AT&T 3G Microcell review
Our good friend George Ponder has just posted a full AT&T 3G Microcell review over at sibling site WMExperts.
Sure, George is still rocking the Mic(rocell, sorry!) with a Windows device, but our iOS fare -- iPhone and iPad alike -- won't care as long as they get more bars in more places (and the actual network backhaul behind them).
The AT&T Microcell isn't for everyone. If you're satisfied with (or can live with) your current signal reception, then you shouldn't bother with the Microcell. However, if your home or office location sucks wind with regards to signal reception, the Microcell is a good way to go about improving things.
There's a lot more to it than just that, obviously, so check out the complete setup, initialization, performance, and impressions over at WME and then come back here and tell us what you think about the Microcell.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Say you live out in the country and have new fiber optic internet, but no ATT service, Would ATT allow one to use this?
as long as you have any internet, you can get it.
@Boots- that's the whole purpose of it- to give you AT&T where you don't but you do have high speed internet. Works for me- 5 bars all through my house where I barely had 1.
My question is, why pay for a cell that doesn't work indoors. My t-mo didn't work indoors and my first thought was not to invest more money to get signal, it was to switch to a carrier who gave me better coverage. So I switched to Att and I get 5 bars in the basement.
I'm just wondering why they didn't include a jar of KY with that MicroCell?
I was one of the first to purchase a Microcell in the Denver area and was hopeful it would fill in the holes in my indoor service. I've since disconnected it and will be returning the hardware. If you live in an area with basically no 3G service, I suppose the Microcell would works very well. For me, however - where my 3G service fluctuates wildly between 1-bar and a full 5-bars, all the Microcell did was complicate things. When my iPhone 3GS stayed connected to the Microcell during a phone call, I've never had a more crystal-clear voice conversation. The problem, however, is that the Microcell is designed to switch. The idea being you can initiate a call on it and - as you move outside its range (leaving the house, etc.) - it can hand your call off to the nearest AT&T tower seamlessly. Great idea, except what was happening for me was - whenever I got too close to a window (and thus the AT&T tower) in my house, the Microcell was handing my call off. Then, with the aforementioned wild fluctuations in signal strength around here - 9 times out of 10, I was dropping the call. In short, I was dropping more calls WITH the Microcell than without. I spent many hours on the phone with AT&T techs ("Level 3 - Microcell Team") trying to figure it all out. In the end, however, until the add a mode preventing the Microcell from handing off the call - or allowing it to receive a hand-off FROM the tower (it only works from Microcell to tower - not the other way), this device will never work well for people in my signal situation. Too bad, because it really is a good idea.
I still wish they had a model that would allow any AT&T phone to connect to it and use it. Our fire station is like a big steel cage and no carrier (not even beloved Verizon) works inside. Outside, it's all good, but not inside.
@Redshirt- Why give'em out when you could charge for the KY?
$20/a month for unlimited data calling, now spread 'em!
I bought this 3 months ago and never looked back. I had 0-1 BARS at my house and now everytime I get home Full BARS!!! Yes I get calls now in my house, so no more excuses to people calling.
Problem is ATT is going to count that as data/minutes even though its on my Broadband and not their cell sites.. BOOOO for ATT for THAT!!!!!!
MTBroadie - Great info. I had the exact same issue on Sprint's CDMA version of this service called Airave. If there was a way to force your phone to the public network or your private device all would be very nice. These will be great devices when they solve the automatic switching.
Tosh1 - The fact that they count it as data minutes when you're using broadband really stinks. That was a major selling point on the Sprint Product and it cut my bill way down. $25/month was great for me as I was able to reduce my voice plan.
I bought the M-Cell , connected cables and did the wait thing. It works great. ALWAYS 5 bars . I would be lucky if the phone would even ring prior to the micro cell. GREAT PRODUCT !!!!!!!
Microcell is a great idea and works fantastic with son's I-Phone. However refuses to connect with our 2 AT&T Nokia 6750 Mural 3G phones. AT&T cannot explain. I think AT&T will get the Microcell back on Monday. I'm tired of fooling with them.
I bought the Microcell yesterday and I'm taking it back! Intermediate connection is not acceptable after paying $175.00 It took hours before my phone would even recognize the device. Then this morning it no longer connected. I spent like 5-6 times on the phone with tech support. After multiple resets, changing sim card, and every other possible fix, it was just too much of a hassle. When it would connect it worked fine, 5 bars perfect. But leave the house and come back, and I had to reset everything and wait forever to be able to make a call. Buy at your own risk!!
Pure Frustration! Purchased the MicroCell Friday afternoon. It's still not working. Called ATT Support, recycled multiple times. Activated, deactivated, plugged, unplugged, waited 90 minute + hours. Third call to ATT and the support person said the Microcell web site was down. 8 more hours and still no service.
I dont know why I'm surprised since the reason I bought this product is because ATT network sucks so bad to begin with. Now I get the pleasure of paying an additional $150 for more crap that does not work.
Thank you ATT, may I have another. Can you beleive they had the nerve to try and sell me DSL. What switch from, Verizon FiOS? You'd have to be on crack to make that switch.
Device required are: 3G wireless phone/device, Broadband service over DSL or cable, Computer with Internet access for online registration.
Do not spend the money on this joke. MTBroadie summed it up pretty well. The other things is the intermittent availability, failure to initiate calls and sucky customer support. It only lasted 12 hrs in my house.
I've had my iPhone for a year, and have never really been able to use the phone function inside my home. very frustrating, and lost a job because of it. I had heard AT&T was developing this MicroCell, but didn't think I should have to pay for it because I haven't really gotten any use out of the phone (mind you, ALL OTHER features work just fine, and the phone works great down the street).
yesterday I got a letter telling me AT&T was GIVING me a MicroCell - so I went to get one. only one store in my city had any, 'way 'cross town, but they were very helpful - and once I learned I didn't have to buy the "unlimited calling package" to use the device, I walked out of there without spending a penny. hooked up the MicroCell today, and lo and behold!! 5 bars!!! and it's a true 5 bars, too - have been able to make & receive calls all day at home. I'll never get that job back, but at least now I don't have to drive to the intersection to use my phone. I am indeed a happy camper.
Sucks - don't waste your money on it. I bought one so my office could reach me at home in emergencies. This thing constantly disconnects for hours at a time. Power cycling only guarantees at least an hour of no connecting. So typical for AT&T. Make you pay for a signal that you should already have - then the additional money is in the toilet.
This device rocks. I went from 0 bars to four. The clarity is amazing. Very easy to install. 149.00 with a 100.00 rebate not bad. I added the 20 dollar a month for unlimited calling and I am very pleased. " You cannot be on the phone and walk into your home with the Microcell device added, you do need to hang up and call back and you wont be charged. Rebate form is confusing.
total garbage!! i'm on my second one. i purchased my first att 3g microcell 3 months ago and it was skipping audio, dropping calls, and not letting us make calls sometimes. i returned that one and waited 3 months and just got another one last week. this microcell is giving us the same exact problems as the first one. every time i make a phone call the other persons voice will start skipping around for a 20-30 second increments, and each phone call dropped at least once or twice. when initiating a call, the phone won't dial for 10 seconds or more. the range of this microcell absolutely blows. to me, this att 3g microcell is a total rip-off. i just returned the second one today. as soon as the iphone goes somewhere else, i'm leaving att. i need coverage. by the way, our household is using 3 iPhone 4's.
Like many other AT&T customers my signal stinks in my house. I researched all other options to have good service at home. First I had friends with different service providers come over to see if I should just switch service. They pretty much all had the same 1-2 bars. Them I looked into a repeater or cell signal booster and the prices were way too high. I ended up getting the microcell because it was $149 with a $100 mail in rebate. ( not going to break the bank). So far, it's the best $49 I've spent on years! Here's what I figured out: if you regularly ONLY get 1-3 bars max, then this is a good choice. If your signal bounces from 1-5 bars, this microcell just won't work well for you. See, it's a "different" network. If you make a call and it's working off the microcell' it will jump off if the phone picks up a strong signal from a tower. This is great if you made a call from home, and need to leave the house. But if your call is on the cell tower, it doesn't jump to the microcell. So if your signal bounces up and down dramatically, without the microcell, it'll end up being more of a hassle than anything else. If that's your situation, then look into a signal repeater, or just switch carriers. It's been a week so far and I couldn't be happier. My home is a one story 2800 sf house and I get 5 full bars everywhere in AND around the house! Hope this review helps.
I'm so confused! We have been using AT&T with 3x iPhones, since 2006, we never have more than one bar of signal strength in our home, making and receiving calls is a joke and very frustrating. Why should AT&T customers buy additional hardware from the provider so they can get the product they already pay substantial monthly bills for ? As soon as we are any distance away from our home, we get 4/5 bars... Like any other monopoly, AT&T can and will continue to fleece it's customers for inferior products.
I totally agree with this statement
works great BUT VERY HARD TO FIND IN STORE THEY SELL OUT FAST !!!!!!!!!!
I'm so fed up with the problems our microcell has, I've registered 3gmicrocellsucks.com.
don't waste your money on the microcell. the voice quality is horrible when used with iphones and most smart phones - the voices cut in-and-out, like they are skipping. at least 90% of the phone calls get dropped. the upload for SMS and MMS is excruciatingly slow - capped at 64K, so even small MMS's take several minutes to send - if they make it at all. the range in much, much smaller than what it is advertised as. AT&T has know about these problems since well before June 2010 and still has not fixed the problems. customer service is a joke and is no help. there are hundreds of people talking about these problems right on the AT&T forums and still nothing is done for anyone. don't buy one of these. it doesn't do any good to have 5 bars if you can't hear the person you are trying to talk to, or almost every call gets dropped.
Why can't AT&T let me out of my contract if I'm not receiving the service I am paying for? Instead they sell me one of these stupid Micro-Hell devices that is nearly impossible to get to work properly spending more money on them. I've spoke to AT&T customer service on two different occasions about wanting to cancel my plan but in the end they still want me to pay my early termination fee. What will it take to get out?
AT&T has to let you out of the contract. It is null and void if they can't provide the service that you are paying for. What most people don't know is even a minor mistake on your statement is really a breach of contract, ie being overcharged, unauthorized add ons. Look into it and challenge it.
Wonder if anyone has noted the fact that Microcell looses the wireless connection each time a phone call is received or made from a landline conneted. To be sure, I need to mention that we have dsl from Bellsouth as well as the land line from the same company. There seems to be a conflict that occurs probably because voice calls are carried on the same line connected to dsl service. In this situation it is not worth buying the Microcell.
I just set up my new Microcell. I once was lost... but now Im found!!!! I had no service inside my condo, but thanks to the device I now have full bars. Good thing AT&T rolled this new product out. I was getting new service in my house, yet seemed to have full/decent coverage everwhere else. Which is fine, but I spend most of my time at home! I use Cox High Speed Internet with the Premiere service. Works flawlessly. Also setup was suprisingly simple. Exactly the same as the setup for a wireless router. There are several things they need to work on however: As stated in previous posts, text messages transfer extremely slow. When receiving a call, the Microcell doesnt get used. AT&T doesnt allow for a cell tower transfer. which means I'm going to get used to saying "can I call you back? I need to use my own cell tower and it only works when I make outgoing calls..." But since I only paid $50 for the product... Ican't complain too much. By the way, I'm using an iPhone 3GS and my brother uses a Pantec Impact.
I live in a deep canyon and just flat out don't get signal at all. My wife, when getting a new iPhone added to our wireless plan was given a free MicroCell and it works wonders. Five bars for her, five bars for my son's Samsung but sadly Zero connectivity for my first generation Nexus 1. Damn.
This thing is awful. The irony is that they gave it to us for free because we live in the country and have terrible reception. But after installing this...it went from bad to worse! It wouldn't let us make or receive calls and showed that though my phone was connected to the "M-cell" that I had 0 bars even though I was just down the hall from it. Taking it back - free or not, it's a waste of space.
I just bought one. I get at least 4 and most times 5 bars, instead of 1 or 2 bars before. However, I still break up and get dropped calls. ATT support says if I have 4 or 5 bars calls shouldn't drop, but they do. I'm sorry I got it.
I have had AT&T's 3g Microcell for about 9 months so far and Billy is spot on with his comments. A fair about of times it works great...However, I have experienced numerous drop calls with 4 bars on my IPHONE. I can confirm this is not a bandwidth issue because a monitor it using a LINUX application. With all this said, I still recommend it because the alternate really sucks. I prefer 15% drop calls versus 60% with poor audio quality. I can say when calls are connected via the Microcell the quality is very good...
Another comment reports turning off Location Services on the Phone. This should help improve things.
I have 5 bars with my microcell inside of my house and one would think thats great compared to one - two before the microcell... but i have more dropped calls now with 5 bars then i did with one bar. I have 3G but no bars....
I have had one for 9 months. It shows 5 bars all the time and I can hear people fine, however people say they can not hear me well. I am not certain how this interacts with my broadband as I have the microcell in my basement office. My wireless router is upstairs and I have aan apple repeater in the basement. I have good internet in the basement.