Here it is, the AT&T 3G MicroCell. It’s a router-like device that piggybacks on your home broadband connection to provide better AT&T signal strength, including 3G data.
You’re apparently able to use your existing plan minutes for no additional charge aside from the cost of the device, or for $20 per month you get unlimited minutes for up to ten registered phones. Mind you, these are unlimited minutes while you’re within range of the MicroCell. When you’re out and about, you’re using your plan minutes.
However, if you initiate a call at home and then walk outside and hop on a bus, the call will be counted as a MicroCell call even though you’ve left your house. So that’s something, eh?
I tried a few different zip codes but was unable to get actual pricing info because none of the areas I tried (Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle) are covered yet. There’s some Internet Nerd Rage (TM) going around about the $20-per-month charge, although it appears from the awful, awful informational videos on AT&T’s site that the $20 fee is only if you want unlimited at-home minutes. Otherwise, it seems that just using your regular plan minutes carries no extra charge.
If you have AT&T Home Phone and Internet service, though, you can get unlimited MicroCell calling for free. If you have either Home Phone or Internet (but not both), you can get it for $10 per month according to Engadget.
This stuff still isn’t totally official yet, although the AT&T MicroCell website is real. I’d be most interested to learn the actual price of the device, if any. If you’re able to get your zip code to work, maybe you could drop a line in the comments detailing the upfront costs.
UPDATE: Apparently it’s only available in Charlotte, North Carolina right now. I tested a zip code there and was directed to visit an area AT&T store for more information.
UPDATE 2 (from AT&T):
“The site is supporting a public trial of AT&T 3G MicroCell in Charlotte, North Carolina. No other announcements to make at this time. I’d also note that one of the things we are trialing is the pricing structure, as you’d expect from a consumer trial.
We have not announced any national plans, including pricing.
For this market trial, customers can purchase the device for $150, or if they choose a $20 monthly plan to get unlimited calling for the subscribers individual or FamilyTalk lines, they can enjoy a $100 rebate for a best price of $50 for the AT&T 3G MicroCell.”
AT&T 3G MicroCell [AT&T]
Yeah, isn’t this the eventual evolution of communication anyway?
Apparently, Charlotte, NC gets to try it first…
http://twitter.com/ShareATT/statuses/4147985778
By the way, they’ve offered a similar device before, just not for 3G. The previous service didn’t seem to go anywhere. I suspect this one will do much better.
I live in Charlotte. I might have to check it out at the house. We get a weak signal at the house and have only one room where we can talk on our phones.
So, I did get it today and the MicroCell works nicely at the house/office.
I had one possible glitch when uploading some files to a web server, but I have not been able to duplicate the interference. Thus far, I am pretty pleased.
Good to hear. I’m a prime candidate for this thing, but it pisses me off to have to pay to fix AT&T’s problems. However, I’m desperate enough that I’d seriously consider paying the $150 one-time charge to fix the problem.
If AT&T’s basic problem is “network clog”, not just “tower clog”, how is this device going to help. All it does is feed data directly to AT&T’s servers through the web instead of through a tower.
If the problem is just a weak tower signal, I can see that it would help. But “bars”, as I understand them, are an indication of the ability to make a reliable connection, which includes other factors besides signal strength. Unless AT&T beefs up their entire infrastructure, I question the usefulness of the MicroCell.
I disagree. This device will help in both the the “low tower signal” and “tower overloaded” cases since it is offloading your calls and data from the tower onto your home internet connection. The weak link in cellular systems is the wireless connection, and (less frequently) the backhaul from the tower back to “home base”. This solution bypasses both problems.
Verizon has had this for a long time now.
I believe AT&T has had similar devices in the past as well, but this is the first one that works for 3G…which is why it’s news.
Verizon hasn’t had this for a long time, and their plans for it really screw the customer over hard. It uses your bucket of minutes regardless. At least AT&T offers an unlimited airtime option. The VZW one can’t do data at all. It sucks balls.
Very similar to Sprint’s Airave microcell that Sprint has had for a considerable time (and a new one is expected).
AT&T is the last of the “big three” to have microcells available to their subscribers.
Last for 3G, perhaps…assuming the others work with their fastest data services. AT&T has had similar devices in the past. This is just the first one that’s worked with 3G.
I really wish they would just build a damn tower near me rather than having me shell out another $150 to them. What pisses me off the most is that I am supposedly (according to their own map) in not only a 3G area but a full reception area. I get 1 bar of edge on my iPhone almost 65% of the time. The other 35% is “No Signal.”
Mmm lets see..
You pay us for hardware, and monthly fee, to take load off our network, particularly is bad spots where we are way to cheap to beef it up, and you already pay us for service anyway… and we get to run the data over the connection you pay for, and either we double dip or you wast our competitors bandwidth… yes… yes that will do nicely… cue evil laugh.
WTF, they should be giving these away and and begging people to install them with credit going back to anyway deploying them and a double credit if they don’t lock it down.
I can’t bear the low speed of bandwidth, I don’t want to waste my time, it’s limited.
Seems like to me – why should you even need this?
If the service was up to par as it should be and with as much as we pay per month for phone service – why should I BUY more to fix the crappy service?
“Let’s push a product that will boost signal to fix our crappy coverage and squeeze another $20 per month out of them by giving them unlimited minutes through the device!.. BRILLIANT!”
On top of the $215 I pay a month on two phones, I also go through AT&T for internet and AT&T Dish Network for cable.
If they didn’t control my life (due to the fact that where I live they are the only ones we can get) I probably wouldn’t be with them.
The internet service SUCKS, but more than likely it’s due to 2wire since I’m now on my 6th modem and have two sitting here to send back.
Anywho.. I think AT&T needs to step up the service and get their crap together.
Just my two cents…
While I agree in principle, I know I personally have reception issues in my house because I’m in a one-story house surrounded by two-story houses, my house is covered with 6-8″ thick limestone all the way around, my roof decking is backed with foil to keep the attic cooler, and all of my windows are gas-filled dual-pane windows and half of them have a ceramic film on them which probably doesn’t help either.
While it does suck that we’ll have to shell out more cash for the MicroCell device to guarantee ourselves a strong signal where it’s otherwise weak, it’s an investment as far as I’m concerned, if it will help me feel more at ease by eliminating the chance that I’ll miss an important call due to a weak signal.
I am not a fan of having to shell out money to pay for hardware which would benefit them by me having it. That said, for many it would make them more comfortable having just a cell phone at home enabling them to cancel their traditional landline. So if you are paying 40-60 per month for landline over time it will pay for itself. As for the monthly 20.00, it does give you unlimited minutes so if you have say a plan thats 49.00 for 500 mins it might be cheaper microcell way than to have a plan thats say closer to 100.00 dollars for unlimited.
My hospital is one of the highest points in town, yet it is an AT&T dead zone. We’re stuck with 2G on the few phones that work because we’re not LA or NYC, and I have to keep my Sprint TREO755P in order to get calls at work. AT&T sold me an iPhone knowing there coverage is inadequate. I kept connecting to a Mexican cell tower and service called MOVISTAR and AT&T actually told me I needed to call every month when I got a bill and dispute any international calling, roaming or data plan charges. I love the iPhone, but I really need a carrier that can provide some reasonable service.
This makes me furious. I paid $500 for the IPhone. I have never been able to use it in my apartment in the city or my house in the country and I have paid $75 a month for this privilege. When I first saw this article, I got excited. But what it is saying is that now to get a signal, I have to upgrade to the 3G ($100) which will add another $20 to my monthly phone bill, and then I have to pay another $150 to get this little unit in order to get a call or add another $20 to my phone bill, making it $120 a month? This while other carriers with a less fancy phone are paying $30 for a phone they most likely get for free. What is wrong with this picture?
Sorry if this seems a bit harsh, but, to answer your own question, I’d say that what’s wrong with that picture is that, if your phone has truly never worked at your home, you should have used the 30-day no hassle return option with AT&T and gone with another carrier if reception in your home was a high priority…especially after paying $500 for the phone.
Also, if you still have an original non-3G iPhone, you’re further limiting your reception capabilities as AT&T continues to upgrade towers around the country. Sell that puppy on eBay to some developer looking for a contract-free way to buy an iPhone for development and go buy yourself an iPhone 3GS!
Has anyone tried purchasing this in Charlotte and taking it to another city to see if it works there?