AT&T's 3G MicroCell still on track for release sometime before the end of the year
By Tim Stevens 
posted Jun 25th 2009 7:29AM
posted Jun 25th 2009 7:29AM
posted Jun 25th 2009 7:29AM
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crazy shtuff.
The monthly fee thing is ridiculous, you are paying for the device, you are paying for the power and Internet access, and AT&T wants to charge you for filling in the gaps of their network?
Normally the fee is for a purpose, for example you pay a fee of $9/mo but all calls you make from within your femtocell do not take minutes away from your minute pool etc.
I was talking to AT&T last night about lack of service at work and the tech support person said they expect possibly in the fall around September.
How does this thing work? Do you plug it in and it magically pulls the signal from outside? A subscription cost to this? She said it was about the size of a cable modem and could be used for businesses or in the home. If it’s expensive why would I want to bother for my home or personal service at work?
No--you plug it into your home network/cable modem, and it routes cell calls over VOIP.
umm...shouldn't this thing have WiFi? Most people dont have their routers by that window in their house that gets a bar. And if you get no bars period...you're SOL.
It has nothing to do with cell towers or cell signals. This GIVES you bars from your home internet connection, same way Vonage does.
The femtocell functions much like a small cell phone tower inside your house. It makes your phones believe they are talking to a normal tower, but all your calls are redirected through your home internet connection. The advantage of course is that you get signal in places you've never had it before (or increase your already weak signal). On the downside, depending on the cost of monthly service, it might not be worth the extra hardware and rental charge for many people. I hope ATT doesn't make this another death-star like launch, where the consumer gets the short end of the stick.
Its a shame ATT is engineering this thing to work only with 3G compatible phones. Yeah I've got an Iphone, but my parents (on my account) have basic Nokia phones they use for voice only. Their house is in a very hilly area, can get reception at the road, but not at the house. Can't get it with anyone because of topography. I'd love to have a femtocell for them but it's pointless. And if rumors are true, expensive as well......
I'll pay up to about $250 for a femto 3G Microcell, but a monthly fee? AT&T can forget that if it is anything over $1 per month including government telecommunication fees and the other assnine taxes that get added on a phone. I would never give AT&T $9.99 a month for this "additional" service using my internet and electricity on top of what I'm already paying for the iphone. $9.99 is the most common quoted price I see speculated about on the internet for this. I'd instead buy a $400 antenna repeater that has no monthly fees.
http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?p=12771154#post12771154
Does anyone have an update on the AT&T Microcell release date.
Not sure when the official launch is, but I noticed "AT&T M-Cell 3G" as the carrier on my iPhone at my office this morning. I wasn't quite sure what it was at first, but a little Googling directed me here. Was I actually on an AT&T Microcell? I disabled Wi-Fi (we have an access point on the floor) and ran a speed test via SpeedTest.net from the App Store on my iPhone.
2440KB down, 253KB up
These speeds are definitely not your father's 3G.
Going to run a few more tests to check out how calls are transitioned. Also going to see how any minutes appear on my online usage report. Stay tuned.