3G MicroCell

[matthew23]

Anyone know any inside info????

 

[whmurray]

I am waiting for this as well as I get no service in my apartment (not at&t's fault - perfect service outside the window but when shut it blocks everything). Everyday I check availability and google for updates. It is so frustrating. I really hope Verizon gets the iPhone (verizon and sprint work pretty well - must be a bandwidth frequency thing). I am giving AT&T until the iPhone comes out on Veirzon to get with it or I am gone! (Take that AT&T!!!)

I find it hard to understand AT&T's silence, not to say refusal to sell. this device. Not only does it increase revenues, it is at least a Band-Aid for their notorious network service.

 

[whmurray]

Microcell still not GA

A recent press release claims increased availability of the microcell.

In fact, this means a few additional sparsely populated counties in the Carolinas. Hardly rates a press release. Simply calls attention to a continuing failure.

 

[whmurray]

Glad I read this forum. Became available in CT this week. No notification from AT&T. They really do not seem to want to sell this device.

I bought mine, activated and configured it. It took about an hour to report that it was working. I think that this is mostly GPS. The device is near a south facing window but not within the recommended three feet.

It is not five bars throughout the apartment; fades completely in parts of the b/r. Nonetheless iti is am improvement over the local cell.

5/12/2010

Still no notification from AT&T. Take the initiative, guys.

 

[peanutgallery]

I never received an email about the 3g Microcell going live in my area but I just checked my zipcode again on AT&T's Microcell availability site and found that it is now available in my area. For those of you jones-ing for some service, it might be worth another availability check instead of waiting for an email.

*EDIT* - I'm in a NW suburb of Chicago, I usually consider it a "suburb of a suburb" so if I have it out here I'm assuming places closer to Chicago have it also.

*EDIT #2* - I was finally able to get through to a store representative, he confirmed the 3g Microcell "went live Sunday" and they are in stock, ready to be purchased.

 

[matthew23]

I'm in Chicago and was there when the store opened to get mine.

 

[whmurray]

Did you sign up for the unlimited plan?

 

[peanutgallery]

I just bought mine today, and after the initial set-up hiccup everything is working great.

The only problem I had was because of the all-in-one dsl modem/router/wi-fi access point. When I plugged the microcell directly into the modem/router it was recognized as another router and the modem/router affected some part of the activation. I had to place a hub between modem/router and the microcell. Once I power-cycled the microcell I had it activated after approximately 15 minutes.

After I power-cycled my iPhone the service indicator went from 1 bar of 3g or 1-2 bar(s) of edge to 5 bars of 3g throughout the house with the signal dropping to 3 bars in the corners farthest from the microcell.

So far I'm really happy with the purchase.

 

[matthew23]

i did not go for the unlimited plan. i have a bunch of rollover minutes to use since i did not get service in my place before the microcell. once those are used up, maybe.

 

[whmurray]

i did not go for the unlimited plan. i have a bunch of rollover minutes to use since i did not get service in my place before the micro-cell. once those are used up, maybe.

I find trying to make sense of the plans difficult Because of long conference calls, mostly from home, 600 minutes is not enough for me. On the other hand, on the 900 minute plan, I get A-list. I put the conference call numbers on the A-list. This gives me far more minutes than I can use. I now have thousands of roll-over minutes.

While I did not sign up for unlimited micro-cell minutes, the 600 minute plan with the $20- unlimited micro-cell minutes might work better for me. Any thoughts? If I change to a 600 minute plan will I lose my roll-over balance? Will a 600 minute plan with unlimited micro-cell be cheaper than my 900 minute plan?

 

[peanutgallery]

I find trying to make sense of the plans difficult Because of long conference calls, mostly from home, 600 minutes is not enough for me. On the other hand, on the 900 minute plan, I get A-list. I put the conference call numbers on the A-list. This gives me far more minutes than I can use. I now have thousands of roll-over minutes.

While I did not sign up for unlimited micro-cell minutes, the 600 minute plan with the $20- unlimited micro-cell minutes might work better for me. Any thoughts? If I change to a 600 minute plan will I lose my roll-over balance? Will a 600 minute plan with unlimited micro-cell be cheaper than my 900 minute plan?

I'm in the same problem, although I'm not sure what 600 minute plan you're talking about. I have the option of 450, 900, or unlimited - no 600 minute option. I go through the 450 minutes and have considered getting the 900, but then my off network #'s will be able to be placed on the "A-List " so I'll have thousands of roll over minutes.

Assuming your 600 minute plan costs the same as my 450 minute plan (base of $39.99) you will essentially be paying the same amount of money for the 600 minutes and $20 unlimited micro cell calling as you would for the 900 minute plan without the unlimited micro cell minutes. The $20 difference between the 450 and the 900 minute plans and the $20 cost of unlimited micro cell calling negate each other.

If it were me I'd rather have the 900 minutes with A-List (unlimited calling anywhere to 5 numbers) and thousands of roll over minutes to be used where ever I am, instead of the 450 (or 600) minutes with no A-List, very few rollover minutes and the unlimited microcell calling (unlimited calling only at home/office).

 

[whmurray]

I'm in the same problem, although I'm not sure what 600 minute plan you're talking about. I have the option of 450, 900, or unlimited - no 600 minute option. I go through the 450 minutes and have considered getting the 900, but then my off network #'s will be able to be placed on the "A-List " so I'll have thousands of roll over minutes.

Assuming your 600 minute plan costs the same as my 450 minute plan (base of $39.99) you will essentially be paying the same amount of money for the 600 minutes and $20 unlimited micro cell calling as you would for the 900 minute plan without the unlimited micro cell minutes. The $20 difference between the 450 and the 900 minute plans and the $20 cost of unlimited micro cell calling negate each other.

If it were me I'd rather have the 900 minutes with A-List (unlimited calling anywhere to 5 numbers) and thousands of roll over minutes to be used where ever I am, instead of the 450 (or 600) minutes with no A-List, very few rollover minutes and the unlimited microcell calling (unlimited calling only at home/office).

Thanks. Your analysis was very helpful.

First, you are correct that the two plans available to me are 450 minutes and 900 minutes plus A list and unlimited nights and weekends.

Second, the plans are $20 apart, the same as the cost of unlimited micro-cell. In other words, a wash.

I have 3000+ rollover minutes. I wonder if I could drop to the 450 minute plan for a few months while I use up those rollover minutes.

 

[peanutgallery]

It's worth a shot. When I was looking into switching to the 900 minute plan from the 450 plan the AT&T website told me the maximum number of rollover minutes I could carry over were 900 (equal to the monthly allotted minutes for the new plan). If it works in reverse then you'll only be able to carry over 450 minutes.

I would go into a corporate store and ask them.

 

[peanutgallery]

After using my MicroCell for a couple of weeks I can say that I still have some frustrations.

Mainly it seems the MicroCell signal and WiFi interfere with each other. I have the MicroCell approximately 20-25 feet away from my
wireless router but while using the phone near the wireless router the call quality suffers greatly.

I have yet to contact AT&T about it but I plan to.

Anyone else experience problems with their MicroCell?

 

[whmurray]

After using my MicroCell for a couple of weeks I can say that I still have some frustrations.

Mainly it seems the MicroCell signal and WiFi interfere with each other. I have the MicroCell approximately 20-25 feet away from my
wireless router but while using the phone near the wireless router the call quality suffers greatly.

I have yet to contact AT&T about it but I plan to.

Anyone else experience problems with their MicroCell?

Well, I am not thrilled with the range but would not expect and have not noticed any interference.

While I can imagine that the phone might possibly interfere with the wireless access point, it is hard to understand how that could be worse when the phone is talking to a micro-cell than when it is talking to any other cell.

 

[peanutgallery]

It might not even be interference, but on the MicroCell box if I remember correctly it said to place the unit away from the wireless router.

All in all since purchasing the MicroCell unit I am able to make calls more frequently, however the quality is hit or miss.

 

[jtimmerm]

Does anyone else have a noticeable delay when using the MicroCell? It's not a dealbreaker, but still annoying. Other than the delay, the call quality is good. Any solutions?

 

[whmurray]

Does anyone else have a noticeable delay when using the MicroCell? It's not a dealbreaker, but still annoying. Other than the delay, the call quality is good. Any solutions?

Delay? Latency? Turn-around, like on a satellite call?

In any case, I guess I am not experiencing it.

 

[AZMerf]

Anybody else get theres for free? I picked mine up yesterday and finally hooked it up this morning. The activation site has been down for the past 2 days but it seems to be working now. Just waiting for the MicroCell to phone home and it should be working.

 

[solius]

Well I had forgotten all about this thing. I just went online and checked to see if this was available in my moms area and it is! Hopefully it will solve her coverage problems because its basically non existent at her house. Now I just have to convince her to get one. How much is one it doesn't seem to say on the information website.