Syl and I moved into a loft late last year and have had the worst experience imaginable with our AT&T iPhones. I completely understand that concrete structures aren’t exactly known to amplify carrier signals, but no other carrier (T-Mobile, Verizon or Sprint) suffers nearly as much as AT&T Wireless in the apartment. It’s terrible! In order to complete calls or successfully send a text message, we have to stand next to the window or door. I’ve made it a habit to point my phone towards the city hoping that the phone maintains a newborn strength grip of a single bar of service. Bottom line, this sucks…
When AT&T announced their signal boosting femtocell a.k.a. the 3G MicroCell, I knew it was the answer to our coverage woes. Essentially, the MicroCell is a miniature cellphone tower which increases indoor coverage by utilizing your existing internet (Cable or DSL) connection. The idea sounds awesome until you start to digest the monetary details.
So the current situation looks like this:
- $150 – One MicroCell plus taxes so that I can enjoy an iPhone.
- $180 / mo. – Two iPhones sharing minutes, unlimited data and unlimited messaging on AT&T’s Family Talk plan.
- $60 / mo. – Comcast internet connection which AT&T is going to use to improve our cellphone coverage.
Ok, that’s a decent chunk of money going towards communicating on a cellphone via AT&T Wireless. But it’s hard to let go of the iPhone. I’ve tried.
I’m tired of having poor service. I’m even more tired of friends who come over with their non-AT&T service who are able to use their devices without fuming. I actually walked into an AT&T Wireless Store on the way home from work today with the intention of purchasing a 3G MicroCell. I was so close to pulling the trigger until I asked the sales rep:
What do you think about a customer having to pay $150 for a piece of hardware that piggybacks on a home internet connection to fill AT&T service holes?
The answer that convinced me that today was not a day to give AT&T more money:
We’re actually doing you a huge favor by subsidizing the MicroCell. The actual price of the device is $500. $150 for reliable home service is a great deal.
No AT&T, I would be doing you a favor by staying on as a contract customer and reducing your wireless network load in the area. Wouldn’t it be great if AT&T has some kind of system in place that would provide 3G MicroCell towers to customers in order to maintain quality service?
Leaving ATT/Iphone to Android/Tmobile was one of the harder choice I had to make. I miss the Iphone but glad switching to a more reliable & better costumer service network.
Have you tried out the iPhone4 yet?
Antenna ‘weakspot’ aside, many owners claim they can make calls in their homes in places they haven’t before.
iPhone owner here too – it’s hard to let go of the iPhone if iTunes is running in the background most of the time on the computer.
I thought the exact same thing when I read about the microcell but once I saw the price I figured I would just live with bad service in my home with my iPhone 3GS. UNTIL NOW. Last week I received a letter from AT&T letting me know that as a preferred customer I was now eligible for a free MicroCell. What the? I took my letter down to the AT&T store and got my free MicroCell. Sweet. Totally free. Wow. A friend of mine who has been a customer of theirs for as long as I have and lives only two blocks away didn’t get a letter. When I asked the AT&T rep why I got a letter, he just said that AT&T was giving the microcells out to customers who lived in trouble spots. Weird. I haven’t had a chance to hook it up but I’m hopeful it’ll improve my signal.
Were you using a mobile app to report service issues like AT&T’s Mark The Spot http://cl.ly/1jEI