# AT&T 3G Microcell



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

A couple of weeks ago, I got what appeared to be some junk mail from AT&T. Turns out they wanted to give me a free microcell for our use at home. No strings attached. Checked with the closest store, had them hold one for me, picked it up, installed it, and we were up and running in less than a half hour. Prior to this, we had lots of problems with reception at our home. With 4 cell phones, 2 of which are used by our daughters, having stinky service is the pits. Interestingly enough, we'd never complained about the problems as we knew going in we'd have spotty service. I suspect our demographics, location, and the fact we've got 4 iPhones contributed to the offer.

John


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## dshu82 (Jul 6, 2007)

JM Anthony said:


> A couple of weeks ago, I got what appeared to be some junk mail from AT&T. Turns out they wanted to give me a free microcell for our use at home. No strings attached. Checked with the closest store, had them hold one for me, picked it up, installed it, and we were up and running in less than a half hour. Prior to this, we had lots of problems with reception at our home. With 4 cell phones, 2 of which are used by our daughters, having stinky service is the pits. Interestingly enough, we'd never complained about the problems as we knew going in we'd have spotty service. I suspect our demographics, location, and the fact we've got 4 iPhones contributed to the offer.
> 
> John


I have seen this recently also, but how do you like it? Works as expected? Bars increased for signal strength? We are in the same boat, with my wife using hers for business a good part of the day, working from home.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

We've had bad service at our house with dropped calls ever since we moved two years ago. I was hoping to get a free microcell out of Verizon (they started out offering it for $99) but we haven't dropped any calls since we got the Droid X's lol


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## klang (Oct 14, 2003)

I never received an offer for a free one but I bought an AT&T Microcell for our house a few weeks ago. We are out in the boonies and coverage has always been hit and miss. The device does work as advertised. We now get five bars on our iPhones when near the device. They claim 5000 sq ft coverage and I think that is a bit off. 

One possible gotcha, the Microcell needs to receive a GPS signal so it has to be placed near a window. That precluded installing at a central location in my house. One half the house gets 5 bars.


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

klang said:


> I never received an offer for a free one but I bought an AT&T Microcell for our house a few weeks ago. We are out in the boonies and coverage has always been hit and miss. The device does work as advertised. We now get five bars on our iPhones when near the device. They claim 5000 sq ft coverage and I think that is a bit off.
> 
> One possible gotcha, the Microcell needs to receive a GPS signal so it has to be placed near a window. That precluded installing at a central location in my house. One half the house gets 5 bars.


I did receive the offer but out in our boonies we don't have the "Broadband service over U-Verse, DSL or cable" that they require. The new a window requirement apparently is only for initial setup and can then be moved but without available broadband we are out of luck.

We currently have a Wi-ex cell repeater and that offers some improvement but its still far from good reception inside the house.


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## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

I love my microcell.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

I've had one since they went public last September (Charlotte was also a test market) and the first few months were a little rocky but they 'should' have all the kinks out by now. It works fine. Occasionally, the first call of the day (or returning to the m-cell) is a little garbled.

We get 5 bars inside the house with it. Without it, I'd get a voice mail the next day or worse. On our deck outside the house, also 5 bars on 3G before I installed it.

With rebate, my net cost was about $60.

It will hand off a call to 3G if you leave its coverage - and it does that well. It doesn't return to the micro-cell while on a call.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

TINSTAAFA: There Is No Such Thing As A Free Anything.

Could be wrong, but I'm guessing your ATT contract was automatically extended by one or two years when you rose to the bait. That's not to say that a microcell isn't a handy thing when signal strengths are iffy, but I just don't want people going around thinking that so-called _free_ stuff is really free.

Back when I had T-mobile and deterioration of an already marginal ss at home due to growth of dense foliage between me and my tower over the preceding six years, they offered me an Internet solution, the privilege for which T-Mobile would charge me $200-$300 for the gadget + $10/m + a two-year extension. What a deal! :nono2:

I passed and ported my # to another carrier.


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## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

txtommy said:


> I did receive the offer but out in our boonies we don't have *the "Broadband service over U-Verse, DSL or cable" that they require. *The new a window requirement apparently is only for initial setup and can then be moved but without available broadband we are out of luck.
> 
> We currently have a Wi-ex cell repeater and that offers some improvement but its still far from good reception inside the house.


I wonder if that could be accomplished by tethering it to the phone, as long as there is 3g coverage of any kind.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

I'll bite, what's the purpose of the GPS requirement?


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## klang (Oct 14, 2003)

trdrjeff said:


> I'll bite, what's the purpose of the GPS requirement?


Mobile 911.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

Not only 911 but also it needs to know what local towers are available.

And there was no increase of commitment with the m-cell.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

I have been thinking about getting one of these. I plan to call AT&T to see if I can get a free one. Reception at my house (and on my street) is awful. My neighbor got a free one.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Our reception has dramatically improved. If one of us got a call on our cell phone, we'd typically just tell the caller to use our land line, otherwise their cell call would be dropped. We were one of the first to take advantage of the campaign in the Seattle area and the store didn't quite know what all to do to get me processed. The logged the equipment into the system, had me acknowledge receipt of it, but I don't think I signed anything to extend the term of our agreement. Right now we're pretty happy campers and aren't looking to jump ship.

John


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## MikeW (May 16, 2002)

trdrjeff said:


> I'll bite, what's the purpose of the GPS requirement?


GPS is used to ensure you are using the Microcell within the boundries of AT&T. This is so you can't use the phone in another country on a microcell and not get charged for roaming.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

Awe that makes more sense I assumed the cell gps would transmit the e911 data


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

MikeW said:


> GPS is used to ensure you are using the Microcell within the boundries of AT&T. This is so you can't use the phone in another country on a microcell and not get charged for roaming.


What AT&T told me was that it was an FCC requirement as the cell is a transmission device.

John


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

davemayo said:


> I have been thinking about getting one of these. I plan to call AT&T to see if I can get a free one. Reception at my house (and on my street) is awful. My neighbor got a free one.


I called my local AT&T store and they said that I can't get a free one without a letter from AT&T. My street is a total dead zone, which I've told AT&T several times in the 6 years since I built my house. My neighbor two doors down received a letter. I'm going to call Customer Care to get my letter.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

Update: Called several people in Customer Care. They are not giving out microcells to people with no signal at home. So, they want me to pay $150 for the privilege of using at home the service that I already pay a fortune for. Please. :nono2:


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

I had the same initial attitude about the microcell. While I'm not in a dead zone, 5 bars on the deck, 0 in the house. Something about my house eats the signal. I would get a voice mail the next day . . . or if I went outside.

More background, I had tested the phones for a month (January) before cancelling our Verizon account and had no problems until June or so. The microcell came out in Charlotte in September.

After rebate, it was around $50 so I jumped on it. I could certainly lose more than that by missing one phone call.


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