AT&T MicroCell MicroSite goes live; MicroLaunch imminent

@Gary

Great product but it shouldn’t be using any minutes when you are going through broadband.

Guess I will stick to Google Voice ringing both my VoIP and Cell.

@Gary, clue us into what shit BGR’s putting on the web about your product. Look up the previous blogs, and even this on qualifies pricing with the “word on the street is…”.

The “product” you’re extolling is vaporware today – it doesn’t exist yet, and you’ve got no empirical data to back it up as there aren’t any units on the street except for some test units. Lets see what happens to the ATT network when ATT turns on ALL of the units – I’m guessing a another fuckup like the 850 overlay. Read up on HoFo and your own forums about your service – money’s against you on ATTWS getting femtocell implementation right.

You guys should be giving these things away in Austin, PDX, Chicago, NYC, San Diego, SF, LA, wherever you have 3G and have nothing but hate for your “product”. Good luck with that.

Seems to me that people fail to realize that Fast access dsl is available in places where indoor cell phone use is not very good. So buy this and instantly have perfect indoor 3g coverage, even when you live in a place that has one stop light and barely any coverage.

Sounds like a win to me, as an AT&T employee I will hear more horror stories than victories, ha.

@Gary

That sounds a very good deal.

Two questions (which I couldn’t find on the web site – I like the videos but a little short on hard facts!)

* You say “unlimitted calling” – does that also apply to data? Is there a fair usage cap (aside from whatever the ISP imposes)?

Given this is 3G instead of Sprint/Verizon voice I hope data is supported?

* How much is the box? Is there a cash fee for device? Fair enough if there is, although I hoipe less than the $250 others charge?

@bonesb,

I was in San Diego a couple of months ago and I did a few speed tests while I was there. I was getting any where from 1mb-1.5mb down. I don’t see why people complain there.

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Tempe Arizona, USA

You don’t have to pay the $20 fee. Gizmodo needs to stop bitching. You can use the unit for free.

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Greensboro United States

Look, I already have ATT DSL and a landline, so according to what’s been posted, I can get unlimited minutes for FREE. Seems to be the best deal of any femtocell out there.

Jon, it is a good deal but what is the purpose if you already have a landline that doesn’t have the peak/off-peak restrictions. It would be cheaper to get rid of the landline and just pay $10, my question is do these prices reflect individual plans, do they account for fams or will you have to play for each line

Glad I don’t have ATT. Sounds like a rip.

Don: a metered rate AT&T landline costs me $6/month. After taxes its about $12. If I get DSL without a phone line, it costs $10 more. For $2 a month, I get guaranteed 911 calling that works in an extended power outage. I can also send and receive faxes and modem calls, not to mention I can forward my cell phone to it or use Google Voice.

AND YOU can make DOMESTIC Long-distance calls for FREE.

AT&T – More Bars in More Places? What happened to that? The Largest Voice and Data Coverage of any carrier? What happened to that too?

Guess its true if they can swindle people to put one of these into every AT&T household in the USA. The problem is the price.

T-Mobile had it right by UMA. $19.99 immediately dropped the next month to $9.99…and allows it to be used internationally, making it the FIRST and ONLY US Carrier to offer true international service without roaming fees.
Sprint has it right by giving the devices FREE, if it means people wont cancel, but their $5.00 a month fee for access (regardless of unlimited plan) is stupid.
Verizon just messed it all up by having $250 devices without ANY option at all.

All Im saying is that AT&T is admitting they dont have great coverage…And they truely dont! But whats more concerning is that they are jacking the price of service for this to an astronomical price so people can use their phone in 3G mode. Umm… iPhone users are you paying attention? Just use your WiFi and worry about checking voicemail later.

What is the range and how much radiation does this thing put out?

OMG some people are imbecils. In the current area being tested the unit is $150 (one time) with a $100 mail in rebate. If you have 450 minute cell phone plan. Thats all the minutes you have on your Microcell. For free. If you OPT to purchase the Unlimited Microcell Plan you can use it for unlimited calling in your house with up to 4 phones simultansously. This is $20 a month. The Microcell coverage is 5000 square feet. Any calls started over the microcell and handed over to a cell tower when you move out of the microcell coverage area are counted against your Microcell. If you have 450 minutes on your cell plan you are using your minutes and the Microcell is merely a cell repeater. If you have 450 minutes on your cell plan and Unlimited on your microcell and you walk or drive out of your microcell 5000 square foot coverage your call gets handed over to a cell tower and you still use the unlimited minutes from your cell, as long as you are still connected to the call that originated while you were on the cell. So you can make a call. get in the car and drive for an hour using the unlimited minutes you buy with your Microcell. Still not using 1 minute of your 450 minutes you have on your plan.

Anyone not get it?

Are the phone companies in business to make a profit? Why should AT&T or any other company offer this service for free without some type of reciprocity? Over 50% of the internet traffic in the US goes over AT&T’s backbone. Revelation for most people, 90 % of cell towers are connected to landlines which go back to the core network. This is basically a small cell tower that you can put in your home. The connection runs back to the internet over some type of landline. If it’s an AT&T landline you get a discount or free service. So if you think that because you buy a microcell that you should automatically get free service, go and build out your own network. Also, just because an area has cellular coverage, it doesn’t mean that in-building penetration will be ideal for everybody. Even on the 700Mhz spectrum, people still had to have rabbit ears on their TV’s. There are compromises that have to be made in order to maximize the benefits of coverage for the majority of people. This is an ideal solution for those who have great coverage everywhere but in their homes or especially in the basement. An in-building repeater for a business usually runs several thousands of dollars. You are complaining about $150 – $200.

AT&T customers benefit from a bundled service. It is a tiered pricing structure and what is wrong with that? This is just my opinion……

Thanks Gregg…the voice of reason

As everything else, it’s all POINT OF VIEW.

The people on one side see this as an ADDED service w/ benefits to already existing At&t customers. Fair enough. (We’ll call this Group A)

But others are seeing it as a band-aid to people who have bad service and then making them pay for the solution. (Group B, obviously).

Now, if you’re from Group A… whatever. More power to you. Maybe you live in a mountain, that’s not At&t’s fault so yeah, improving your service is apparently your problem. One you have to pay for. Or maybe you just want to have an all-in-one plan, use the microcell at home, whatever. Your money, you do what you want.

But if you’re from group B. Then hell no. Fuck At&t. If they can’t provide the service required under the contract they signed with you, they need to let you out that contract.

One of the problems about this whole discussion is that most people from Group B are not convinced by Group A that this is an added service rather than a patch for their holes. The reason most are not convinced is because there are so many wi-fi calling alternatives out there that the only attractive reason anyone would get a microcell is to improve the quality of their cellular, to which group B doesn’t feel is something the consumer should have to pay extra for.

Has anyone actually got one of these cells in their possession?

@Eric

“I wish more carriers would do UMA. No extra hardware and the extra cost is optional (you only pay $10 per month extra if you don’t want the calls placed over UMA to count against your minutes)”

Hardly sounds dramatically better

So T-mobile you can use a small selection of handsets. My kids don’t have WiFi…

AT&T you can use any handset

T-mobile you pay $0 or $10. AT&T you are much the same: $0 use plan, $10 or $20 for all the phones in your home (and it is all of them – see above) to get unlimitted calls.

For that I’d turn off my fixed line. Unlimitted calls for $20 seems a good deal to me.

When I tried UMA the voice quality sucked: even worse than cellular – and people say that cellphone calls on femto are way better than usual.

Hundreds if not thousands of people since its for sale in stores all over Charolette North Carolina. Thats AT&T full market test. And prices arent final. Its still testing. But the way they are selling it now. I like it. If I needed it I would get it.

I switched to Sprint back in June and have not looked back to AT&T. Too bad their new femtocell won’t help fill the gaps in Orange County and subsequent dropped calls.
Sprint coverage was not solid in my house so I called to complain about it and they gave me their femtocell, normally $99, for free. The monthly fee is $5 and they waived that too. I am amazed at the coverage I get with Sprint in areas AT&T would never work. I feel almost spoiled with having complete conversations without so many dropped calls anymore.
I hope Sprint keeps turning it around and comes back fully restored.

I just got an iphone 3g S – LOVE it. However, no AT&T reception in my house. That is ok since i dont like talking on my cell anyhow unless i have to and have my VOIP calls ring all my phones at once. However, no texts come in which is the bigger problem. When i had tmobile, just used UMA. I would begrudgingly pay for the MicroCell, but what burns me mad is that AT&T wont even tell me if this thing is coming to my area (OC) anytime, soon, later, whenever. Freaking rediculous. Seervice sucks and even if we are willing to pay they wont tell us when…

Beside free, there is no good deal for a femtocell! Why pay for something you should already be receiving while simultaneously reducing the providers bandwidth needs? This is like when the telco’s charged for touch tone, pay extra for something that makes the company more money. While Sprint is listing a charge, they are also providing the Airave free of charge to loyal customers with home reception issues. That’s a “good deal”, anything less is a RIP OFF!

Just purchased the micro. Works great. Covers our 6000 sq. Ft. Home and 20 ft. Around. With 5 bars 3g. Love the convenience. Especially in the basement where our offices are. Don’t mind the $20 dollars especially with the 5 Iphones we have for business. Unlimited calling for $20. Why complain. It’s a perfect and welcomed solution for our needs.

Only a few suggestions for AT&T. Fortify the network. Most bars anywhere is not true… Coverage area is splotchy…

As for the Micro.. Well it works but takes way to long to connect to the AT&T host if Internet connection is interrupted. Our Vonage home service reconnects in seconds but the micro takes 5-10 minutes. That’s just too long. If this was fixed I’d probably reduce our Vonage to 1 line for fax only.

I imagine it will improve over time. I talked with support about it and received excellent care and attention. While the network is not perfect, AT&T has the best customer care and service I have ever experienced.

It’s well worth the money for us, even in it’s infancy. Well gladly pay the $20 for unlimited calling and perhaps even be able to reduce our plan…. Lastly they enrolled us in a frequent call list of 10 outside network calling numbers to reduce our minuets used even further…

Why is everyone complaining? It will only het better…

I stopped into an AT&T last night. I live in the ATLANTA surrounding area. I found the offer for unlimited minutes and guaranteed bars quite compelling. My family lives in the country. Reception for our AT&T lines are horrible in the home. The device, made by cisco, costs $150. The monthly for unlimited is $29.99 here. If we want one line, it is 14.99. I am thinking about making the purchase today. Hummmmm….