so that the Microcell isn't passing on its internet connection, and that seemed to help. The only problem is that when doing something like running a speedtest while a phone call is in progress, the phone call ends up so that you can't hear it at all.
So far this is making me way more stressed than it should. Hopefully I can call AT&T today and they can tell me how to get it working in priority mode, otherwise I will be very unsatisfied with this product.
I did swap my device out yesterday for a new one, and I still got a garbled call, twice. I disconnected it and took out the ethernet cable from the "computer" port so that the Microcell isn't passing on its internet connection, and that seemed to help. The only problem is that when doing something like running a speedtest while a phone call is in progress, the phone call ends up so that you can't hear it at all.
So far this is making me way more stressed than it should. Hopefully I can call AT&T today and they can tell me how to get it working in priority mode, otherwise I will be very unsatisfied with this product.
In my experience VOIP at home often has these same problems unless you use QOS to allocate a portion of your upstream bandwidth to the VOIP device. Of course the Airport Extreme doesn't have this capability (nor do most consumer devices) but it's the one reason I run Tomato firmware at home. I've successfully set this up for numerous friends and family members who were previously having issues with VOIP at home.
I'd be interested in what the 'priority' mode does. Other than 802.1p priority tagging, (which I'm not sure home routers recognize and even so, what would stop any device or application from setting the highest priority flag?) I'm not sure how they could guarantee priority without taking over some routing functions.
I'd be interested in what the 'priority' mode does. Other than 802.1p priority tagging, (which I'm not sure home routers recognize and even so, what would stop any device or application from setting the highest priority flag?) I'm not sure how they could guarantee priority without taking over some routing functions.