Re: Free AT&T Microcell

It is a cell tower that uses _your_ broadband internet connection, not
AT&T's. For AT&T they do not have to build out capacity to handle the
cellular traffic; their customers are providing it for them. All they do is
some back-end routing. Since AT&T saves money by not having to build out &
maintain as much capacity, microcell users should get a discount instead of
being asked to pay for these things.

BTW Sprint and Verizon have them as well. I know lots of people got free
ones from Sprint (though like AT&T they still want to charge for them); I've
no idea about VZW.

If anyone feels that a microcell would help, I would suggest calling your
carrier and asking for customer retention. Don't threaten to leave the
service but say you'll have no choice unless they can provide you with a
solution that lets you get calls in your home.

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 9:35 PM, David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 1/19/2011 7:25 PM, Scott Klement wrote:

Microcell is a signal booster.

AT&T bills it as "like a mini cellular tower in your home or small
business environment."

Actually, it *IS* a mini cell tower ... although it only handles 3G signals
(and only for phones you specify). It connects to the AT&T network via
broadband (VOIP style). When your phone is using the microcell the "3G"
indicator changes to "3G M-Cell".

It's range limited to about 40 feet in all directions. When you leave the
microcell's range it hands off active calls to a real cell tower (although a
real cell tower can't hand off to the microcell when you go in range).

Cell coverage at my house is pretty bad to, so I actually paid for one.

It works pretty good ... although sometimes there's a noticeable lag when
you're talking to someone. It also seems to take longer to connect when
dialing out.

I setup QOS on my router for the microcell so my wife's secondlife activity
(and my occasional bit torrent downloading) wouldn't effect call quality.

The perceived downside, that it uses your cell minutes, is not a big deal
... the call has to go to POTS eventually. You can also pay extra and get
unlimited calls when you're using the microcell.

david

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