This AT&T Micro Cell Thing Should Be Free For All iPhone 3G Owners
And of course, since it’s from AT&T, there’s a catch. Most likely there will be a monthly usage fee (3G Micro Cell Service Plan) above and beyond the cost of the hardware. Educated guesses put the hardware at $100 and an additional, monthly fee around $10.
My initial reaction was one of interest, as I have a very big dead zone called: where we live. I literally have to step outside to make phone calls on my iPhone. But this initial interest was soon lost after the common sense returned.
Basically, this whole situation of having to install additional hardware because of AT&T’s crappy service is complete bull. From my experience, AT&T’s coverage is crap. It’s crap enough that I have warned several people against getting an iPhone if they make a lot of phone calls.
What’s especially galling is my wife stuck with Verizon and her phone gets great coverage everywhere. So this is not a technological problem; we don’t live in a bat cave that is impervious to cell phone signals.
So my conclusion is: AT&T should offer these Micro Cell things for free to everyone who ponied up for an iPhone 3G. Because it’s absolute garbage that any of us iPhone 3G users should even be in the position of needing to install hardware and pay extra money for service we should be receiving (pun intended) in the first place.
and it doesn’t make sense to use a high-tech phone with lesser capabilities than a normal one…this can build real good awareness ..nice post.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m in the iPhone 3G in need of a MicroCell camp, and not too happy about it. Glad there will finally be something that can give me some service, but not too happy about having to pay for it.
Yes, I live in a freaking dead zone… just don’t call AT&T to complain about the service and ask about femtocells or microcells, the customer reps either feign ignorance or they really have no idea what these things are!
[…] the ball on the iPhone service. My biggest bitch about AT&T coverage is I basically get none or a very weak signal in my freaking place in San Mateo. It’s pretty pathetic to have to go outside of one’s own home to use the phone. My wife […]
I am so tired of hearing people complain about their service with At&t! Guess what people, the problem is your IPHONE!!!! It is a piece of s***! In my opinion, if you need to buy a micro cell for your phone to even work in your house, then what does that say about Apple and their product, not At&t’s service. I see people with go phones that get better coverage than an iphone.
[…] which conveniently ends in December. She doesn’t want an AT&T phone, as she’s seen my crappy reception and makes actual phone calls way more […]
[…] than I do, therefore reception is a must — particularly in the confines of our apartment which still has crappy AT&T coverage. She’s unwilling to switch to AT&T just for the iPhone. Her current contract ends after […]
Bought a microcell and it took the bars on my Iphone 4 to 4. Great, huh? It took upwards of 30 seconds to dial out, many failed calls and it would switch between microcell and regular 3G as I walked around the house, and then drop the call. Bottom line — I took it back, it caused more problems than I started with, and ATT techs say it is only a temporary solution.
And this happened with all phones in our house, not just the iphone. Can’t blame it on that.
If you can’t get more than 2 bars standing in front of your house, look for another carrier.